The Tupelo journal., 1912-06-28
Historic Spots in Mississippi.

A. r.. Columbus, Miss
The valley OF the Mississippi and
westward is Americas land Of poetry
and romance. and fancy runs riot in
contemplating those far away days,
enveloped in the mist of time and made
beautiful by the glamour Of distance.
To tell Of De Soto. La Sale. De Tonti,
D'Iberville and Of other valiant cava-
Tiers o f'Ffance and Spain would be de-
lightful, but this is not q fitting &C.
casion, and we come down from the
dizzy heights of the imagination to the
prosaic task Of cataloguing some Of
the historic spots in our State that are
especially worthy of commemoration.
In this enumeration we would not, as
Daughters of the American Revolution.
trench upon the provinces Of u sister
organizations. the Colonial Danes and
Daughters of the Confederacy; to the
latter belongs the honor of making the
battlefields of glory, made sacred by
the blood of our heroes, and to the
former, the earlier historic spots.
As is well-known, the history OF
Mississippi begins with the wanderings
within it's boundaries of fernando De
Soto and his adventurous Spaniards in
l540-41. Accounts of this expedition
are preserved in the Spanish archives
and through them we learn that seek
ing for the mythical Eldorado, these
daring men crossed the Tombigbee
River. The many Spanish relics of the
period, found both at Plymouth, near
Columbus, and Cotton Gin Port, at the
head of navigation, indicate the cross
ing was at one of these points. The
Duke of Alvas, a companion of De
Soto, chronicles the battle of Chicaca
(near Pontotoc) and also the battle OF
Alabama on the Tallahatchie River.
near the present site of New Albany,
between the. Spaniards and the fierce
Chickasaw Indians. He tells of their
reaching the mighty river, of which
they had heard and called ''El Rio del
Espiritu Santo," but subsequently
named .'Rio Grande Florida" by which
the Mississippi was known for a hun
dred and thirty years. Before lost in
oblivion these earliest historic spots
should be marked.
The first white settlement within our
present territory was established in
1899 at Old Biloxi. for the protection
of which D'Iberville erected Fort de
Maurepas, a point which we should
consider, as we'll as Fort Resale
afterwards Fcrt Panmure) at Match
ez, built by Bienville in 1716. Other
forts Of Importance in the early settle
ment Of the country were Fort Nogales,
paaxs Nicksburg. built in 1890; Fort
Adams On LOTUS Heights; Fort St.
Stephens on the lower Tombigbee, and
Fort Mimms, the scence of a treacher-
GUS massacre of the whites in 1913 by
the Indians.
Three miles northwest of Tupelo is
the site of the battle of Ackia, fought
in 1853 between the English and
Chickasaws, and the French and Choc-
taws under Bienville. Old residents of
Tupelo hold many antique relics gather
ed from this battlefield.
1t might be well to mark the
authenticated place where Tecumseh
and his twenty Shawnee braves held a
council of wal with the Choctaws Of
this section, in thich the latter avowed
friendship to the white and discouraged
Tecumseh's fierce vengence.
An important historic spot is at the
mouth of Bayou Pierre, where on
February %, 1897. within a fortnight
of the end of Washington's administra-
tion, the "Stars and Stripes" were
planted by Andrew Ellicott in spite of
the angry protest of Governor Gayoso.
Certain treaty places, from their
connection with important events in the
history of the State, might be consider
ed worthy of markers. The Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek" by which
the Choctaw Indians coded the residue
of their lands to the Government; the
Treaty of Doak's Stand" consum-
mating an exchange of lands between
the United States and the Choctaws,
and the Treaty of Chickasaw Council
House," whereby the Chickasaws al
lowed the cutting of public highways
through their territory. These adjuncts
to the opening up of the wilds of Miss
should not be forgotten. The
of the American Revolution
Of the State have already begun mark
ing the old Natchez Trace and later
will turn their attention to Gaines
Trace and Military road.
There is something peculiarly pathetic
an extinct town, and quite q number
Of these in Mississippi have been tabu-
lated by Professor Riley. Among them
may be mentined Old Biloxi, where