The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

"At the commencement of the war he was understood to have been inclined to be a Union
man, but went with his State, going into the struggle as captain of the Sunflower Guards, 21st
Miss. Regt. Elected colonel of that regiment, he continued in that position until after the battle
of Gettysburg, when, having lost one general (Wm. Barksdalc), General Humphreys was promptly
promoted to his place. I recollect now of his being wounded but once—at the battle of Berryvillc,
Clarke County, Va. (1864). Our brigade was made up of the 13th, 17th, iSth and 21st Mississippi
Regiments, our first brigade commander being Gen. Richard Griffith. Hence the command is
known in this State as the Griffith-Barksdale-Humphreys Brigade. During the greater portion of
the war we were in the ist Corps, A. N. L., under Gen. James Longstrcet. General Humphreys
has left a history of the conduct of the j\Iississippi troops in Virginia, which his son Barnes has
promised me for publication. General Humphre3-s wrote it with great care, and we look forward
to its appearance in print with great interest.
"Immediately after the war he was elected Governor (Oct. 16, 1S65). Re-elected in 1867,
he was ejected at the point of the bayonet by the Military Governor-General Adelbert Ames. After
his expulsion, he continued in the insurance business until a few years preceding his death, which
event took place on his plantation in Itta Bena, Leflon County, Dec. 20, 1S82. His remains
passed down our river Dec. 25, when our citizens paid their respects by forming in procession and
visiting the steamer to view the corpse of the gallant old hero. He was buried at the old home-
stead in Claiborne County. On the 28th December the branch of the Southern Historical Society
met at Port Gibson and adopted the eloquent and feeling memorial to be found in the April-May
number, Southern Ilislorical Society Papers.
** ** *** ******
"I was with the command four years, and for nearly two years a member of his military
family. I knew him well and loved him well. I had an exalted opinion of his integrity and his
high soldierly qualities. Not only that; his wisdom, justice and firmness in public life; his purity
in both public and domestic life, and his prowess on the battle-field, made him, in my estimation,
the Washington of our State. *********
" Yours very truly,
" iMajor P. M. Doherty:
"P. M. DOIIKKTV."
"Yazoo Citv, May iSth, 1SS3.
"Dear Sir.—Having been called on by you to state what I knew of the Humphreys family
in Claiborne county. My acquaintance with that distinguished family dates far back into the earliest
recollections of my childhood. My mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Singleton, at quite
an early age, after the death of her father (my grand-father), Col. Richard Singleton, of Revolu-
tionary fame, became a member of the family of Capt. George Humphreys, the father of the late
e.x-Governor Benjamin G. Humphreys, and remained in the family until she was married to my
father. I have often, when a little boy, heard my mother speak in the most affectionate terms of
the kindness she received from the Humphreys family in her girlhood days. My mother occasion-
ally visited the family of him. She used to call father old Capt. George Humphreys. I generally
accompanied her on those visits. I was born in Port Gibson, Claiborne county, in the year 1810.
The last time I saw Governor Humphreys was in the winter of 1881, on his plantation, in Roe
Buck Lake—a business trip from Greenwood on horse-back took me immediately by his house; I
was in sight of his house before I knew tiiat I was in fifty miles of him. I was delighteil at the
])rospect of once more meeting my old friend and friend of my mother. 1 rode up to his gate,
alighted, hitched my horse and went in, rapped at the door a few times — 'twas early in the morning
— after a few moments of delay the door was thrown open and there stood before me, face to
face, the silver-haired old veteran. In a twinkling he recognized me, and flew to me and embraced