130 MISSISSIPPI FACTS
"It is by knowing where you stand that you grow able to judge where you are... one place comprehended can make us understand other places better."
Eudora Welty
Did you know...
51. The Federal Building in Jackson was the first federal building in the U.S. to be named for an African-American. Dr. A. H. McCoy was a prominent dentist and business leader.
52. Mississippi University for Women graduate, Ms. Neill James, of Meridian, authored The Petticoat Vagabond, and also introduced the silk industry to Ajijic, Mexico. In 1983 she was inducted into The International Who's Who of Intellectuals in Cambridge, England.
53. Famed hat maker, John B. Stetson, practiced his trade at Dunn's Falls, near Meridian, after the Civil War. One of his creation has since become a favorite choice among men's hats and is known throughout the world simply as "The Stetson. "
54. The Union gunboat, the U.S.S. Cairo (pronounced Kay-ro) was struck by a Confederate torpedo in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862, just north of Vicksburg. The 175 foot iron clad vessel was the first ship in history to be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo. All 160 men on board escaped injury because it took the Cairo about 12 minutes to sink and also because it was close to the river bank. The Cairo has in recent years been resurrected from its watery grave and is now on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park.
55. "The drums of Champion's Hill sounded the doom of Richmond, " said one noted English historian of the Battle of Champion's Hill. According to many soldiers and military historians it was the most decisive battle of the entire Civil War. Each Spring this crucial battle is reenacted near the small town of Edwards on the actual battle site, a seventy-foot ridge named for the Champion family plantation which stood nearby.
56. The oldest field game in America is Stickball, played by the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi. Stickball is a rough game played on a large field with goalposts (precursors of modern-day football goals). Lively demonstrations of this sport can be seen each year at the Choctaw Indian Fair, a week-long event held in July on the Choctaw Indian Reservation in Philadelphia.
57. 1870 was the year of the famous riverboat race between the Robert E. Lee I and the Natchez VI. The race was won by the Robert E. Lee I and the traditional trophy awarded was a huge set of golden elk antlers, which are now on display at the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg.
58. The Marathon "Gorilla " is the world's largest and heaviest mobile off-shore jack up (self- elevating) oil rig. This colossal rig, built in Vicksburg by Marathon LeTourneau Company, stands over 600 feet tall and weighs approximately 38 million pounds. The monstrous drilling platform moves across land at a snail's pace of 100 feet per day.
59. On May 11, 1887, a most unexpected object fell from the sky during a severe hail storm near Bovina. The unusual object proved to be a 6-inch by 8-inch gopher turtle completely encased in ice.
60. In 1872, a 180 foot paddle wheeler, Iron Mountain, left Vicksburg, bound for New Orleans with 55 passengers and crew on board. The boat was laden with a cargo of molasses and towing several barges of cotton. Two hours after the Iron Mountain left Vicksburg, another steamer, the Iroquois Chief, almost collided with a string of runaway cotton barges. The Iron Mountain had simply vanished, leaving no trace of debris or survivors. A search was mounted but no sign of the Iron Mountain was ever found.
61. The last man to fight Rocky Marciano, World Heavyweight Champion from 1952-1956, was Archie Moore from Benoit, Mississippi. Though Archie Moore lost to Rocky, he did hold the Light-heavyweight title from 1952-1960.
62. Henry Armstrong, of Columbus, held the World Champion Featherweight title in 1937, the World Lightweight title in 1938 and the World Welterweight title during the years 1938-1940.
63. Riley B. King, the blues singer and guitarist who was born in Mississippi near Itta Bena on September 16, 1925, no longer uses his real name but goes by B.B. King. This is the shortened form of Blues Boy from Beale Street, a nickname earned during his early days after World War II while working as a disc jockey at radio station WDLA, in Memphis, Tennessee. Charles Sawyer, author of B. B. King - The Authorized Biography, said B.B. named his guitar "Lucille" after an incident which took place in Twist, Arkansas, in 1949. The story goes something like this:
It seems that a fight broke out between rivals over a lady named Lucille. In the melee a kerosene heater was turned over, setting the dance hall on fire. B.B. fled with the rest of the crowd, but realizing he had left his guitar behind he impulsively rushed back inside, snatched up the guitar on the run and escaped the fire a second time. The rest is music history. The Blues legend with his famous guitar went on to start his own brand of fire. Its flames are still spreading and burning brighter than ever.
64. Fred Grant the teenage son of General U.S. Grant, accompanied his father on the Vicksburg campaign during the Civil War. While in Jackson, to watch the raising of the U.S. flag over the dome of the state capitol building, the young man removed (we wouldn't want to accuse the General's son of stealing) a smoking pipe from the governor's office as a souvenir.
65. In the Civil War section of the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson, is an authentic General William T. Sherman necktie. Such an example of a Sherman necktie is quite rare. What is a Sherman necktie? An iron rail heated over a fire and bent around a tree. This was the method Sherman used to render the railway system in the South useless. This twisted rail was found buried in a muddy bank of the Pearl River, just a few hundred yards from the museum where it is now housed; the same museum that is bordered on its eastern side by the tracks Sherman uprooted on his destructive sweep of the South.
66. Many years ago there was an old woman living in seclusion along the banks of the Yazoo River. Yazoo means river of death in the Choctaw Indian language. Everyone believed her to be a witch and the good folk of Yazoo City loathed her, for it was rumored that on stormy nights she lured fishermen into her hut, poisoned them and buried their bodies in a densely wooded hillside, nearby. The story goes something like this:
In 1884, Joe Bob Duggett was gliding past her hut on a river raft and heard an ungodly moaning coming from inside. Very carefully he approached the dwelling and through the window spied her cavorting around the bodies of two men. Joe Bob raced off to town and with the sheriff returned a short time later. Confronted, the old woman ran into the swamp and was pursued by the men who found her trapped in quicksand. "I shall return, " she shouted her warning. "You people never liked me here. I will break out of my grave and burn down the town on May 24, 1904, " And with a gurgle and a retch she sank beneath the muck and mire.
Twenty years later, in 1904, her curse was realized when a fire occurred and almost completely consumed the town. The next day a group of citizens, remembering the witch, visited her grave in Glenwood Cemetery and found, to their astonishment, that a heavy chain that had been wrapped tightly around the crypt as a precaution twenty years earlier, had been snapped as if by some supernatural force. Many believed that the Witch of Yazoo had, as promised, returned to wreak vengeance on the townspeople. The story is recounted in detail by writer Willie Morris in his book titled Good Old Boy.
67. Leontyne Price, of Laurel was the first African-American to achieve international stardom in the field of opera. Ms. Price was with the New York Metropolitan Opera and gave her last performance on January 3, 1985, in the role of Aida.
68. In 1882, the world's first heavyweight championship fight took place in Mississippi City, and was won by John L. Sullivan. On July 8, 1889, Sullivan and Jake Kilrain fought a heavyweight championship fight in the small community of Richburg, that lasted 75 rounds. Again, Sullivan was the victor. This was the last sanctioned bare-knuckle fight in America. A monument has been erected to commemorate the event in the nearby town of Purvis, just south of Hattiesburg.
69. The University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg, houses the de Grummond Exhibit, which is the World's largest collection of original manuscripts and illustrations of children's literature.
70. Alcorn State University, in Jefferson County, is the world's oldest land grant college for African-Americans.
71. The International Checker Hall Of Fame is located in Petal, Mississippi.
72. Windsor, circa 1860, near Port Gibson, was the largest antebellum mansion ever built in Mississippi. Because of its immense size, this stately home was often incorrectly referred to as a college by Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, as he piloted riverboats up and down the Mississippi River. The mansion's cupola served as a lookout post for both Union and Confederate patrols, and the mansion was used as a Union hospital. Windsor survived the destruction of the Civil War, only to burn in 1890, at the hands of a careless smoker.
The haunting Ruins of Windsor, with its 23 remaining monolithic columns, has been filmed extensively and was the site of filming the major motion picture, RAINTREE COUNTY, staring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff.
73. Longwood, circa 1858-61, in Natchez, is the largest remaining octagonal house in the United States. It is a superb example of the mid-19th century Moorish style, and was designed by noted Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan, for the Dr. Haller Nutt family. When the first shots of the Civil War rang out at Fort Sumter, all work on Longwood ceased leaving much of the interior of the upper floors unfinished. Dr. Nutt's own northern sympathies failed to protect him when Yankee troops destroyed his vast holdings in Louisiana, valued at more than 3 million dollars.
His wealth greatly diminished, the Doctor raced to Vicksburg in a vain attempt to protest to General Grant, but encountered bad weather and was forced to return to Longwood. Due to prolonged exposure to the elements, he contracted pneumonia and died broken hearted and dispirited. Many claim that his ghost and that of his wife, Julia, continue to linger about the property where they may be seen in the twilight of late evening.
Longwood remains unfinished today, which only lends to its mysterious charm. A visit will take you through the first level rooms, so elegantly furnished, and through the corridors of this most unusual house where you will find the workmen's tools left where they fell, abandoned in their haste to return home to fight for their own cause.
74. Natchez was first settled by the French in 1716, two years before New Orleans, Louisiana. This makes it the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River. The grand old river city once boasted over 500 millionaires, more than any other city in the United States, except New York, and today its streets are graced by more than 600 pre-Civil War structures, the largest in the country. Over 1,000 buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. Each year historic homes and churches are opened for touring during Spring and Fall Pilgrimages with many remaining open to the public year-round.
75. Historic Jefferson College, circa 1802, was the first preparatory school established in the Mississippi Territory. Located in the small town of Washington, which was once the territorial capital of Mississippi, this historic college was also the site where Aaron Burr was arraigned for treason in 1807, beneath the wide spread branches of what has come to be called the "Burr Oaks. " Jefferson College also appeared in the movie based on John Jakes novel, North and South, all dressed up to resemble West Point National Military Academy.
76. The DEVILS PUNCHBOWL, located near Natchez, is one of nature's freak occurrences. It is a gigantic, semi-circular pit, somewhat cone-shaped. Connected with this uncanny spot are countless stories of river pirates, runaway slaves, buried treasures, and other involvements with adventure and romance.
77. Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, in Natchez, is a National Historic Landmark. Between 1682 and 1729 the area served as the center of activities for the Natchez Indians. In 1730, the Natchez Indians attacked Fort Rosalie, in Natchez, killing the French settlers. In retaliation, the French attacked the Natchez Indians. Some managed to escape the slaughter and were absorbed by other tribes of the region. According to A History of Mississippi, by Robert Lowery, the Natchez Indian nation was one of Mississippi's early tribes, that could be traced to Mexico where they aided Cortez in the conquest of the country and the overthrow of Montezuma. Mr. Lowery contends that, "the Natchez Indians were of a light mahogany complexion, with jet black hair and eyes; their expression was intelligent, open and noble.... they were tall in statue, very few being under six foot. " To learn more about the Natchez Indians, click here.
78. Emerald Mound, Natchez Trace Parkway, northeast of Natchez, is the second largest Indian mound in the U.S. and was built between 1250-1600 A.D. by ancestors of the Natchez Indians. The ceremonial mound covers 8 acres, measures 770 feet by 435 feet at its base and stands 35 feet high. The builders were far from primitive and lived within a complex, high level social and political organization. They were skillful farmers and produced pottery, tools, weapons, cloth and leather.
79. Natchez-Under-The-Hill was called Natchez Landing at the turn of the nineteenth century. It was during this time that it began to acquire an infamous reputation as the most notorious spot on the Mississippi River. Above, on the hill, the wealthy of Natchez looked down on the rougher elements of river life that flowed in a steady stream as constant as the river itself. Here could be found the gaming halls and dens of vice where the lawless villainy gathered, as well as bustling wharves, bulging warehouses, shops and boisterous saloons.
Today, much of the area has been reclaimed by the river and all that remains is the ever busy Silver Street, where scenes were filmed for such movies as John Jakes, NORTH AND SOUTH, and most recently, Disney's HUCK FINN. Riverboat gaming has also returned to this historic district in the form of the luxurious Isle of Capri Casino, where Las Vegas style gambling can be enjoyed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
80. Springfield Plantation, circa 1786-91, near Fayette, just off the historic Natchez Trace Parkway, was the site of the first marriage between Andrew Jackson and Rachel Robards, in 1791. Springfield was one of the first houses in America built with a full colonnade across the entire front facade, and was the first such mansion to be built in the Mississippi Valley. Springfield remains almost entirely original and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nearby is the historic community of Church Hill, once called the Old Maryland Settlement. The Cedars, circa 1830, was the home of Josephine Balfour, author of several children's books, and was once owned by the handsome actor, George Hamilton.
81. The Old Spanish Fort, located in Pascagoula, was built between 1715 and 1726 and is the oldest edifice west of the Atlantic Coast. Originally, this historic structure was the carpentry shop of Joseph Simon de La Pointe.
82. The Singing River, in Pascagoula, murmurs a tragic tale of Indian lore. The Pascagoula Indians were a tribe of contented, idyllic people, whereas the Biloxi Indians considered themselves the 'first people, " and were jealous of the Pascagoula. Anola, a princess of the Biloxi tribe, was in love with Altama, chief of the Pascagoulas. She was betrothed to a chieftain of her own tribe, but fled with Altama to his people. Faced with enslavement by the Biloxi tribe, the Pascagoulas joined hands and began to chant a song of death as they walked into the river until the last voice was hushed by the dark, engulfing waters.
The Singing River is famous worldwide for the noise it makes, like a swarm of bees. The music, which grows nearer and louder until it seems to come from under foot, is best heard in the still of evening, during late summer and autumn. Various scientific explanations have been offered for the phenomenon, but none have been proven.
83. "The Mad Potter Of Biloxi," George Ohr, was a turn-of-the-century artist of abstract pottery. During his lifetime he was considered a lunatic by most residents of the Gulf Coast, but now his talent is recognized as genius by all who view his unusual designs. In reality, Ohr merely sought to bring attention to his art by pretending to be odd. Today, any one piece of his artwork can sell in auction houses for more than Ohr earned in his entire life.
84. Walter Anderson is another eccentric artist known worldwide for his unusual sculptures and paintings. Anderson shunned society and a conventional lifestyle to live in hermit-like seclusion, close to nature on tiny Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. After his death in 1965, hundreds of pieces of his unusual and distinctive works of art were discovered, some of which are on display at the Walter Anderson Museum located at 510 Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs.
85. In Natchez City Cemetery can be found the grave of Jose Vidal, governor of Natchez Spanish District in 1798 and the Spanish Consul; Issac Guion, commander of the U.S. Forces that took control of the Natchez Territory; General John A. Quitman, hero of the Mexican War and Governor of Mississippi; Captain T.P. Leathers, Captain of the steamboat NATCHEZ in the famous river race with the steamboat ROBERT E. LEE; William Johnson, a free African- American barber whose published antebellum diary is a unique account of the free African- American in the pre-Civil War South; General W.T. Martin, Mississippi's highest ranking Confederate officer.
86. William Grant Still, of Woodville, composed the Afro-American Symphony which was the first symphonic work by someone of his race to be performed in the U.S.
87. During the War of 1812, American gunboats engaged the British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, near Bay St. Louis. This proved to be the last battle to date between the U.S. Navy and a foreign foe in American waters.
88. Burnita Shelton Mathews, of Hazlehurst, was the first woman federal judge in the U.S. and served the district of Washington D.C.
89. Four miles south of Alcorn is the ghost town of Rodney,settled in 1722. History records that this once bustling river town was considered for the state's capital, boasted the state's first opera house, had over 35 stores and five thousand residents. Andrew Jackson visited Rodney often and Zachary Taylor was living there when notified of his presidency.
During the Civil War, the citizens invited some Union gunboat officials to church. When they accepted, Confederates captured them. The Union gunboat fired on the town, but soon withdrew when the Confederates threatened to hang their Yankee captives. A cannonball remains, to this day, lodged in the brick facade of the old Rodney Presbyterian Church as a reminder of this confrontation.
In 1870 the Mississippi River started changing course. Rodney gradually lost its importance as a river port, and by 1940 was three miles inland. Most of its population had moved away and it was soon a ghost town. To reach Rodney, travel west of Lorman on the backroads of Mississippi Highway 558.
90. Dizzy Dean, from Bond, was a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, former pitcher for St. Louis Cardinals, and a sports television commentator. Memorabilia from the Dizzy Dean Museum was recently incorporated into the Mississippi Sports Hall Of Fame, located on Lakeland Drive in Jackson.
91. The Mississippi Gulf Coast has long been one of the South's most popular seashore resort areas. The world's longest man-made beach averages 200 feet in width and stretches for 26 scenic miles along the Mississippi Coast past gracious homes, modern hotels, numerous fine restaurants, gaming casinos and fabulous resorts.
92. FRIENDSHIP OAK, in Long Beach, is a magnificent live oak tree more than 500 years old, which measures over 50 feet in height, has a circumference of 17 feet at the trunk, and limbs and foliage that form more than 16,000 feet of shelter. Brides have murmured their vows on the platform built within its sprawling limbs and it is said that those who meet beneath its shadow will remain friends forever. This legendary tree was a sapling when Columbus sailed into the Caribbean, and had begun to bear acorns when Ponce de Leon reached Florida in quest of the Fountain of Youth. Its massive limbs survived the fury of centuries of hurricanes and, if trees could talk it would speak volumes of the history it has witnessed.
93. On February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis, a former Senator from Warren County, was inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America. Rosemont, his boyhood home, was built in 1810 and is located in historic Woodville. On the grounds of Rosemont can be found the Davis family cemetery. Davis' last home was Beauvoir, located in Biloxi. Both homes are open to the public for touring. Beauvoir, circa 1852-54, houses a fine collection of Civil War/Jefferson Davis memorabilia and on the grounds is a cemetery and the tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier.
94. The first can of condensed milk was produced by Gail Borden in the small town of Liberty. His home is still standing. Nearby is the Jerry Clower Museum.
95. U.S. Highway 90, between Bay St. Louis and New Orleans, Louisiana, is known as the Praline Capital of the World. What is a praline? For a confectionery treat, try it yourself.
PRALINES (Praw-leans): 2 cups of sugar
1 cup of buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons clear Karo Syrup
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups pecans (puh-cahns)
Cream sugar, milk, soda, salt and Karo. Boil 5 minutes, stir often. Add butter and pecans. Stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool for 1 minute. Beat until creamy and drop by teaspoon onto wax paper. Let cool 1 hour before removing from paper. Store in a cool place.
96. The first nuclear submarine built in the South was produced in Mississippi.
97. The first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley was established at Ocean Springs in 1699, by Frenchman Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville.
98. In 1834, Captain Isaac Ross, whose plantation was in Lorman, freed his slaves and arranged for their passage to the west coast of Africa. There they founded the country of Liberia. Representatives from Liberia visited Lorman and placed a commemorative stone at the Captain's grave site to honor his kindness. In 1857 Rosswood Plantation, on the National Register of Historic Places, was built near the site where the Captain's home once stood. Today, instead of cotton, Christmas trees are grown and the home is a bed and breakfast inn. Featured are the slave quarters and a gift shop.
99. Dr. Charles Bryant, former president of Chamberlain Hunt Academy in Port Gibson, as an amateur archaeologist in the late 1960's, discovered the lost Biblical town of Trogylium on the eastern shore of the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea near the southern coastline of Turkey. This town, which appeared for so long to be lost, was deleted from the newer Bible translations but can still be found in the King James Version where it was visited by Paul in Acts 20:15.
100. Oliver Pollock was the largest individual financial contributor to the American War of Independence, and is buried near Pinckneyville. He is best known, however, as the man who invented the dollar ($) sign.
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