William Charles Cole ClaiborneJanuary 1802 - March 1802Note: The documents are sometimes out of chronological order because they may be enclosures with letters to Federal officials in Washington or are letters from the Federal government which take perhaps a month to be delivered. |
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Friday |
Wm.C.C.C. | James Madison |
The territorial legislature has been in session since December 19th and progresses slowly. The judiciary is the lone complaint of the people at this time. Chief Justice Lewis is a man of talent, but his colleagues Tilton and Bruin, though amiable, are not knowledgeable about law. The legislature is considering laws to relieve the question of anti-dated grants to Spanish favorites. He hears news of a peace signed between France and England (October 1, 1801, but it does not last.) |
Friday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Lewis Evans | The governor removes Evans from the office of Sheriff of Adams County and replaces him with David Ker. |
Monday |
Wm.C.C.C. | William Vousdon | Vousdon has declined to serve as Attorney General, he has been ill. The governor has appointed Abner Green as Treasurer General. |
Wednesday |
Wm.C.C.C. | James Madison | Mr. Harding, the new Attorney General has some interesting facts about claims for land. The peace in Europe has lessened the price of all exports in New Orleans except cotton. Two days ago word came that an embargo on American ships is about to be laid on New Orleans. Madison had not written to Claiborne since his arrival in Natchez. |
Thursday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Thomas Jefferson | W.C.C.C. forwards an address from the House of Representatives of the territory, praising the United States. |
Saturday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Madison |
Jefferson's message opening Congress has reached Natchez. The territorial legislature is still in session but should end soon. Most of the laws of the previous administration have been repealed and the replacement laws are no doubt also imperfect. A law to prohibit importation of slaves above 15 years of age passed the House but the Council rejected it. Cotton crops in the territory are so lucrative that the common black slave will generally bring $500 and Claiborne believes that the territory will soon be over run by the most abandoned of that unfortunate race. He is trying to raise a militia with little luck. |
Monday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Bernard Lintot | Lintot resigns as Secretary of Adams County, Mississippi Territory and is replaced by John Henderson. |
Tuesday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Madison |
Encloses a letter he sent January 18 to General Wilkinson and Wilkinson's answer. Wilkinson is also in Natchez. Claiborne has asked that an arsenal be built to allow the militia access to arms . He is concerned that being surrounded by Indian tribes and with a population of Blacks equal to the Whites, there must be a store of arms near Natchez that they can rely upon. The Territorial Legislature has ended its session on the 2nd of February. There are not too many acts, but the lack of a good printer will delay their printing. The only printer is a novice, it may take months. A dispute exists between the two houses of the legislature over Judge Lewis. Ex-governor Sargent returns, but retires to his farm and has not attempted to embarrass the present administration. Claiborne asks that Madison send him newspapers from time to time, as his subscription is often lost in the long passage to the territory. |
Tuesday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Wilkinson | Claiborne asks the General to build a small blockhouse closer to the center of population and place a small guard there. |
Tuesday |
Wilkinson | Wm.C.C.C. |
The general agrees that a stand of perhaps 300 arms be established for public safety at the center of population in the territory. This correspondence will lead ot the establishment of Fort Dearborn at the town of Washington about six miles east of Natchez. |
Sunday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Governor Salcedo of Louisiana | Claiborne learns of a robbery of American citizens on the Mississippi and wants to inform the Governor-General of Louisiana that it has occurred in Spanish jurisdiction. Claiborne has ordered troops at the lower Chickasaw Bluffs to arrest the pirates or felons if they are found on American soil and asks the governor to do the same if they are on the Mississippi or Arkansas Rivers. |
Sunday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Richard Sparks | This letter to the commanding officer at Fort Pickering, Chickasaw Bluffs alerts him to the act of piracy and encloses a list of articles stolen, in case the pirates show up at the post. |
Saturday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Madison |
Begins by complaining that he has heard nothing from the State Department and does not know if his dispatches have been received. An election for the legislature is to be held in July and already rivals for the offices are creating parties. Most of the inhabitants are Americans with a variety of political influences that reflect their originations such as Kentucky or Tennessee. Some others favor monarchy. Several families have recently emigrated to Louisiana. Word is that land is easy to obtain there and subjects of Spain are exempt from taxes. |
Saturday |
Petition | Wm.C.C.C. | Some of the citizens of the territory plea for the pardon of George Rapalge who has been convicted of manslaughter by the Territorial Supreme Court but remains at large. Claiborne will tell the petitioner that Rapalge cannot be pardoned until he turns himself in and the governor can hear his case. |
Saturday |
Wm.C.C.C. | James Farrell | Claiborne tells the printer to publish the territorial laws as quickly as possible and offers any help that could possibly speed the task along. |
Sunday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Henry Hunter | A group of citizens in Pinckneyville wants to form a Militia company, but Claiborne says the law does not yet allow him to form one there. He appoints a commission of John Ellis and Capt. Richard Butler of the Wilkinson Militia to begin discourse on possible officers for militia in various counties. |
Friday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Address | A speech outlining the importance of a strong militia to the free men of Mississippi Territory. He rallies the citizens around the recently passed Militia Laws of the territory. |
Saturday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Audit | Assisted by the Treasurer General the governor examines the accounts of Bernard Lintot Esquire, late treasurer of Adams County and found them to be regularly kept. |
Sunday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Lyman Harding | Mr. Harding, the former Attorney General must pay to the Clerk of Court amounts paid to him by Mr. Farrar, Mr. Conner and other persons. Only after this money has been paid will the governor examine his claims against the territory. |
Wednesday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Madison | Claiborne continues to have difficulties organizing the militia and still believes that the construction of an arsenal near Washington is a good idea. Party divisions are stirring the public as the election nears. He hopes for a return to calm after the election which is scheduled for the fourth Monday of July. The laws passed by the Legislature are still at the press; Col. Steele the secretary of the Territory has recovered his health. |
Saturday |
Wm.C.C.C. | John Duhamel | Claiborne signs a passport for John Duhamel so that he may pass by sea (and down the Mississippi) to Philadelphia unhindered. |
Wednesday |
Gov. B. Williams | Wm.C.C.C. | Received March 6. The Governor of North Carolina writes that Stockley Donelson and William Tyrrell have been indicted in his state for conspiracy, combination and confederacy against the state and are believed to be in the Mississippi Territory. |
Wednesday |
Wm.C.C.C. | Gov. B. Williams | In his answer to the Governor of North Carolina Claiborne states that Stockley Donelson has never been, to anyone's knowledge, in the Mississippi Territory and William Tyrrelle migrated to Pensacola two years ago. |
Monday |
Wm.C.C.C. | John Henderson | Israel Waters, a black man has registered his certificate or evidence of his freedom at the Recorder's Office. Desiring to leave the territory and having lost the original he wishes an attested copy from the Record. Henderson is former Recorder of Adams County and should surrender the books to Mr. Walker, his replacement. |
Thursday |
Wm.C.C.C. | John McKee | A slave belonging to George Fitzgerald was murdered March 14 and Choctaw Indians are indicated as the guilty party. Col. John McKee is the agent to the Choctaw Nation. |
| Governor Salcedo | Wm.C.C.C. |
Gov. Salcedo of Louisiana answers Claiborne's letter of February 10 which has asked for apprehension of river pirates. Governor Salcedo says that it is impossible to track down the vast uninhabited area of Upper Louisiana, but he has ordered the establishment of a new post at the mouth of the River St. Francis. He complains that the region is crawling with Americans who have introduced themselves to the area and for various reasons cannot return to the States and besides the Americans are not in the habit of issuing passports...
Claiborne's answer is that the existing treaty between the two nations is enough to serve as a passport but he is sorry that citizens of the United States who trade in his province should prove inconvenient or troublesome. |
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