Natchez Mississippi MS Warrant Search

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez is the county seat of, and the largest and only incorporated city within, Adams County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,464. One of Mississippi's oldest European-American cities, it was founded by French colonists in 1716, antedating the capital of Jackson by more than a century. Located along the Mississippi River, Natchez is the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The city is famous in American history for its role in the development of the Old Southwest, particularly with respect to its location on the Mississippi River.Natchez is the principal city of the Natchez, MS–LA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Pre-European settlement (to 1716) According to archeological excavations, the area had been continuously inhabited by various cultures of indigenous peoples since the 8th century C.E.[citation needed] The original site of Natchez was developed as a major village with ceremonial earthwork mounds, built by people of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture, part of the Mississippian culture. Archeological evidence shows they began construction of the three mounds by 1200 AD. Additional work was done in the mid-15th century, before the Plaquemine culture abandoned the site.By the late 17th and early 18th century, the historical Natchez (pronounced 'Nochi') American Indian tribe were occupying the site, which they used for their major ceremonial center, replacing Emerald Mound. They added to the mounds, including a residence for their chief, the Sun, on Mound B, and a combined temple and charnel house for the elite on Mound C. Many early European explorers, including Hernando De Soto, La Salle and Bienville, made contact with the Natchez at this site, called the Grand Village of the Natchez. Their accounts provided descriptions of the society and village. The Natchez maintained a hierarchical society, divided into nobles and commoners, with people affiliated according to matrilineal descent. The paramount chief, the 'Great Sun', owed his position to the rank of his mother.The flat-topped earthworks show the influence of the Mississippian culture, whose largest chiefdom of Cahokia was based in the Middle Mississippi River Valley. Chiefdoms of the culture developed in the Southeast and Ohio Valley. The 128-acre (0.52 km2) site of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is preserved as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) and maintained by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The site includes a museum with archeological artifacts from the mounds and village, picnic pavilion, and walking trails. Nearby Emerald Mound, an older ceremonial center built by the Plaquemine culture, is also a National Historic Landmark. The historic Natchez occupied it as well before moving in the late 17th century to the Natchez bluffs area. Colonial history (1716-1783) In 1716 the French founded Fort Rosalie to protect the trading post established in the Natchez territory in 1714. Permanent French settlements and plantations were subsequently established. The French inhabitants of the 'Natchez colony' often came into conflict over land use and resources with the Natchez, who were increasingly split into pro-French and pro-English factions.After several smaller wars, the Natchez (together with the Chickasaw and Yazoo) launched a war to eliminate the French in November 1729. It became known by the Europeans as the 'Natchez War' or Natchez Massacre. The Indians destroyed the French colony at Natchez and other settlements in the area. On November 28, 1729, the Natchez Indians killed a total of 229 French colonists: 138 men, 35 women, and 56 children (the largest death toll by an Indian attack in Mississippi's history). Counterattacks by the French and their Indian allies over the next two years resulted in most of the Natchez Indians' being killed, enslaved, or forced to flee as refugees. After surrender of the leader and several hundred Natchez in 1731, the French took their prisoners to New Orleans, where they were sold as slaves and shipped as laborers to the plantations of Saint-Domingue, as ordered by the French prime minister Maurepas.Many of the refugees who escaped enslavement ultimately became part of the Creek and Cherokee nations. Descendants of the Natchez diaspora survive as the Natchez Nation, a treaty tribe and confederate of the federally recognized Muscogee (Creek) Nation, with a sovereign traditional government.Subsequently, Fort Rosalie and the surrounding town, which was renamed after the extinguished tribe, spent periods under British and then Spanish colonial rule. After defeat in the American Revolutionary War, the British ceded the territory to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783).Spain was not a party to the treaty, and it was Spanish forces that had taken Natchez from the British. Although the Spanish were loosely allied with the American colonists, they were more interested in advancing their power at the expense of the British. Once the war was over, the Spanish were not inclined to give up that which they had taken by force. For a time, possession was, indeed, 'nine-tenths of the law' and the Spanish retained control of Natchez. A census of the Natchez district taken in 1784 counted 1,619 people, including 498 African-American slaves. Antebellum (1783-1860) In the late 18th century, Natchez was the starting point of the Natchez Trace overland route, based on a Native American trail, which ran from Natchez to Nashville through what is now Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Produce and goods were transported on the Mississippi River by the flatboatmen and keelboatmen, who usually sold their wares at Natchez or New Orleans, including their boats (as lumber). They then made the long trek back north overland to their homes. The boatmen were locally called 'Kaintucks' because they were usually from Kentucky, although the entire Ohio River Valley was well represented among their numbers.On October 27, 1795, the U.S. and Spanish signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo, settling their decade-long boundary dispute. All Spanish claims to Natchez were formally surrendered to the United States. More than two years passed before official orders reached the Spanish garrison there. It surrendered the fort and possession of Natchez to United States forces led by Captain Isaac Guion on March 30, 1798.A week later, Natchez became the first capital of the new Mississippi Territory, created by the Adams administration. After it served for several years as the territorial capital, the territory built a new capital, named Washington, six miles (10 km) to the east and also in Adams County. After roughly 15 years, the legislature transferred the capital back to Natchez at the end of 1817, when the territory became a state. Later the capital was returned to Washington. As the state's population center shifted to the north and east, the legislature voted to move the capital to the more centrally located city of Jackson in 1822.Throughout the course of the early nineteenth century, Natchez was the center of economic activity for the young state. Its strategic location on the high bluffs on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River enabled it to develop into a bustling port. At Natchez, many local plantation owners loaded their cotton onto steamboats at the landing known as Natchez-Under-the-Hill and had their wares transported downriver to New Orleans or, sometimes, upriver to St. Louis, Missouri or Cincinnati, Ohio. The cotton was sold and shipped to New England and European spinning mills.The Natchez District, along with the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, pioneered cotton agriculture in the United States. Until new hybridized breeds of cotton were created in the early nineteenth century, it was unprofitable to grow cotton in the United States anywhere other than those latter two areas. Although South Carolina came to dominate the cotton plantation culture of much of the Antebellum South, it was the Natchez District that first experimented with hybridization, making the cotton boom possible.[citation needed]On May 7, 1840, an intense tornado struck Natchez. It killed 269 people, most of whom were on flatboats in the Mississippi River. The tornado killed 317 persons in all, making it the second-deadliest tornado in United States history. Today the event is called the 'Great Natchez Tornado'.The terrain around Natchez on the Mississippi side of the river is hilly. The city sits on a high bluff above the Mississippi River; to reach the riverbank, one must travel down a steep road to the landing called Silver Street, which is in marked contrast to the flat 'delta' lowland found across the river surrounding the city of Vidalia, Louisiana. Today, Natchez is well-known for the numerous antebellum mansions and estates built by its early 19th-century planter society. Many owned plantations in Louisiana but chose to locate their homes on the higher ground in Mississippi. Prior to the American Civil War, Natchez had the most millionaires per capita of any city in the United States, making it arguably the wealthiest city in the nation at the time. It was frequented by notables such as Aaron Burr, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis. Today the city boasts that it has more antebellum homes than any other city in the US, as during the War, Natchez was spared the destruction of many other Southern cities.The Forks of the Road Market had the highest volume of slave sales in Natchez, and Natchez had the most active slave trading market in Mississippi. The market, at the intersection of two streets, became especially important after slave traders Isaac Franklin of Tennessee and John Armfield of Virginia purchased the land in 1823. Tens of thousands of slaves passed through the market, most originating in Virginia and heading to plantations in the Deep South of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, or Alabama. All trading at the market ceased by the summer of 1863 when Union troops occupied Natchez.Prior to the establishment of the Natchez Institute in 1845, formal education in Natchez was generally reserved for the children of the city's elite. Although many of these parents had had little opportunity for schooling, they were anxious to provide their children with the advantages of a prestigious education. Schools opened in the city as early as 1801, but many of the wealthiest families relied on private tutors or out-of-state institutions. The expansion of the electorate prompted the city to found the Natchez Institute to offer free education to the rest of the white residents of the city. Although children from a variety of economic backgrounds could obtain an education, class differences persisted among students, particularly in terms of school choice and social ties. Black children of house slaves were often taught the alphabet and reading the Bible by their white age mates. American Civil War (1861-1865) During the Civil War, Natchez remained largely undamaged. The city surrendered to Flag-Officer David G. Farragut after the fall of New Orleans in May 1862. One civilian, an elderly man, was killed during the war, when in September 1863, a Union ironclad shelled the town from the river and he promptly died of a heart attack. Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant occupied Natchez in 1863; Grant set up his temporary headquarters in the Natchez mansion Rosalie.Some Natchez residents remained defiant of the Federal authorities. In 1864, the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Natchez, William Henry Elder, refused to obey a federal order to compel his parishioners to pray for the President of the United States. In response, the federals arrested Elder, jailed him briefly and then banished him across the river to Confederate-held Vidalia, Louisiana. Elder was eventually allowed to return to Natchez and resume his clerical duties there, staying until 1880, when he was elevated to archbishop of Cincinnati.Ellen Shields's memoir reveals a Southern women's reactions to Yankee occupation of the city. Shields was a member of the local elite and her memoir points to the upheaval of Southern society during the War. Southern men, absent because of the war, were seen to have failed in their homes and in the wider community, forcing the women to use their class-based femininity and their sexuality to deal with the Yankees.The 340 planters who each owned 250 or more slaves in the Natchez region in 1860 were not enthusiastic Confederates. The support these slaveholders had for the Confederacy was problematic because they were fairly recent arrivals to the South, opposed secession, and held social and economic ties to the North. These elite planters also lacked a strong emotional attachment to the South; however, when war came, many of their sons and nephews joined the Confederate army. On the other hand, Charles Dahlgren arrived from Philadelphia and made his fortune before the war. He did support the Confederacy and led a brigade, but was sharply criticized for failing to defend the Gulf Coast. When the Yankees came he moved to Georgia for the duration. He returned in 1865 but never recouped his fortune; He went bankrupt and in 1870 he gave up and moved to New York City.White Natchez became much more pro-Confederate after the war. The Lost Cause myth arose as a means for coming to terms with the South's defeat. It quickly became a definitive ideology, strengthened by its celebratory activities, speeches, clubs, and statues. The major organizations dedicated to maintaining the tradition were the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. At Natchez, although the local newspapers and veterans played a role in the maintenance of the Lost Cause, elite women particularly were important, especially in establishing memorials such as the Civil War Monument dedicated on Memorial Day 1890. The Lost Cause enabled women noncombatants to lay a claim to the central event in their redefinition of Southern history. Postwar period (1865-1900) Natchez was able to make a rapid economic comeback in the postwar years, with the resumption of much of the commercial shipping traffic on the Mississippi River. In addition to cotton, the development of local industries such as logging added to the exports through the city's wharf. In return, Natchez saw an influx of manufactured goods from Northern markets such as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.The city's prominent place in Mississippi River commerce during the nineteenth century was expressed by the naming of nine steamboats plying the lower river between 1823 and 1918 which were named Natchez. Many were built for and commanded by the famous Captain, Thomas P. Leathers, whom Jefferson Davis had wanted to head the Confederate defense fleet on the Mississippi River. (This appointment never was concluded.) In 1885, the Anchor Line, known for its luxury steamboats operating between St. Louis and New Orleans, launched its 'brag boat', the City of Natchez. This ship survived only a year before succumbing to a fire at Cairo, Illinois, on 28 December 1886. Since 1975, an excursion steamboat at New Orleans has also borne the name Natchez.Such river commerce sustained the city's economic growth until just after the turn of the twentieth century, when steamboat traffic began to be replaced by the railroads. The city's economy declined over the course of the century, as did that of many Mississippi river towns. Tourism has helped compensate for the decline.After the war and during Reconstruction, the world of domestic servants in Natchez changed somewhat in response to Emancipation and freedom. After the Civil War, most domestic servants continued to be black women, and often they were single mothers. Although they were poorly paid, they found domestic work provided an important source of income for family maintenance. White employers often continued the paternalism that characterized relations between slaveholders and slaves. They often preferred black workers to white servants. White men and women who did work as domestics generally held positions such as gardener or governess, while black servants worked as cooks, maids, and laundresses. Since 1900 Stanton College in Natchez educated daughters of the white Southern elite and during the early 20th century was also a site of negotiation between the planter class and the new commercial elite, as well as between traditional parents and their more modern teenagers. At Stanton, daughters from planter families joined social clubs and literary societies that maintained relations among cousins and family friends. The coursework included classes in proper behavior and letter writing, as well as courses that might enable those suffering from genteel poverty to fend for themselves. The girls often balked at antiquated dress codes and constraining rules, but also replicated their parents' social values.In 1940, 209 people died in a fire at the Rhythm Night Club. This fire has been noted as the fourth deadliest fire in U.S. history. Images and memory Old white families in Natchez have used the Natchez Pilgrimage - annual tours of the city's impressive antebellum mansions - to portray a nostalgic vision of its antebellum slaveholding society. Since the civil rights movement, however, this version has been increasingly challenged by local blacks who have sought to portray the black experience in Natchez.A cinema verite account of the 1966 Civil Rights actions by local NAACP leaders in Natchez was depicted by filmmaker Ed Pincus in his film 'Black Natchez.' The film highlights the attempt to organize a black community in the Deep South in 1965 during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement. A black leader has been car-bombed and a struggle ensues in the black community for control. A group of black men organize a chapter of the Deacons for Defense—a secret armed self-defense group. The community splits between more conservative and activist elements.The historic district has been used by Hollywood as the backdrop for feature films set in the ante-bellum period. Disney's The Adventures of Huck Finn was partially filmed here in 1993. The 1982 television movie Rascals and Robbers: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was also filmed here. The television mini-series Beulah Land was also filmed in Natchez, as well a number of individual weekly shows of the TV drama The Mississippi, starring Ralph Waite. Geography Natchez is located at 31°33'16' latitude, 91°23'15' longitude (31.554393, -91.387566).According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (35.9 km²), of which 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²) are land and 0.6 square mile (1.7 km²) (4.62%) is water. Climate Natchez has a humid subtropical climate. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 18,464 people, 7,591 households, and 4,858 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,398.3 people per square mile (540.1/km²). There were 8,479 housing units at an average density of 642.1/sq mi (248.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 44.18% White, 54.49% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. 0.70% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.There were 7,591 households out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.6% were married couples living together, 23.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.00.In the city the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 81.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.7 males.The median income for a household in the city was $25,117, and the median income for a family was $29,723. Males had a median income of $31,323 versus $20,829 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,868. 28.6% of the population and 25.1% of families were below the poverty line. 41.6% of those under the age of 18 and 23.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Education Natchez is the home to Alcorn State University's Natchez Campus. The campus is home to the university's nursing school and MBA program. Copiah-Lincoln Community College also operates a campus in Natchez.The city of Natchez and the county of Adams operate one public school system, the Natchez-Adams School District . The district comprises eight schools. They are Susie B. West, Morgantown, Gilmer McLaurin, Joseph F Frazier, Robert Lewis Middle School, Central Alternative School, Natchez High School, and Fallin Career and Technology Center.In Natchez, there are a number of private and parochial schools. Trinity Episcopal Day School is PK-12 school founded by the Trinity Episcopal Church. Trinity Episcopal Day School and Adams County Christian School are both members of the Mississippi Private School Association. Cathedral School is also a PK-12 school in the city. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church St. Mary Basilica. Holy Family Catholic School, founded in 1890, is a PK-3 school affiliated with Holy Family Catholic Church. Highways U.S. Route 61 runs north-south, parallel to the Mississippi River, linking Natchez with Port Gibson, Mississippi, Woodville, Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. U.S. Route 84 runs east-west and bridges the Mississippi, connecting it with Vidalia, Louisiana, and Brookhaven, Mississippi. U.S. Route 65 runs north from Natchez along the west bank of the Mississippi through Ferriday and Waterproof, Louisiana. U.S. Route 98 runs east from Natchez towards Bude and McComb, Mississippi. Mississippi Highway 555 runs north from the center of Natchez to where it joins Mississippi Highway 554. Mississippi Highway 554 runs from the north side of the city to where it joins U.S. Highway 84 northeast of town. Rail Natchez is served by rail lines, which today carry only freight. Air Natchez is served by the Natchez-Adams County Airport, which services general aviation. The nearest airport with commercial service is Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, 85 miles (137 km) to the south on US 61. Suburbs Natchez's surrounding communities (collectively known as the 'Miss-Lou') include:Cloverdale, Mississippi Canonsburg, Mississippi Jonesville, Louisiana Morgantown, Mississippi Kingston, Mississippi Cranfield, Mississippi Vidalia, Louisiana Pine Ridge, Mississippi Washington, Mississippi Monterrey, Louisiana Church Hill, Mississippi Sibley, Mississippi Stanton, Mississippi Roxie, Mississippi Famous Natchezians Campbell Brown, Emmy award-winning journalist who is currently a political anchor for CNN and formerly NBC grew up in Natchez and attended both Trinity Episcopal and Cathedral High School. Varina Howell Davis, first lady of theConfederate States of America, was born, raised, and married in Natchez. Kenneth R. Besser, novelist and motivational author. NovelistRichard Wright, author ofBlack BoyandNative Son, was born twenty-two miles east of Natchez. Robert H. Adams, formerUnited States SenatorfromMississippi. William Wirt Adams,Confederate Armyofficer, grew up in Natchez. Troyce Guice, Natchezrestaurantowner, was twice a candidate for the United State Senate fromLouisiana. Lynda Lee Mead,Miss Mississippiin 1959 andMiss Americain 1960. A Natchez city street, Lynda Lee Drive, is named in her honor. Mickey Gilley, a country music singer, was born in Natchez. Cedric Griffin, Minnesota Vikings cornerback, was born inNatchezbut raised inSan Antonio, Texas. Hugh Green, All-American defensive end at theUniversity of Pittsburghand two-time Pro Bowler. Billy Shaw, Pro Football Hall of Fame member, was born in Natchez. Greg Iles, best-selling author of many novels set in Natchez, is a Natchez native. Glen Ballard, a five-timeGrammy Awardwinning songwriter/producer. Denise Gee, national food/home design writer and author of 'Southern Cocktails', is a native of Natchez. Hound Dog Taylor, a blues singer andslide guitarplayer. Pierre Adolphe Rost, a member of theMississippi Senateand commissioner toEuropefor theConfederate States, immigrated to Natchez fromFrance. Alexander O'Neal, R&B singer. Nook Logan, former Major League Baseball player for the Washington Nationals. Anne Moody,Civil Rightsactivist and author ofComing of Age in Mississippi, attended Natchez Junior College. Olu Dara, musician & father of rapperNas. GeneralJohn Anthony Quitman- Mexican War hero, plantation owner, governor of Mississippi, owner ofMonmouth Plantation. Chris Shivers, two-timePBRworld champion bull rider, was born in Natchez. Don José Vidal, Spanish Governor of theNatchez District, is buried in the Natchez City Cemetery. Joanna Fox Waddill, American Civil War nurse known as the 'Florence Nightengale of the Confederacy.' Samuel Washington Weis(1870-1956), an American painter Les Whitt, director of themunicipalzooinAlexandria, Louisiana, and amusicianwho sometimes played withB.B. King. Von Hutchins, NFL football player for theAtlanta Falcons. Je'Kel Foster, basketball player. John J. Chanche, First Bishop of Natchez, is buried on the grounds ofSt. Mary Basilica, Natchez. William Johnson, 'The Barber of Natchez', freed slave and prominent businessman.