w northern Mississippi and Alabama possessed, from its great
fertility, peculiar fascinations in the eyes of the adventurous land
speculators. It was unoccupied by settlers, because as a matter of fact
it was held in adverse possession by the Indians, under Spanish
protection. It was claimed by the Georgians, and its cession was sought
by the United States Government, so that there was much uncertainty as
to the title, which could in consequence be cheaply secured. Wilkinson,
Brown, Innes, and other Kentuckians, had applied to the Spaniards to be
allowed to take these lauds and hold them, in their own interests, but
on behalf of Spain, and against the United States. The application had
not been granted, and the next effort was of a directly opposite
character, the adventurers this time proposing, as they could not hold
the territory as armed subjects of Spain, to wrest it from Spain by
armed entry after getting title from Georgia. In other words, they were
going to carry on war as a syndicate, the military operations for the
occupation of the ceded territory being part of the business for which
the company was organized. Their relations with the Union were doubtless
to be determined by the course of events.

The South Carolina Yazoo Company.

This company was the South Carolina Yazoo Company. In 1789 several
companies were formed to obtain from the Georgia Legislature grants of
the western territory which Georgia asserted to be hers. One, the
Virginia Company, had among its incorporators Patrick Henry, and
received a grant of nearly 20,000 square miles, but accomplished
nothing. Another, the Tennessee Company, received a grant of what is now
most of northern Alabama, and organized a body of men under the
leadership of an adventurer named Zachariah Cox, who drifted down the
Tennessee in flat-boats to take possession, and repeated the attempt
more than once. They were, however, stopped, partly by Blount, and
partly by the Indians. The South Carolina Yazoo Company made the most
serious effort to get possession of the coveted territory. Its grant
included about 15,000 square miles in what is now middle Mississippi and
Alabama; the nominal price being 67,000 dollars. One of the prime movers
in this company was a man named Walsh, who called himself Washington, a
person of unsavory character, who, a couple of years later, was hung at
Charleston for passing forged paper money in South Carolina. All these
companies had hope