The Territorial history of Madison County begins with a bill passed in the state of Georgia.
“The Yazoo bill declared that the Articles of Confederation stipulated that each State was to retain her territory; that, by the Treaty of Paris, of 1783, the boundaries of Georgia, as well as those of other States, were confirmed; that they were consistent with all the former acts of Georgia, and with the convention held at Beaufort, in 1787, between South Carolina and Georgia; that the States had the right of pre-emption, as well as the full exercise of all territorial rights; that the Legislature disapproved of the New York treaty with McGillivray; that the President had no authority to guarantee therein all the territory west of the Oconee to the Creeks; and that Georgia clearly had the right to convey fee simple titles to all her territories to individuals or companies.
The act stipulated that one-fifth of the purchase money should be paid into the Georgia treasury previous to the passage of the bill. The remainder was to be paid on the 1st November following, secured, by a mortgage, to the Governor. Payments were to be made in specie, United States Bank bills, or military warrants, drawn by the Governor, from 1791 to 1795, inclusive.
Feb. 7 1795: For the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the Legislature sold to James Gunn, Matthew McAllister, George Walker and their associates, termed the "Georgia Company," an immense area of territory, which now embraces the following modern counties:
In ALABAMA--Clarke, Marengo, Greene, Perry, Autauga, Bibb, Shelby, Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Fayette, Jefferson, St. Clair, the southern portions of Blount, Walker and Marion, and portions of Wilcox, Monroe, Dallas, Sumter and Baldwin.
In MISSISSIPPI--The larger portions of Kemper, Neshoba, Leake, Madison, Yazoo and Issaquena, all of Washington, Holmes, Attala, Winston, Noxubee, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Choctaw, Carroll, Sunflower, Bolivar, Tallahatchie, Yalabusha, Chickasaw and Monroe.
For the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the Legislature sold to Nicholas Long, Thomas Glasscock, Ambrose Gordon, Thomas Cumming, and their associates, called the "Georgia Mississippi Company, all the territory out of which has since been formed the following counties:
In MISSISSIPPI--The northern portions of Greene, Perry, Marion, Pike, Amite and Wilkinson, all of Adams, Franklin, Lawrence, Covington, Jones, Wayne, Jefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Smith, Jasper, Clarke, Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Rankin, Hinds, Warren, Claiborne, and the southern portions of Yazoo, Issaquena, Madison, Leake, Neshoba and Kemper.
In ALABAMA--Nearly all of old Washington and Sumter, and the southwest corner of Greene.
For the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars, that body also conveyed to Wade Hampton, John B. Scott and John C. Nightingale, termed the "Upper Mississippi Company," the territory extending entirely across the extreme northern part of the State of Mississippi, twenty-five miles deep, now embracing the northern portions of the modern counties of De Soto, Marshall, Tippah, Tishamingo and a fragment of the northern part of Tunica.
For the sum of sixty thousand dollars the Legislature of Georgia also sold to Zachariah Coxe, Mathias Maher and their associates, called the Tennessee Company, all the territory comprising the whole of North Alabama, out of which the following counties have since been formed: Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Jackson, DeKalb, Cherokee, Marshall, Morgan, Lawrence, Franklin, and the northern parts of Marion, Walker and Blount.
The lands thus conveyed to the four Yazoo companies, for the gross sum of five hundred thousand dollars, contained twenty-one million five hundred thousand acres. A reserve of two millions of acres was made from this purchase for the benefit of the citizens who desired to become purchasers upon the original terms of sale. The four companies paid promptly into the treasury one-fifth of the purchase money, and obtained titles from the governor. During the progress of this bold measure the members of the Legislature were in the midst of the profoundest excitement, which extended to the "lobby members" and the whole community.
The bill was signed by Thomas Napier, Speaker of the House; Benjamin Taliaferro, President of the Senate; and approved by his Excellency, George Mathews, Governor.
It was asserted that "bribery and corruption distinguished the proceedings of the members favorable to the Yazoo act." The public documents abound with affidavits, pro and con. It was asserted that members were bought up to vote for the measure, by receiving in advance from the companies certificates of large shares of the land which they were about to vote to sell. The public became aroused upon the subject.
Feb. 17: Washington was astounded at the Yazoo sale, and laid before Congress copies of the bill, using this language in reference to it: "These acts embrace an object of great magnitude, and their consequences may deeply affect the peace and welfare of the United States. "The two houses of Congress adopted a resolution instructing the Attorney-General to investigate the title of Georgia to the lands sold.
1795: The Legislature of Georgia again convened in the winter, with a new governor and a new body of members, except those who voted against the Yazoo sale. General James Jackson, a distinguished partisan officer of the revolution, was at the head of the new organization. He had canvassed the State, and, from the hustings, denounced the extraordinary measure, while, with his able pen, he produced several severe pamphlets upon the subject. He introduced a bill for the repeal of the Yazoo sale, which declared it "null and void." Feb. 12 1796: It was adopted, and received the signatures of Jared Irwin, the new Governor, Thomas Stephens, Speaker of the House, and Benjamin Taliaferro, President of the Senate. In the midst of the largest procession ever known in the land, the records of the Yazoo act were expunged, and, to show the indignation of its opponents, the bill itself was consumed, in the streets of Louisville, by fire from Heaven.
But, in the meantime, hundreds had emigrated to the Tombigby and the Mississippi, establishing themselves in those distant and isolated regions, intending soon to occupy the lands which the companies had proposed to grant them. In this respect, the Yazoo sale was a great blessing. It contributed to throw into that wild region, a population of Georgians, whose activity, ability and enterprise better fitted them to seize, occupy and bring into cultivation a wilderness, mark out towns, people them, build female academies, erect churches and hold courts than any other people.
Dec 1801: Emigrants flocked to the Mississippi Territory by various routes, all of which were difficult, and some of them very circuitous. A party set out from North Carolina, consisting of Thomas Malone, a young clerk in the land office of Raleigh; John Murrel and his family; James Moore, Goodway Myrick, George Nosworthy, Robert Caller, William Murrel, and sixty negroes. With great difficultly they ascended the Blue Ridge with their wagons, and descended through its dark gorges into the valley of the Tennessee. Constructing flat-boats at Knoxville, they floated down the river to the head of the Muscle Shoals, where they disembarked at the house of Double-Head, a Cherokee Chief. Placing their effects upon the horses, which had been brought down by land from Knoxville, they departed on foot for the "Bigby settlements," about St. Stephen's, a great distance off, and to which not a solitary direct path led. After a fatiguing march, they reached the residence of Levi Colbert, a celebrated Chickasaw Chief, who gave them the necessary directions. Pursuing their journey, they came upon the Tombigby, at the Cotton Gin, which had not long before been erected by the Federal Government to encourage the Chickasaws in the cultivation of the great staple.
Apr. 24 1802: The Yazoo act had been repealed. Still great difficulties had arisen between Georgia and the Federal Government in relation to lands granted under the Yazoo act, which the companies and various purchasers under them resolutely claimed and defended. Many plans were proposed for satisfactory adjustment, which produced debate and contention of an angry character. Finally, Albert Gallatin, James Madison and Levi Lincoln, on the part of the government, and James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin and John Milledge, representing Georgia, made a final disposition of the matter. For the sum of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars Georgia ceded to the United States all the territory.
Nov. 14 1805: The United States acquired more territory from the Chickasaws, who ceded about three hundred and fifty thousand acres, lying in the bend of the Tennessee, a very small portion of which, in the shape of a triangle, fell into Alabama and was afterwards formed into the county of Madison. A population from Georgia and Tennessee poured into the magnificent forest north of the Tennessee, about "Hunt's Spring".
Dec. 7 1807: The little town of Huntsville, north of the Tennessee, continued to receive around it many wealthy emigrants from several of the Atlantic and Western States. Governor Williams issued a proclamation, forming a county, of which this became the courthouse.
Dec. 13 1808: The new county of Madison, where it joined the Tennessee line, was about twenty-five miles wide, and approached the Tennessee river in the shape of a triangle, not exceeding three miles wide at Ditto's Landing. It embraced all the territory that fell within Alabama, to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty with the Chickasaws in 1805.