Forum Member Danny West Made A Presentation

[RJNorton]

Kudos to Danny West, a member here, on his lecture to the Quitman Woman’s Club (in Mississippi). Club member, Rebecca, wrote:

"The Quitman Woman’s Club enjoyed a lecture yesterday presented by Mr. Danny West on how our county and county seat acquired their names. Clarke County was named after the first Chancellor of our State, Joshua Giles Clarke. The City of Quitman, our county seat, was named for the second Chancellor of our State, John Anthony Quitman. Those attending were intrigued by his years of research. Thank you, Mr. West, for a very informative program."

Here is the text of Danny's lecture:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lecture on Joshua Giles Clarke & John Anthony Quitman

Presented to the Quitman Ladies Auxiliary Club

By Danny West

September 6, 2018

The purpose of my lecture/talk today is to give you an overview of how our county and county seat acquired their names. So many people I believe are not aware of this especially here in our own county. I feel it is important to know about your local history as well as state and national history. The big question in history to me is "WHY". I'm not content with just saying something is so. I want to know the origin of the subject at hand. This makes history as well as other disciplines so interesting. I encourage you to have an inquiring mind to do research on whatever topic you desire. Whether it's history or some other subject.

The preparation of this lecture led me on an exciting journey in historical research. I had the honor and privilege of speaking by telephone with the Great-Great-Great Grandson of Joshua G. Clarke. His name is Dr. Jay Calvitt Clarke III, Professor Emeritus in History at Jacksonville University. For you basketball fans one of Jacksonville University's claim to fame is runner up to UCLA in the 1970 National Championship game, no great shame because everybody lost to UCLA & John Wooden. Jacksonville had a player by the name of Artis Gilmore who starred for many years in the old ABA. Dr. Clarke and myself talked about this too in addition to our history talk.
Dr. Clarke supplied me with numerous articles on Judge Clarke, Very nice person in our phone interview and general talk. He is still active in research.

Another person who helped me tremendously was MS Amanda Redmond of the Mississippi Library Commission. She supplied me with all types of materials on both Joshua Clarke & John Quitman. I talked with her by phone to touch base on information and everything I asked for she supplied by email. She is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and how she got here I don't know, but she knows more about Mississippi History than most Mississippians. With her being from Cincinnati, naturally I asked about Skyline Chili. I told her how awful it was & she told me its not good in a bowl that you have to put it on hot dogs, spaghetti, etc. I encourage you to reach out to her for any research on Mississippi. She encouraged me to telephone Dr. Clark.

If you type in Joshua Clarke's name in the search field on the internet you will see somewhere that he was the first chancellor of the state of Mississippi. This is where the fun began for me. What did chancellor mean? Some universities such as Ole Miss used this term in place of president. But, I knew this was not the answer I was seeking. I first contacted the Secretary of State's office. They had no clue, but the lady i emailed directed me to the Mississippi Library Commission. One important note here is that they do not charge for research as does the Mississippi Department of Archives & History. I got plenty of information from the above mentioned person. I still emailed the Archives & History but only received a partial answer. Joshua Clark was the first Chancellor of the state of Mississippi and ironically John A. Quitman was the second Chancellor. So, our county & county seat where named after the first and second Chancellors of our state.

Now to the anticipated question of what is a Chancellor and what did they do in the early years of state government. The Superior Court of the Chancery in Mississippi was created by the legislature in November of 1821. Joshua Clarke was selected by the legislature to serve as the states first chancellor. a position he held until his death in July of 1828. From the Journal of the Florida Conference of Historians volume 20 gives a definition of chancellor. " A chancellor is a judge who heads the chancery courts. These courts generally hear certain types of cases, such as those involving mortgage foreclosures, usually without juries. They apply principles of equity and order relief, such as injunctions, which may differ from common law's rules and remedies."

Joshua Giles Clarke

c. 1780 -July 22, 1828

1. Clarke was born around 1780 in Maryland and then moved to Pennsylvania where he received a competent education. Very little is known of his early life, but he appears to have arrived in Mississippi by 1804.

2. He first settled in Natchez where he became part of the political establishment. In November 1807 he married Martha Calvit, who was the daughter of Joseph Calvit' Their family was one of the first families to migrate to the Mississippi Territory after the American Revolution.

3. Clarke rose rapidly in Mississippi Society. Politically, he was a Jeffersonian-Republican and became the founding member of the Washington Lodge of Freemasons in Port Gibson.

4. As a member of the territorial legislature, he represented Claiborne County in 1817 at the Constitutional Convention to form the State of Mississippi. His peers noted that he had one of the best legal minds along with his faithful service.

5. Because of his success he built Clareont, among the first of large homes in the Port Gibson area. It was built in the federal style and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

6. One particular case he presided over early in his stint on the Supreme Court was was spun off from the larger scandal surrounding Aaron Burr's conspiracy to set up an independent nation in the west.

7. One of his more famous rulings on the Supreme Court was that he judged killing a slave was murder because slaves were "reasonable creature."

8. Clarke died in Natchez after an illness of several days and was buried in Port Gibson. An added note is Confederate General Earl Van Dorn was from Port Gibson and is buried there as well.

9. Because of his service to Mississippi, he had Clarke County named in his honor. It became a county in December 1833.

John Anthony Quitman

September 1, 1798-July 17, 1858

1. Not that you care but when people ask me where I am from, I will often say, Quitman MS. named for two time governor of Mississippi and Mexican War hero.

2. Quitman was born in1798 in Rhinebeck, New York. Graduated college in 1816, admitted to the bar in 1820 and in 1821 moved to Natchez. There he purchased his home Monmouth in 1826 and it would remain in his family for 100 years.

3. He practiced law in Natchez until 1826, when he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. He became Chancellor of the state in 1828, and served on the state's Constitutional Convention in 1832.

4. Quitman served as the Tenth and Sixteenth Governor of Mississippi. His first term from 1835-1836 he served as a Whig. His second term 1850-1851 he served as a Democrat and was a leading Fire-Eater who were a group pushing for succession.

5. You will notice governors then served two year terms. The original Constitution of 1817 had only a two-year term for Governor, this was expanded to four years in the 1868 Constitution. The longest serving Governor was John M. Stone, who served two terms over ten years. His second term in office was extended to six years by a transitional provision in the 1890 Constitution.

6. With the onset of the Mexican War, Quitman was a Brigadier General of volunteers serving first under Zachary Taylor then was assigned to Winfield Scott's army in their advance on Mexico City. Quitman now was a Major General and served admirably in many battles. He was a commander during the assault on Chapultepec and received the surrender of the citadel in Mexico City. He was named Military Governor of Mexico City for the remainder of the American occupation.

7. During his second term as governor he was approached by Narciso Lopez to lead an expedition to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. Quitman turned down the offer but supplied assistance to Lopez with men and materials. Quitman was charged with violating the Neutrality Act of 1817. This led him to resign as governor to defend himself.

8. Quitman with encouragement from President Franklin Pierce, began preparations for his own expedition to free Cuba. In May 1854 the administration reversed course on this expedition because of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and possible damage to the Democratic Party.

9. Quitman returned to politics and in 1855 was elected to congress and served in that capacity until his death in 1858. He apparently died from the National Hotel Disease contracted during his stay there for the inauguration of President James Buchanan. Historians said this disease is similar to Legionnaires Disease.

An Extra Added Bonus

You have heard of Eli Lilly who founded the famous pharmaceutical company. Did you know that he was a prisoner of war right here in Quitman. He was captured in Alabama and sent to th Fort Texas Hospital. He saw how bad medical care was in the Civil War and this gave him the inspiration to found his company in 1876 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

During General Sherman's destruction of Quitman in February 1864 the Trotter -Byrd home was spared because the person living there was a direct descendant of George Washington.


A Note on Sources

I do not consider this a formal paper and by that I mean I am going to list sources not necessarily in alphabetical order. I hope you take the opportunity to further research the material i covered today. Like I really think you are going to do that. Just kidding! I also apologize for any spelling and grammar errors. I could not get spell check to word on wordpad for some reason. So, I will blame any of these errors on my computer.

I want to sincerely thank Dr Jay Clarke for his phone interview and the information he supplied. Also, MS Amanda Redmond with the Mississippi Library Commission answered and researched my every request. Thank you so much to these two people.

1. https://ju.academia.edu/JayClarke. A series of articles by Dr Jay Clarke

2. http://users.ju.edu/jclarke/.default.htm Curriculum Vitae and links of Dr.
Clarke.

3. http://usuers.ju.edu/jclarke/jgclarke.htm An excellent article on Judge Clarke by Jay Clarke

4. Florida Conference of Historians Volume 20 May 2013. Several articles devoted to the life of Judge Clarke and his views on slavery.

5, Mississippi History Now. mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us - An excellent website devoted to all things Mississippi. Articles and biographical information on important event and people in Mississippi History.

6. "John A. Quitman and the Southern Martial Spirit" by Robert E. May ( The Journal Of Mississippi History 1979)

7. John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader by Robert E. May

8. Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman by J.F.H. Claiborne

9. "The Abortive Quitman Filibustering Expedition, 1853-1855" by C. Stanlry Urban (The Journal of Mississippi Historyn1956)

10. "Governor John A. Quitman and the Lopez Expeditions of 1851-1852" by Ray Broussard (The Journal of Mississippi History 1966).

11. And last but certainly not least- Wikipedia - I actually had two professors while working on my Masters Degree said they had no problem with using this. It is a good source for quick basic information.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to present this talk to you today and especially to MS Peggy Doggett for making this happen. We had talked about this before going back to 2013. Various issues arose to were it was not possible but in the end it all worked out.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

https://www.quitmanwomansclub.org/local-...mans-club/

[RJNorton]

This year Danny gave his second talk to the Quitman Woman’s Club. His topic was Jefferson Davis.

https://www.quitmanwomansclub.org/local-...mans-club/

Thank you to Danny for sending the text of his lecture:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lecture on Jefferson Davis

Presented to the Quitman Woman’s Club

By Danny West

October 3, 2019

My name is Danny West & some of you may recall that I spoke at your September meeting of 2018. You may or may not remember that I spoke on the history of Clarke County & how our county and county seat acquired their name. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you & for the gracious hospitality you extended to my wife & myself last year & for today. I especially want to thank MS Harriett McCann for her friendliness & being a wonderful host. I still hope to acquire her shrimp salad recipe. I am thirty-one-year teaching veteran now retired with a Masters Degree in Social Studies. I am a lifelong history buff. I would like to give credit to two people, one past & one current. Mrs. Donna Dabbs who taught me in the eighth & ninth grade at Clarke Academy instilled in me a great love of history. She just had that special knack of including information not found in the textbook. To this day she is the best history teacher I had. That also includes professors I had at Mississippi State such as distinguished Civil War historian John F. Marszalek who was responsible for getting the U S Grant Presidential Library to locate at Starkville. I also took a course under Douglas MacArthur historian D. Clayton James. Another person I want to mention is MS. Amanda Redmond, formerly of the Mississippi Library Commission. She has since moved back to her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio where she works at the MidPointe Library System as a collections librarian. She was invaluable in locating sources & since moving she told me which reference librarians at MLC would be helpful. At the moment I have her working on a missing person case of a person who disappeared from Zanesville. Ohio. I also had the honor & privilege of talking to Mr. Bertram Hayes Davis who is the great- great grandson of Jefferson Davis. During our phone conversation we discussed topics such as the flag, the constitution & of course Jefferson Davis. Before I get to my topic, I want to make you aware of the history that is around us. Did you know that during WWII there was a practice bombing range below Pachuta ? Did you know that Paulding in Jasper county had a chance to be the state capital at one time if the citizens had voted for the railroad to come through? Also, the Trotter-Byrd house here in Quitman was spared from burning by Sherman during the Civil War because the person living there was a direct descendant of George Washington. Ok, now to my topic.

Jefferson Davis Facts

1. Jefferson Finis Davis was born June 3, 1808 in Fairview, Kentucky. Born within a hundred miles on February 12, 1809 at Hodgenville, Kentucky was Abraham Lincoln. Within the first two years of Davis’ birth the family moved twice. Samuel & Jane Davis first moved their family to Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana. Then within a year another move happened, this time to Wilkinson County, MS. The county tax rolls placed them there in 1810.

2. Samuel Davis wanted a quality education for his son, so it was decided to send him back to Kentucky to St. Thomas Catholic school. The trip was made in the company of Major Thomas Hinds, whom Hinds County, Mississippi is named for. When the party made a stop in Nashville, young Davis met Andrew Jackson. After two years at St. Thomas Davis returned to Mississippi. He then attended Jefferson College in Washington close to Natchez. Davis questioned the value of education so his father put him to work picking cotton. Davis soon realized that education was the lesser of two evils. Once again, Davis made the trip back to Kentucky. This time he would attend Transylvania University.

3. In 1824 an event happened that would affect him horribly. His father Samuel died which left Joseph acting as his surrogate father.

4. Joseph acquired an appointment for Jefferson to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Davis entered West Point in the fall of 1824. Future Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston also attended West Point at this time being two years ahead of Davis. They knew each other from Transylvania University.

5. Eggnog Riot- While at West Point Davis was implicated but not charged in this event. What happened is that a few days before Christmas 1826 a large quantity of alcohol was smuggled into the barracks from a local tavern. Academy investigations implicated 70 cadets with 20 being court-martial. Davis was not charged but one cadet who was expelled was Mississippian Benjamin G. Humphreys who became a general in the Civil War and after the war became governor.

6. Davis gradated 23rd out of a class of 33. Cadets who graduated in the lower half were assigned to the infantry. Davis was assigned to a regiment in the Michigan Territory. Zachary Taylor. a future president, was in command. Soon, came the Black Hawk War in 1832. Black Hawk was a Sauk leader who led raids against the Americans. With the Native Americans being defeated, Taylor assigned Davis the task of escorting Black Hawk to prison to serve a one year sentence. Black Hawk later spoke of the young was chief as being very kind to him & keeping him from being viewed by curiosity seekers. An interesting side note to this brief war is that Abraham Lincoln also served. However, there is no record that he & Davis ever met.

7. Davis fell in love with Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of General Taylor, who refused for Davis to marry because of the hard life of a military man. Davis liked the military life, but loved Sarah even more. He resigned his commission and they were wed on June 17, 1835. Joseph Davis had acquired Brierfield Plantation just south of Vicksburg. He was going to allow Jefferson to use the plantation as his own. But, Jefferson & Sarah both contracted either malaria or yellow fever. Sarah died at the age of 21 after only three months of marriage. For several years Davis spent time in developing his plantation.

8. In 1840, Davis made his first journey into politics. He lost his first election as a Democratic candidate for the state House of representatives. In 1851 he ran for governor but lost.

9. In 1845, Davis married Varina Banks Howell of Natchez. She was educated in Philadelphia. She was 18 years old while Davis was 35. They would have six children.

10. In 1846 the Mexican War started & Davis would server as colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment. He was under the command of General Zachary Taylor. After several victories, many of Taylor’s troops were sent to Winfield Scott’s army for an invasion of Mexico from Vera Cruz. With a now depleted force of 4,650 troops Taylor learned that a Mexican force of 15.000 led by General Santa Anna was headed his way. At Buena Vista he positioned his troops in a narrow mountain pass. Colonel Davis aligned his troops in a V formation. This proved devasting to the Mexican Calvary as a deadly cross fire decimated their ranks. This made Colonel Davis as well as General Taylor heroes.

11. After the war Davis returned to Mississippi, & filled a vacancy in the US Senate. He then resigned his position to run for governor but, lost to Henry Stuart Foote. He returned to his Brierfield plantation until an old friend came calling. President-elect Franklin Pierce asked Davis to head the War Department.

12. As Secretary of War, Davis was assigned & accomplished many tasks. He was responsible for surveying the southern part of the United States for a railroad to reach the Pacific Ocean. He introduced the use of camels to be used out West in the Indian Wars. He started on the completion of the Capitol Dome. He expanded the curriculum at West Point. He enlarged the Army & got better pay for the soldiers. He was responsible for bringing fresh water to Washington through the use of a conduit pipe, He was tasked with the removal of the Seminole Indians from Florida. He was responsible with many other tasks and built up an impressive resume as Secretary of War as his office was highly productive.

13. After his term was completed, he was once again elected as senator. Too numerous to list he introduced much legislation. With Mississippi’s secession from the Union on January 9, 1861, Davis in one of the most dramatic speeches in the Senate chambers resigned as senator on January 21.

14. Davis was home at Brierfield Plantation when news came from Montgomery, Alabama of his selection as the president of the newly created Confederate States of America. Davis had hoped for a military assignment but, this call to duty led him to accept this role as president. Afterwards, when Virginia seceded the capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia.

15. Davis received congratulatory wishes from numerous people & from officers looking for military appointments. The most pressing problems for the moment were two forts with
Federal garrisons in the South. These were Fort Sumter in South Carolina & Fort Pickens in Florida. Many historians agree that Lincoln precipitated the war by supplying Fort Sumter without informing the South. After Fort Sumter fell the war now was in full motion.

16. Davis made many military decisions on his own but, he did respect General Robert E. Lee’s advice. The Confederacy won several battles early in the war as they had capable officers. In 1863, the loss at Gettysburg and surrender of Vicksburg took a turn for the worst for the South. The war became one of attrition as the North could replace their loss of manpower & the South could not. In 1864, the loss of Atlanta made thing worse. General Lee held out for as long as he could with dwindling numbers. On April 2. 1865 while President Davis was in Church a courier arrived with a note from General Lee saying he could hold his position no longer.

17. The Army evacuated Richmond that night as President Davis set about getting his government to move. General Lee surrendered on April 9 as President Davis and his cabinet made their way South. When they reached Washington, Georgia the Confederate government was officially dissolved on May 5. Davis continued west with a military escort.

18. He was captured by Union forces on May 10 at Irwinville, Georgia. Here is where I would like to clear up a myth. It was always rumored that President Davis was captured wearing a dress of his wife. This was blown out of proportion by the Northern media. He had simply grabbed a shawl of his wife as it was cool & rainy that day.

19. He was indicted for treason & in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. He was sent to Fort Monroe in Virginia in which he stayed for two years. He suffered from illness while there. He was visited by his former brother in law Confederate General Richard Taylor, son of former general & president Zachary Taylor. Also, his friend former president Franklin Pierce visited him. His wife & children eventually were given quarters at the fort. The North really had no case & was never brought to trial. He was granted bail which was paid by prominent citizens such as Horace Greeley & Cornelius Vanderbilt.

20. Davis traveled to Canada & Europe seeking employment. Upon his return to the States he was involved in several business adventures, none being , successful. In 1877. Sarah Dorsey, whom Davis & Varina had known since childhood invited Davis to Beauvoir to write his memoirs. Davis eventually purchased Beauvoir from Dorsey because she was near death. He would write The Rise & Fall of the Confederate Government in 1881.

21. Davis gave his last speech at Mississippi City in 1888 in which he called for a reunited country.

22. Davis died in New Orleans on December 6, 1889 & was buried at Metairie Cemetery. In 1893 he was reinterred in Richmond, Virginia at Hollywood Cemetery. At his burial in New Orleans one of the largest crowds ever in the South gathered for the funeral. When his body was moved to Richmond the funeral train made several stops and large crows gathered to show their respect.

23. On Christmas Day, 1868 President Andrew Johnson issued his blanket pardon in Proclamation 179 which pardoned all who had taken part in the rebellion against the United States. However, Davis was not given his citizenship back. This happened in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter. One of the main senators who voted for his citizenship to be restored was Joe Biden. Yes, that Joe Biden.

24. Now to the 64K question (anyone know the origin of this? Don’t worry I’ll tell you) Did Davis & Southerners commit treason? Yes & No! The Constitution is kind of vague on it because you have the 10th Amendment- State Rights and once the states succeeded, they lost citizenship. So, really, it’s a matter of interpretation. I read were a historian said it’s a thin line between a patriot & a traitor. You had Johnson’s proclamation which basically said they did. Then again, Abraham Lincoln was favoring gentle treatment to let the South back in as if they never left.

25. If you have noticed I never mentioned Davis views on slavery. You can surf the net & read books on this. As everything is in history it’s a matter of debate. I get so aggravated when people say the war was over slavery. I have seen two different figures on this. You can choose which one in that 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 15 Southerners actually owned slaves, So, what were the other 9 or 14 fighting for. This can be debated forever. Also, the term Civil War is a misnomer in that the South was not trying to take over the country but, to form a separate country. The War Between the States is a more appropriate name. Nevertheless, the CW is embedded in the Southern culture whether we admit it or not. To paraphrase William Faulkner from his book Intruder in the Dust: For the South it will always be July 3, 1863 at 2 o’clock in the evening (which was the time for Pickett’s charge).

26. I do not want you to think I am ignorant but, I have taken the liberty to use MLA, APA. Chicago Style & a lot of Danny West in writing this lecture. I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to you on a great Mississippian. I hope you enjoyed it as well & to do further research on your own.

Sources
Jefferson Davis, American by William Cooper
Jefferson Davis by Clement Eaton
Jefferson Davis: The Man & His Hour by William C. Davis
Mississippi History Now -Jefferson Davis
Mississippi History Now- Mississippi & the U.S. -Mexican War. 1846-1848
Phone Interview with Bertram Hayes Davis – September 18, 2019
Wikipedia
Various internet Articles on Jefferson Davis, The Black Hawk War, The Mexican War, The Constitution & Treason- etc.