After this notice was received the company was given orders to prepare to be mustered out, and a few days later the company started on its way to Lauderdale Springs, when it was learned that yellow fever was in the state of Mississippi, and the troops were given the privilege of proceeding without stop at Lauderdale Springs, for thirty-six hours, this was done in order that they might not be quarantined from their respective homes.

On September 14 the news spread rapidly through Greenville that Company C would return on the Southern Railway. The citizens hastily started preparation for a reception and everything was splendidly arranged. Sommers' band headed a crowd composed of Greenville's population who met the train with "three cheers for our soldier boys" and the joyful citizens shook the hands of each member of Company C.

Before dismissing the company, Captain Ireys said, "Mothers, I return your sons to you," after which the boys were allowed to break rank.

It was truly said by the Greenville Times, "The day of departure of the soldiers, May 28, was one of the saddest days Greenville ever experienced-the day of their return, Sept. 14th, the happiest."

On account of yellow fever restrictions, the secretary of war extended the furlough of the second Mississippi regiment from October 19th to November 13th, and again extended same on like authority to November 28th. Previous to their departure to Columbia, Tennessee, to be mustered out, Company C presented Captain Henry T. Ireys, Jr., with a handsome sword, and First Sergeant William D. Robertshaw with a handsome umbrella and walking stick, as marks of the high esteem in which they held these officers.

On November 27th Company C was instructed to leave on special train No. 4 at 2 p. m., which train would pick up additional coaches along the line:

CIRCULAR No. 4.

Captain Henry T. Ireys, Jr., of Company C is authorized to assume the command of the train.

Headquarters, Camp Hamilton, Columbia, Tenn., Nov. 23, 1898. "The boys all had a good time while at Columbia, Tenn., with not much to do and without exception the entire company was given honorable discharge, Dec. 1, 1898."

In conclusion, there is little to be said, as nothing particularly historic was performed by Company C for the reason that the sudden cessation of hostilities afforded no opportunity of performance. The spirit to do was there, however, and we must take the will for the deed.

Since the time of which I write, many listed in the company's roster, impelled by business necessities and other circumstances, are no longer with us, and quite a number in the flower of their youth have answered that last sad roll call from on high, notably among them, our noble captain, Henry T. Ireys, Jr., than whom no officer in the Seventh Army Corps was more highly esteemed, for gentlemanly conduct and military proficiency.

COLONEL GEORGE STROTHER GAINES AND OTHER PIONEERS IN MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY.

BY GEORGE J. LEFTWICH.

I.

This article is devoted mainly to the career of George Strother Gaines, a notable pioneer in Mississippi Territory, whose bones rest in her soil, though the sketch could hardly be complete without bringing into view a distinguished officer in the regular army of the United States, his brother, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, and other pioneers. More is to be said of George Strother Gaines, the younger brother, the less known, though really a greater man than the distinguished General. The Gaines family is closely connected with the Strothers, of Virginia, founded by William Strother of notable aristocratic and distinguished lineage and descended from English nobility. Henry Gaines, the father, between 1765 and 1775, married Isabella Pendleton in Culpepper County, Virginia; Isabella Pendleton was the sister of Judge Edmund Pendleton, one of the notable compatriots of Washington and Jefferson, and belonging to that group of Virginia statesmen who were in the ascendant in the nation just preceding and following the Revolutionary War, and who are characterized by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts in his recent eulogy on Senator John W. Daniel of Virginia, as the ablest body of men since the days of the Greek Republic, as it existed long prior to the Christian era. Edmund Pendleton, after the termination of the Revolution, was long President of the Virginia Court of Appeals, the supreme judicial tribunal of

1 See Vol. 2, Southern Historical Association, page 149, on William Strother and his descendants by Dr. James M. Owen, Director of Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.

that State. The Gaines family were closely connected with the mother of General Zachary Taylor, and many of Virginia's most distinguished men and statesmen.2

Henry Gaines and Isabella Pendleton had born to them twelve. children, three sons, Edmund Pendleton Gaines, George Strother Gaines, James Gaines, and nine daughters. Edmund Pendleton Gaines was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, but his distinguished brother George Strother was born in Slater County, North Carolina, and the family later moved to Gallatin, Tennessee. It seems, on good authority, that the Gaines family originally came from Wales, and of the three branches of it, one settled in New England, one in Virginia, and one in South Carolina.3

II.

Both brothers mostly grew up at or near Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee; and in 1804, A. D., before George Strother was twenty years of age, he was appointed Assistant Factor or Agent at St. Stevens, Alabama, a famous pioneer settlement on the Tombigbee River, and then near the dividing line between Mississippi Territory and Spanish West Florida. The Superintendent or Factor at this trading house was Joseph Chambers, who resigned in 1806, and George Strother Gaines was appointed in his place. No better testimonial to the capacity and reliability of Colonel Gaines could be adduced than this appointment at so early an age. The establishment of Indian trading houses at Ft. Stevens, Natchez and other places by the United States Government was to circumvent the wily machinations of the English and Spanish in their dealing with the Indians. Washington is supposed to have suggested this method of keeping on friendly terms with the savages. Trading houses were primarily set up by speculators who over-reached the Indians, sold them bad whiskey, and looked after every interest but that of the Indian

"Conversation of Col. Gaines with Mr. A. C. Coles, State Line, Mississippi, at one time his business associate and amanuensis.

'Information given Mr. A. C. Coles of State Line, Miss., by Col. Geo. S. Gaines.

himself, the settler and the United States. So the Government undertook the task of establishing trading houses and selling them goods that the Indians really needed at just sufficient profit to prevent loss. One of the most important qualifications of the Factor or Superintendent of the trading house was skill and diplomacy; he should be honest of course, but he must keep peace with the Indians and give welcome to the American settler. Near St. Stevens was Ft. Stoddard, where United States troops were stationed, then on the Spanish boundary; in charge of this garrison was Captain Edmund Pendleton Gaines, the brother of the Factor, who had married for his second wife the daughter of Judge Harry Toulmin of Kentucky, the first Federal Judge, and long prominent in Mississippi Territory; his first wife was a daughter of Governor Blount of Tennessee; and still a third wife was the famous Myra Clarke Gaines of New Orleans, where the General died about 1849. It was at this time while Captain Gaines as commandant at Ft. Stoddard, and George Strother was Assistant Factor, that Aaron Burr escaped from Washington, the territorial capital of Mississippi, and was captured by Captain Gaines near Ft. Stoddard where he was detained for several weeks, entertaining the ladies with cards, mesmerizing the men with his splendid manners and interesting conversation, and in the interval nursed George Strother Gaines while afflicted with fever at St. Stevens; it was from here that Colonel Burr was sent by Captain Gaines to Richmond to be tried by Judge John Marshall for treasonable practices, and acquitted, though unquestionably guilty of treasonable designs as later was more clearly developed. George Strother Gaines in his published letters and Reminiscences, makes much interesting comment on this region of the Tombigbee then inhabited by the Creek and Choctaw Indians and a few white cattle raisers along the river.

III.

The goods, arms, blankets and trinkets sold to the Indians. mainly for pelts, at Ft. Stevens, had of course to be imported from the East. During the superintendency of Gaines' prede