One of my favorite descriptions of the Black Prairie was in a letter written by William Goodell, a missionary visiting the Mayhew Choctaw Mission in April 1822.
It contained a beautiful description of the wildflower-covered prairie upon which Mayhew was situated. The letter is dated Creek-Path, April 30, 1822. Creek-Path was a Cherokee Mission which was located near present-day Guntersville, Alabama. The letter was published in the July 1822 Missionary Herald, a publication of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Goodell was on a tour of Indian missions before departing in January 1823 for mission work in the Holy Land. One can imagine my surprise when I came across a letter from Goodell dated Columbus, Mississippi, April 2, 1823. To be even more confusing the letter was in the Portland, Maine, Christian Mirror, of April 25, 1823, these dates closely correspond with correspondence from Malta. The 1823 letter also contained information about a devastating Tombigbee River flood.
As it turns out, the apparent explanation is that excerpts from an 1822 journal kept by Goodell were published a year after he had written them. Evidence of this is also found in extensive newspaper accounts of flooding in the southeast in 1822, but not 1823. The July 1822 Missionary Herald reported that the first part of the summer at Mayhew was “excessively wet” and that “the labors of the mission were also greatly impeded by the long continued rains.”
The 1823 publication of Goodell’s account paints such a vivid description of a flooded Tombigbee landscape and the beauty of the prairies west of Columbus that it is best left unabridged.
TOUR TO MAYHEW
A Letter from Mr. Goodell, communicated for the Mirror.
Columbus, (Mississippi) April 2, 1823
Four days, brother ___, was I detained by the Butta Hatchy [Buttahatchie]. On Saturday morning, I attempted to cross, and happily succeeded — and by the next morning reached this place in season to preach twice. But in doing this, I had to travel above seventy miles, and to experience many perils in swimming rivers, creeks and swamps; and here, within three hours’ ride of Mayhew, I am compelled to stay; all before me is a perfect wilderness of waters. The Tombigbee was never known to be so high before; hundreds of cattle have been swept away by the deluge, and all the boats have been employed for several days in bringing off families whose log cabins were surrounded or half filled with water. May they think of the ark of safety and flee from the wrath to come!
Mayhew, April 6
My dear Brother — I waited at Columbus for the water to subside till Thursday morning, when the ardor of my desire to see the dear family at Mayhew, would suffer me to stay no longer. Leaving my horse behind, I took a little log canoe, and went with it three miles through the woods. I helped paddle, till my strength was perfectly exhausted. After leaving the boat, I soon came to water too broad and deep for me to pass on foot. I then hired a boy and a horse of a half breed to carry me over, and a few miles beyond. After the boy left me, I waded through mud, and much water. After taking off my boots to empty the water from them, as I proceeded on through the wilderness, hungry and thirsty, and drew near the long wished for spot, there opened unexpectedly to my view an extensive prairie, which contains several thousand acres, and which appeared to be without a single stone, or tree, or fence, except the railing, which enclosed the fields of Mayhew. These fields are on the north side of the prairie, and directly in front of the mission houses. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north” — for thither the tribes go up, to learn the testimonies of God. — Casting your eyes over the prairie, you will discover here and there herds of cattle, of horses and of wild deer, all grazing and happy. This is certainly the loveliest spot my eyes ever saw. The prairie has gentle elevations and depressions, which contain each from a hundred to a thousand acres, and which, from a little distance, resemble the undulatory motions of the waters of the Atlantic, a few leagues from the land, after a tremendous storm. As I walked on, pausing and wondering, Mayhew would often almost wholly disappear; again it would rise to view in still greater loveliness, half encircled with the oak, the sycamore, and the mulberry, which border on the prairie on all sides. Flowers of red, purple, yellow, and indeed of every hues were scattered by a bountiful God in rich profusion, and in all the beauty and innocence of Eden on each side of my path; and their fragrance was as if the incense of heaven had there been offered. — The distance to Mayhew, which at first appeared to be not more than a few hundred yards, I found to be not less than two miles. But, though the distance was so great, and though my limbs, through excessive fatigue, could scarcely perform their office, yet in contemplating this lively scene, with all its interesting associations, my soul ere I was aware, “made me like the chariot of Amminadab.”
I was received with great gladness by these devoted men and women, and we immediately united in thanksgiving to God for my safe arrival. The mission family consists of ten persons, besides the hired help and the children. They have erected and nearly completed 14 or 16 buildings, and expected to open a school within three weeks. I will give you a more particular account of the manner of living, the necessities, the prospects, &c., after I visited Elliot. Tell your people to pray for these tribes — and to pray for these missionaries — and for all others.
Your friend and brother,
W. Goodell
P.S. — Mayhew is in the State of Mississippi, about five and thirty miles from the eastern boundary.
Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for helping research William Goodell, who turned out to have lived an extraordinary life and for transcribing many newspaper accounts of Goodell and Mayhew.
Rufus Ward is a local historian.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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