I enjoy talking about Mississippi history with my longtime friend Roger Wicker. With his being from Tupelo and enjoying history, tidbits of history from northeast Mississippi are always fun to pass along.
Last week I saw several media accounts of Rev. John Wesley’s journey to America during the 1730s. I knew Roger would be interested in some John Wesley material I had related to Tupelo, but things got busy in Washington and prevented us from delving into events of 288 years ago. So, I decided to make it my column for this weekend.
The story concerns the Chickasaw Nation and its conflicts with the French and Choctaws in what is now the Tupelo area.
In May 1736 two French armies attacked Chickasaw towns in and around present-day Tupelo. The French were allied with the Choctaw while the Chickasaw were allied with the British. A French army of about 600 soldiers under Gov. Bienville came up the Tombigbee from Mobile by way of Fort Tombecbe near present-day Livingston, Alabama.
The army included a company of about 45 Black soldiers under the command of Simon, a free Black French officer. They camped at Plymouth Bluff for three days as they proceeded up the Tombigbee toward the Chickasaw towns.
The northern French army, which had come south from the Illinois District, was supposed to join with the southern army, but they attacked the Chickasaw without waiting to combine the two French forces. The Chickasaw defeated them, and French commander d’Artaguette,16 soldiers and a Jesuit priest, Father Senat, were captured and burned at the stake.
The southern French force combined with Choctaw warriors attacked the fortified Chickasaw village of Ackia (located in present-day Tupelo). During the fighting the French observed a British flag flying over the Chickasaw village. Bienville’s army was also defeated and forced to retreat.
In 1735 Anglican clergyman John Wesley traveled to Georgia at the invitation of the governor, James Oglethorpe, to become the pastor of a church there. Wesley had earned a reputation in England for evangelistic preaching and for speaking out for social reform. He aspired to create a mission among the Native Americans. In 1736 there was a party of 20 Chickasaws apparently in Savannah seeking supplies, or possibly help in their war with the French. Among them were two Chickasaw chiefs, Paustoobee and Mingomattaw, who met with Wesley on July 20, 1736.
Wesley, as one might expect, questioned the Chickasaws about their beliefs in a supreme being. The Chickasaws told of their spiritual beliefs including the role of the “Beloved Things” in their defeat of the French and Choctaws. Wesley’s interview was published was published in the May 1737 issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine of London.
The conference had taken place in Savannah, Georgia, on July 20, 1736. Wesley was identified as Mr. John Wesley, Minister of Savannah.
“Q. Do you believe there is one above who is over all?
Postubbee answer’d — We believe there are four Beloved Things above: the Clouds, the Sun, the Clear Sky, and he that lives in the Clear Sky.
Q. Do you believe there is but one that lives in the Clear Sky?
A. We believe there are Two with him. Three in all.
Q. Do you think he made the Sun, and the other Beloved Things?
A. We cannot tell. Who hath seen?
Q. Do you think he made you?
A. We think he made all Men at first out of the Ground.
Q. Do you believe he loves you?
A. I don’t know. I cannot see him.
Q. But has he not often saved your Life?
A. Yes he has. For I have had many bullets gone on this side and that Side, but he would not let them hurt me. And these young Men have had many Bullets that went into them, but still they are alive.
Q. Then he can save you from your Enemies now?
A. Yes, but who knows if He will have mercy? We have so many Enemies now all round about us, that I think of nothing but Death. And if I am to die, I shall die, and I shall die like a Man. But if He will have me live, I shall live tho’ I have ever so many Enemies. He can destroy them all.
Q. How do you know that?
A. From what he has done. When our Enemies came against us before, then the beloved Clouds came for us: and often much Rain, and sometimes Hail has come upon them, and that in a very hot Day. And I saw when many French and Choctaws, and other Indians came against one of our Towns. And the Beloved Ground made a noise under them, and the Beloved Ones in the Air behind them: And they were afraid, and all went away and left their Meat and Drink, and Guns. I tell no Lye. I saw it too.
Q. Do you think and talk of the Beloved Ones?
A. We think of them always where-ever we are; we talk of them, and to them, abroad, at Home, in Peace, in War, before and after we fight, and indeed whenever, or wherever we meet together.
Q. Where do you think your Souls go after Death?
A. We believe the Souls of bad Men walk up and down the place where they died, or where their bodies lie; for we have often heard Cries and Noises near the Place where any Prisoners have been burnt.
Q. Where do the Souls of White Men go after Death?
A. We can’t tell. We have not seen.
Q. Do you believe the Souls of Good Men go Up?
A. I do, but I told you the Talk of the Nation.
Q. How came your Nation by the Knowledge they have?
A. As soon as the Ground was found and fit to stand upon, it came to us, and has been with us ever since…”
At this point Wesley asked the chief if he would be interested in learning about the Bible. Chief Paustoobee politely refused Wesley’s offer saying that he had no time, since his tribe was at war. The Chicksaws were at war and the fighting they described in the interview was the fighting that had taken place at what is now Tupelo.
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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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
