ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

A very special thanks goes to Sher Hogue for allowing me the use of her photos. This photographer has earned my respect and that's why we now have our own Sher Hogue Tribute Page. She is my FAVORITE photographer and I always feel honored when I'm allowed to use her photos on this site.You may also want to visit her gallery by clicking here. She has excellent prices on prints and they are ideal gifts for anyone. You'll be glad you visited and I hope you have some time to spend there. - Wilson Jay

***********************************

Today, it stands quietly in the farm lands about three miles east of the Mississippi River, approximately 32 miles northeast of Natchez, Mississippi. Its residents can tell you of a much larger, bustling city that once stood here. But, it has mostly vanished now. The place is Rodney, Mississippi founded in 1828. It was a bustling river port, the largest between New Orleans and St. Louis and it missed becoming the state capital by only 3 votes!

In its day (1840 through 1860), Rodney could boast the first opera house in the state of Mississippi. It had two banks, at least thirty-five stores and two newspapers, the Rodney Standard and the Rodney Telegraph. It hosted many dignitaries of the time, including President Andrew Jackson, statesman Henry Clay and Zachary Taylor. Rodney was a center of cultural activity.

One of Rodney’s citizens, Dr. Haller Nutt, helped the south become a large cotton producer during the days of slavery and large cotton plantations. He researched the subject of cotton in order to find a solution to the problem of rot occurrence in cotton crops of the south. He found a new strain of cotton called Egypto-Mexican, which seemed to be resistant to rot. In doing this, he saved the cotton crops of the south, as farmers switched over to the new type cotton.

Dr. Nutt purchased a plantation near Natchez and began to have a mansion built around an octagonal floor plan, he called it Longwood. It was nearing completion when the Civil War broke out and all construction of it ended. Dr. Nutt died in 1864. Following the war, the abandoned dream house stood alone and incomplete, subjected to the effects of nature and time, but it still stood.

In 1863, shortly after the fall of Vicksburg to Union Forces, the USS Rattler was stationed on the Mississippi River facing the town of Rodney. It was to help keep watch over the town in the event of a Rebel uprising.

After so long, life on the Rattler became boring. On Sunday mornings, the crew of the Rattler lined the decks to watch the local girls going to the Presbyterian church and as most of us know, Mississippi has produced some very pretty Presbyterians!

On the twelfth of September in 1863 two dozen members of the Rattler’s crew, including one captain and one lieutenant left the ship to attend the Presbyterian church. They were all in uniform. After about two hymns had been sung, Lt. Allen of the Confederate Army walked up to face the congregation, calling for the surrender of the Union sailors, saying that the church was surrounded by Confederate cavalry. One courageous sailor pulled a pistol and tried to shoot Lt. Allen, but missed. The commotion that followed was louder than any of Reverend Baker’s revivals. It was even louder than revivals at the Baptist Church a short distance away.

The skeleton crew that had been left aboard the Rattler heard the commotion and opened fire. They hit four civilians’ homes and firmly embedded a cannonball in the façade of the Presbyterian Church. - Yes, it was a great day to be a Baptist!!

Lt. Allen sent word to the Rattler that if the shooting didn’t stop, he was going to order the execution of all the captured sailors. The shooting stopped and the skeleton crew surrendered.

On that day, Lt. Allen and his detachment of cavalry made history. Never in U.S. history had a naval war ship been captured by cavalry forces!

In 1870, The Mississippi River started changing its course, leaving Rodney high and dry, as the expression goes, and the town began to decline.

The old Presbyterian church still stands today and it still has the cannonball embedded in it! The Baptist church however is in another part of town; it still stands today also, but it doesn't come with a cannonball!

Today, Longwood is one of the most visited and photographed homes around Natchez.

To Return to the Mississippi Page, click here.

To Return to the SOUTH homepage, click here.