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78-656: He was first convicted as a youth for the crime of horse theft . He was branded with an "HT", flogged, and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 1829. Murrell was convicted the second and last time for the crime of slave stealing, in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Tennessee . He was incarcerated in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville from 1834 to 1844. According to Tennessee prison records, John Andrews Murrell

156-472: A Methodist minister who had established a Protestant mission on the site. The town of Vicksburg was incorporated in 1825, with a population of 3,000 people; of which approximately twenty people were Jewish and had immigrated from Bavaria , Prussia , and Alsace–Lorraine . In 1835, during the Murrell Excitement , a mob from Vicksburg attempted to expel the gamblers from the city, because

234-503: A bushwhacker along the Natchez Trace . Murrell posed as a traveling preacher. Twain and others wrote that he would preach to a congregation while his gang stole the horses outside, but they also said that Murrell's horse was always left behind. The location of his hideout and operations base has been debated. Possibilities were Jackson County, Tennessee; Natchez, Mississippi , at Devil's Punch Bowl ; Tunica County, Mississippi ;

312-405: A galley ship, a severe punishment shared by perpetrators of incest , homicide and poisoning. In 19th-century Russia , the theft of livestock (including horses) made up approximately 16 percent of thefts of peasant property; however, there were no reported thefts of horses from estate property. The offense of stealing a horse was the most severely punished of any theft on Russian estates, due to

390-555: A separate bill the same year . By the time of its abolition, actual executions for horse theft had been rare or nonexistent for 50 years. The term horse thief came into great popularity in the United States during the 19th century. During that time the Great Plains states, Texas , and other western states were sparsely populated and largely unpoliced. As farmers tilled the land and migrants headed west through

468-516: A trumpet interchange with Interstate 10 in Toyah, Texas . Vicksburg has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and hot, humid summers. As of the 2022 American Community Survey , there are 8,092 estimated households in Vicksburg with an average of 2.57 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $ 45,147. Approximately 25.5% of the city's population lives at or below

546-477: A 10-year sentence in the prison at Nashville. Others say he operated as a criminal from 1835 to 1857. He was in prison for 10 of those years and died of tuberculosis in 1844 shortly after being released. A stream in Chicot County, Arkansas , called Whiskey Chute, was named in 1855 for Murrell's raid on a whiskey-carrying steamboat that was sunk after it was pillaged. From Record Group 25, "Prison Records for

624-539: A black Republican meeting celebrating Crosby's victory and held him in custody before running him out of town. He advised blacks from rural areas to return home; along the way, some were attacked by armed whites. During the next several days, armed white mobs swept through black areas, killing other men at home or out in the fields, in what would come to be known as the Vicksburg massacre . Sources differ as to total fatalities, with 29–50 blacks and 2 whites reported dead at

702-542: A charter from the state. Two years later in 1864, the Anshe Chesed Cemetery was formed, and it was the second Jewish cemetery in the city; not much is known about the first Jewish cemetery. The Confederate president, Jefferson Davis , was based at his family plantation at Brierfield , just south of the city. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city finally surrendered during

780-503: A combination railroad-highway bridge was built in 1929. After 1973, Interstate 20 bridged the river. Freight rail traffic still crosses by the old bridge. North-south transportation links are by the Mississippi River and U.S. Highway 61 . Vicksburg has the only crossing over the Mississippi River between Greenville and Natchez, and the only interstate highway crossing of the river between Baton Rouge and Memphis . During

858-493: A congressional committee investigated what was called the "Vicksburg Riot" at the time (and reported as the "Vicksburg massacre" by northern newspapers.) Testimony from both black and white residents was given, as reported by the New York Times , but no one was ever prosecuted for the deaths. The Red Shirts and other white insurgents suppressed Republican voting by both whites and blacks; smaller-scale riots were staged in

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936-553: A different account of his last year of life. It said that when Murrell was released from prison, at 38 years old, he became a reformed man, and a Methodist in good standing. He worked as a carpenter by trade, and lived at a boarding house in Pikeville. In a deathbed confession, Murrell admitted to being guilty of most of the crimes charged against him except murder, to which he claimed to be "guiltless". John A. Murrell died on November 21, 1844, nine months after leaving prison. He

1014-470: A fine. This practice derived from the wealth of the populace being in the form of livestock which ranged over large areas, meaning that the theft of animals could only be prevented through fear of the harsh punishment that would result. Horse theft was harshly punished in the French Bordeaux region in the 15th–18th centuries. Punishments ranged from whipping to a lifetime sentence of service on

1092-462: A planter were taken from jail by a mob of 200 farmers and lynched before they could go to trial. In May 1919, as many as a thousand white men broke down three sets of steel doors to abduct, hang, burn and shoot a black prisoner, Lloyd Clay, who was falsely accused of raping a white woman. From 1877 to 1950 in Warren County, 14 African Americans were lynched by whites, most in the decades near

1170-425: A publication documented some of Vicksburg's leading African Americans including lawyer and banker W. E. Mollison . On March 12, 1894, the popular soft drink Coca-Cola was bottled for the first time in Vicksburg by Joseph A. Biedenharn , a local confectioner . Today, surviving 19th-century Biedenharn soda bottles are prized by collectors of Coca-Cola memorabilia. The original candy store has been renovated and

1248-694: A symposium was held on the 140th anniversary of the 1874 riots. A variety of scholars gave papers and an open panel discussion was held on the second day at the Vicksburg National Military Park, in collaboration with the Jacqueline House African American Museum. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 35.093 square miles (90.89 km ), of which 33.017 square miles (85.51 km )

1326-535: A teenager and was branded on the base of his thumb with an "HT" for horse thief, flogged, and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 1829. Murrell was convicted a second and final time, for the crime of slave stealing, in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Tennessee , and incarcerated in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville from 1834 to 1844. While in the Tennessee State Penitentiary, Murrell, as part of his reform,

1404-515: A year being taken from their lawful owners by strangers or opponents in civil or legal disputes. Stolen Horse International is one modern-day organization in the US that works to reconnect stolen horses with their owners. Horses are sometimes stolen for their meat , or sometimes for money. Punishment for horse theft can still be severe, as one woman in Arkansas was sentenced to 60 years in prison for

1482-620: Is also suspected to have been involved in counterfeiting in Arkansas His claims of being part of a "Mystic Clan" resulted in over 50 white men and a number of African Americans to be either hanged or whipped and banished in Western Mississippi. In 1835, Virgil Stewart wrote that a slave rebellion was being organized by highwaymen and Northern abolitionists. On Christmas Day, 1835, Murrell and his "Mystic Clan" planned to incite an uprising in every slaveholding state by invoking

1560-567: Is land and 2.076 square miles (5.38 km ) is water. Vicksburg is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. Much of the city is on top of a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg is also served by Interstate 20 . The interstate opens Vicksburg with a cloverleaf interchange that heads out to U.S. Route 61 North towards Rolling Fork, Mississippi , Clarksdale, Mississippi , and stretches out for another 77 miles towards Memphis, Tennessee . On

1638-648: Is now Vicksburg was long occupied by the Natchez Native Americans as part of their historical territory along the Mississippi. The Natchez spoke a language isolate not related to the Muskogean languages of the other major tribes in the area. Before the Natchez, other indigenous cultures had occupied this strategic area for thousands of years. The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists who built Fort Saint Pierre in 1719 on

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1716-481: Is the county seat. The population was 21,573 at the 2020 census . Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana , Vicksburg was built by French colonists in 1719. The outpost withstood an attack from the native Natchez people . It was incorporated as Vicksburg in 1825 after Methodist missionary Newitt Vick. The area that is now Vicksburg was long occupied by

1794-490: Is used as the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum. The exclusion of most blacks from the political system lasted for decades until after Congressional passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Lynchings of blacks and other forms of white racial terrorism against them continued to occur in Vicksburg after the start of the 20th century. In May 1903, for instance, two black men charged with murdering

1872-683: The Daily Commercial Appeal , in 1888 hoped that a political victory would bring an enthusiastic celebration the following year. In 1902, the 4th of July saw only "a parade of colored draymen". In 1947, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger stated that the city of Vicksburg did not celebrate the 4th of July again until 1945, and then it was celebrated as Confederate Carnival Day. A recent scholar disagrees, stating that large Fourth of July celebrations were being held by 1907, and informal celebrations before that. A large parade

1950-687: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 , in which hundreds of thousands of acres were inundated, Vicksburg served as the primary gathering point for refugees. Relief parties put up temporary housing, as the flood submerged a large percentage of the Mississippi Delta . Because of the overwhelming damage from the flood, the US Army Corps of Engineers established the Waterways Experiment Station as

2028-566: The Haitian Revolution , the most successful slave rebellion in history. Murrell believed that a slave rebellion would enable him to take over the South, and make New Orleans the center of operations of his criminal empire. Stewart's account of his interactions with Murrell was published as a pamphlet, written under the pseudonym "Augustus Q. Walton, Esq.," for whom Stewart invented a fictitious background and profession. The validity of

2106-549: The Natchez Native Americans as part of their historical territory along the Mississippi. The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists who built Fort Saint Pierre in 1719 on the high bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood . They conducted fur trading with the Natchez and others, and started plantations. During the American Civil War , it was a key Confederate river-port, and its July 1863 surrender to Ulysses S. Grant , along with

2184-703: The Neutral Ground in Louisiana ; and Island 37 on the Mississippi River. One record, a genealogical note, places him as far east as Georgia . Atlanta historian Franklin Garrett wrote that a lawless district in that town was named for him in the 1840s, as " Murrell's Row ". Because Murrell came to symbolize lawlessness along the Natchez Trace in the antebellum era , his "hideouts" (whether any hideouts existed or not) were said to be located at most of

2262-555: The Siege of Vicksburg , after which the Union Army gained control of the entire Mississippi River. The 47-day siege was intended to starve the city into submission. Its location atop a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River proved otherwise impregnable to assault by federal troops. The surrender of Vicksburg by Confederate General John C. Pemberton on July 4, 1863, together with the defeat of General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg

2340-562: The Tennessee State Museum holds one of his thumbs. Accepted facts about his life include stealing horses, for which he was branded. He was also caught with a freed slave living on his property. Murrell was known to kidnap slaves and sell them to other slave owners. His 10-year prison sentence was for slave-stealing. Murrell would be considered a conductor on the Reverse Underground Railroad . He

2418-751: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . In the first few years after the Civil War, white Confederate veterans developed the Ku Klux Klan , beginning in Tennessee; it had chapters throughout the South and attacked freedmen and their supporters. It was suppressed about 1870. By the mid-1870s, new white paramilitary groups had arisen in the Deep South , including the Red Shirts in Mississippi, as whites struggled to regain political and social power over

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2496-550: The US Army Reserve and the 168th Engineer Brigade of the Mississippi Army National Guard are also located in Vicksburg. The United States Coast Guard 's 8th District/Lower Mississippi River sector has an Aids To Navigation unit located in Vicksburg, operating the buoy tending vessel USCGC Kickapoo. In 2017, Emma Green of The Atlantic stated, "The Army Corps of Engineers sustains

2574-454: The poverty line . Vicksburg has an estimated 55.1% employment rate, with 25.3% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 86.1% holding a high school diploma. The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (94.3%), Spanish (2.9%), Indo-European (1.8%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.1%), and Other (0.8%). The median age in

2652-542: The 18th century, horse theft was considered a major property crime, along with stealing from dwellings or warehouses, sheep theft, highway robbery and other major thefts. In Essex in the 18th century, some assize judges decided to execute every horse thief convicted to deter the crime. From around the 1750s until 1818, between 13% and 14% of persons convicted of horse theft in Home , Norfolk , and Western circuits were executed. The punishment of death for stealing horses

2730-563: The 2011 theft of five horses and equestrian equipment; one of the horses was later found dead, while the others were recovered. Horse thefts today can in some cases be solved through the use of microchips , which is required in the European Union on horses born after 2009 and also often seen in other countries. Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County , Mississippi , United States. It

2808-649: The AHTA recovered $ 83,000 worth of livestock and saw the conviction of over 250 thieves. A similar group, which operated mainly in Ohio , was the Bentonville Anti-Horse Thief Society . Men suspected of being thieves would be pursued by members of the organization, and often hanged without trial. The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves was a third such organization that operated in

2886-724: The Deep South where whites were far outnumbered by blacks. Those aroused by the pamphlet became part of increasing tensions and outbreaks known as the "Murrell Excitement". During this time, tension between the races and between locals and outsiders increased. On July 4, 1835, disturbances occurred in the red-light districts of Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi. 20 slaves and 10 white men were hanged after confessing (under torture and coercion) to complicity in Murrell's plot. On July 6 in Vicksburg, Mississippi , an angry mob decided to expel all professional gamblers from

2964-484: The Great Plains, their horses became subject to theft. Since these farmers and migrants depended on their horses, horse thieves garnered a particularly pernicious reputation because they left their victims helpless or greatly handicapped by the loss of their horses. The victims needed their horses for transportation and farming. Such depredation led to the use of the term horse thief as an insult , one that conveys

3042-604: The Main Prison at Nashville, Tennessee, 1831-1922," Murrell was born in 1806, most likely in Williamson County, Tennessee. Notes Bibliography Horse theft Horse theft is the crime of stealing horses . A person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief . Historically, punishments were often severe for horse theft, with several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presumed thieves. Several societies were formed in

3120-477: The Mississippi River's course away from the city. Vicksburg only retained access to an oxbow lake formed from the old channel of the river, which effectively isolated the city from accessing the Mississippi riverfront. The city's economy suffered greatly due to the lack of a functional river port; Vicksburg would not be a river town again until the completion of the Yazoo Diversion Canal in 1903 by

3198-570: The Royal Air Force, flying from their training base at Terrell, Texas, routinely flew to Vicksburg on training flights. The town served as a stand-in for the British for Cologne, Germany, which is the same distance from London, England as Vicksburg is from Terrell. Particularly after World War II, in which many blacks served, returning veterans began to be active in the civil rights movement, wanting to have full citizenship after fighting in

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3276-593: The US under the terms of the Treaty of Fort Adams in 1801. The treaty was the first of a series that eventually led to the removal of most of the Choctaw to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River in 1830. Some Choctaw remained in Mississippi, citing article XIV of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek ; they became citizens of the state and the United States. They struggled to maintain their culture against

3354-412: The United States to prevent horse theft and apprehend horse thieves. However, horse theft continues to occur throughout the world, as horses are stolen for their meat , for ransom, or in disputes between their owners and other persons. Horse theft today is comparable to automobile theft , a crime punishable by felony jail time. Horse theft was a well-known crime in medieval and early modern times and

3432-460: The United States, this one in Dedham, Massachusetts . It is today "the oldest continually existing horse thief apprehending organization in the United States , and one of Dedham ’s most venerable social organizations." Most of these clubs became defunct or developed into social clubs with the decline of horse theft in the US. Horse theft is still relatively common, with an estimated 40,000 horses

3510-409: The black majority. Elections were marked by violence and fraud as white Democrats worked to suppress black Republican voting. In August 1874, a black sheriff, Peter Crosby , was elected in Vicksburg. Letters by a white planter, Batchelor, detail the preparations of whites for what he described as a "race war," including acquisition of the newest Winchester guns. On December 7, 1874, white men disrupted

3588-635: The citizens were tired of the rougher element treating the city residents with contempt. They captured and hanged five gamblers who had shot and killed a local doctor. Historian Joshua D. Rothman calls this event "the deadliest outbreak of extralegal violence in the slave states between the Southampton Insurrection and the Civil War." In 1862, fifty Jewish families formed the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Anshe Chesed in Vicksburg, and received

3666-576: The city was 37.6 years. As of the 2020 census , there were 21,573 people, 9,277 households, and 5,317 families residing in the city. The population density was 653.5 inhabitants per square mile (252.3/km ). There were 10,967 housing units at an average density of 332.2 inhabitants per square mile (128.3/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 28.16% White , 67.21% African American , 0.15% Native American , 0.97% Asian , 0.00% Pacific Islander , 0.64% from some other races and 2.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.87% of

3744-625: The concurrent Battle of Gettysburg , marked the turning-point of the war. After the war came Reconstruction era and then a violent return to power by white supremacists and the Democratic Party in 1874 and 1875, including the Vicksburg massacre . Today, Vicksburg's population is majority African American . The city is home to three large installations of the United States Army Corps of Engineers , which has often been involved in local flood control. The area that

3822-663: The country return for the event. Every summer since 1936, Vicksburg Theatre Guild has hosted Gold in the Hills , which holds the Guinness World Record for longest-running show. The city government consists of a mayor who is elected at-large and two aldermembers. The current mayor is George Flaggs Jr. , who defeated former mayor Paul Winfield in the June 2013 election. The two aldermembers are elected from single-member districts , known as wards. The City of Vicksburg

3900-475: The day before, has historically marked the turning point of the Civil War in the Union's favor. From the surrender of Vicksburg until the end of the war in 1865, the area was under Union military occupation. Celebrations of the 4th of July, the day of surrender, were irregular until 1947. The Vicksburg Evening Post of July 4, 1883, called July 4 "the day we don't celebrate", and another Vicksburg newspaper,

3978-541: The high bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood . They conducted fur trading with the Natchez and others, and started plantations. On 29 November 1729, the Natchez attacked the fort and plantations in and around the present-day city of Natchez . They killed several hundred settlers, including Jesuit missionary Paul Du Poisson. As was the custom, they took a number of women and children as captives, adopting them into their families. The Natchez War

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4056-479: The importance of horses in day-to-day living. Flogging was the usual punishment for horse thieves, combined with the shaving of heads and beards, and fines of up to three times the value of the horse if the animal had been sold. Since Henry VIII 's reign, horse theft was considered a serious crime in England. It was made a non-clergyable crime in 1597–1598 and 1601. For the rural English county of Berkshire in

4134-559: The impression of the person who perpetrated the insult as one lacking any shred of moral decency . In Pennsylvania, the "An Act to Increase the Punishments of Horse Stealing" law was passed in 1780 and repealed in 1860, which stated people guilty of such a crime should be branded . The law ran as follows; "the first offense [the convicted] shall stand in the pillory for one hour, and shall be publicly whipped on his, her or their [bare] backs with thirty-nine lashes, well laid on, and at

4212-645: The letters H T and lower and almost between the eyes the letter F and these markings were splayed and garish as if the iron had been left too long. When he turned to look at the kid the kid could see that he had no ears." In the United States, the Anti Horse Thief Association , first organized in 1854 in Clark County, Missouri , was an organization developed for the purposes of protecting property, especially horses and other livestock, from theft, and recovering such property if and when it

4290-725: The murals were drawn from the history of Vicksburg and the surrounding area. They include President Theodore Roosevelt 's bear hunt, the Sultana , the Sprague , the Siege of Vicksburg , the Kings Crossing site , Willie Dixon , the Flood of 1927 , the 1953 Vicksburg, Mississippi tornado , Rosa A. Temple High School (known for integration activism) and the Vicksburg National Military Park . The project

4368-459: The pamphlet has been debated since its publication. Some historians say that Stewart's pamphlet was largely fictional and that Murrell (and his brothers) were at best inept thieves, who had caused their father to go bankrupt as he raised bail money for them. Given Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 in Virginia, slaveholders were always ready to believe conspiracies of new violence, especially in

4446-706: The population. 25.2% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.6% were under 5 years of age, and 15.5% were 65 and older. The city is home to three large US Army Corps of Engineers installations: the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), which also houses the ERDC's Waterways Experiment Station ; the Mississippi Valley Division headquarters; and the Vicksburg District headquarters. The 412th Engineer Command of

4524-644: The pressure of the binary slave society, which classified people as only white or black. In 1790, the Spanish founded a military outpost on the site, which they called Fort Nogales ( nogales meaning "walnut trees"). When the Americans took possession in 1798 following the American Revolutionary War and a treaty with Spain, they changed the name to Walnut Hills . The small village was incorporated in 1825 as Vicksburg, named after Newitt Vick,

4602-494: The primary hydraulics laboratory, to develop protection of important croplands and cities. Now known as the Engineer Research and Development Center , it applies military engineering, information technology, environmental engineering, hydraulic engineering, and geotechnical engineering to problems of flood control and river navigation. In December 1953, a severe tornado swept across Vicksburg, causing 38 deaths and destroying nearly 1,000 buildings. During World War II, cadets from

4680-479: The same time shall have his, her or their ears cut off and nailed to the pillory, and for the second offense shall be whipped and pilloried in like manner and be branded on the forehead in a plain and visible manner with the letters H. T." This punishment was referenced in Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian as the character Toadvine is branded with the letters H. T. on his forehead. H stands for Horse, T for Thief and F for Felon; "On his forehead were burned

4758-682: The south part of the exit, it heads on Mississippi Highway 27 towards Utica, Mississippi . As the interstate goes on it makes interchanges with Clay Street, Indiana Avenue, and Halls Ferry Road. After the downtown interchanges are over, before finally crossing in Louisiana with a cloverleaf interchange , I-20 makes a directional T interchange with US-61, and US-61 heads south toward Port Gibson, Mississippi , Natchez, Mississippi , and then continues for another 92 miles into Baton Rouge, Louisiana , Louisiana's capital city. Interstate 20 then continues to head west towards Monroe, Louisiana , Shreveport, Louisiana , Dallas , and lastly after 445 miles, making

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4836-539: The state up to the 1875 elections, at which time white Democrats regained control of a majority of seats in the state legislature. Under new constitutions, amendments and laws passed between 1890 in Mississippi and 1908 in the remaining southern states, white Democrats disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites by creating barriers to voter registration, such as poll taxes , literacy tests , and grandfather clauses . They passed Jim Crow laws through which they imposed racial segregation of public facilities. In 1908,

4914-499: The time. Twenty-first-century historian Emilye Crosby estimates that 300 blacks were killed in the city and the surrounding area of Claiborne County, Mississippi . The Red Shirts were active in Vicksburg and other Mississippi areas, and black pleas to the federal government for protection were not met. At the request of Republican Governor Adelbert Ames , who had left the state during the violence, President Ulysses S. Grant sent federal troops to Vicksburg in January 1875. In addition,

4992-431: The town economically". 12.3% of the local workforce is employed by the federal government . Vicksburg is the home of four casinos along the Mississippi River. Every summer, Vicksburg plays host to the Miss Mississippi Pageant and Parade. Also every summer, the Vicksburg Homecoming Benevolent Club hosts a homecoming weekend/reunion that provides scholarships to graduating high-school seniors. Former residents from across

5070-491: The town, based on a rumor that gamblers were part of the plot. When the gamblers resisted, the mob lynched five of them by hanging. Similar panic surrounding Murrell and his conspiracy spread throughout the South long after his death, with cities from Huntsville, Alabama, to New Orleans, Louisiana, creating committees dedicated to identifying Murrell's conspirators and potential signs of slave rebellion. Approximately 400 in Grand Council (Southern states representatives) Murrell

5148-435: The turn of the century. The United States Army Corps of Engineers diverted the Yazoo River in 1903 into the old, shallowing channel to revive the waterfront of Vicksburg. The port city was able to receive steamboats again, but much freight and passenger traffic had moved to railroads, which had become more competitive. Railroad access to the west across the river continued to be by transfer steamers and ferry barges until

5226-430: The war. In Mississippi, activists in the Vicksburg Movement became prominent during the 1960s. In 2001, a group of Vicksburg residents visited the Paducah, Kentucky, mural project , looking for ideas for their own community development. In 2002, the Vicksburg Riverfront murals program was begun by Louisiana mural artist Robert Dafford and his team on the floodwall located on the waterfront in downtown. Subjects for

5304-407: The well-known areas of such lawlessness along the Trace. Stewart published his account of Murrell's plot in 1835. Just before Murrell was apprehended, he was rumored to be leading a slave revolt in New Orleans in an attempt to take over the city and become a sort of criminal potentate of Louisiana. Some say he began to plot his takeover of New Orleans in 1841, although he was then in the sixth year of

5382-466: Was a disaster for French Louisiana, and the colonial population of the Natchez District never recovered. Aided by the Choctaw , traditional enemies of the Natchez, though, the French defeated and scattered the Natchez and their allies, the Yazoo . The Choctaw Nation took over the area by right of conquest and inhabited it for several decades. Under pressure from the US government, the Choctaw agreed to cede nearly 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km ) of land to

5460-404: Was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1832, upon the passage of a bill sponsored by William Ewart ; the legislation, which passed over the strong objections of Peel in the Commons and Lord Wynford in the Lords , also abolished the death penalty in Britain for the theft of sheep and cattle, and for larceny in a dwelling house; Parliament had abolished the death sentence for most larcenies in

5538-404: Was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia , and raised in Williamson County, Tennessee . Murrell was the son of Jeffrey Murrell and Zilpha Andrews, and was the third born of eight children. While he was incarcerated in Nashville for slave stealing, his mother, wife, and two children lived in the vicinity of Denmark, Tennessee . John A. Murrell had his first criminal conviction, for horse theft , as

5616-481: Was finished in 2009 with the completion of the Jitney Jungle/Glass Kitchen mural. In the fall of 2010, a new 55-foot mural was painted on a section of wall on Grove Hill across the street from the original project by former Dafford muralists Benny Graeff and Herb Roe . The mural's subject is the annual "Run thru History" held in the Vicksburg National Military Park. On December 6–7, 2014,

5694-556: Was held in 1890. Because of Vicksburg's location on the Mississippi River, it built extensive trade from the prodigious steamboat traffic in the 19th century. It shipped out cotton coming to it from surrounding counties and was a major trading city in West Central Mississippi. However, in 1876, a Mississippi River flood cut off the large meander next to Vicksburg through the De Soto Point, which changed

5772-521: Was known as a " land-pirate ", using the Mississippi River as a base for his operations. He used a network of 300 to 1,000, and even as many as 2,500 (as some newspaper reports claimed) fellow bandits collectively known as the Mystic Clan to pull off his escapades. Many of his followers were believed to be members of mixed-race groups known as the Melungeons and Redbones . He was also known as

5850-461: Was reported to have contracted "pulmonary consumption" ( tuberculosis ). Murrell was interred at Smyrna First United Methodist Church Cemetery, in Smyrna, Tennessee . After Murrell died, parts of him were dug up and stolen by grave robbers. Although the corpse had been half-eaten by scavenging hogs, the head was separated from the torso, pickled, and displayed at county fairs. His skull is missing, but

5928-536: Was required to work as a blacksmith . A decade in prison under the Auburn penitentiary system , of mandatory convict regimentation, through prison uniforms , lockstep , silence, and occasional solitary confinement , were said to break Murrell mentally and supposedly left him an imbecile. He spent the last months of his life as a blacksmith in Pikeville, Tennessee . The Nashville Daily American newspaper reported

6006-522: Was severely prosecuted in many areas. While many crimes were punished through ritualized shaming or banishment, horse theft often brought severe punishment, including branding , torture, exile and even death. According to one 18th century treatise, the use of death as a punishment for horse theft stretches back as far as the first century AD, when the Germanic Chauci tribe would sentence horse thieves to death, while murderers would be sentenced to

6084-532: Was stolen. Originally conceived by farmers living in the area where Missouri , Illinois and Iowa intersect, it soon spread, with the first charter organization in Oklahoma Territory being created in 1894. By 1916 the associated numbered over 40,000 members in nine central and western US states, and a drop in horse thefts had been noted. Between 1899 and 1909, members of the Oklahoma branch of

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