Although the Fourth of July, when we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, is not until Tuesday, most of the celebrations will be this weekend.
Saturday evening Columbus will have its major celebration for the Fourth with Fireworks on the Water. It will be a grand evening on the banks of the Tombigbee River at the Stennis Lock and Dam featuring fireworks, an aircraft flyover, a concert and food and beverage vendors.
I thought it might be interesting to find the earliest description of a Fourth of July celebration in Columbus and see how things have changed. In the Columbus Southern Argus of June 19, 1838, I found the details of the Fourth of July celebration planned for Columbus 185 years ago. It was to be an all day affair. What most caught my eye was that in a large procession that wove through downtown were “soldiers of the Revolution.” Apparently in 1838 there were surviving Revolutionary soldiers still living in Columbus.
Two veterans of the Revolution, Silas McBee and William Cocke, had been instrumental in the founding of Columbus. Cocke had settled here in 1818 or1819 and was the first president of the Board of Trustees of Franklin Academy. In the early 1820s he corresponded with an old friend from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, about the school. McBee arrived in 1817 and in 1819 suggested the name Columbus for the new settlement in. Cocke had died in 1828, but McBee was still living and may well have been walking in the 1838 procession.
Those in the procession gathered on Franklin Square, the name given to the city block on which Franklin Academy is located. It proceeded down Seminary Street to Market or Fifth Street. Seminary Street no longer exists north of Franklin but was a continuation of Fourth Avenue North that ran between present day Franklin and the Magnolia Bowl. The procession turned south on Market (Fifth Street) and proceeded to weave through downtown, ending up at the Episcopal Church, which was located where the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority office now sits next to the S.D. Lee Home.
Below is the 1838 Columbus Fourth of July program as printed in the Southern Argus newspaper.
Fourth of July
The following programme of the celebration of the ensuing anniversary of American Independence in Columbus has been adopted by the joint committee of the citizens and military.
At sunrise a federal salute to be fired as a signal for hoisting the National Flag.
At 9 o’clock, A.M. a procession to be formed in Franklin Square, in the following order, under the direction of the Marshalls of the day.
1st Columbus Band
2nd Columbus Riflemen
3rd Orator of the day and Reader
4th Rev. Clergy
5th Solders of the Revolution
6th High Sheriff, Judges, and Justices of the county
7th Male students of the Franklin Academy
8th Principals and Teachers of the several Seminaries of the city and the President of the Female Academy
9th Strangers
10th Citizens of the city and county
11th Columbus Dragoons (Dragoons were mounted infantry. There is a reason they were last in the procession)
At the firing of a gun the procession will move from the Square down Seminary to Market (5th) street; down Market street to Main street; down Main street to St. John’s street (Catfish Alley); down St John’s street to Washington street (College); up Washington street to Market street; up Market street to Main Street; up Main street to Caledonia (Seventh) street to the Episcopal Church, where services of the day will be performed as follows:
1st Prayer
2nd Music
3rd Reading of the Declaration of Independence
4th Music
5th Oration
6th Music
7th Prayer and Benediction
After the services of the Church, the procession will return to Franklin Square, where a feu de joi will be fired by the military (a traditional firing of rifles in rapid succession in celebration of an important event) as a signal for the disbanding of the procession; at the same time, marshals of the day will communicate the arrangements for proceeding to a dinner to be prepared at the Columbus Hotel.
At one o’clock, a national salute will be fired.
At sun-down the firing of a gun shall be the signal for lowering the National Flag.
W.H. Mayo, Esq. has ben appointed Orator and G.A. Chandler, Esq. Reader of the day.
E.B. Drake, H.S. Taylor Esqrs. and Col. J.W. Byrn were appointed Marshals of the day.
All of which is respectfully submitted by
C.H. Abert, J.H. Tracy, F. Hooker, T.J. Huddleston – Committee in behalf of Columbus Riflemen
P.M. Grant, H.G. Humphries, J.Baker – Committee in behalf of C. Dragoons
T.G. Blewett, W.W. Humphries, E.B. Drake, A. Campbell, C.S. Aikin, S.F. Butterworth, P. Bryon Barker – Committee in behalf of the Citizens
It must have been a most impressive celebration. Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for transcribing the Southern Argus article.
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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