The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
Transcribed by Helen Rowland
 

SHELBY COUNTY TN

SHELBY COUNTY is situated in the southwest corner of the State of Tennessee.  It is bounded on the north by Tipton County, on the east by Fayette County, on the south by the State of Mississippi and on the west by the Mississippi River.  In area it contains about 700 square miles.  Generally speaking the surface is either level or gently undulating, and the soil is extremely fertile.  Outside of the bottoms, at the lowest points the La Grange sands outcrop.  This is a stratified mass of sand mostly argilleceous and quite variable in color.  Their thickness is not known, and in them occur veins of lignite, as at Raleigh.  The Orange sandstone also appears at the slopes at the bluff, and at the surface in the eastern part of the county.  Above all lies what is known as the Bluff deposit or loess loam.  This is a stratum of fine siliceous loam, and is usually of a light ashen, yellow or buff color.  In thickness it varies from a few feet to about 100 feet.  Memphis is built on this deposit.  The loess deposits are famous the world over for their excellence as a subsoil, on account of their porosity and fertility, by which crops growing above them are enabled to survive long periods of drought better than those growing above most other kinds of subsoil.  Above all is a rich alluvial deposit or vegetable mold, furnishing abundant material for the sustenance of crops, and is as rich as is anywhere to be found.  The surface of the county is interspersed with a few creeks and small rivers, and the upland back from these creeks and rivers frequently rests upon a bed of reddish fire brick clay.  The water courses are as follows: Wolf River, Loosahatchie River, Big Creek, Nonconnah Creek and Bayou Gayoso.  There are two sets of mineral springs, one of Raleigh, the other at Nashoba, both containing sulphur and iron; but neither has as yet become famous as a health or summer resort.  For convenience of reference the bluffs may be here enumerated: The first Chickasaw bluff is at Fulton in Lauderdale County, the second at Randolph in Tipton County, the third at Old River, and the fourth or lowest at Memphis.  It is generally believed and it is probably true that it was from this bluff that De Soto crossed the Mississippi River, instead of at Randolph, as is suggested by Killebrew.  The remains of extinct animals found in the county are thought by geologists to be representatives of the genera mastodon, megalonyx, castor and castoroides.  Some think these remains belong to diluvium of the Mississippi Valley, but Prof. Safford thinks they are more probably from the Bluff loam.

     The general trend of testimony seems to be that De Soto first saw the Mississippi at the lowest or fourth Chickasaw bluff, and that Chisca was located thereon, at the point where Fort Pickering was afterward built, where are the remains of two Indian mounds, since called the Jackson mounds.  Authorities differ somewhat as to the date of De Soto’s approach to the Mississippi River.  Bancroft fixes the date at April 25, 1541, while others with perhaps too little investigation prefer the 8^th of the same month.  From this time forward for a period of 132 years the foot of white man is not known to have trod the sacred soil of West Tennessee.  In June, 1673, two of the most celebrated personages known to the early religious history of this country, Father Marquette and M. Joliet, entering the Mississippi from the Wisconsin, passed down the Father of Waters to the mouth of the Arkansas, stopping on their way at the fourth Chickasaw bluff, where they were kindly received by the native Indians.  After their return to the North a map, prepared by Marquette, was published in 1681, on which dense settlements are marked along the “Mitchisipi Highlands,” corresponding to the first, second and fourth Chickasaw bluffs.  After Father Hennepin returned from his trip down the Mississippi, made shortly after 1680, the Chevalier de La Salle in 1682 passed down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and on his way down stopped at the fourth Chickasawbluff, built a cabin thereon and erected a fort which he named Prud ‘homme.  In 1686 Chevalier de Tonti stopped at this same bluff on his way down the Mississippi, and in 1699 M. D’Iberville, ascending the Mississippi, landed at this bluff and found here a letter written by De Tonti thirteen years before addressed to La Salle.  In 1735 Bienville also visited the country, as did also D’Artaguette.

     In 1739 Bienville again entered the Chickasaw country, this time passing up through Arkansas, crossing the Mississippi River at the fourth Chickasaw bluff and remaining there all winter.  In March, 1740, a portion of his troops having sunk under the climate and all having become discouraged, he made a treaty of peace with the Chickasaws; returned to New Orleans, leaving Fort Assumption (now Memphis) in their possession.  But little is known about the history of this portion of the country from this time until the arrival at this point in 1783 of Benjamin Foy, sent by Gen. Don Gayoso, and who in that year erected at the mouth of Margot (Wolf) River fortifications, to which he gave the name of Fort San Fernando.  The Spaniards remained in possession of this fort until the ratification of the treaty by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States, and the thirty-third degree of North latitude made the boundary line between the two countries.

     Soon after this treaty Lieut. Pike was sent by the United States Government to take possession of the fort and the Spanish troops, evacuating it, crossed the river and established Camp L’Esperance, afterward called Camp Good Hope, near the terminus of the Military Road.  Gen. Wilkinson came on soon after the arrival of Lieut. Pike, dismantled Fort San Fernando and established Fort Pickering about one mile below on the Mississippi River.  The Chickasaws remained in possession of this country, then, more as a hunting-ground, however, than as a residence country until the treaty of 1818, by which they ceded West Tennessee to the United States.  This treaty was ratified in 1819, and proclaimed by the President January 7, that year.  By its terms the Chickasaws removed to the Indian Territory and received $20,000 annually for fifteen years.

     But long previous to this treaty North Carolina, while Tennessee was yet under territorial government, made numerous large grants to individuals, mostly at the rate of 10 for every 100 acres so granted.  The first grant recorded in the register’s books of Shelby County is North Carolina Grant, No. 17, to Samuel Harris for 5,000 acres, lying on the North Fork of Loosahatchie River, near the mouth of that fork and adjoining Grant No. 1010 to John McKnitt Alexander, and Grant No. 572 to Robert Goodloe; Grant No. 561, for 2,000 acres in favor of William Alston, lay on the north side of Looshatchie River adjoining No. 465 of 2,000 acres to James Robertson.  John Gray Blount and Thomas Blount had granted to them eight separate tracts of land each containing 1,000 acres and numbered 117, 178, 190, 195, 219, 224, 225 and 239.  Grant No. 86 for 5,000 was in favor of Richard Cross, and lay on the North Fork of Looshatchie.  No. 306 lay on Big Hatchie and was for 5,000 acres in favor of Robinson Mumford.  Alexander McCullock had two grants, No. 41 for 3,000 acres and No. 42 for 2,000 acres.  But perhaps the most interesting grants made within the limits of Shelby County were those to John Rice and John Ramsey, because of their connection with the great city of Memphis.  The John Rice grant was No. 283 and was described as follows:

     Know ye that we, in consideration of 10 for every 100 acres hereby granted, paid into our treasury by John Rice, have given, granted and by these presents do give and grant unto the said John Rice, a tract of land containing 5,000 acres lying and being in the western district on the Chickasaw bluff, beginning about one mile below the mouth of Wolf River at a white oak tree marked J.R.; running thence north 20 (degrees) east 226 poles; thence north 27 (degrees) west, 310 poles to a cotton-wood tree; thence due east 1,377.9 poles to a mulberry tree; thence south 625 poles to a stake; thence west 1,304.9 poles to the beginning, as by the plat hereunto annexed doth appear, together with all woods, mines, hereditaments and appurtenances, to the said land belonging or appertaining, to hold to the said John Rice, his heirs and assigns forever; this grant to be registered in the register’s office in our western district within twelve months from the date hereof, otherwise the same shall be void and of no effect.

     In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent, and our great seal to be hereunto affixed.

     Witness: Samuel Johnson, Esquire, our Governor, Captain-general and Commander-in-Chief, at Halifax, the 25^th day of April, in the XIII year of our independence and of our Lord 1789.

     By his Excellency’s command.                                          SAM. JOHNSON.

       J. Glasgow, Secretary.

     The John Ramsey grant was No. 19,060, and was recorded May 10, 1823, the record in this case being as follows:

     Know ye, that in consideration of Warrant No. 383, dated the 24^th day of June, 1784, issued by John Armstrong, entry officer of claims for the North Carolina western lands, to John Ramsey for five thousand acres, and entered on the 25^th day of October, 1783, by No. 383 there is granted by the said State of Tennessee unto the said John Ramsey and John Overton, assignee, &c., a certain tract or parcel of land, containing five thousand acres by survey bearing date March 1, 1822, lying in Shelby County, Eleventh District, Ranges Eight and Nine, Sections One and Two, on the Mississippi River, of which to said Ramsey four thousand two hundred eighty-five and five-sevenths acres, and to said Overton seven hundred and fourteen and two-sevenths acres, and bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning at a stake on the bank of said river—the southwest corner of John Rice’s five thousand acre grant, as processioned by William Lawrence in the year 1820—running thence south 85 (degrees) east with said Rice’s south boundary line, as processioned aforesaid, one hundred and seventy-five chains to a poplar marked R.; thence south two hundred chains to an elm marked F.R.; thence west, at sixty-two chains crossing a branch bearing south at seventy chains crossing a branch bearing southeast, at one hundred and nineteen chains crossing a branch bearing south, and at one hundred and sixty chains a branch bearing south, in all two hundred and seventy-three chains, to a cottonwood tree marked F.R., on the bank of the Mississippi River; thence up the margin of said river with its meanders (here follows a minute description of the course of the river) to the beginning, with the hereditaments and appurtenances, to the said John Ramsey and John Overton and their heirs forever.

     In witness whereof William Carroll, governor of the State of Tennessee, hate hereunto set his hand and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed, at Murfreesborough, on the 30^th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1823, and of the independence of the United States the forty-seventh.

     By the governor,

       Daniel Graham, Secretary.                                       WILLIAM CARROLL.

     At the time the country was organized, May 1, 1820, there were probably less than twenty actual settlers within its limits, and no other settlement within seventy-five miles.  The office of the Eleventh Surveyor’s District was opened about the 6^th of December, 1820, at the house of Thomas D. Carr on the fourth Chickasaw bluff.  Those in attendance at that time, as near as can now be ascertained, were Jacob Tipton, William Lawrence, John Ralston, W. L. Byler and the clerk of the office, Alfred Taylor.  The land locators were Gideon Pillow, O. B. Hays of Nashville, in behalf of R. Hightower & Sons; James Vaulx in behalf of McLemore, Vaulx & Caruthers; M. H. Howard, on behalf of Samuel Dickens & Co.; James Walker and Col. James Brown, on behalf of Polk, Porter & Co.  John Overton, one of the proprietors of the new town of Memphis, then recently laid out, was present with his plans of the upper part of the place and made attempts to sell some of his lots, but did not meet with much success, selling only a few at from $40 to $100 per lot.  Mr. Overton was well satisfied in his own mind, notwithstanding, that Memphis was destined to be one of the great cities of the United States, if indeed it did not at some future day rival in splendor the ancient city of Memphis on the Nile.  Mr. Overton’s liberality toward various people and interests deserves to be perpetuated in this work.  He gave two lots to T. D. Carr upon which to build a tavern; to A. B. Carr he gave a lot for the location of a mill, and he also donated one on Bayou Gayoso for a tannery yard.

     In order that it may be understood what is meant above by the Eleventh Surveyor’s District, it is proper to explain that during the session of the Legislature which convened in October, 1819, the western district of Tennessee was laid off into five land districts, numbered from 9 to 13 inclusive.  District No. 9 embraced the southeast part of West Tennessee, beginning on the Tennessee River, where the line previously run between Tennessee and Alabama crossed it, the presumption then being that this line was on the 35 (degree) of north latitude, running thence due west thirty-five miles; thence north fifty-five miles; thence east to the Tennessee River, and thence up the Tennessee River to the beginning.  The Tenth Surveyor’s District adjoined the Ninth on the west, extending west thirty miles; thence north fifty-five miles, and thence east to the Ninth District.  The Eleventh District lay between the Tenth and the Mississippi River, including Shelby County.  Jacob Tipton was appointed surveyor of this district.  The Twelfth District embraced the northeastern part of West Tennessee, commencing at the intersection of parallel of latitude 36 (degrees) 30’, north with the Tennessee River, and extending with this parallel westward to a point midway between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers; thence south to the north line of the Tenth District, and thence east to the Tennessee River; and the Thirteenth District lay west of the Twelfth, extending to the Mississippi River.

     The names of the early settlers in Shelby County, so far as can be consistently given in this work, are introduced in connection with the sketches of the towns in the vicinity of which they settled.  It is deemed appropriate here to present a brief outline of the famous institution of Frances Wright, about which much has been written and much misapprehended, the name of which was Nashoba.

     Nashoba (the name in the Chickasaw language meaning wolf) was an institution established by Miss Frances Wright in the year 1826 upon lands purchased in 1825, for the purpose of benevolence and the emancipation of the slave.  The lands of Nashoba, amounting in the aggregate to 1,940 acres, lay on both sides of Wolf River, in Shelby County, in the vicinity of Germantown and Ridgway, and are described as follows:

     1^st.  A tract of 640 acres, granted by the State of Tennessee to William Lawrence and William A. Davis by Grant No. 21,815, and conveyed by them to Miss Wright.

     2d.  A tract of 240 acres, granted to her as assignee of William Fewkes.

     3d.  A tract of 240 acres, granted to her as assignee of James Richardson

     4^th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of Andrew Jones.

     5^th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of John Gilliam.

     6^th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of Powel Busby.

     7^th.  A tract of 200 acres, conveyed to her by the grantee, Richard

            Hensband.

     8^th.  A tract of 20 acres, entered in the name of T. H. Persons, by entry

            No. 907 under date of August 5, 1824, and conveyed by Mr. Persons

            To Miss Wright.

     In order to accomplish the purpose she had in view, Miss Wright appointed certain trustees to manage the institution, giving the lands described above in trust to them.  Their names were the following: Gen. Lafayette, William McClure, Robert Owen, Cadwallader D. Colden, Richardson Whitby, Robert Jennings, Robert Dale Owen, George Flowery, Camilla Wright and James Richardson.  The lands, according to the deed of trust, were to be held by them, their associates and successors in perpetual trust for the benefit of the negro race.  The object of the trust was confided to the discretion of the trustees, with the limitation that a school for colored children should always be a principal part of the plan, and with the further limitation that all negroes emancipated by the trustees should on quitting the limits of Nashoba be sent outside of the limits of the United States.  The trustees were not at any time to permit their own number to be reduced below five, and the trustees on the lands of Nashoba, provided their number should not be less than three, should be a quorum for the transaction of business.  Besides the trustees, coadjutors were provided for, and the trustees were permitted to admit other coadjutors, with the unanimous consent of the trustees, and provided the proposed coadjutors had lived six months on the lands of Nashoba; but the coadjutors were not to have anything to do with the management of the affairs of the institution.  In order to secure the independence of every one connected with the institution it was provided that no one admitted as either trustee or coadjutor should be liable to expulsion for any reason, but from the moment of admission each person was to have an indefeasible right to the enjoyment of the comforts afforded by the institution, i.e., to food, to clothing, to lodging, to attention during sickness and protection in old age.  No member, whether trustee or coadjutor, who might quit the institution was to be entitled to any compensation for past services in addition to the participation he might have had in the comforts of the institution while residing therein.  Every admission to the institution was to be strictly individual, except in cases of children under fourteen years of age, who were to be admitted with one or both parents, and reared and educated by the institution until they should be twenty years of age, when they should either be admitted into the institution or assisted in forming themselves into a community elsewhere.  Among other provisions was the following: That on the Fourth of July, 1876, the trust should devolve on the then existing trustees and coadjutors jointly, and thenceforward every member was to be a trustee; and Miss Wright said: “Notwithstanding the legal inconsistency such a reservation may seem to involve, I reserve to myself all the privileges of a trustee.”

     Miss Wright proposed a system of education for the young black people which should fit them for self-support, and a system for the young white people having the same end in view, and her institution at Nashoba was founded on the principle of community of property and labor.  Following is a bit of philosophy by Miss Wright: “Were a system of prevention adopted instead of punishment, laws would be unnecessary.  In all the transactions of life the only effective precautions seem to be those which provide against the occurrence of evil, not those which attempt to remedy the evil after it has occurred.”  She made an appeal “to all the friends of men and of their country, to those who respect the institutions of the Republic and to all endowed with favorable principles, to all who believe in the possibility of the improvement of man, to all who sympathize in the sentiments expressed in this paper,” to aid in the prospective work of the institution of Nashoba.  This paper was dated December 17, 1826.

     On January 6, 1827, Miss Wright gave to the trustees of the lands of Nashoba above mentioned, and to their associates and successors in office, the following named slaves: Willis, Jacob, Grandison, Frederick, Henry, Nellie, Peggy and Kitty and the male infant of Kitty, on the condition that when their labor—together with the labor of another family consisting of female slaves entrusted to her by Robert Wilson of South Carolina—should have paid to the institution of Nashoba a clear capital of $6,000, with six per cent interest on that capital from the 1^st of January, 1827 and in addition a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of colonizing them, they should all be emancipated and colonized by the trustees.

     The institution of Nashoba did not, however, by far come up to the expectation of its founder, and in about four years it failed.  During three years she was from ill health compelled to be in Europe, and the institution’s failure she attributed, not to any defect in the scheme or plan nor to the intractability of the negro, but wholly to the base conduct of those she left in charge.  But to the negroes named above, whom she had placed in the institution, she was true, at her own expense sending them to Hayti and establishing them there in independence.  Then, on the 1^st of November, 1831, “on account of its being impracticable for them to conduct the school or to be of service as trustees of the lands of Nashoba, Gen. Lafayette, William McClure, Robert Owen, C. Colden, Richardson Whitby, Robert Jennings, Robert Dale Owen, George Flowery and James Richardson resigned their trusteeship,” and also for the further reason “that Miss Wright had emancipated the slaves and colonized them on the island of Hayti.”  After this failure of her cherished schemes Miss Wright continued for a number of years to manage her estate in her own way, and at length it became involved in litigation, which is sufficiently traced in the history of the courts of Shelby County.

     Commencing with 1840 the political history of Shelby County is succinctly as follows: In that year William Henry Harrison received 950 votes for President of the United States while Martin Van Buren received 681.  In 1843 James C. Jones received 1,352 votes for governor; James K. Polk received 1,026, and in the next year Henry Clay received 1,625 votes for President while James K. Polk received 1,352.  In 1845 E. H. Foster received for governor 1,307 votes and Aaron V. Brown 1,316; in 1847 Neill S. Brown received 1,409 votes, and Aaron V. Brown 1,207.  In 1848 Zachary Taylor received 1,828 votes for President, to 1,607 for Lewis Cass.  In 1849 there were cast for Gen. William Trousdale for governor 1,405 votes to 1,453 for Neill S. Brown.  For congressman, F. P. Stanton received 1,426, and Harris 1,425; for the State Senate George W. Fisher 1,351, and Farrington 1,464.  In 1851, for governor, Gen. William Trousdale received 1,490 votes, and William B. Campbell 1,563; for the State Senate William C. Dunlap 1,543, and Mr. Wickersham 1,480; for representative, M. B. Winchester 1,490, and Pope 1,474.  In 1852 Winfield Scott received for President 1,824, and Franklin Pierce 1,628.  In 1855 Meredith P. Gentry received 1,831 votes for governor, and Andrew Johnson 1,467.  At the presidential election of 1856 James Buchanan received 2,016 votes, and Millard Fillmore 2,083.  By a review of the votes given above it will be seen that at every presidential election during those twenty years the Whig candidate, considering Millard Fillmore a Whig, received a majority of the popular vote in this county, as was the case in nearly every gubernatorial election.  In 1859 Isham G. Harris received 2,231 votes, to John Netherland 2,026.  In 1860, the most important presidential year thus far in the history of the country, the vote in Memphis was as follows: for John Bell 2,319, Stephen A. Douglas 2,250 and John C. Breckenridge 572; and in the rest of the county, for Bell 3,048, Douglas 2,959 and Breckenridge 744.

     On the 7^th of February, 1861, a meeting was held to discuss the questions of the day at which Luke W. Finlay and James Brett delivered enthusiastic speeches in favor of secession, the latter gentleman especially dwelling eloquently upon the “Government as it was and as it is.”  This meeting was held preparatory to the election which was to take place on the 9^th, at which the following votes were cast.  Marcus J. Wright received 2,089 votes for State senator from Shelby and Fayette Counties; Solon Borland 1,574 and David M. Curry 2,088 for representative from Shelby County, and Humphrey 2,087 votes for floater from Shelby, Fayette and Tipton Counties.  On the question of convention or no convention the vote stood: For the convention 4,720 votes, against it 209.  The Union ticket and votes for each candidate were as follows: Dunlap, 2,711; Harris, 2,722; Topp, 2,808; Carroll, 2,715.  These votes were cast in Memphis, and indicate the state of feeling then existing; but when the vote was taken in June following on the question of separation or no separation the result showed that meanwhile a great change had taken place in public sentiment.  The vote on the 8^th of June, 1861, for separation and representation was in the entire county 7,132, against both, five, the five being cast in Memphis; and the vote in Memphis for separation was 5,608, for representation 5,604.

     In 1867 the vote for congressman was as follows: For David A. Nunn 4,414, and for John T. Leftwick 2,745; and for governor, W. G. Brownlow 4,419; for Emerson Etheridge 3,009.  In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant received 5,004 votes as candidate and Horatio Seymour 3,009.  This was one of the most remarkable elections ever held in Shelby County, and was watched, particularly in Memphis, with the keenest interest, as it was the first presidential election at which the newly enfranchised colored man cast his ballot.  In order to know with certainty how he did vote, separate ballot boxes were prepared for the white and black electors, and the result found to be as follows: In Memphis Gen. Grant received 535 from white men and from colored men 4,283, a total vote of 4,818; Horatio Seymour received from white men 2,436 votes and from colored men 86; in all 2,522.  The total white vote was 2,971, and the total colored vote 4,369.  On congressman the vote stood for W. J. Smith white vote 291, colored vote 4,212; for John T. Leftwick, white vote 2,431, colored vote 85; David A. Nunn, white vote 232, colored vote 71.  In the entire county, however, Mr. Leftwick was elected over W. J. Smith by a majority of 633 votes.

     In 1870 the vote for governor was, W. H. Wisener 2,968, John C. Brown 6,713; for congressman, Smith 2,804; Shaw (colored) 170; DuBose 6,506.  The total city vote at that election was 6,726, and the total county vote, including Memphis, was 9,687.  In 1872 occurred another remarkable election for President, the two candidates being President Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley.  In Shelby County Mr. Greeley received 6,356 votes, and President Grant 8,445.  For governor, John C. Brown (Liberal Republican) received 6,598, and A. A. Freeman (Grant Republican) received 8,275 votes.  At the county election held that year the vote for sheriff was W.J.P.D.- - - 7,797; A. P. Curry, 6,081; for trustee A. Woodward 7,747; T. Foley 5,042; privilege tax collector, J. H. Mathes 12,614, no opposition; chancellor, S. P. Walker 8,210, J. B. Bigelow 4,574; supreme judge, R. McFarland, 9,735, J. B. Cook 2,416.  The vote in 1874 for governor was James D. Porter (Democrat) 8,828, Horace Maynard (Republican) 5,877; for congressman, H. Casey Young 8,841, ---- Lewis 5,849.  The presidential vote in 1876 was more nearly equal, Samuel Tilden (Democrat) receiving 8,539 votes, R. B. Hayes 8,127; for congressman, H. Casey Young received 8,503 votes, and ---- Randolph 8,092.  In 1878 E. M. Wright (Republican) received 1,817 votes for governor, A. S. Marks (Democrat) 2,099, and R. M. Edwards (National) 1,729; for congressman the vote stood, H. Casey Young 5,522, ---- Randolph 3,199.  In 1880 James A. Garfield (Republican) received 7,788 votes, W. S. Hancock (Democrat) 6,927, and J. B. Weaver (Greenback) 264; for governor Alvin Hawkins (Republican) received 7,758, and John V. Wright 5,265.  In 1882 Alvin Hawkins as candidate for governor received 5,421 votes, William B. Bate 5,524, and Joseph H. Fussell (low credit Democrat) 257.

     In 1884 James G. Blaine for President received 9,165 votes and Grover Cleveland 7,627.  For governor that year Frank T. Reid received 9,290 votes and William B. Bate 7,296.  The vote for congressman stood, Zach Taylor 8,732, James M. Harris 7,671.  For State Senate Smith received 8,565 votes, Ramsay 7,638, and Jacob S. Galloway 7,583, and J. D. Montedonico 7,715.  For representatives the following were the candidates and their respective votes: James F. Hunter 7,812, M. R. Patterson 7,838, Alfred Frohman 6,868, Morgan Kelly 7,795, and J. S. McKinley 7,465, Haynes 8,800, Fields 8,591, Vernon 8,618, Evans 8,446, and Brogan 8,987.

     The most remarkable election of recent yeas, both for methods and results, was that of August 5, 1886.  Following are the names of the various candidates and their respective votes: Sheriff—W. D. Cannon (Democrat), in the city 11,537, country 6,122, total 17,659; Silvers (Republican) 1,449; total vote for sheriff 19,108.  County trustee—Andrew J. Harris (Democrat), city 8,689, country 2,877, total 11,566; Rumsey (Republican) 7,546; total vote for trustee, 19,112.  Register—N. F. Harrison (Democrat), city 9,294, country 2,971; total 12,265.  Fields (Republican), 7,017; total for register, 19,282.  Attorney-general—George B. Peters (Democrat), city 8,599, country 2,985, total 11,584; Haynes (Republican), 6,536; G. P. M. Turner (Independent Democrat), 1,280; total vote for attorney-general, 19,400.  Chancellor—Henry T. Ellett (Democrat), city 8,820, country 3,934, total 12,754; Smith (Republican), 7,270; total vote for chancellor, 20,024.  Criminal court judge—J. J. Dubose (Democrat), city 10,127, country 2,647, total, 12,774; Moss (Republican), 6,437; total vote, 19,211.  Probate judge—J. S. Galloway (Democrat), city 8,750, country 2,794, total, 11,544; Eldridge (Republican), 7,653; total vote, 19,197.  Circuit court judge—L. H. Estes (Democrat), city 8,132, country 3,856, total 11,988; Vernon (Republican), 7,323; total vote 19,311.

     In November, 1886, the votes for the respective candidates for governor were, Robert L. Taylor (Democrat), city 4,871, country 2,144, total 7,015; Alfred A. Taylor (Republican), city 1,403, country 2,102, total, 3,505; total vote in the county for governor, 10,520, against 20,024, the total vote for chancellor in August previous.

     The following are the general statistics: The population of Shelby County in 1860 was whites 30,861, blacks 17,229, total 48,090; in 1870 it was whites 39,737, blacks 36,640, total 76,377, and in 1880 it was whites 34,508, blacks 43,903, total 78,411.  In 1880 the assessed valuation of real estate was $17,794,085; of personal property, $1,074,370.  The amount of taxes was for the State, school purposes, $35,879; other purposes $18,868.  County purposes—schools, $36,309; other purposes, $86,842.  The number of manufacturing establishments in the county was 186; capital invested, $2,452,425; value of materials, $2,646,910; value of product, $4,759,691; the number of males employed above sixteen years of age, 2,278, and the number of females above fifteen, 69.  The total amount of wages paid was $876,566.

     Shelby County was named in honor of Gen. Isaac Shelby of Kentucky.  It was erected by an act of the General Assembly, passed at Murfreesboro, November 24, 1819.  The act creating the county, directed Jacob Tipton, surveyor of the Eleventh Surveyor’s District, to run the boundary line of the county.  This was done by William Lawrence, deputy surveyor, for which the county court allowed him the sum of $142.75.  The work was completed July 30, 1823.  The whole contained 625 square miles.  A correct location of the thirty-fifth parallel added a fractional row of sections from the State of Mississippi.

     On the third day of court $175 was set apart to Thomas D. Carr, with which to employ laborers and erect a temporary log courthouse, jury-room and jail on the public square.  This house was ready for occupancy in August, 1821.  In November, 1822, Lewis Williams received $72.50 for repairs on said courthouse.  This house seems to have been wanting in capacity or comfort or both, as the courts frequently met at private houses.  While sitting at Memphis, “Chickasaw Bluffs” was designated as the place of holding the first courts.  In December, 1824, the commissioners, James Fentress, Benjamin Reynolds, William Martin and Robert Jetton, who had been selected by the General Assembly to choose sites for the various county seats for the counties of West Tennessee, selected Sanderlin’s bluff, on the north side of Wolf River as the most suitable site for the county seat of Shelby County.  The land embraced a little over fifty acres, twenty-nine of which was owned by Wilson Sanderlin and twenty-two by James Freeman.  The town was laid out and the lots sold, the profits from which were to be used in the erection of public buildings.  This new site was named Raleigh, in honor of Raleigh, N.C., in deference to Joseph Graham, who was a native of that State.  Raleigh was laid off by Frederick Christian, John B. Holmes, John R. Kent and Benj. Robins.  In January, 1827, the commissioners of Raleigh were allowed to draw on the county for $180 to complete the public buildings; if found necessary they were allowed $370 more out of funds not otherwise appropriated.  This house was a small frame building built by Joseph Coe.  This was replaced by a good brick building in 1834-35 about 40x50 feet and two stories high.  In 1836 the old house was sold for $231 and the money spent in building a fence around the new brick courthouse.  This house served the county until the courts were brought back to Memphis.  In July, 1860, a committee consisting of J. W. A. Pettit, A. H. Montgomery, J. S. Dickerson, J. H. Goodlet and W. H. Walker with the county judge and the justices of the peace, was appointed to consult with the municipal authorities of Memphis, on the question of erecting a new courthouse at that city for the common law and chancery court, and the criminal court.  The committee was to report on the propriety or necessity of building a new house, the cost of grounds and building, the amount Memphis was willing to pay and the amount of rents that would have to be paid for buildings until new ones could be built.  A lot was purchased of W. B. Richardson, and in April, 1861, a loan of $150,000 at 6 per cent, payable in two, three, four and five years, in bonds of Shelby County, was offered to raise money for the new courthouse.  The war coming up about this time, the matter was delayed until after the reorganization after the war.

     In 1874 the large building known as the Overton Hotel was purchased at a total cost of building and repairs of nearly $150,000, and in September, 1874, all the courts were moved into that building.  The federal courts, with their officers and effects, were moved into the same building in 1875.   

     At the August term, 1820, the court appointed Wm. A. Davis and Marcus B. Winchester commissioners to build a jail, and appropriated $125 for that purpose.  They reported the completion of their work on November 6, 1821, and were paid $125 for the same.  On the following day the court fixed prison bounds as follows: “Beginning and running so as to include the public square on which the courthouse now stands, and the two lots on which Sam’l R. Brown now keeps entertainment, and the street intervening between the two.”  On the removal of the county seat to Raleigh, a new jail had to be built.  A permanent jail was built about the time of building the brick courthouse.  This building stood east of the court square on the Somerville road.  For the erection of these buildings a tax of 18 ¾ cents on each 100 acres of land, 37 ½ cents on each town lot, 18 ¾ cents on each white poll and 37 ½ cents on each black poll was levied.  On July 4, 1842, prison bounds one mile square in extent were established, the court square being in the center.  In 1866 the present large, expensive jail was begun.  J. B. Cook was the architect, and J. J. Powers the builder.  The contract price was $144,000, but the total coast was largely in excess of that amount.

     The first county court levied a tax of 6 ¼ cents on each 100 acres of land, also 6 ¼ cents on each white and each black poll for a jury and poor tax.  The first official expenditure for the poor was the appropriation of $13 on February 7, 1821, for the support of Phillip H. Friend, a pauper of the county.  The first commissioners of the poor were T. D. Carr, William Irvine and Jacob Tipton.  The poor were kept by allowances made by the county court through the commissioners of the poor till 1836 when steps were taken to have them all kept at one place instead of farming them out individually to different ones throughout the county.  No permanent asylum, however, was built till 1873-74 when the present asylum was erected.  The county now owns forty acres of land on which stand the asylum buildings.  These are mainly brick and are well kept.  The farm lies about seven miles from Memphis on the old Raleigh road.  The asylum contains about 200 inmates, including all classes.  The superintendent is Dr. G. K. Duncan, under whose management the institution has been remarkably successful.  A comparison of the number of inmates and the expense of keeping the same will illustrate this point.  In 1875 with eighty-five inmates, the expense of the institution was over $29,000; with 200 inmates in 1886, the expense of the institution was but little over $9,000.  This amount includes salary of superintendent and all other expenses.

     Public roads being a public necessity, early attention was given to them.  On May 3, 1820, the county court ordered Thomas H. Persons, Charles Holman, Joshua Fletcher, M. B. Winchester, J. C. McLemore and William Irvine to mark out a road from Memphis to the county line in the direction of Taylor’s Mill settlement on Forked Deer River.  This was the first public road in the county.  The second road in the county was established in May, 1821, by Jessee Benton, John Ralston, Nat. Kimbrough, John Kimbrough, E. Deason, Edward Bradley, D. C. Tradewell, Robert Mickleberry and John Reeves.  This road led from Memphis to the settlement on Big Creek and Loosahatchie, thence to Forked Deer River.  Joseph Graham was appointed overseer to cut out a road from Memphis to the east line of the county in the direction of the old Cherokee trace and Colbert’s wagon road.  In 1829 post-roads were established leading from Memphis by way of Raleigh, Somerville, Bolivar and Jackson; also one from Memphis by way of Randolph, Covington, Brownsville and Jackson.  The Memphis & La Grange Railroad was chartered in December, 1835.  The road was to be about fifty miles in length, connecting Memphis and La Grange.  The capital stock amounted to $250,000 individual subscriptions and $125,000 furnished by the State.  The work was not begun till 1838 and it was not till 1842 that six miles of the road was completed.  The road came into the city on Washington Street, and where said street crosses Main Street the cut was so deep as to require a bridge.  The track or rails were of bar iron laid on streamers which rested on cross-ties.  A few passenger coaches were run over the road and some cord-wood hauled from Col. Eppy White’s plantation, the terminus of the road.  The funds of the company having become exhausted the road was soon abandoned.

     In 1850 the charter of this road was purchased by the Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company.  In this the State gave 2,202 bonds of $1,000 each or $2,202,000, and in the same year the city of Memphis subscribed $500,000 stock in the same road.  This road was completed and opened for traffic in May, 1857.  The road was originally chartered by the State of Tennessee, February 2, 1846.  The capital stock of the company, of which Samuel Tate was president, was $800,000.  This company now owns 272 miles of road and operates 310 more under lease.  The freight handled within the last year amounted to 68,000,000 tons moved one mile, and 18,000,000 passengers carried one mile.  The earnings of ten months, ending November 30, 1886 was $1,228,851.  The Memphis & Tennessee Railroad was chartered February 2, 1846.  In April, 1852, the city of Memphis voted $250,000 stock to aid this road, and the State of Tennessee made it a loan of $97,500.  This road connects Memphis with Grenada, Miss., a distance of 100 miles.  At Grenada it intersects with the Illinois Central.  The earnings of this road for the year 1886 were $425,718.

     The charter to the Memphis & Ohio Railroad was granted February 4, 1842, and rechartered January 29, 1858.  It was intended to run to the Kentucky State line in the direction of Cairo; work was not begun on this road till 1869, but was soon suspended.  In 1871 it was consolidated with the Paducah & Gulf Railroad, and took the name of Memphis & Paducah Road.  It was afterward sold under mortgage, and was reorganized as the Memphis, Paducah & Northern.  It is now known as the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern.  It extends a distance of 345 miles.  The last report shows the net earnings to be $301,806.  The original cost of this road was estimated at $30,000 per mile.  Shelby County voted $250,000 in stock to aid this road at its first organization.  The Memphis & Little Rock Railroad was incorporated January 11, 1853.  Besides the individual stock, and the stock owned by the city of Little Rock, also the contractor’s stock, the city of Memphis took $350,000 stock, and the Government donated 487,000 acres of public land.  This road, however, was not completed until a few years since.  The first president of this road was J. M. Williamson; the present president is R. S. Hays, of St. Louis.  The general offices of this road are in St. Louis and Little Rock.  The road extends a distance of 135 miles, and is a great cotton route.  The Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company was organized in 1882 with Maj. R. T. Wilson, of New York, as president.  This company purchased the interests of the Tennessee Southern, the Memphis & Vicksburg, the New Orleans & Baton Rouge, the Vicksburg & Memphis, and the New Orleans & Mississippi Valley Railway, and they were consolidated in 1884 under the name of Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway.  This forms a connecting link between the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Southern Pacific, these making a continuous line of 4,070 miles, said to be the longest line in the world—the main line with its branches, an aggregate of 6,354 miles of line.  This company also owns 4,255 miles of steamship line.  The company owns 750,000 acres of Yazoo delta lands, which have been reclaimed.  The yearly tonnage of this line is 380,000 tons, and the number of passengers carried is 500,000 persons.  The Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis, one of the new roads centering into Memphis, is one of the great systems of road belting the country.  G. H. Nettleton is president of the road.  The general offices of the company are in Kansas City.  The gross earnings of this road, for the ten months ending November 30, 1886, were $1,338,831.  This company purchased, in November, 1886, $50,000 worth of additional ground in Memphis.  The Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which has a branch into Memphis, shows, by its report for the ten months ending November 30, 1886, gross earnings to the amount of $12,718,144 for the whole system of its roads, which amounts to 3,281 miles.  There are two other important roads to the city, the Memphis, Birmingham & Atlantic Road, of which George H. Nettleton is president, and the Newport News & Mississippi Valley (C. and O. route), of which C. P. Huntington is president.  The Iron Mountain Railroad Company also has purchased, in the city of Memphis, $80,000 worth of grounds for depot and other purposes.  A charter has just been filed for the Baltimore, Memphis & Nashville Railroad.  The incorporators are E. W. Cole, Jas. M. Head, Wm. Morrow, B. F. Wilson, A. S. Colyar and J. C. Neely.  It is intended to build the road across the State, from Memphis to Bristol.

     The first telegraph line into Memphis was chartered October 18, 1847, and built soon after.  The capital stock of the company was $28,000.  The president of the company was Thomas Allen; secretary, James Coleman; treasurer, J. W. Smith.

     The telegraphic interests have grown wonderfully.  There are now located the offices of the American District Telegraph Company, the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, and the Western Union Telegraph Company, in the Cotton Exchange Building.  The system of which this is a part has connection with nearly all the great cities.  It sends over 1,000,000 messages yearly, and uses 3,600 cells of battery, and has invested $80,000,000 capital, and owns 75,000 miles of line.  At this point are employed twenty-two skilled operators and thirty-three other persons.

     The principal express company operating in Tennessee is the Southern Express Company, of which H. B. Plant, Augusta, Ga., and New York, is president; M. J. O’Brien, general superintendent; Geo. H. Tilley, secretary; Hon. W. S. Chisholm, general counsel, and C. L. Loop, general auditor.  The accounting department is divided into two divisions, the eastern and the western.  The western division is located at Memphis.  Of this division Mr. F. J. Virgin is auditor, and Mr. A. J. Signaigo is cashier.  The operating department is divided into five divisions, of which the southwestern division is located at Memphis, under the superintendence of H. C. Fisher.  The general accounting department at Memphis employs about forty clerks.  There are purchased and distributed from the same headquarters supplies to the value of $25,000 annually.

     From about 1845 to 1860 great attention was paid to the building of turnpikes and plank roads through Shelby County.  The first road chartered was the Memphis & Somerville Road.  This road was chartered on January 28, 1846, and rechartered February 17, 1854.  The Pigeon Roost & Chulahoma Road was incorporated on October 31, 1853, with a capital stock of $41,000.  It was chartered by Thomas Holman, F. A. Owen and thirty-five others for a period of ninety-nine years.  The Memphis & Horn Lake Road was chartered by W. L. Lundy, John Arnold, W. Mathews, H. D. Small and S. Bailey on January 28, 1854, with a capital stock of $50,000.  Owing to the peculiarity of this soil, rendering it difficult to keep up these roads, and the disorganization caused by the war, these roads were allowed to fall into decay, and in 1866 the charters of most of them were dissolved.  The Memphis & Wolf River Pike Road was chartered in December, 1866, by D. Pearson, W. M. James and others.  Several roads were subsequently chartered, but all have been allowed to fall into decay.  Under a general law of 1875, counties are allowed to build turnpikes and employ workhouse convicts in their construction.  This law has worked very successfully in Hamilton and Shelby Counties and possibly a few others.  Under the act of March 23, 1883, Shelby County began work on her roads.  The levy of 10 cents on each $100 yielded about $20,000; to this may be added one-half the privilege tax, and a subscription of about one-half is usually obtained without difficulty along the line of the road from the property holders.  This money is expended under the direction of the turnpike commissioners.  These commissioners consist of the chairman of the county court, who is ex officio chairman of the commission, and two other commissioners, who are appointed by the county court.  In this county the convicts are hired at 10 cents per day.  Under this law from two to three miles of good pike have been built on each of the various public roads leading into the city.  The average number of convict laborers is about fifty-five.  The salary of the chairman of the committee is fixed by law at $1,000 per annum; that of the others at $250 per annum.  Squire Thomas is the present superintendent.  The county owns forty acres of ground in connection with the present workhouse building.  It also owns twenty head of mules, wagons, farming implements and other supplies.  The buildings are of brick, and are comfortable and substantially built.  They are kept scrupulously clean and the inmates are furnished three good meals per day during the work season, and two while not at work.  The convicts are worked on the county roads and on the farm, the product of which goes toward the support of the institution.  The female inmates are employed mainly in the laundry and in cooking.  The average cost of the institution is between $7,000 and $8,000.  The labor of the convicts amounts to about $2 per day as estimated by railroad work.  It will be seen that the profits of the institution almost equal the expenses.  The following is a list of the county officers:

     Sheriffs: Thomas Taylor, pro tem.; Samuel R. Brown, 1833; J. K. Balch, 1835; John W. Fowler, 1842; L. P. Hardaway, 1846; J. B. Moseley, 1852; W. D. Gilmore, 1856; J. E. Felts, 1862; P. M. Winters, 1864-66; A. P. Curry, 1870; M. J. Wright, 1871; W. J. P. Doyle, 1872; C. L. Anderson, 1875; W. L. Anderson, 1878; P. R. Athey, 1881; W. D. Cannon, incumbent.

     County court clerks: John Read, pro tem.; Wm. Lawrence, 1823; Robert Lawrence, 1831; John W. Fuller, 1848; W. L. Dewoody, 1852; J. P. Trezevant, 1862; John Teague, 1872; James Reiley, 1878; Owen Dwyer, 1882; H. B. Cullen, 1886; P. J. Quigley, incumbent.

     Circuit clerks: Joseph Graham, 1832; S. R. Brown, 1848; M. D. L. Stewart, 1870; Frank Taft, 1876; B. F. Coleman, 1878; Joseph Uhl, 1886; D. Schloss, incumbent.

     Registers: Thomas Taylor, 1820; M. B. Winchester, 1831; Joseph Graham, 1836; A. B. Taylor, 1842; W. P. Reaves, 1852; Henry Lake, 1862; J. W. King, 1862; C. W. Johnston, 1868; G. M. Greeley, 1870; John Brown, 1877; H. W. Grible, 1879; F. R. Hunt, 1883; John McCallum, 1886; N. F. Harrison.

     Rangers: Alexander Ferguson, 1823; Tilman Bettes, 1825; L. Bostick, 1826; James Weaver, 1831; J. C. Cody, 1842; Hugh McAdam, 1848; J. A. Rudisill, 1854; A. S. Thomas, 1860; J. R. King, 1862.

     Chairmen: William Irvine, 1823; M. B. Winchester, 1825; Isaac Rawlings, 1832; John Pope, 1838; J. S. Edwards, 1848; J. B. Hodges, 1854; Sylvester Bailey, 1858; J. W. A. Pettit, 1862; J. W. Smith, 1866; Thomas Leonard, 1870; T. C. Blackley, 1874; Thomas Holeman, 1880; C. E. Smith, 1885; D. C. Slaughter, incumbent.

     Attorney-generals: James P. Perkins, 1822; Alex. B. Bradford, 1824; V. D. Barry, 1832; T. J. Turley, 1836; E. W. King, 1843; J. P. Caruthers, 1848; D. M. Leatherman, 1852; J. L. T. Sneed, 1855; G. M. Hardin, 1856; B. J. McFadden, 1858; J. L. Harris, 1860: W. F. Talley, 1862; George W. Reeves, 1868; Walker Woods, 1870; Luke E. Wright, 1878; G. P. M. Turner, 1886; Geo. B. Peters, incumbent.  

     Circuit judges: Joshua Haskell, 1826; Parry W. Hunphreys, 1832; William B. Turley, 1834; L. M. Bramblett, 1840; W. C. Dunlap, 1850; William R. Harris, 1858; William Reeves, 1866-68; George W. Reeves, 1870; C. W. Heiskell, 1878; James O. Pierce, 1886; L. H. Estes, incumbent.

     Commercial and circuit judges: E. W. M. King, 1846-50; J. C. Humphreys, 1862.

     Criminal judges: J. R. Flippen, 1872; J. D. Adams, Thomas H. Logwood, P. T. Scruggs, J. E. R. Ray, J. M. Greer, L. B. Horrigan, A. H. Douglass, J. J. Du Bose, incumbent.

     Chancellors: Andrew McCampbell, 1840-47; Calvin Jones, 1850; W. R. Harris, 1854; J. P. Caruthers, 1862; William M. Smith, 1865-68; E. M. Yerger, 1870; W. L. Scott; S. P. Walker, 1872; Charles Kortrecht, 1878; W. W. McDowell, 1886; H. T. Ellett, present judge.

     Clerks and masters: Joseph H. Talbot, 1847; James M. Williamson, 1854; John C. Lanier, 1860; M. D. L. Stewart, 1862; Augustus Alston, 1865-70; E. A. Cole and Robert J. Black, 1876; E. L. McGowan, 1882; S. I. McDowell, incumbent.

     Probate judges: J. E. R. Ray, 1870-78; Thomas D. Eldridge, 1886; J. S. Galloway, incumbent.

     Pursuant to an act of the General Assembly, passed November 24, 1819, the court of pleas and quarter sessions was organized on May 1, 1820, at Chickasaw Bluffs for the new county of Shelby.  Jacob Tipton having been qualified before and having made proclamation, proceeded to open court.  He did so by taking his seat and administering the oath to Anderson B. Carr, Marcus B. Winchester, William Irvine, T. D. Carr and Benj. Willis, all of whom took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, the constitution of Tennessee, the oath against dueling and the oath as justice of the peace.  The organization of the court was made known by notice posted on the courthouse door and signed by the chairman.  For temporary organization John Read was chosen clerk, and Thomas Taylor, sheriff.  On the next day William Irvine was made permanent chairman; William Lancaster, clerk; Samuel R. Brown, sheriff; Thomas Taylor, register, and Alexander Ferguson, ranger.  Paul Bayless and William A. Davis each received the same vote for trustee, but the following day Davis was elected.  Gideon Carr was chosen coroner.  William Bettes and William Dean received a tie vote for constable but the matter was settled the next day by electing both to that office.  J. P. Perkins was chosen solicitor.  The bonds for the clerk and constables were fixed at $2,000 and the other officers $5,000 each, and but one man outside the officers was on a bond.  Deeds from Andrew Jackson et al. to Benjamin Foy for Lot 55; Peggy Grace to T. D. Carr for Lot 43 were ordered recorded.  The court made the rule that the county business should be attended to on the first Wednesday of each term.  Ordinary licenses were granted to Joseph James and to Patrick Meagher, at Memphis.  On May 3 the court granted a ferry license to William Irvine across the Mississippi at the public wharf called Irvine’s Landing.  The rates allowed would seem rather high now, as $1 was allowed for a man and horse, 50 cents for loose horse, 50 cents for each head of cattle or hogs, $3 for a two-horse carriage loaded, and $5 for a four-horse carriage loaded.  The ordinary rates fixed for the above were, board and lodging per week, $3.50; board alone, $2.50 per week; board and lodging per day, $1; lodging per night, 12 ½ cents; horse feed, 25 cents; French brandy or gin, 25 cents per half pine; whiskey, 12 ½ cents per half pint; apple or peach brandy, 18 ¾ cents; Jamaica spirits, 25 cents per half pint.  The first jury “to inquire into the body of the county” consisted of J. W. Padam, John Bettes, Patrick Meagher, T. F. Person, Charles Holiman, Joshua Fletcher, Russell Bean, Gideon Carr, Joseph James, John M. Riddle, Robt. McAllister, Humphrey Williams, William Thompson, Jacob Bean, John Grace, L. Bettes, George Allen, B. Ashford and Thomas Swarford.  Benj. Willis resigned his office as justice of the peace and Thomas Carr was appointed tax-lister for the county.  The first bill of sale was made by Jacob Bean to William Irvine for a negro boy.  Two offenses against the State were tried at the May term of court; one against Henry Gibson and the other Patrick Magee for assault and battery.  On May 4, 1820, the court appropriated $175 to Thomas D. Carr with which to build a courthouse, jury-room and jail.  On the same day an indictment was found against Thomas Patterson, but the case was not sustained; however the court insisted on charging the defendant with the costs of his prosecution.  Marcus B. Winchester filed notice of contest against Thomas D. Taylor for the office of register to which Taylor had been elected.  The ground for contest was that at the time of his election Taylor was sheriff of White County, and as Winchester had the next highest vote he claimed the office.  On November 1, 1820, the court declared Taylor was not constitutionally elected and ordered a new election the next day at the house of William Lawrence.  At this time Winchester was elected “during good behavior in office.”  In February, 1821, the court met at the house of William Lawrence.  The sheriff, solicitor and clerk were each allowed $37.50 for ex officio services to January 1, 1821.  D. W. Maury was admitted to the bar as an attorney on August 2, 1821.  At the August term F. W. Master was fined for assault and battery but took an appeal to the circuit court.  At November term, 1821, M. B. Winchester and Wm. A. Davis were allowed $125 for the completion of the new jail.

     The following attorneys were admitted in May, 1822: Robt. Hughes, Alex. B. Bradford, R. C. Allen, Thomas Taylor, John Brown and William Stoddert.  Bradford was solicitor and was for many years a resident of Jackson.  Stoddert was also a member of the Jackson bar.  In November, 1822, an indictment was filed for assault and battery upon the body of Robt. M. C. Stewart by Jesse Benton.  Jesse Benton was a brother of the distinguished Thomas H. Benton.  He was justice of the peace of Shelby County from 1822 to 1824 and was the owner of a considerable tract of land on Big Creek.  The February term of court of 1823 met at the house of Thomas D. Carr.  The rate of taxation for 1823 was 18 ¾ cents on each town lot, 18 ¾ cents on each 100 acres of land without regard to value, 6 ¼ cents on 100 acres of land for the poor and 6 ¼ cents on each $100 of the destruction of wolves.  The elections of 1823 were held at the houses of Jacob Tipton, Robt. G. Thornton and Thomas C. Person.  The first commissioners for the poor were T. D. Carr, William Irvine and Jacob Tipton.  In 1824 the court met at the house of T. D. Carr again and ferry rates for Wolf River and the Loosahatchie were fixed.  Deeds of conveyance for Lots 1 and 2 in the town of Memphis were made by N. B. Winchester attorney in fact for Andrew Jackson, John Overton and the heirs of James Winchester.  Sam. Gibson was fined $1 for beating Thomas Johnson and was refused a new trial.  The plea entered was that the time was not proven in the evidence.  The court held that such proof was not necessary.  Polly Spira and others were fined $5 and costs, and the sheriff returned a nulla bona when the State was compelled to pay the costs.  On January 18, 1830, Abram Bayless was allowed $5 for holding an inquest on the body of John Barrow.  Seth Wheatley was admitted as attorney on April 29, 1829, and W. C. Dunlap, July 19, 1830, H. W. Moseley in April, 1830, W. H. Humphries, July, 1831, and John D. Martin in April, 1832.  The record of sale of Charlotte, a negro girl ten or eleven years old, to Au-fat-char or Brown Sam, a Chickasaw Indian, by Jesse Benton was confirmed July 28, 1825.  Lewis Shank and Neil McConnell, free negroes, were given permission to live in the county on giving bond for good behavior.  Ferry license was granted William Irvine to keep a ferry across the Mississippi at the public warehouse, otherwise called Irvine’s Landing.  Jacob T. Swarford and Patrick Meagher each gave bond in the sum of $1,250 to keep an ordinary; rates for ferries and ordinaries are given above.  The first grand jury consisted of Thomas H. Persons, foreman; William Roberts, John Grace, John W. Oldham, Drury Bettes, Patrick Meagher, Thomas Palmer, Humphrey Williams, J. M. Riddle, J. Fletcher, Joseph James and Robert Quimby.  August 4, 1820, Patrich Meagher was fined $1 for retailing spirits.

     Isaac Rawlings, John Ralston and Thomas Persons were the first commissioners to settle with the trustee and collector of taxes.  The sheriff, county court clerk and solicitor were each allowed $42.50 for ex officio services for 1821.  R. Reynolds was allowed $12 for four full grown wolf scalps.  The coroner was allowed $16 for burying a man named McCrere who had committed suicide.  Russell Bean, William Dean, J. M. Riddle, Joab Bean, J. W. Oldham and John Mazles were appointed patrollers of Shelby County.  Benj. E. Person was licensed to practice law May 5, 1823.  The following marriage licenses were issued from May to July, 1820: O. W. Carr to Mary Hill, Russell Bean to Mary C. Harklerood, John Chandler to Sarah Cockraham, William Irvine to Mary Carr, Thomas W. Floyd to Polly Campbell, Jacob Beard to Peggy Grace, and Lindsey Shoemaker to Jane Moore.  The marriage ceremonies were performed by Jacob Tipton, John Ralston, A. B. Carr and M. B. Winchester, justices of the peace respectively.  The commissioners before mentioned selected Sanderlin’s bluff on Wolf River as a site for the seat of justice for Shelby County, and on July 17, 1826, Frederick Christian, John B. Holmes, John R. Kent and Benjamin Robbins were appointed commissioners to lay off the county town.  Elijah Bunch was fined $50 for trading with slaves.  The county court met for the first time at Raleigh, Jan. 19, 1829.  In Jan., 1827, the court levied a tax of 25 cents on each 100 acres of land for the improvement of the navigation of Wolf River and appointed Daniel Dunn, Robert Fearn and Charles Boulton as commissioners of navigation.  The idea of fixing a specific tax on land having no regard to its value seems now absurd; also an attempt to improve the navigation of Wolf River seems equally ridiculous.  The Raleigh Academy was established in 1829 with William Battle, David Dunn, Jas. S. Lamaster and James Rembert as trustees.  Abram Bayless, coroner, was allowed $5 for holding an inquest on the body of J. Barnes, on January 18, 1830.  H. W. Moseley was admitted as an attorney in April, 1830, H. W. Humphreys in July, 1831, and J. D. Martin in April, 1832.  The jury for the first circuit court was drawn on August 7, 1823, to meet the fourth Monday in October following.  The following composed this jury: Tilman Bettes, Geo. Allen, Henry James, W. B. Dare, Daniel Burns, Wm. Hunter, John Davis, Jacob Hunter, John Bledsoe, Samuel Smith, James McKinzie and William Harris.  It is probable Joshua Haskell was the first judge, but Minute-book A of the circuit court is missing and the fact can not be ascertained.  The circuit court met for the first time at Raleigh in 1828 with P. W. Humphreys on the bench, Joseph Graham as clerk, and V. D. Barry as solicitor, a position to which he had been elected in 1824.  Numerous civil cases were tried.  Isaac Rawlings obtained judgement against B. B. J. Robins for $26,777 on an appeal from the county court.  A forfeiture of recognizance for $250 was entered against William Savage and J. M. Gillam as sureties for J. P. Porter charged with house-breaking.  A. W. G. Davis  was fined 1 cent for an affray with costs.  On June 17, 1829, a jury of J. Messick, A. Smith, J. H. Markham, J. D. Graham, J. Young, Benj. Robins, I. B. Nickerson, J. C. Doty, J. B. Edwards, Thomas Perkins and James G. Shepherd found J. W. Allen guilty of murder in the first degree.  A motion for new trial, also for arrest of judgement, was overruled by Judge Haskell and he was ordered to be hung at Raleigh on September 25, 1829.  Jacob B. Painter was indicted for horse stealing but died before trial.  Indictments were found, and fines of $5 each were assessed against Milton Coleman, Eppy White, John Wilson, William Powell, William Berryman, John Gregory, William Davis, Joe Porter, William Harris and John Wilford for riot, June 21, 1832.  James Chandler brought suit against his wife Rachel for divorce about the same time.  Wm. B. Turley appeared as judge of this court from 1832 to 1834.  The opening of the State penitentiary in 1832 furnished a new field of punishment.

     In that year Oliver Griffith, A. A. Norris and Joe Blackwell were sent to that institution for grand larceny, the former for four years; the second for two and the latter for three years; R. Valentine got ten years for murder in the second degree and B. Bunch three years for passing counterfeit money.  Judge L. M. Bramblett appeared on the bench in December, 1834.  James Walker was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years from December 23, 1834.  Sam, a slave, was convicted of manslaughter on June 8, 1835, and was ordered to be branded in the hand with the letter “M” and lie in jail till the next morning.  On September 8, 1836, a jury consisting of William T. Turner, Isaiah Day, J. W. Guthridge, Thomas Loyd, J. M. Hunt, J. Pennington, J. McNeal, David Bently, John Groom, William Menton, and Samuel Acock found Nimrod Hooper guilty of negro stealing and he was ordered hung in the vicinity of Raleigh on December 1, 1836.  The bill of cost on this amounted to $360.99, a large sum for the time.  George W. Payne and B. Huskey, were sentenced to the penitentiary, the former for five years and the latter for eight years for arson in January, 1837.  E. Fraser got three years for horse stealing at the same time.  Suits of foreclosure were brought by the Bank of Tennessee and Planters Bank against individuals amounting to more than half a hundred in 1837-38.  These were doubtless hastened by the financial embarrassment of the times.  On October 4, 1842, Abram Spiers was indicted for the murder of Simon Carmon by cutting him with a knife on September 26, 1842; Thomas S. Wynn for stealing two slaves from John B. Person, and Patrick Hay for biting off the ear of G. S. Oldham, all of whom were eventually acquitted.  More naturalization papers were issued in 1844 than for all previous time.  The very curious will of Andrew Rembert was made October 12, 1844.  It is divided into three parts, one of which is in verse.

     W. C. Dunlap became circuit judge in 1840.  W. H. Looney was appointed special judge in October, 1844, for the trial of W. M. Mill for the murder of William C. Claiborn.  On June 6, 1846, a meeting of the bar was called to take suitable action on the death of Andrew Jackson.  W. C. Dunlap was called to the chair and E. J. Shields was made secretary.  A similar meeting was called on May 13, 1846, in honor of E. J. Shields who had just died in Texas.  J. R. Christian was indicted for shooting F. P. Stanton with a pistol on July 30, 1845, and escaped punishment on a $1,500 forfeiture.  W. G. Parr received a sentence of four years for stealing a horse from E. D. Wade.  James Hunter and William McBride got a three years’ sentence on December 4, 1845, for stealing an ox from Charles D. McLean.  The commercial and criminal court was established February 16, 1846, with Ephraim W. M. King as judge.  The first important case before this court was W. C. Covington for stealing a slave, Maria, the property of James Dollar.  A sentence of five years was imposed on him February 24, 1846, and also the case of William Brown for horse-stealing who also got five years.  Samuel H. Forbes killed Martin S. Goldsby with a knife on September 6, 1846, and was sent to the penitentiary for a term of fifteen years.  In 1848 there were forty-eight suits brought by the Planters Bank against individuals and forty by the Union Bank.  The cases of Stephen Ross for putting out the eye of Jacob Sawyer, Peter D. Wynn for shooting Marcus D. Bolton, Thomas Osborne et al. for an attempt to murder A. Greenlaw were all nollied.  Sterling, a slave of Bailey Anderson, was indicted for killing his master at the navy yard February 18, 1850, and was hung at Raleigh June 22, 1851.

     The first legal hangings took place in Memphis on May 31, 1861.  It was the hanging of Moses, a slave, for killing an Italian organ-grinder and Isaac, a slave, for killing his overseer near Horn Lake in Nonconnah bottom.  The crimes were committed in 1858 and the cases were taken before the supreme court at Jackson and the decision of the lower court confirmed.  A man named Stover or Stephens was hung on June 20, 1861, for the murder of a man on Presidents Island in 1857.

     This case had also been to the supreme court.  Two criminal executions occurred in 1866, James Galvin and Samuel Moody, each for the murder of a policeman.  The chancery court was established for the city of Memphis by an act of the General Assembly December 15, 1840.  Joe H. Talbot was appointed clerk and master.  On March 8, 1847, Calvin Jones became chancellor and in that year Joe H. Talbot by “visitation of Divine Providence was deprived of his reason” and James M. Williams was appointed clerk and master in his stead.  The business of this court has grown wonderfully within the last twenty years entirely out of proportion to the circuit and criminal courts.  One of the most interesting suits ever before the chancery court was a suit growing out of the rights of title to the Nashoba lands which were purchased by Frances Wright in 1824.  In 1827 these lands were deeded to Gen. Lafayette and others in trust.  In 1832 these lands were redeeded to Frances by the trustees.  Frances married Count Phiquepal d’Arusmont but separated from him afterward.  In 1852 she deeded her possession to her beloved but “estranged daughter, Frances Sylva.”  In 1853 Frances Wright died.  On January 1, Sylva conveyed the remaining part, 1,422 acres of the Nashoba lands to Eugene d’Lagerty for the sum of $30,000 to be paid in installments annually of $5,000 each.  d’Lagerty soon after leased the lands to Charles Patton for twenty per cent of profit from the lands.  d’Lagerty was to furnish supplies for cutting lumber, brickyards, etc.  Miss d’Arusmont and d’Lagerty moved to New Jersey and in 1867 they went to Scotland for an estate belonging to her.  On December 23, 1873, he died while they were in Italy.  In 1865 Charles Patton brought suit against the estate to enforce a claim amounting to $25,000.  The land was sold under decree of court on October 5, 1866, and purchased by Charles Speer of Cincinnati for $21,335 and all claims settled by him in February, 1867.  In 1874 Nelson Speer conveyed his interest to Charles Patton by deed.  In 1871 the heirs of d’Lagerty brought a bill to set aside the decree to Speer as procured through fraud.  This suit finally resulted in a compromise between the heirs and Charles Patton and a division of the property.  In a short time Miss d’Arusmont appeared in Memphis where she had not been seen since 1860 and filed a bill against Patton and d’Lagerty heirs, seeking to enforce her claim against d’Lagerty.  The claim which she endeavored to enforce amounted to $50,000.  The case finally resulted in a decree providing that she could recover lands on payment of certain debts, amounting to about $10,000, against the estate.  Some minor points are still unsettled.  The case for the defendants was managed by T. W. Brown, H. M. Hill and Geo. Gillham.  A partnership was formed in business in 1850.  Parties connected with this firm were Wade H. Bolton, Isaac Bolton, Washington Bolton and Thomas Dickens.  The firm continued till 1857.  Washington Bolton died and Sarah W. Bolton filed a bill in the chancery court in 1868 for her share in the property of the firm.  Thomas Dickens filed a cross bill for the same purpose.  On August 10, 1868, Wade H. Bolton made the following extraordinary will.  A part only of this is given.  It contains eighteen different clauses as follows: “I, Wade H. Bolton, at my home and place in Shelby County, Tenn., being in good health  *  *  *  First, it is my will and desire after all my just debts are paid that my ashes repose in Pleasant Ridge Church burying-ground  *  *  *  Second, I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Lavinia Ann Bolton,  *  *  *  a life time dowry in my Hoboken plantation.  Second, I give and bequeath to her  *  *  *  $10,000 in fee simpe.  Third, I give  *  *  *  to her $10,000, my life policy.  Fourth, I give and bequeath to Seth W. Bolton $5,000, provided he lends an assisting hand and helps to defeat the gigantic swindle of old Tom Dickens and his tool, Sarah W. Bolton, has instituted against her father’s estate and mine.  In event Seth W. Bolton be married or does marry a white woman of his own choice, the $5,000 shall be invested in a piece of land for them.  But if Seth W. Bolton remain in a state of celibacy which he is likely to do, my executor is instructed to loan the $5,000 and pay him the interest annually.  Fifth, I give and bequeath to Mary L. Bolton, wife of E. C. Patterson, $5,000 provided  *  *  *  Sixth, I give &c., to Lucassa Bolton $5,000 provided she help to defeat that gigantic swindle of old Tom Dicken and his tool, Sarah W. Bolton  *  *  *  Seventh, I give  *  *  *  to my niece, A. Wade Bolton, $5,000, provided   *  *  *  I also give her my gold watch.  Eighth, I give and bequeath to my niece, Josephine Bolton, now wife of the notorious Dr. Samuel Dickens (the Judas of the family) $5, one sixth of what Judas Iscariot got for betraying the Lord.  Poor Jo, her cup of iniquity will be full after while if she ever gets time to stop in her mad career, trying to help swindle her sister out of her money, and will let her mind reflect back upon her childhood days when she sat under the shade trees and roof of her father and saw the streaming tears and heard the bitter sobs of her father and her mother portraying in the ear of her father that some distant day that old Tom Dickens would swindle them out of all they had and bring them to want.  The prophecy is fulfilled in 1868 and her daughter is lending a helping hand.  Eleventh, I give and bequeath to the widow of Gen. T. J. Jackson, who fell at the battle of Chancellorsville, $10,000.  Twelfth, I bequeath  *  *  *  to my loyal servants now called freedman  *  *  *  Fourteenth, I give and bequeath my Hoboken farm for the public schools of Shelby County and $10,000 to build a college to be called Bolton College.  Fifteenth, I give and bequeath the rest of my estate to the chairman of the county court to be a perpetuity for the education of the poor white children of the First District.  Eighteenth, I appoint E. M. Apperson my executor without security, and Beecher & Belcher my attornies.”

     The greatest feud was connected with the suit resulting in the death of seven persons.  In 1857 a man named McMillan was killed, and in 1868 one Wilson and a servant girl, Nancy, working for Wade H. Bolton; were also killed.  Soon after, two men Inman and Morgan, were tracked into a cave in North Alabama and killed.  On July 14, 1869, Wade H. Bolton was shot by Tom Dickens at the gate of the court square and mortally wounded.  On July 30, 1870, Dickens was waylaid and killed in the Hatchie bottom, a short distance from Memphis.  For the killing of Bolton, Dickens was arrested and put under bond of $5,000.  After a trial of twenty-seven days, in which the ablest attorneys were engaged, Dickens was declared “not guilty.”  The trial ended February 12, 1870.  In all the litigation but one conviction was secured.  The estate involved in the various suits amounted to over $226,000.  These were tried before Chancellor McDowell and appealed to the supreme court.  The style of the suits before the supreme court were Cannon vs. E. M. Apperson and Maddox vs. E. M. Apperson.  The executor of the will refused payment to some of the legatees on the ground that they had not fulfilled their part in the “infamous lawsuit.”  The supreme court confirmed most of the clauses of the will.  The provision of the will providing for Bolton College in the First District are being carried out.  The sale of lands and the other funds amount to about $65,000.  Of this $10,000 is to be spent in erecting buildings on the Hoboken plantation about twenty-five miles northeast of Memphis.

     In 1879 the city of Memphis had become so involved in debt from the visitation of the yellow fever, and the public improvement rendered necessary from it, also from extravagant and corrupt city government that is was bankrupt.  The taxables of the city amounted to about $21,000,000, and the debts were about $5,800,000.  Mandamus after mandamus was heaped upon the city officials demanding increased levies of taxes to meet the indebtedness.  To put a stop to further increase of indebtedness and liquidate the old on an equitable basis there was passed “An act to establish taxing districts in this State and to provide the means of the government for the same.”  This was part of “An act to repeal the charter of certain municipal corporations and to remand the territory and inhabitants thereof to the government of the State.”  This act passed the General Assembly January 29, 1879, and received the signature of the governor January 31, 1879, and the sanction as to its constitutionality by the supreme court of the State May 31, 1879.  A receiver was appointed who proceeded to wind up the affair of the old corporations.  The assets of the city amounted to something near $2,000,000.  Severe tests as to the constitutionality of the taxing districts were made by them holding claims against the city, and the matter was carried to the supreme court of the United States, but the new corporation stood the test and the larger claims have been compromised at 50 cents on the dollar.  The debt has been refunded in bonds against the taxing district, drawing five per cent interest.  These bonds are now about par.  The first receiver was Minor Merriwether, who was succeeded by Lawrence Lamb.

     The criminal court docket for the last two decades has been quite full.  Among the most noted cases may be mentioned the cases of J. W. Davis, J. C. Creighton, Ed Titus, John Cosgrove, Graves & Poston, J. Schoefield, E. J. Eason, Angello Morrow, J. W. Brown and Charles Clinton.  In 1882 the execution of Shin Forrest for the murder of David Cruise and Jane Forrest was ordered, also Bill Rivers, for the murder of Amanda Jenkins, and Sandy Matthews was also executed in 1882.  Robert Wilson was hung in the jail July 20, 1883, for the murder of Frank Russell.  The last person hung was John McKeever, for the murder of Wm. T. Trainor on December 17, 1884.  The crime was committed about four miles south of Memphis while the two were hunting.  The case was worked up on circumstantial evidence but resulted in conviction.  The judgement of the lower court was affirmed by the supreme court.  Before his execution on June 26, 1885, McKeever made a full confession.  It appears from the docket that for the last eight years the criminal court has convicted 350 persons per annum.  Cases in which vast sums of money were involved, were the State vs. Proudfit; State vs. Anderson, public administrator, and the Extein-Norton bond cases vs. Shelby County.  In the Anderson case about $200,000 were involved; the latter nearly as much, which was gained for the county by Gen. G. P. M. Turner, for which he has since been allowed $1,000 in fees.

     A few of the distinguished dead among the judges and lawyers may be mentioned: W. T. Brown, W. C. Dunlap, V. T. Berry, Ed Yerger, Henry Barry, Henry Small, L. H. Coe, R. Topp, W. B. Turley, E. W. M. King, E. J. Sheilds, D. M. Leatherman, J. C. Humphreys, J. P. Caruthers, W. R. Harris, Seth Wheatley, B. N. Hart, J. D. Adams, T. H. Logwood, P. T. Scruggs, J. E. R. Ray, L. B. Horrigan, J. L. Wheatley, G. D. Searcy, F. D. Kortrecht and Archibald Wright.  Many others deserve mention.  It would be impossible to do justice to the distinguished living members of the bar.  Judges A. H. Douglass and J. L. T. Sneed are among the oldest and most distinguished.

     On the declaration of the existence of war between the United States and Mexico in 1846, the President at once called for 50,000 volunteers and Congress appropriated $10,000,000 to defray the expenses of the war.  The number of volunteers called for from Tennessee was 2,000; however, 2,400 were accepted under the first call for one year’s service.  These men were divided into the infantry and the cavalry service, there being 1,600 of the former and 800 of the latter.  Gov. A. V. Brown set himself earnestly to work to furnish that number.  The feeling against Mexico had so wrought on the minds of the people that through patriotism or a spirit of adventure, many more were led to offer their services as volunteers than could be accepted.  The first steps toward raising troops for the war was a meeting held at the Gayoso Hotel on May 8.  Four companies almost immediately tendered their services—the Memphis Rifle Guards, Gaines Guards, Eagle Guards and the Jackson Guards.  Only three of these companies were accepted.  The two first above mentioned were infantry companies and the third was a cavalry company.  The two infantry companies were ordered into camp on June 15, at Camp Carroll, near Memphis.  They were mustered into the service by Gen. Hays.  The officers of the Memphis Rifle Guards were E. F. Ruth, captain; J. B. Nelson, first lieutenant; E. M. Anderson, second lieutenant; G. J. Slaughter, ensign; S. H. Whitsett, orderly sergeant; W. S. Echols, Benj. O’Haver, W. A. Porter, sergeants; R. J. Dye, S. T. Woodson, John Glenn, Robt. Torrey, corporals; J. S. Foster, sergeant-major.  The officers of the Gaines Guards were M. B. Cook, captain; W. B. Davis, first lieutenant; E. J. Wyatt, second lieutenant; C. Gill, ensign; R. C. Sneed, orderly sergeant; J. D. Beatty, H. L. Bynum, J. L. Wilbar, sergeants; J. C. Anderson, O. Teslard, R. P. Ford, W. H. Linn, corporals.  The Eagle Guards organized by electing W. N. Porter, captain; J. L. Penn, first lieutenant; R. M. Anderson, second lieutenant; C. R. Wheat, ensign; Orville Yerger, orderly sergeant; Cyrus Marshall, Chas. Irvine, sergeants; G. Mattoon, R. Dresser, T. B. Hyler, G. L. Rolon, corporals.  The two infantry companies were attached to the Second Regiment, of which Wm. Trousdale was elected colonel.  The Second Regiment embarked on board the “Brownsville” on the 10^th, for New Orleans and reached New Orleans the last of June; thence was sent to the Brazos in July and was afterward stationed at Camargo till in August, and in September aided in the capture of Monterey.  The place fell on September 21.  The troops suffered severe losses at this place; hot weather and climatic changes had proved equally as fatal as the arms of the enemy.  The Shelby County troops in the invasion thus far, were attached to the brigade commanded by Gen. Gideon J. Pillow.  After the capture of Monterey the main body of Taylor’s troops were withdrawn from him and sent to assist Gen. Scott in an attack upon Vera Cruz.  Both regiments of Tennessee troops had now been placed in the command of Gen. Pillow.  The troops started for Tampico on December 14, to embark for Vera Cruz where they arrived on March 9, 1847.  After some heavy fighting, Vera Cruz and all its defenses fell into the hands of the Americans on March 29.  The army began its advance toward the City of Mexico on April 9, but the progress of the army was disputed by the Mexicans at Cerro Gordo Pass on April 10.  It was determined to carry the place by assault.  The Second Regiment was on the left of the line.  They became entangled in the chapparal in front of the works and suffered terrible losses amounting to seventy-one men.  Among the wounded was Gen. Pillow.  After the capture of Cerro Gordo the army moved forward to Jalapa.  The time of the Second Regiment had expired at this time and the regiment returned to Vera Cruz and embarked for New Orleans where they were discharged and sent home.  The Eagle Guards also encamped at Camp Carroll at the Bigspring, two miles east of Memphis.  The company consisted of ninety-seven men.  Their uniform was of blue cloth faced with yellow.  They awaited the arrival of the other troops from Middle and East Tennessee, the last of whom did not arrive until July 2, 1846.  The whole force at that time in camp consisted of ten companies of cavalry and four of infantry.  By a vote in Camp Carroll J. E. Thomas was elected colonel; Robt. D. Allison, lieutenant-colonel, and Richard Waterhouse, major.  The regiment crossed the river at Memphis on July 27, and marched to Little Rock, a distance of 150 miles; thence to Fulton, Ark., 139 miles; thence to Robbins’ Ferry, 287 miles; thence to San Antonio, Tex., 246 miles, whence it joined Gen. Taylor’s forces at Matamoras.  The cavalry was principally engaged in guard duty and had little of the heavy fighting to do.  Among those who died of disease was Capt. W. N. Porter.  The regiment returned after its year’s service and before the volunteers of the second call reached the front, the City of Mexico had surrendered and negotiations for peace were under way.

     On April 25, 1861, Gov. Harris directed Gen. S. R. Anderson to proceed to Memphis to organize the various bodies of troops into regiments.  He remained till May 3, when Gen. J. T. L. Sneed was appointed to fill the place till the arrival of Maj.-Gen. Gideon J. Pillow on May 9.  Active steps were taken to place the city and country in a position of defense.  Gen. Pillow issued an order that no company should be received with less than sixty-four men, nor should any one be allowed over one hundred.  On May 23 Gen. Pillow ordered all companies that were full into camp at Camp Jackson.  Much difficulty was experienced in providing arms and equipment for the men.  There were few arms and fewer manufactories for them.  The new government set itself earnestly at work to provide means for carrying on the war, which all foresaw was inevitable.  As fast as men could be armed and equipped they were sent to the front.  The whole county became a military camp, or at least an organization.  Speakers were sent to every district in the county.  All who were not regularly enlisted in the army became members of the committee of safety, of which F. Titus was president.  The city of Memphis issued $50,000 in script to furnish supplies to soldiers, and in a short time $25,000 additional was issued.  In May the county court issued $25,000 in script to aid in arming and equipping the men of the county.  The court allowed $12 a month for the wife, and $6 per month for each child of a volunteer soldier.  The men in the various civil districts were organized into companies over which were chosen captains and lieutenants.  J. S. Dickason was chosen general commander for the county on May 20, 1861; $30 were allowed for three months’ guard service.  All surplus arms were turned over to the commanding general, for which warrants on the county were issued.  Special taxes were levied for military purposes.  On June 3 the county judge appointed Gen. Henry G. Smith a committee to purchase arms, guns, etc.  On the 20^th of May Gen. Pillow ordered reprisals to be taken of all Northern property passing through the city by river or rail, and a close scrutiny of all goods in transit.  On June 1 he ordered all shipments of cotton north to be stopped.  The city was organized for military purposes by wards.  The ladies, under the leadership of such women as Mrs. S. C. Law, Mrs. Lockhart, Mrs. Pope and others were organized for the purpose of furnishing comforts and delicacies to the soldiers in the field and in the hospitals.  On August 22 Gov. Harris issued a proclamation to the women of the State urging them to organize themselves into societies for the purpose above mentioned.  In July the troops that had been enlisted in the State service were transferred or mustered into the Confederate States’ service.  The concentration of the Federals at Cairo led the Confederates to suspect a descent along the river from that point.  To forestall such a movement strong works were established near Memphis, at Randolph, Fort Pillow, New Madrid, Island No. 10, and elsewhere along the Mississippi.  On July 26 Gen. Pillow went to the front to supervise the works of defense.  Soon after Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who was commander of the Department of Tennessee, established his headquarters at Memphis.  Owing to the threatening attitude of the Federals large bodies were concentrated at points along the Mississippi River, also along the Tennessee and the Cumberland Rivers.  On the transfer of the Tennessee troops to the Confederate Government, Gov. Harris issued a call for 30,000 volunteers for a reserve corps.  On the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson the entire available force of the State was called out.  This call was made on February 19, and the Legislature was convened at Memphis, the public archives having been removed to that place.  The threatening attitude of the Federals soon led to another change.  The fall of Fort Henry on February 6, and the fall of Fort Donelson on the 16^th led to the fall of Columbus.  New Madrid fell; Island No. 10 with its garrison surrendered on April 7-8; Fort Pillow was abandoned on June 4, and Randolph was evacuated soon after.  The Federals advanced and captured Memphis in June 6.

     One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Senior Tennessee Regiment was incorporated on March 22, 1860, as a militia regiment and took the above number in that line of service.  It was incorporated with Wm. H. Carroll as colonel, Preston Smith as lieutenant-colonel, A. H. Douglass as major, and M. J. Wright, second major; Dr. N. Thumel, surgeon, and G. H. Monsarat, adjutant.  It has also a full line of company officers.  On the outbreak of the war the regiment reorganized and tendered its services to the State for twelve months.  Preston Smith was then elected colonel, M. J. Wright, lieutenant-colonel; Ed. Fitzgerald, major; W. H. Stovall, adjutant.  Seven of the ten companies were from Memphis and Shelby County.  These consisted of Company A, Light Guards, captain, J. Genet; B, Bluff City Grays, captain, J. H. Edmonson; C, Hickory Rifles, captain, J. D. Martin; D, Southern Guards, captain, James Hamilton; E, Memphis Zouaves, captain, Sterling Fowlkes; F, Jackson Guards, captain, Michael McGaveney; G, Crockett Rangers, captain, M. Patrick.

     In May Col. Wright was ordered by Gov. Harris to Randolph.  At this place the Southern guards withdrew from the regiment and formed an artillery company.  The Beauregards of Memphis, captain, Moreland and the Maynard Rifles, captain E. A. Cole, were soon attached to this regiment.  The One Hundred and Fifty-fourth took part in the skirmishing around Belmont and the various movements in Kentucky, till after the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson.  The regiment then moved south and took an active and conspicuous part in the battle of Shiloh, where it lost several men.  At the end of the year’s service the regiment reorganized at Corinth, Cols. Smith and Wright both having been promoted to brigadier-generalship.  Maj. Fitzgerald was elected colonel, Capt. McGaveney, lieutenant-colonel, and Capt. John W. Dawson, major.  After the end of the siege of Corinth the army retreated to Tupelo, thence by way of Chattanooga began its advance into Kentucky.  In the engagement at Richmond, Ky., Col. Fitzgerald was killed.  The regiment was hotly engaged at Perryville, October 8, 1862.  After the death of Col. Fitzgerald, Lieut.-Col. McGaveney became colonel, Maj. Dawson lieutenant-colonel and Capt. Marsh Patrick, major.  The army retreated back to Tennessee, and this regiment was again heavily engaged at Murfreesboro, on December 31, and January 1-2, 1863.  After this battle the Bluff City Grays were attached to Forrest’s cavalry, and their place was filled by DeGraffenried’s company, from Fayette County.  The army fell back to Shelbyville, Tullahoma and Chattanooga, and September 19, 20 was fought the furious battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge on November 25.  The regiment wintered near Dalton, Ga., and was engaged in the battles from May 7, 1864 to July 22.  At Murfreesboro the regiment lost a third of the men engaged, also heavily at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge; and from Dalton to Atlanta one company lost twenty-seven men out of twenty-nine, nine of whom were killed, two disabled permanently and the remainder returned to duty.  After the fall of Atlanta the regiment followed the fortunes of Hood through Tennessee to Franklin, Nashville and back again.  It was then transferred to the east and was engaged at Bentonville, near which place the remnant of the regiment surrendered.  Out of 1,100 men belonging to the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth, less than one hundred were left at the surrender.  This regiment furnished its share of general officers, i.e., Gens. W. H. Carroll, Preston Smith, M. J. Wright and J. D. Martin.

     The Fifth Regiment was made from a consolidation of the Second and Twenty-First Regiments.  The Second Regiment was known as J. Knox Walker’s regiment.  The regimental officers were J. K. Walker, colonel; J. A. Ashford, lieutenant-colonel and W. B. Ross, major.  The regiment was organized about the 1^st of May and was at once ordered to duty at Raldolph under Gen. J. L. T. Sneed.  It was first engaged at Belmont, on November 7, where with inferior arms it gained a victory.  Capt. Armstrong and Lieut. James Walker were killed in the engagement.  The regiment was then engaged in duty at Columbus till the retreat to Corinth.  The Twenty-first Regiment was raised about the last of April, at Memphis.  The regimental officers were Ed Pickett, colonel; H. Tillman, lieutenant-colonel and J. C. Cole, major.  The regiment reported for duty to Gen. Cheatham, at Union City, but was soon sent to Columbus, Ky., and was also engaged at Belmont, on November 7.  The regiment returned by way of Union City, thence south to Corinth.  This regiment and also the Second Regiment were engaged in the bloody battle of Shiloh, on April 6 and 7, 1862.  After the evacuation of Corinth, the army fell back to Tupelo.  Owing to the great depletion of the two regiments the Second and Twenty-first Regiments were consolidated and formed into the Fifth Regiment.  On the reorganization on May 28, 1862, J. A. Smith was elected colonel, J. C. Cole, lieutenant-colonel, and R. J. Parson, major.  The companies from Shelby were A, captain Thomas Stokes; B, captain, C. W. Frayser; C, captain, W. H. Brown; D, captain, L. D. Greenlaw; E, captain, J. H. Beard; F, John Fitzgerald; G, captain, W. H. Carroll; H, captain, A. A. Cox.  In August the Fifth Regiment was transferred to Mobile, thence to Tyner Station near Chattanooga, preparatory to the advance into Kentucky.  It was with the main body of Bragg’s army and passed by way of Sparta, Glasgow, to Bardstown, thence to Munfordsville, and assisted in its capture.  It was engaged at Perryville, October 8, and retreated from Kentucky by way of Knoxville, thence moved by way of Tullahoma to the vicinity of Murfreesboro, where it was engaged in that sanguinary battle.  It wintered in 1863 at Tullahoma, and feel back with the army across the Tennessee, through Chattanooga, and was in the battle of Chickamauga, on September 19, 20, and again at Missionary Ridge, on November 25.  The winter of 1863-64, was spent near Dalton.  From Dalton to the fall of Atlanta the Fifth Regiment was engaged almost daily.  At Peach Tree Creek, on July 22, private Robt. Coleman shot the distinguished Federal, Gen. McPherson.  Coleman was captured and afterward died from wounds.  The Fifth Regiment followed Hood into Tennessee, and was almost annihilated at Franklin on November 30.  From Nashville the regiment retreated to Corinth, where it was consolidated with the fragments of other regiments.  It was then transferred to North Carolina, and was at Bentonville and surrendered at Greensboro on April 26, with less than one hundred men.  The regiment was composed almost entirely of Irish, few of whom had families, in consequence of which there were few desertions and very few ever asked for a furlough.

     The Fourth Tennessee Regiment was organized May 8, 1861, with R. P. Neely, colonel; O. F. Strahl, lieutenant-colonel; J. F. Henry, major; Henry Hampton, adjutant; J. A. Williams, sergeant; L. P. Yandell, assistant sergeant, and W. C. Gray, chaplain.  The regiment contained 962 men.  The companies from Shelby County were the Shelby Grays, captain, Somerville; Pillow Guards, captain, James Fentress; Raleigh Volunteers, captain, A. J. Kellar; Harris Guards, captain, J. H. Dean.  The other companies were from Lauderdale, Dyer, Hardeman, Obion, Gibson and Tipton Counties.  The regiment rendezvoused at Germantown May 15, under Gen. W. H. Carroll.  It left Memphis May 20, on board the “Ingomar” for Randolph, where it was placed in the brigade of Gen. J. L. T. Sneed.  On July 18 it was sent to Fort Pillow, where it was engaged in drilling.  It was mustered into the Confederate service by Gen. J. A. Smith on August 17.  It was soon sent to New Madrid; thence to Camp Benton, Mo.; thence back to New Madrid, and on September 3, to Columbus, Ky.  On November 7 it was engaged at Belmont, on February 4 at Island No. 10; thence it went to New Madrid.  On March 17 it was sent to Tiptonville and there embarked for Memphis, where it arrived on March 20.  It was sent by the Memphis & Charleston Railroad to Corinth.  It was in the advance, on April 4 and 5, and in the engagements of the 6t^h and 7^th.  It captured a Federal battery but lost 31 killed and 161 wounded.  The regiment was now reduced to 512 men.  It was reorganized at Corinth, on April 25, by electing O. F. Strahl, colonel; A. J. Kellar, lieutenant-colonel, and L. W. Finlay, major.  From Corinth it went to Tupelo, Mobile, Montgomery, Chattanooga; thence (August 17) to Kentucky by way of Walden’s Ridge, the Sequatchie Valley, Pikeville, Sparta, Gainesboro, Mumfordsville, Elizabethtown, Bardstown, Perryville, Danville, Big Springs, near Harrodsburg; thence back to Perryville October 7; was engaged on October 8.  It moved to Camp Dick Robison; thence by Cumberland Gap, Rodgersville, Knoxville, Bridgeport and Murfreesboro and wintered at Shelbyville.  On June 23 it fell back toward Chattanooga.  In July O. F. Strahl was made a brigadier-general.  Other changes followed in the regiment.  The regiment fought at Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, and at Missionary Ridge, November 24 and 25.  It wintered near Dalton and was in the Georgia campaign till the fall of Atlanta and then followed the fortunes of Hood through Tennessee at Franklin and Nashville.  At Franklin Gen. Strahl was killed.  The regiment passed through Columbia, Pulaski and across the Tennessee to Corinth where the men were furloughed.  In February the men were sent to North Carolina and were at the final struggle at Bentonville and surrendered at Smithfield on April 26.

     Thirteenth Regiment was organized at Jackson, Tenn., on June 3, 1861, under call of Gov. Harris.  Company C, the secession guards from Germantown under Capt. J. H. Morgan and E. W. Douglass, was the only company from Shelby County.  (A sketch of this regiment is given on page 572 of the State history in this volume.)

     The Fifteenth Regiment was organized at Jackson, June 7, 1861.  The regimental officers were C. M. Carroll, colonel; H. R. Taylor, lieutenant-colonel; J. W. Hamilton, major; several changes occurred from resignations.  At the reorganization at Tupelo, R. C. Tyler became colonel, Capt. Brooks lieutenant-colonel, and Dr. Wall, major.  The companies from Shelby County belonging to this regiment were the companies of Capts. A. C. Ketchum, Dr. Frank Rice, Chas. E. Ross, Ed. S. Pickett, J. F. Cameron, E. M. Cleary, Joseph Kellar and O. Carroll.  Capt. Pickett and his company withdrew from the regiment in a short time and Capt. J. F. Cameron and the Young Guards withdrew at Union City.  The places of these men were filled by the Washington Rifles from Memphis under Capt. Nick Freck and a company from elsewhere.  After the battle of Perryville the Fifteenth was consolidated with the Thirty-seventh.  (A fuller history of the Fifteenth may be found on page 573 and 576 of this volume.)  The officers of the Young Guards at first were J. F. Cameron, captain; J. Bain, first lieutenant; W. F. Burne, second lieutenant; O. H. Smith, third lieutenant.  This company returned to Memphis in June and re-enlisted for “three years or during the war.”  It was attached to Hindman’s legion and served with distinction during the war.

     Ninth Tennessee, Companies E and I, were from Memphis.  These companies were organized in May, 1861, and each numbered about 100 men.  The officers of E were Thomas Apperson, captain; John Brown, first lieutenant; J. N. Hughes, second lieutenant, and Fred Battle, third lieutenant.  H. R. Rodgers was captain of Company I.  The regiment was organized at Camp Beauregard, Jackson, Tenn., May 22, 1861.  H. L. Douglass was elected colonel; C. S. Hurt, lieutenant-colonel and S. H. White, major.  The regiment was reorganized in May, 1862, when C. S. Hurt was elected colonel; J. W. Burford, lieutenant-colonel and G. W. Kelso, major.  At the surrender, April 26, 1865, the regiment had but forty men, eight of whom belonged to E and nine to I.  (See pages 569 and 570 of State history.)

     The Thirty-eighth was organized in September, 1861.  Its regimental and field officers were Robt. L. Looney, colonel; J. C. Carter, lieutenant-colonel; H. W. Collier, major; H. S. Jones, surgeon; E. A. Shryock, quartermaster and R. L. Caruthers, adjutant.  The Shelby County companies were A, H. W. Coulter, captain; B, C. H. Holland, captain; D, H. H. Abbington, captain; I, J. C. Thrasher, captain; G, J. J. Mayfield, captain; H, J. G. Cook, captain; J, W. B. Wright, captain; K, A. B. Lovejoy, captain.  (A fuller history of this regiment may be found on page 585 in this volume.)

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