you see him, your determination to leave at once, and let it be decided.  I don’t know your means, but fear you will be embarrassed, as you are comparatively a stranger, in preparing a home for us.  Give this to its address, and you will have all you want.  Do not stop to look at it.  Put it in your pocket—­there.  I shall not be at the table this morning; there would be unpleasantness for you, I am sure.  I shall not see you again until you come to carry me to our own home, which shall be very soon.  Despite this contretemps I am very happy; and now farewell.  I will write to you; for to-day I mean to tell brother I am to be your wife.  I know how he will receive it; but he knows me, and will more than simply approve it.  He will wish to give us a wedding; but I will not receive it.  Our marriage must be private.  Again farewell!” Without a kiss they parted.

What were the reflections of this young man in his long morning’s drive he will never forget.  ’Twas fifty years ago; but they are green in memory yet, and will be until the grave yonder at the hill’s foot, now opening to view, shall close over—­close out this mortality, and all the memories which have imbittered life so long.

CHAPTER XXIII.

WHEN SUCCESSFUL, RIGHT; WHEN NOT, WRONG.

TERRITORIAL MISSISSIPPI—­WILKINSON—­A
DAMS—­JEFFERSON—­WARREN—­CLAIBORNE
—­UNION OF THE FACTIONS—­COLONEL WOOD—­CHEW—­DAVID HUNT—­JOSEPH
DUNBAR—­SOCIETY OF WESTERN MISSISSIPPI—­POP VISITS OF A WEEK TO
TEA—­THE HORSE “TOM” AND HIS RIDER—­OUR GRANDFATHER’S DAYS—­AN
EMIGRANT’S OUTFIT—­MY SHARE—­GEORGE POINDEXTER—­A SUDDEN OPENING OF A
COURT OF JUSTICE—­THE CALDWELL AND GWINN DUEL—­JACKSON’S OPPOSITION TO
THE GOVERNOR OF MISSISSIPPI.

The Counties of Wilkinson, Adams, Jefferson, Claiborne, and Warren are the river counties carved from the territory first settled in the State of Mississippi.  The settlements along the Mississippi came up from New Orleans and went gradually up the stream.  The English or American immigration to that river antedated but a very short time the war of the Revolution.  The commencement of this war accelerated the settlement, many seeking an asylum from the horrors of war within the peaceful borders of this new and faraway land.  The five counties above named constituted the County of Bourbon when the jurisdiction of the United States was extended to the territory.  Very soon after it was divided into three counties—­Wilkinson, Adams, and Jefferson; and subsequently, as the population increased, Claiborne and Warren were organized and established.  These counties were named after John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, General Wilkinson, General Warren, who fell at Bunker’s Hill, and General Ferdinand Claiborne, a distinguished citizen of the Territory.  As a Territory, Mississippi extended to and comprised all the territory east to the Alabama River or to the Georgia line.  In fact, there was no distinct eastern boundary until the admission of the State into the Union.