Horses and earthquakes may seem like an unusual mix of topics for a column that is generally about history and it is. Sometimes, though, totally different topics intersect in our history. Such an intersection might have occurred in the Columbus area 205 years ago this month.
It was probably in 1810 that John Pitchlynn established his residence at Plymouth Bluff on the west bank of the Tombigbee River, across from present day Columbus. Pitchlynn’s home was on the forested edge of the Black Prairie. Then, about 1824, he moved a few miles south to a location on the Robinson Road (just south of present day West Lowndes High School) and fully into the prairie lands. He was the U.S. Interpreter for the Choctaw Nation and at times served as acting Choctaw agent.
In addition to his official duties, he raised horses and cattle on the prairie surrounding his residence. George Gaines moved to the lower Tombigbee Valley in 1805 and, while serving as factor at the U.S. Choctaw Trading House, he became friends with Pitchlynn. In 1848, Alabama historian Albert Pickett interviewed Gaines about the history of the Tombigbee Valley.
Gaines informed Pickett that Pitchlynn, “Had about 500 horses in the range. The Colberts (in the Chickasaw Nation north of Tibbee Creek) also had many horses. Horses of various Colours looked splendid in the prairies – settlers sold ponies at $10 to $50 – better kind of horses $50 to $100 – drove them to New Orleans, Pensacola, and Mobile.” When Pitchlynn died, in 1835, he still had over 100 horses in his estate.
Since the Prairie was prime horse country in the early 1800s, there are many other references to the horses in the Upper Tombigbee Valley. One of the more interesting horse references appears in court records pertaining to the estate of William Cooper, a free black man working and trading during the 1790s in what is now Mississippi and Alabama. About 1793, Cooper traded his horse, known as “Cooper’s Grey,” to John Turnbull for Turnbull’s “mulatto servant woman” named Medlang and “made her his wife.”
On the night of Dec. 15, 1811, the first steamboat on the Mississippi River, the Orleans, was on her maiden voyage down the river and about 70 miles from New Madrid, Mo., when the earth suddenly trembled and then opened up. It was an earthquake so terrible that for a while the Mississippi River turned red and flowed backwards. The New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 is still considered an epic example of the force of nature. Reports of devastation filled newspapers in January and February of 1812.
A report from Natchez, dated Jan. 1, 1812, told of the earthquake being felt in Natchez. It mentioned the Steamer Orleans just arriving and bringing news of “great injury to the settlements on the Ohio and Mississippi, by throwing down houses, chimmies and in one or two instances, islands in the Mississippi, of considerable magnitude had been sunk or destroyed.” The account told of the river banks caving in, including an example of “at one place about 300 acre of solid body” falling into the river.
A letter from a flat boat at Chickasaw Bluffs (now Memphis) told of being 17 miles below New Madrid when the first shock hit. It described how “at the second shock, millions of trees that were embedded in the mud at the bottom of the river, suddenly had one end elevated to the surface, rendering the river almost impassable.” A report from New Madrid told of the destruction and described the shocks themselves. “The earth was so convulsed, as to render it difficult for one to keep his pendicular position – the motion being estimated at about 12 inches to and fro. The shocks were accompanied with a partial darkness, tremendous noise, and sulphurous smell.”
Was the New Madrid earthquake of December 1811 felt in what is now the Golden Triangle area and what does this have to do with local horses? I have not seen any mention of effects being felt in this area, but one of the few written local records from 1811-1812 is a claim filed in January 1812. In that document, John Kincaide, a Choctaw trading house worker employed in the transfer and storage of government goods at John Pitchlynn’s Plymouth Bluff residence, filed a claim for $40 for a horse that suddenly stumbled, fell and died of injuries while on U.S. government business in late 1811. And what might have caused Kincaide’s horse to suddenly stumble and fall about the time the New Madrid Earthquake was occurring? Just an interesting thought.
Rufus Ward is a local historian. Email your questions about local history to him at [email protected].
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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