Lowndes County Mississippi
West Port53
The following sketches of the town of West Port is taken from a
"History of Columbus and Lowndes County," by Dr. W. L. Lipscomb,
of Columbus, Mississippi, published in the Columbus
Commercial, beginning with the issue of January 15, 1901:
"West Port was one mile above
Columbus, on the west bank of the Tombigbee River. Just as soon
as the Choctaw lands began to produce crops of cotton, there
sprang up a village called by the early settlers West Port, and
built to accommodate the planters of western Lowndes, and the
adjacent countries, in the shipment of their cotton, and in the,
reception of their plantation supplies to and from Mobile, Ala.
They thus avoided the payment of the ferriage across the river
and had good camping grounds for their wagons and teams.
"M. M. Carrington, relative of Col. John W. Burn, Sheriff of
Lowndes Co. in 1835, built its first store and warehouse. He was
followed by Messrs. Haskins, Brownrigg, Hale and Murdock, Dick
Jones, Foster, Alexander, and others. A town was regularly laid
off, good residences, fine hotel, stores with large stocks of
goods, and immense cotton sheds were erected, with all the
appointments of a prospective town. The shipment of cotton
reached 30,000 or 40,000 bales annually, but in 1840 a fine
bridge was built across the Tombigbee, free to all Lowndes
county citizens, which soon divided the storage of cotton and
brought thousands of bales to the warehouses of Columbus.
"The great high water in 1847 deluged the town, swept off some
of its warehouses, and destroyed much of the sandy bluff on
which it was situated. In 1861 the Mobile and Ohio railroad
completed its branch to Columbus, and West Port succumbed to the
inevitable and is now a desert of white sand on which Daniel
Davis (colored) with his blacksmith shop and little farm hard by
resides, its only occupant."
Plymouth The following sketch of Plymouth is
also taken form Dr. Lipscomb's "History of Columbus and Lowndes
County:"
"Seven miles above Columbus on the
Tombigbee River, at the mouth of Tibbee creek, was located Old
Plymouth. It is claimed by some of the early settlers to have
been the camping ground of DeSoto in his passage through
Mississippi. Many scraps of old armor and pieces of pottery and
war implements of Spanish manufacture were found there, and they
claim also that it was a stronghold of defense against the
Indians, and a deposit for ammunitions of war and provisions for
the use of the army operating in this section of the country.
Some claim that it was fortified by Bienville, and that he made
it his place of deposit in his operations against the
Chickasaws, and not Cotton Gin Port, as it is stated in the
history of the State. Remains of the fortifications existed
within the knowledge of our oldest settlers, especially that of
a large fort inside of the fortifications, built of large cedar
logs, two stories in height and perforated with port holes above
and below, for the use of firearms by the defendants within.
This cedar fort was taken down by the Canfields, who now own Old
Plymouth, and was used to build other houses on the plantation,
which are still in a good state of preservation. Some believe
the fort was built by General Jackson in his operations against
the Creeks and was the base of supplies. Until history makes a
more satisfactory explanation of the old Spanish relics,
stockade fortifications and cedar forts, our Lowndes county
traditions are as creditable as any account yet given.
"After the settlement of the Choctaw lands began Old Plymouth
became a site of considerable importance on account of its
facilities for crossing the river at a shallow ford nearby, and
as a place for the storage and shipment of cotton. It was also
considered a beautiful spot, with its prodigious growth of large
cedars, for the location of the homes of the families of the
neighboring settlers. James Prowell, Sr., Orlando Canfield, Sr.,
John Morgan, Sr., and John Cox, Sr., built residences there. The
Irbys, Billingtons, and Mullens erected warehouses and stores.
Richard Evans, Esq., and his brother. Dr. Evans, and Mr. L. N.
Hatch, also settled there, and in 1836 the town was
incorporated, and laid off into squares, and streets, and was
the prospective rival of West Port, just below, and of Columbus,
across the river. It became a trading point of importance; a
great number of bales of cotton was shipped from there, but the
place proved so unhealthy and the death rate so great that it
was abandoned. The planters moved to their plantations and the
merchants and lawyers to Columbus.
"Old Plymouth is now a field cultivated by Mr. Orlando Canfield,
and despite the superstition of the Negroes and the application
of the New England query, 'Who ate Roger Williams,' grows
abundant crops of corn and potatoes."
Extinct Towns|
AHGP Mississippi
Footnotes:
53. The writer is indebted
to the Rev. A. P. Leech and Mr. Gideon D. Harris, of Columbus,
Mississippi, for the extracts here given.
Source: The Mississippi Historical
Commission Publications, Volume V, Edited by Franklin L. Riley,
Secretary, 1902.
|
