Tape 5-6: Rivertowns and the Eliza Battle disaster.

Rivertowns on the Tombigbee River in Pickens County

"In seventeen seventy it was recommended that a canal was needed to connect the Tennessee River with Mobile Bay. Most every governor since territorial days has urged Congress to appropriate the money for the project. The Choctaws named this river Itombee Igobee. The white man removed the I's on both words and named it Tombigbee. Because we reflect on the important part the Tombigbee has played in the history and growth of this area, and we think about what it will mean in the future, I have chose as my subject, ARivertowns, many which no longer exist. I have no intention of giving the obituary of these rivertowns. I only hope to make you more aware of the activities and influence they had on this area before they began to vanish. These were once thriving centers of population, boat landings, trading posts, ferries, and one, Pickensville, was the county seat of Pickens County.

Prior to the formation of Pickens County and Noxubee County, Mississippi, settlers had begun to push into the Mississippi Territory and build cabins among the Indians. These were squatters, with no legal right to the land. After Mississippi reached statehood in eighteen seventeen, and Alabama in eighteen nineteen, there began a migration from Virginia, Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia, that almost equaled the gold rush to California. There were laws made to protect the pioneers from land sharks, but many settlers were beat out of the land they had built upon and improved. The land offices did a thriving business as the pioneers rushed to get grants along the Tombigbee, or the streams that emptied into the river, mainly Big Creek, Coal Fire, Lubbub, and Bogacheeta. It was to the Tombigbee that Josiah Tilley came in eighteen seventeen, and built a cabin on what is still called Tilley's Bluff. He had the first boat landing and ferry in Pickens County, and many of the settlers that moved into Noxubee County and other points west crossed on this ferry. Little did Tilley realize what an important part his ferry would play helping settle the west, from many wagon trains moving west crossed at this point. Tilley had a more decided taste for backwoods life than for the refinement of civilization. He easily made friends with the Indians, and often visited the chief at Mashulaville. Men from their tribe often came over to Pickensville to pick cotton. His wife having died, he married an Indian squaw and moved west with the tribe.

These pioneers traveled long and dangerous journeys to reach the Tombigbee River. Many followed Indian trails which had been widened to the width of a wagon by the armies of eighteen twelve, and over these they moved their families, slaves, cattle, hogs, and even turkeys and chickens. To come from the east one had to get a passport through the Creek Nation, naming their destination and most of these passports just said, ATo the Tombigbee.@ Some came down the Tennessee River to north Alabama, and then by land, stopping along the way to raise a crop of corn. Many came down the Natchez Trace to Cotton Gin Port, and built rafts to move down the Tombigbee, searching for a suitable place to settle. And by eighteen twenty-two the population of Pickens County had reached five thousand.

These early settlers lived in what we might call a backwoods society. They built log cabins, hung their clothes on wooden pegs driven into the wall, cooked on open fires, and had crudely built furniture made from split saplings. Every lady wanted to bring along some treasured piece from the mother country, or the mother state, and these are the antiques that we treasure so much today. These people used corn whiskey for an appetizer, and a meal usually consisted of cornbread, salt pork, wild game, fish, and berries in season. These pioneer families were most dependent on corn, and as early as eighteen eighteen corn was selling for four dollars per bushel on the Tombigbee. With no way to grind the corn the ladies resorted to the mortar and pestle to pound it into meal and grits. But in eighteen nineteen Henry Anderson built a water-powered gristmill on Big Creek near Pickensville. It soon pounded out most of the meal for settlers in this area, and soon every creek in the county was put to use by man in some laborsaving capacity.

The early settlers, without the restraint of law, were a restless mass. They were like sheep without a shepherd, til a shepherd appeared in the form of Lorenzo Dow, a circuit rider who came in eighteen three to preach to the Indians and pioneers. Mail came by pony express, with the home of Jacob Dansford being used as a mail stop, and also as the place to hold the cor.., first court. The first voting precinct was in the home of Robert Cox, just north of Pickensville near Coalfire and the Mississippi state line. In letters which James Nance wrote back to his father in North Carolina in eighteen thirty, he described conditions in this area. He told of Indian customs and their language. He said the trees across the river from Pickensville still bore the scares of Indian arrows, the result of a battle between the Choctaws and Creeks. He described small birds as plentiful as blackbirds, which he said the Indians called parakeets. But most interesting was a trip he told about to the land office in Milledgeville, Georgia, and an exploration he made across the Tombigbee, where he rode for a distance of a hundred and fifty miles, seeing few white men and black, sticky land he thought was good for nothing. He never realized that he was in the Black Belt and was in the richest land in the state.

Two great men visited this area long before the white pioneers: DeSoto and Bienville. DeSoto trod through this area as he crossed the Tombigbee and went on to the Mississippi, the Father of Waters. Bienville, at the head of five hundred soldiers in crude boats, paddled up the Tombigbee as he went to battle the Chickasaw at Cotton Gin Port. After two battles he was defeated, and in disgrace retreated back down the river, past spots that would later be the towns I want to talk about tonight, mainly Pickensville, Memphis, Fairfield, and Vienna."

Pickensville

"Pickensville is the oldest and best known of the rivertowns. First called Boomtown it has grown into a flourishing village prior to being incorporated in eighteen and twenty-five as Pickensville. Most of the settlers being in that vicinity it was only nature to be named the county seat when the county was formed in eighteen and twenty. A courthouse and jail was built behind the present city hall. The first postmaster was Alex McCaa, and the first mayor was Captain Newell, a riverboat captain. When he died in eighteen forty-three the people of the town wore black crepe on their arms for thirty days. He also organized a military company in the county, and had them to come into town on Saturdays and appear at the parade ground for drill and inspection.

Pickensville really reached its heyday during the riverboat days, and these same riverboats, in the spring when the water was high could go up the Noxubee River as far as Macon. Pickensville boasted two hotels, the Prude House and the Pickensville Hotel, which advertised the best food, this side of Mobile. In an article from the West Alabamian on February the tenth, eighteen sixty-eight, there was printed a list of the guests registered at the Hotel for the previous day. These guests came from Mississippi, Texas, Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, Vienna and Fairfield in Pickens County, and a Mr. Harden from Brooksville in Noxubee County. The village had five doctors: Dr. Hill, Dr. McMichael, Dr. Morehead, Dr. Pulliam, and Dr. Wilkins. This was Dr. A.M Wilkins, and his old home was only torn down two years ago. Five attorneys practiced there prior to the War Between the States, and ran weekly ads in the newspapers. One of these was Judge A. B. Clitherall, who served as the secretary to Jefferson Davis when the Confederate Government was organized in Montgomery, and helped raise the first Confederate flag that flew over the capital. He escorted Miss Leticia Tyler, the daughter of President Tyler, out to raise this flag. There was five newspapers in Pickensville: The Pickensville Register was established by W., Dr. W. D. Lyles in eighteen forty, and four others came: the Pickensville Courier, the Pickensville Journey, Journal, the Riverside Press, and the Pickens County Press.

In eighteen sixty the citizens of Pickensville were determined to have the county seat moved back to Pickensville, after it had been moved to Carrollton in eighteen and thirty. A group of men offered to give the land and erect a new courthouse if it were decided to make the move. A special election was held in the county, and Carrollton won with one thousand, two hundred eighty-seven votes, and three hundred and fifty-five for Pickensville. Pickensville had a tannery, and Mr. Willet Wilbourn has often told me that it was almost impossible to were out a pair of the shoes that was made there. It had a brick kiln and a livery stable. There were two saloons at ea. where activity equaled Dodge City; several times the town went dry only to get wet again in a few years. Much of the crime was blamed on the free flow of whiskey, as one reads of the shootings, the murders, the fights, and the stabbings, they can readily see how five attorneys were kept busy. Just before the turn of the century there were so many loud complaints made by the temperance society, and the two churches, that the saloons were forced to move one mile outside the city limits, and the bars on the riverboats were notified to close when within five miles of town. Pickensville's slogan was, AHome of pretty women, fast horses, and fine whiskey, and it lived up to its reputation.

In eighteen forty-two the Methodist Church was built. The bid called for it to be thirty-six by forty-six feet, and elevated two feet about ground. The building committed was composed of: Darby Henley, James Stinson, A. B. Bush, J. M. Cameron, and D. B. Bell. This building stands in Pickensville today in very much the same condition that it was back then, except for the plastered walls. It had beautiful white plastered walls with verses of Scripture written upon them in gold script. A few years ago the walls began to crumble, and they had to be replaced with some other material. The original Bible is still in the church, and is the size of a checkerboard. There is a table in front of the alter that has been there since the church was first built, a marble-topped table, a strong table that was used to hold caskets when they had funerals in the church, years and years ago. At the present time it is quite a task for the few members that they have to keep the old church going. But with donations, volunteer help, and so forth, they have been able to keep it in pretty good repair.

In eighteen forty-seven the Pickensville Church was received into the association. There was also a Presbyterian church and a Primitive Baptist church at Pickensville at one time. The Presbyterian church disbanded, and the Primitive Baptist church moved to the Sapps community, not too far from Pickensville. Prior to the time of that these churches were built in Pickensville, most of the people attended the Baptist church at Big Creek, west of Carrollton, which had been founded in eighteen nine by Rev. Charles Stewart. Early minutes of the church show that many blacks were members of all of these churches. An old black slave once said, Aall de quality white folks in Pickens County b'longs to Big Creek, an' us quality black folks do, too.

Meeting day at Big Creek was not only preaching day, but any charges against members were brought before the church. Non-attendance, drinking, gambling, dancing, non-payment of debts, quarrels between neighbors, domestic fights, and even land disputes were settled in the church. Many times the members were excluded, but after a few weeks they came back and asked forgiveness, and were re-instated.

The Methodist Church in Pickensville had pews for both men and women; they were not allowed to sit together. And at the end of the men's pews were pretty brass spittoons, so the men could chew and spit while they listened to the two-hour services. The blacks sat in the back of the church.

In those days there were no banks, and the people kept their money at home. Everybody trusted everybody else.

Just after the War Between the States, square dancing became most popular around Pickensville, and with a strong voice to call Aswing your partner and Ado-se-do, there was no limits to the endurance of the fiddlers. Because dancing was frowned upon by the churches, and it wasn't easy enough to get enough girls and a house for a dance, but occasionally a great tide of sin would sweep through the county, and women and men of all ages forgot the Golden Rule and started drinking, dancing, gossiping, and some were even guilty of infidelity. Such sinning was usually followed by a summer revival in the church.

Some of the early businesses in Pickensville were run by the Pulliams, Spraiggins, Petersons, Nances, Iveys, Stringfellows, Doss', Stinsons, Henley, Bush, and Long. There were warehouses on both sides of the river, with landings for the riverboats.

In eighteen and forty-two the Pickensville Female Institute was built, a beautiful three-story building. Darby Henley donated a two-acre site for the building, and Dr. A. M. Wilkins, A.P. Bush, James Stinson, J. J. Lee, John Chalmers, William Ferguson, and a few others financed the building. Prior to that year the Masonic Order had organized in Pickensville, and the cornerstone of the school was placed with Masonic honors. In eighteen fifty the Masons built their lodge in Pickensville. In eighteen fifty-six the enrollment in this school had reached one hundred, with fifty-eight of these being boarding students. Cost to board for a session was ninety dollars. This included room, meals, fuel, and lights. Tuition ranged from one fifty to three dollars per month, depending on the classes and the subjects. Young ladies were required to wear uniforms. The advertisements in the papers back then stressed the fact that no student at the Female Institute would be allowed to smoke, drink, chew, or dip snuff. Everywhere that the girls went they were well chaperoned, even to church.

There was a Male Academy in Pickensville at that time, and a male and female institute that taught nothing but literature, music, and voice. Students came from all parts of west Alabama and east Mississippi to this fine school. Some came by stagecoach that ran from Tuscaloosa to Columbus by Carrollton and Pickensville. The Willett home in Pickensville was the stagecoach stop for the Jemison Coach Line. This old home, and the Methodist Church, are the only two left in Pickensville that were built in its earliest days. Many students came by riverboat, and when the boat whistle was heard in the distance a crowd would gather on the landing to greet the arrival. At that time people traveled from one landing to another to visit their relatives and friends, or attend to business. Many rode the riverboats to Mobile to sell their cotton, settle up their accounts, and buy supplies. Some from the county went to Mobile for pleasure. They attended Mardi Gras there, or even went to New Orleans for a taste of real city life. Travel by boat to and from Columbus was common for the people of the county. The round trip for one dollar and fifty cents included passage on the boat, two nights lodging, and meals. Its easy to understand why so many bachelors had business in Columbus, and why so many marriages grew out of riverboat romances.

Pickensville was the point from which most of the Pickens County volunteers left to fight for the Confederacy. The Pickensville Greys, Lane's Guards, Pickensville Blues, and Pickens Planters were among those traveling by boat to Mobile for basic training. It was also to Pickensville that many of the casualties of war were returned for burial in the county. The largest tombstones in this county, especially those at Pickensville and down at Old Bethany were brought in by riverboat. And after the battle of Shiloh the wounded were brought down the river to Columbus to be placed in the Confederate hospitals, and when those hospitals were full, some were brought down to Pickensville, and the little Methodist church served as a hospital for a short time. It was at Ringo0's Bluff, just below Pickensville, that General Adams crossed and brought his Mississippi troops, and attacked General Croxton's raiders. The Yankees had burned the courthouse earlier in the day. After fierce fighting in Sipsey Swamp, at Lanier's Mill, Adams ran Croxton from the county, but not before they had destroyed the mill. General T. C. Lanier was in Virginia fighting at that time, and when he returned he rebuilt the mill, but soon sold it to Mr. Horton, and an old newspaper tells that Mr. Horton went to Mobile to get the money to pay Mr. Lanier, brought it back by riverboat in a nail keg. Since it was dark went he reached the landing at Vienna, he sat on the nail keg all night, and when morning came he delivered the money to Mr. Lanier.

Reconstruction was a most difficult time for Pickens County. Four times it was under martial law, each time troops were sent to oversee an election. And when the United States Seventh Cavalry rode through Pickensville in route to Carrollton to camp for the duration of the election, the old soldiers sitting around in the stores and the saloons would rush into the street and give the Rebel Yell. In eighteen sixty-seven soon after the War there was a shortage of labor. Wideman and Yeagle of Pickensville brought European laborers to Mobile and on up the Tombigbee to Pickensville. Many descendents of these immigrants are our citizens of today. And it was at Nashville, a ferry just north of Pickensville, that John L. Hunnicutt, the author of the book Reconstruction in West Alabama, brought a group of his Ku Klux Klansmen across the river, led on to Trinity, and literally stole the election from the Radicals.

The old newspapers tell the economic conditions in the county. They are filled with mortgage foreclosures and sales of property for cheap prices. The Dunlap house in Pickensville, a two-story eight-room house with nice furniture, feather beds, outhouses, and sixty-eight acres, sold for twelve hundred dollars. In eighteen and seventy-eight a skating rink caused excitement all over the county when it came by boat, and raised its tent in Pickensville. From Bridgeville, Franconia, Yorkville, and Carrollton, people came by horseback or buggy. From Vienna, Fairfield, and Old Memphis they came by boat to skate. For only a quarter a skater might get cracked ribs, broken bones, bruises, and his full value in embarrassment. Dr. Whitely, a noted tooth-puller, visited the rivertowns annually. He pulled teeth with his naked fingers. He guaranteed little pain, but did not guarantee how much blood would be lost. Mr. Willet Wilbourn, one of the oldest natives of Pickensville, told me that a visit to Dr. Whitely was equal to a visit to any slaughter-pen.

There is no way to give credit to all who contributed to the history of Pickensville, but Stephen P. Doss was the character who stood out as one who helped the State of Alabama and the county of Pickens emerge from a wilderness. He moved with his bride to the Tombigbee in eighteen eighteen, having married in Tuscaloosa Elizabeth Miles, a granddaughter of General Edward Lacey, a Revolutionary soldier. They were parents of the first white male child born in this county, and they named him Edward. Captain Doss served with General Harrison, and was the last survivor of the battle of Tippecanoe. He and Mrs. Doss were the parents of a large family, and they had seven sons in the Confederate army at one time. When they died they were buried on their own land in the old Doss cemetery. Although never active in politics except as a voter, his influence was felt in the political decisions of the county officials for many years after his death.

In eighteen and ninety-two, the Tombigbee went on a rampage; warehouses, storebuildings, farm buildings, and some homes were washed away. Cattle, horses, mules, and chickens were drowned. A few lives were lost. Stringfellow, Ivy, and Senan's lost their warehouses at Pickensville. The cattle, mules, and farm houses belonged to J. B. Shaw, A.J. Peterson, Nance, Caraway, Creme were washed away. A. B. Cox lost over a hundred bales of cotton. The topsoil on both sides of the river was swept away by the water and place sand and gravel to a depth of ten to twelve feet covered the land that had been in cultivation. The Secretary of War sent one thousand tents to accommodate the homeless after the flood.

The United States Engineers tried to keep the river dredged, and removed the logs and snags in an attempt to keep the channel clear so the boats could run from Mobile to Aberdeen. Many boats sank in the Tombigbee, the best known being the Eliza Battle, which carried many to their grave. Today the hulks of these boats lie on the river bottom. Other tragedies influenced the rivertowns, such tragedies as the Thompson Murders, over at Old, at Brooksville. Uh, the Thompson Murders left a mother, a sister, and a wife dead, a brother mortally wounded, and a father shot in the hand. The Tombigbee played a major part in this tragedy, for three Brazilian boats were waiting at Pickensville to take the Thompson cotton crop back to Brazil when this murder took place.

It was the Tombigbee that gave birth to Pickensville and nurtured it until the turn of the century. As I have said there are only two buildings left there to remind one of the early years when Pickensville was at its peak. No one can turn back the clock and relive the good old days, but the Tennessee-Tombigbee project has brought activity and excitement into the lives of this place again, and many of the sleeping villages will come back and no longer be ghost towns once this project's completed."