Charles C. Cordill (October 13, 1845 – November 22, 1916), was a
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
planter[ and ]politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from Tensas Parish
Tensas Parish (french: Paroisse des Tensas) is a parish located in the northeastern section of the State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,252. It is the least populated paris ...
in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. He was a member of the Louisiana State Senate
The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees.
Composition
The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...
from 1884 until 1912 in which he represented both Tensas and neighboring Concordia Parish
Concordia Parish (french: Paroisse de Concordia) borders the Mississippi River in eastern central Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,822. The parish seat is Vidalia. The parish was formed in 1807.
Concordia Parish is part ...
to the south.
Background
Cordill was born in rural Coahoma in Coahoma County
Coahoma County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,151. Its county seat is Clarksdale.
The Clarksdale, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Coahoma County. It is loc ...
near Clarksdale in northwestern Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, the oldest of four children of Joseph Cordill (1816 – 1887) and his first wife, the former Mary Jane Sisson (1828 – 1860). Mary Jane died in childbirth when Charles was fourteen years of age though the child, Francis Marion Cordill (1860–1901), Charles' brother, survived. In 1868, Joseph Cordill married Mary Lu Woodward, and the couple had four children between 1869 and 1877, Charles' half-siblings. It is unclear when Cordill moved to Tensas Parish, probably 1867 or 1868, but it seems likely that he was reared prior to the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
in adjoining Franklin Parish
Franklin Parish (french: Paroisse de Franklin) is a parish located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,767. The parish seat is Winnsboro. The parish was founded in 1843 and ...
to the west. He was a merchant before he amassed a fortune as a planter.[
According to the 1899 property tax rolls, Cordill owned more than three thousand acres, the majority on his Kenilworth Plantation. He had ninety mules and some twenty-five wagons. His annual tax bill exceeded $1,000.]
Political career
In the state Senate, Cordill was for a time the chairman of the Agriculture, Commerce, and Levee committees. The latter was particularly important to a river parish like Tensas. Cordill was considered the political boss
In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...
of Tensas Parish. He was elected parish judge, based in St. Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
, as a Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
c. 1874, before he was yet thirty years of age. During Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
, he was an ally of Carpetbagger
In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Henry Clay Warmoth
Henry Clay Warmoth (May 9, 1842 – September 30, 1931) was an American attorney and veteran Civil War officer in the Union Army who was elected governor and state representative of Louisiana. A Republican, he was 26 years old when elected as 23 ...
. When Reconstruction ended, Cordill quickly turned Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
to preserve his political power. The judge held court in all kinds of cases every other month six times a year. Cordill was also for twenty-five years the president of the Tensas Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body;[ at the time a legislator could also serve on the police jury, as both are part-time positions. Cordill's political power rested on the firm support from the white landowners at a time when the ]African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
constituency was disenfranchised
Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...
despite the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ...
. Tensas Parish at the time had a much greater black population than it does today though it is still a majority black parish. The 1900 census showed Tensas with 1,231 whites and 17,839 blacks.
Cordill's power was challenged in the 1878 general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
by a coalition of former Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
white yeoman
Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...
farmers and blacks who joined together in the "Country People's Ticket". He quickly beat his opponents into submission with physical force even before the election to unseat him could be held.
In 1878, Judge Cordill, a staunch segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
ist, pursued a band of African Americans who had killed a Captain Peck of Catahoula Parish
Catahoula Parish (french: Paroisse de Catahoula) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,407. Its seat is Harrisonburg, on the Ouachita River. The parish was formed in 1808, shortly after the ...
. According to "Vignettes" of the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
by Francis McRae Ward, Cordill and his posse of one hundred reached Bass Lane, about a mile north of Waterproof
Waterproofing is the process of making an object or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environme ...
in southern Tensas Parish, in the area near Cordill's plantation, and came upon some approximately one thousand blacks. Rather than wait for reinforcements, Cordill ordered an attack with the expectation, correct as it turned out, that the blacks would flee, rather than fight. Cordill's hunch was based on an event during the Civil War when he, still teenager, and four other soldiers routed a whole company of black soldiers in this same area. Cordill and his men charged, fired their weapons, and yelled loudly. As Cordill had expected the blacks dismounted their horses, fled, and hid in the nearby cotton fields. The challenge to Cordill's rule hence ended with a whimper. The posse members included Carneal Goldman, Sr., a Waterproof planter, and William Mackenzie Davidson, later the first mayor of St. Joseph after incorporation.[
Cordill also exercised for years what was called "almost dictatorial power" of the Fifth District Levee Board, whose member also included the influential ]Jefferson B. Snyder
Jefferson B. Snyder (January 19, 1859 – October 18, 1951), was a lawyer and politician from the Mississippi River River delta, delta country of northeastern Louisiana. Snyder became a virtual political boss of Madison Parish, Louisiana, Mad ...
, a St. Joseph native who served for forty-four years as an area district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
.[''Tensas Gazette'', November 24, 1916]
Death and legacy
Cordill's will was probate
Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...
d in less than a month after his death. Sources do not indicated his place of death. He had more than a million dollars in assets at the time of his passing. Having never married, Cordill left much of his wealth to siblings, nieces, and nephews. He designated $50,000 to a sister, Mattie Cordill Cassidy, of Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood.
Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to:
People
* Greenwood (surname)
Settlements
Australia
* Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region
* Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth
C ...
, Mississippi, and $40,000 to his namesake nephew, C. C. Cordill, a son of his brother, William Cordill. The other sons of William Cordill receive lesser amounts. Cordill left $10,000 to New Orleans Charity Hospital. He left $1,500 to a servant, Nathaniel Cullens. The will had four codicil
Codicil may refer to:
* Codicil (will), subsequent change or modification of terms made and appended to an existing trust or will and testament
* A modification of terms made and appended to an existing constitution, treaty, or standard form c ...
s and stipulated that anyone contesting its validity or findings would forfeit whatever he would have otherwise received.
Cordill is interred at Natchez City Cemetery in Natchez Natchez may refer to:
Places
* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
* Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...
, Mississippi.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordill, Charles C.
1845 births
1916 deaths
Louisiana state senators
Louisiana Republicans
Louisiana Democrats
People from Coahoma, Mississippi
People from Franklin Parish, Louisiana
People from St. Joseph, Louisiana
American planters
Parish jurors and commissioners in Louisiana
19th-century American politicians