Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-09-26

A Few historical Facts About the
Hun. 4r

New York and George washington bid
farewell to the army Of the Republic,
General Gayoso. the Spanish Governor
Of Louisians, In order to Illustrate the
designs Of the French, put their idea into
execution. and built q fort at the mouth
Of Wolf river. He remained here until
1903, six years before the frst steamboat
was launched on the St. Lawrence, when
the Emperor Napoleon extorted the ces-
sion Of Louisiana from Spain, and sold
that rich country to the United States for
Sll. 25O.00 Six weeks after the ratti-
cation of the treaty Of Iidefouso, Fort
St. Fernando, on the east bank OF
Neshoba, was evacuated by the
Spaniards. General Gayoso moved
across the Mississippi and established
Camp temperance on the ground now
occupied by the ruins of Hopefeld Gen.
Pike soon after occupied the fort at the
mouth Of Wolf. he was the first Amer
lean officer who held command on the
Bluff. Several have succeeded him, bat
none more patriotic or brave. The bayou
is called after the Spanish General, and
street commentaries the name Of the
first white man who looked upon the
muddy waters Of the Mississippi from the
Mound; but the title of no object brings
to mind the name Of the explorer who
first Built log-cabin under the bill, or
of the soldier who first hung out the flag
Of the Republic over the cliff, ~
About 1884, tbirty-6ve years after the
formation Of the Ohio Company by Lon
don merchants and Virginia planters, the
United States granted John Rice five
hundred acres of land in the territory Of
Tennessee. This grant took in the Bluff,
and Rice therefore became its first pro-
prietor. Before his death he devised the
property to his son, Elijah, who sold it to
Judge Overton. Like La Sale and Pike,
the frst owner of the Bluff has been neg.
lected by the "City Fathers" If his
tomb records his virtues, not street in
the city bears his name. e.
In 1906, about the time Of the publica-
ton of the French DEGREES" and year
before the issuance Of the Orders in
Council by Great Britain, Gen. Wilkin-
son, to ba fie the aims of Aaron Burr, who
contemplated Seizure of New Orleans
by way of the Mississippi, ordered the
destruction of Fort St. Fernando, and
the erection of new work near the
Mound, which he called Pickering, in
honor of the then Secretary Of
State. Notwithstanding the vigilance
of the General, Aaron passed
down the river the following year,
accomplishing nothing in his expedition
save his own capture and trial for trea-
son. Through flaw in the law" or,
as some ray, "quibble of the Judges"
he was acquitted of an attempt to "sep-
arste the States" after which he went
to Europe and died in exile. At the
time North Carolina ceded the Territory
of Tennessee to the United States Fort
Pickering was fourishing; but when
this State was admitted into the Union,
in 1876, the old fort was abandoned, and
the ground wherein it stood not used for
military purpose until 1862, when
Sherman inclosed it with breastwork
stretching in a zig-zsg line from Tennes.
see street to the Mound. That huge
mudbank still remains as a monument OF
the "late unpleasantness."
In 1919 Gen. jackson and Gen. Win
chester purchased part Of Judge Over
toms property, and became interested in
founding city on the Bluff. They went
to work and employed civil engineer,
who, in 1920, produced a map of dark
spots which he had the hardihood to call
a plan of the town." The limits of this
"town" stretched southwark from the
mouth of Wolf river to Towards Row,
aud eastward from the middle of the Mis-
sissipp to Third street. The space front
ing the river was marked Public Prom
enade," and that east Of it " Mississippi
Row." At the foot of Jackson street was
the Public Landing where the mer'
chandise of the new settlers was landed
aud the trade of the town" carried on.
This was MEMPHIS, called after metrop'
oils of the Pharoahs, on the banks of the
Nile, in the pslmy days of Egypt, stand
ing forty-six feet above the highest water
mark of the Mississippi, distant from St
Louis, Ly river, four hundred and twenty
miles, from the month Of the Ohio two
hundred and seventy miles, and from
New Orleans seven hundred and fifty
miles; by land, four hundred and fifty
miles from Cincinnati, and two hundred
and nine miles from Nashville. 3
No better spot could have been selected
for city. With en- inland ocean flowing
before it, carrying down the grain and
manufactures of the rich Northwest, and
bringing up the long priced staples ofthe
sunny South; with the old Crescent
City, far away on its left, and the young
"Queen City, far svay on its right; with
productive loylands in fropt and nsgni6-
cent highlands in the rear; it has all the
advantages the God of Nature bestOws on
the habitations of men. Only the hand