The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Inset 14
ABOUT GEORGE POINDEXTER [1]
George Poindexter was born in 1779 in Virginia, where he was orphaned at an early age. He studied law but was obliged to begin his practice without completing his studies. In 1802 he migrated to the Mississippi Territory, soon after its administration was taken over by the United States, and opened a law office in Natchez. He immediately attracted attention in his profession and in politics by his remarkable force of character and by his unwavering loyalty to the principles of Thomas Jefferson.
Soon after his arrival, Poindexter was appointed attorney general for the Territory by Governor William C. C. Claiborne. In 1805 he was elected to the Territorial General Assembly and in 1807 as the Territorial delegate to the U. S. Congress. There he served three terms during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. Though he had no vote, his fierce debate on issues was a force in the U. S. Congress.
He was appointed a Territorial Judge for Mississippi by President Madison in 1813 and participated with Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814. He remained a Judge until 1817, and it was written "As a judge he was able, prompt, impartial, unrivaled in talent, and, at the same time, unsurpassed by any lawyer in the State in legal learning." It was during these years as delegate to Congress and Territorial Judge that Henry William Munson acquired his admiration of George Poindexter.
In 1817, as Mississippi gained statehood, he was the leading member of the state Constitutional Convention. He served as Chairman of the Committee, and, it was written, "the constitution may, without injustice to others, be said to have been shaped almost entirely by the hand of Mr. Poindexter." The instrument is remarkable for simplicity, clearness, brevity, and proper scope, viz: the statement of fundamental principles and institutions, leaving details to legislation.
In the same year Mr. Poindexter was elected without opposition as the first member of the U. S. House of Representatives from the State of Mississippi. In 1819 he was elected Governor of Mississippi, where he served until 1822. In the year 1822 he was defeated in the election for the U. S. Congress; and he lost his young son, his wife, and his health. He was crippled and a partial invalid for the remainder of his life.
In 1830, his health somewhat restored, he was named to the U. S. Senate upon the death of Senator Robert H. Adams. He served in the turbulent times of Andrew Jackson, Calhoun, and Clay, and was a bitter enemy of Jackson. In 1835 he was defeated for re-election and spent his last years in the practice of law in Jackson, Mississippi, where he died in 1853. During many of his years in Mississippi, his home was the plantation "Ashwood", near Woodville.
The Washington correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer once
wrote of George Poindexter, "As a man of talent, he had but few
equals in the United States. His education was finished and
classical; his reading was extensive and varied; there was not a
subject in the sciences, literature, history or politics, with
which he was not familiar. . ."
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[1] From Dunbar Rowland, Mississippi, The Reprint Company, Publishers, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1976.
