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 Superconductivity

Superconductivity is among the most exciting of quantum phenomena in condensed matter

physics, and has important applications across science and technology, from fusion reac-
tors to particle accelerators. This self-contained text provides a comprehensive account
of the physical foundations of superconductivity and related recent developments in the
field. Beginning with a detailed description of the BCS theory of superconductivity, the
book then describes the subsequent successes of this landmark theory and proceeds to
more advanced topics such as Josephson effects and vortices. The strong coupling theory
of superconductivity is introduced in later chapters, providing a springboard to impor-
tant current research on hydride superconductors, which have displayed very high critical
temperatures. Recent manifestations of superfluidity in ultracold atoms physics are also
described. This book will give readers a solid grounding in the theory and applications
of superconductivity, and an appreciation of its broader importance in the field of modern
condensed matter physics.

Roland Combescot is Professor Emeritus in Physics at École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and
Sorbonne Université (formerly Université Pierre et Marie Curie) in Paris, and has been
a member of l’Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) since 2005. He has an outstanding
research and publication record in the area of superconductivity and superfluidity, includ-
ing nearly thirty articles published in the influential journal, Physical Review Letters. He
has taught a course on the theory of superconductivity to MSc students at ENS for over
twenty years.
Superconductivity
An Introduction

ROLAND COMBESCOT
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India
103 Penang Road, #05–06/07, Visioncrest Commercial, Singapore 238467

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108428415
DOI: 10.1017/9781108560184
© Roland Combescot 2022
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2022
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-108-42841-5 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
The author and publisher have acknowledged the sources of copyright material where
possible and are grateful for the permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it
has not always been possible to identify the sources of all the material used, or to trace all
copyright holders. We would appreciate any omissions being brought to our attention.
 Contents

Preface page vii

1 Phenomenology 1
1.1 Basic Properties 1
1.2 London Theory 12
1.3 Electromagnetic Response 17
1.4 Physical Ideas, Microscopic Origin of Superconductivity 21
1.5 Further Reading: Magnetic Field Penetration in the General Case 25

2 The BCS Theory 28

2.1 The Cooper Problem 28
2.2 Effective Interaction 37
2.3 BCS Wave Function 46
2.4 Determination of uk and vk . The Gap Equation 55
2.5 Further Analysis of the Ground State 65
2.6 Further Reading: Pair Wave Function, Mathematical Details 76

3 Thermodynamics of the BCS Theory 79

3.1 Excited States 79
3.2 Tunneling 87
3.3 Free Energy 92
3.4 Gap Equation, Critical Temperature 95
3.5 Specific Heat, Critical Field 98
3.6 Isotope Effect, Coulomb Repulsion 103
3.7 Electron-Phonon Interaction 108
3.8 Other Pairing Symmetries and Mechanisms 115

4 Response to an External Perturbation 128

4.1 Introduction 128
4.2 Coupling to the Electromagnetic Field 128
4.3 Linear Response 130
4.4 Coherence Factors 135
4.5 BCS Response Function 139
4.6 Conductivity and Meissner Effect for the BCS State 143
4.7 Impurities Effect 146
4.8 Other Responses 157
v
vi Contents

5 Macroscopic Effects 166

5.1 Gauge Invariance 166
5.2 Flux Quantization 170
5.3 Josephson Effects 173

6 Ginzburg–Landau Theory 184

6.1 Simple Ginzburg–Landau Theory 185
6.2 Magnetic Field Effect 189
6.3 Vortices 199
6.4 Application of Superconductivity to High Currents and Fields 204
6.5 Validity of the Theory, the Ginzburg Criterium 207
6.6 Further Reading: The Little–Parks Experiment 211

7 Bose–Einstein Condensation 214

7.1 The Perfect Bose Gas 214
7.2 The Effect of Interactions 217
7.3 Bogoliubov Theory 222
7.4 The Case of 4 He 229
7.5 Superfluidity 233
7.6 Critical Velocity 235
7.7 Further Reading: Feynman Relation 239

8 The BEC–BCS Crossover 243

8.1 Cold Atoms 243
8.2 Scattering Length 250
8.3 Feshbach Resonance 255
8.4 The BEC–BCS Crossover, the Unitary Limit 261
8.5 The BCS Approximation 266
8.6 The Vortex Lattice 274
8.7 Spin-Polarized Fermi Gases 279

9 Strong Coupling Superconductivity 288

9.1 Introduction 288
9.2 Normal State 289
9.3 Eliashberg Equations 299
9.4 Critical Temperature 306
9.5 Coulomb Repulsion 312
9.6 Density of States 315
9.7 Further Reading: Migdal’s Theorem 321

Appendix Second Quantization 326

References 331
Index 333
 Preface

As is often the case, this book is an outgrowth of lecture notes for a course on supercon-
ductivity I had the pleasure to teach for several years. Teaching implies naturally severe
limitations of time for the course duration, which leads to strong constraints on the subject
matter that is taught. These boundary conditions disappear in principle for a book, and I
have taken this opportunity to include a number of points I could not address at all during
my lectures, for lack of time.
However, this book has not been written with the a priori intention of extending the
scope of what I taught. My teaching was an introduction to superconductivity, and my
aim in this book has been to stay at the same introductory level. I have rather taken the
extended space one enjoys in a book to include subject matter that in my mind should have
been included logically and coherently in the course but could not be included for lack
of time. I have been able in this way to include most of the points I regretted omitting
from the course. This description actually only corresponds to the first six chapters of this
book. Indeed, I have taken this opportunity to include some more recent subject matter
from the field of cold atoms physics, which I feel is quite relevant for our understanding of
superconductivity, as I describe in more detail below.
Coherently with this introductory spirit, I have tried to be quite explicit in my writing,
providing all the necessary details for understanding by the same kind of students as the
ones I was teaching. On balance between going into detail or skipping the “obvious,” I have
chosen the former. Naturally, there are limits to this, as providing too much detail makes
the text burdensome. This choice has also been mostly valid at the beginning of chapters,
with the finishing parts being usually being devoted to more advanced matter and going
accordingly at a somewhat more accelerated pace.
In the same spirit, I have done my best to make this book as self-contained as pos-
sible. The understanding requires only basic knowledge of electromagnetism, quantum
mechanics, statistical physics and little of solid state physics (and some mathematics). But
otherwise I have rather chosen to start from first principles, without for example referring
to linear response or scattering theory.
Regarding the organization of the chapters, my aim has been to go directly at the micro-
scopic understanding of superconductivity provided by BCS theory. Whether accepted or
rejected, it is the reference frame of our present-day comprehension. Another ingredient
that I feel is quite important when teaching science nowadays, particularly when exploring
such a strange phenomenon as superconductivity, is to describe the evolution of ideas that
has led to the present understanding. This is an essential point for explaining how the pres-
ent scientific knowledge has been built, which allows for its future evolution on a sound
basis. Ideally, this should be done by following the historical evolution of the field, but
vii
viii Preface

this comes rapidly in contradiction with good teaching practices because the real history
is often quite long and somewhat tortuous. Hence one needs to identify shortcuts to obtain
a clear logical presentation. Nevertheless, I have kept in mind this spirit, trying to explain
wherever possible where the matter comes from.
This approach appears particularly in the first chapter, which presents the early ingre-
dients of superconductivity and closes with a section summarizing the ideas leading to
BCS theory. The second chapter deals with the basics of BCS theory. The last sections of
this chapter are more advanced and are addressed to readers who are somewhat dissatis-
fied with the BCS wave function, which is fairly frequent. As such, they may be skipped
upon first reading. The third chapter extends BCS theory to the nonzero temperature sit-
uation. The last sections of this chapter are an appropriate place to deal in depth with the
microscopics of the pairing interaction, and then to open the door leading to symmetries
and mechanisms other than the standard BCS ones, which are present in unconventional
superconductors. Again, these sections may be skipped at first reading. The portion of the
manuscript devoted to BCS closes with the fourth chapter, which is mostly devoted to the
response of a superconductor to an electromagnetic perturbation, according to BCS the-
ory. One aim of this chapter is to show that BCS theory indeed describes a system that is
superconducting. This is a worthwhile purpose, although the road is fairly long.
The next chapter deals with the fascinating manifestations of quantum mechanics at
the macroscopic scale that appear in superconductors, through flux quantization and the
Josephson effects. These give rise in particular to remarkable applications. The sixth chap-
ter is devoted to the beautiful Ginzburg–Landau theory, which leads to the introduction of
vortices, so crucial for strong current applications of superconductivity. It does not come
in the proper historical order, but I feel that this is pedagogically the appropriate position.
The following chapters arise from the opportunity presented by the recent remarka-
ble progress in the physics of ultracold atoms, allowing one to display the BEC–BCS
crossover. This establishes a direct physical link between these two related aspects of super-
fluidity and enlightens our understanding of pairing in superconductivity. Hence, all the
more since I have had a direct interest in this field, it has been quite tempting to include a
chapter on the BEC–BCS crossover, both for logical reasons and also because this is beau-
tiful physics. This has not been such an easy matter, since it implied, at a simple level, the
introduction of several new concepts. In particular, this has inspired first a complete chapter
on Bose–Einstein condensation, a necessary ingredient to fully understand the BEC–BCS
crossover. This chapter is also welcome for enhancing one’s understanding of supercon-
ductivity, since it allows one to present in detail the physics of superfluidity that underlies
superconductivity.
The final chapter is by far the most difficult matter of this book and also was the most dif-
ficult to write. Hence its position at the end of this book is quite appropriate. Nevertheless,
its presence is logically necessary. Indeed, it serves to complete the unsatisfactory hand-
ling of BCS theory regarding the time-dependent nature of the pairing interaction. This
completion is rewarded by some remarkable agreements between experiment and theory,
confirming the validity of our understanding of superconductivity in the corresponding
compounds. On the other hand, this chapter is also justified by the very recent discovery
of hydride superconductors with very high critical temperatures, for which the formalism
ix Preface

presented in this chapter seems to be the appropriate one. However, although I have done
my best to stay in the spirit of the preceding chapters, this one is not as self-contained as
the preceding ones. A proper complete presentation of the matter would have led to far too
technical and far too long explanations for this book. Hence some stages require a leap of
faith, which I have tried to patch as well as I could.
On a final note, I would like to thank Xavier Leyronas for all the pleasant time I had
sharing with him teaching superconductivity. And I want to take this opportunity to express
my gratitude and thoughts to my friend, Dierk Rainer, from whom I learned so much.
1 Phenomenology

1.1 Basic Properties

1.1.1 Infinite Conductivity

Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by H. Kamerlingh Onnes [1] in Leiden. Kamer-

lingh Onnes was a pioneer in reaching experimentally low temperatures and exploring
physics in this by then new realm. He was the first in 1908 to liquify helium gas (he got
the Nobel Prize for this in 1913), which provided him a powerful cooling agent at these
temperatures.
Kamerlingh Onnes was interested in the variation of the conductivity of metals at low
temperature, which was at the time a controversial matter. He chose to work on mercury
because it is much easier to purify by distillation than other metals, since it is liquid at room
temperature. In this way, he could get rid of impurities, which contribute to the electrical
resistivity of metals, and study the intrinsic low-temperature behavior. Upon cooling his
solid mercury wire, he observed a slow decrease of its resistance, corresponding to his
expectations, and then around the temperature of 4.2 K, a sudden drop to a value so low that
he could not actually measure it, as seen in Fig. (1.1). This experimental disappearance of
the resistance implies a vanishing resistivity ρ for mercury below the “critical temperature”
of Tc = 4.2 K,
ρ=0 (1.1)
Kamerlingh Onnes called “superconductivity” this property of a metal to have in effect an
infinite conductivity σ = 1/ρ. The year after his discovery, he found that tin and lead were
superconductors with critical temperatures of 3.7 K and 7.2 K, respectively.
Naturally it is meaningless to claim that Eq. (1.1) is an experimental result; it is only
a logical extrapolation of the experimental result. An experiment always has a limited
accuracy and can only claim that the resistivity is extremely small. Nevertheless exper-
imentalists have pushed as far as they could to determine how small the resistivity of a
superconductor is. A clever and striking way to do this indirectly is to observe persist-
ent currents. Indeed one can generate currents by induction in a metal having the shape
of a ring. For a standard metal with a nonzero resistivity, these currents decay rapidly by
dissipation due to Joule heating. However, for a superconductor, Eq. (1.1) holds and no
dissipation occurs, so the induced currents can persist indefinitely. These currents can be
observed by the magnetic field they generate. Kamerlingh Onnes performed first such an
1
 2 Phenomenology

t
Fig. 1.1 The resistance of mercury as a function of temperature as measured by H. Kamerlingh Onnes [1].

experiment in 1914, and observed persistent currents for hours. This kind of experiment
has been repeated; persistent currents have been observed for several years, and the decay
time for the persistent current has been evaluated to ∼ 105 years. This comes quite close
to an experimental proof of Eq. (1.1).

1.1.2 Critical Temperature

Kammerlingh Onnes realized naturally that in principle, superconductivity could allow
one to generate very large electric currents and, as a result, very large magnetic fields.
Obviously the very low temperature at which the phenomenon occurs makes it in practice
quite inconvenient to set up such a device. Hence the value of the critical temperature is
not only an important quantity to characterize superconductivity, but it is also of utmost
practical interest. This has led to the exploration of a number of materials for their possible
superconducting properties. Among the elements of the periodic table, 33 are superconduc-
tors at atmospheric pressure (with an additional 24 which become superconductors under
pressure). The one with the highest critical temperature is niobium, with Tc = 9.26 K.
More generally, it has been progressively realized that, far from being an exceptional
phenomenon, superconductivity appears quite frequently at low temperature. Its absence
may be due to the competing appearance of another kind of transition, for example toward
magnetic order. It should be noted that superconducting transitions may be found at very
low temperature, which while not being practically useful may be of fundamental inter-
est. There is no lower bound for Tc . In particular copper, the best standard conductor,
3 1.1 Basic Properties

does not display a superconducting transition at the lowest temperatures presently reached.
Similarly gold and silver are not superconductors.
Coming back to the more practically interesting purpose of finding high Tc , a number
of metallic alloys have also been explored. In this search, the one with highest critical
temperature has been Nb3 Ge with Tc = 23.2 K. This is already above the boiling point
of liquid hydrogen, which is at 20 K under atmospheric pressure, but not enough to be of
practical interest. Hence, although it has a slightly lower Tc = 18.3 K, Nb3 Sn is rather used
industrially because it can withstand high currents and magnetic fields. Nevertheless it is
NbTi that is presently the industrially preferred compound for practical reasons, although
its Tc is only 10 K. It is this alloy that is mostly used for the production of the high mag-
netic fields required in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in standard medical devices.
Similarly this is the alloy used in large high-energy particle accelerators, although the need
for higher fields induces a switch to Nb3 Sn. In all cases, the required low temperature is
obtained through liquid Helium cryogenics, which has seen much development to large
scale for this purpose.
Despite many efforts, progress in increasing Tc had become so slow in the fifties and
sixties that researchers in the field of superconductivity tended to believe that there was
some kind of intrinsic upper bound for Tc and that in practice its increase was near satura-
tion. Hence it has been a great shock to this community when in 1986 Georg Bednorz and
Alex Müller found that a perovskite1 in “the La-Ba-Cu-O system” (more precisely with
chemical composition Bax La1−x CuO3−y ) is a superconductor with Tc around 35 K. They
received the Nobel Prize the next year for this breakthrough. Then things progressed very
rapidly, essentially guided by chemical reasoning that leads one to replace an element with
a chemically similar one. The following year, Tc = 93 K was reached in YBa2 Cu3 O7 .
More generally, the critical temperature of YBa2 Cu3 O7−x is very sensitive to the “doping”
x since YBa2 Cu3 O6 is an antiferromagnetic insulator. It reaches Tc = 95 K for x  0.07.
Such critical temperatures have represented an essential step in the increase of Tc since
they are above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, which is at 77 K under atmospheric
pressure. Liquid nitrogen is routinely obtained in the gas industry, with a typical annual
world production of 8 million tons. Hence cooling such a superconductor below its critical
temperature is a considerably simpler matter than when helium has to be used.
Further progress with these kinds of compounds has led to the discovery of bismuth
compounds of general formula Bi2 Sr2 Can Cun+1 O2n+6−δ with Tc ranging from 95 K to
107 K depending on n, thallium compounds Tlm Ba2 Can−1 Cun O2n+m+2+δ with a highest
Tc reaching 127 K, and finally mercury compounds HgBa2 Ca2 Cu3 O8+δ with a highest crit-
ical temperature of 135 K found in 1993. The highest critical temperature reported to date
in these cuprates superconductors has been 166 K in HgBa2 Ca2 Cu3 O8+δ at a pressure of
23 GPa. A remarkable feature of all these compounds is that above the critical temperature,
they are fairly bad metals with poor conductivity, in contrast with the earlier superconduc-
tors discussed at the beginning of this section. They are also quasi-bidimensional materials
since they are essentially stacks of CuO2 planes, which are their conducting part, with a
fairly weak electronic coupling between the planes.

1 This is a material with the same crystal structure as CaTiO .

3
4 Phenomenology

The cuprate discovery clearly showed that there was no barrier around 20 K for Tc .
Hence this produced an incentive to check the low-temperature properties of various mate-
rials. As early as 1988, superconductivity was found in Ba0.6 K0.4 BiO3 around 30 K. Like
the cuprates, this compound is a perovskite, but it does not contain CuO2 planes and it is
tridimensional. Hence, it is in a somewhat different class of materials.
Markedly different are the “doped” fullerenes, with the main ingredient being the full-
erene molecule C60 , which has the shape of a soccer ball. It can be doped with various
alkali, with Cs3 C60 reaching in 1995 a surprising Tc = 40 K under pressure. These materi-
als could almost be considered as organic superconductors, with other organic compounds
having much lower Tc .
A surprising result was then found in 2001, where MgB2 was discovered to have a
critical temperature of 39 K. This compound is similar to the alloys investigated earlier
with the hope of finding higher critical temperature, and its late discovery looks like a miss
of earlier searches.
More interesting is the discovery of superconductivity in iron-based compounds. Indeed,
starting in 2006, superconductivity in these compounds was investigated because they
have fairly high Tc , considering that the magnetic properties of Fe were believed to be
detrimental to superconductivity. In 2008, a Tc of 26 K was reported in LaO1−x Fx FeAs
(called an “oxypnictide”2 ) with x = 0.05 − 0.12, followed the same year by the finding of
Tc = 55 K in SmO1−x Fx FeAs. These iron-based materials form a rich family with several
parent compounds.
Finally the quite recent last step in this progress in Tc has been the evidence for super-
conductivity in various hydrides around 200 K, under high pressure. A first result of
Tc = 203 K in H3 S at 155 GPa has appeared in 2015. Then, in 2018, Tc = 215 K was
reached in LaH10 (although the stoichiometry in H may be somewhat uncertain in these
compounds), followed by a claim for superconductivity at Tc = 260 K around 200 GPa in
the same compound. Clearly the search for superconductivity in these hydrides is not over.
It is already quite close to the long-lasting dream of finding superconductivity at room
temperature.

1.1.3 Meissner Effect

We now come to the second defining property of a superconductor. Although it has been
found by Meissner and Ochsenfeld [2] in 1933, a fairly long time after the discovery by
Kamerlingh Onnes, it turned out to be a fundamental feature of the superconducting state.
Meissner and Ochsenfeld cooled a sample of tin in the presence of an applied magnetic
field H. They expected no change of the field when the temperature was going below the
critical temperature Tc for tin. Instead, when measuring the field in the vicinity of the super-
conducting tin, they found strong changes, as if tin behaved as a magnetic material. These
modifications were consistent with the magnetic induction B going to zero inside the super-
conducting tin sample. As a result the field lines are pushed away from the superconductor,
as shown in Fig. (1.2). The field is “expelled” from the superconductor.
2 A pnictide element is an element belonging to the nitrogen column in the periodic table: N, P, As, Sb, Bi.
 5 1.1 Basic Properties

t
Fig. 1.2 Schematic view of the magnetic field lines for a spherical superconductor, in the presence of an applied magnetic field.
Without the superconductor or for a normal metal, the magnetic field lines would just be horizontal parallel lines.

If the temperature was first lowered below the critical temperature Tc with a zero applied
magnetic field (zero-field-cooling), and then the magnetic field would be raised at fixed
temperature, this experimental result could easily be understood as resulting from the infi-
nite conductivity of the superconductor. Indeed, in this case, raising the magnetic field
gives rise to induced currents in the superconductor, and from Lenz’s law, they oppose the
variation of the induction inside the superconductor. For a standard metal, these induced
currents decay by dissipation due to the metal resistivity. However, with the infinite con-
ductivity of the superconductor there is no such dissipation; these currents run forever, and
Lenz’s law can reach its full effect of maintaining the magnetic induction at its initial value
B = 0.
This “freezing” of the induction lines is, for example, well known in plasma physics,
where very large conductivity (although not infinite) can be found. Basically the infinite
conductivity σ forces the electric field E = j/σ to be zero inside the superconductor
regardless of the current j. Then for E = 0, Maxwell’s equation curl E = −∂B/∂t implies
that the magnetic induction cannot change. However, in this zero-field-cooled case, we
would have reached an out-of-equilibrium situation lasting forever.
By contrast, the Meissner effect cannot be explained by Lenz’s law, since it is obtained
by merely changing the temperature at a fixed field, so that no induced currents can arise.
Rather, one comes to the conclusion that the situation depicted by Fig. (1.2) corresponds to
a thermodynamical equilibrium situation for the superconductor since, for given tempera-
ture and field, it is the one that is found regardless of the order in which the temperature is
lowered and the magnetic field is raised.
Nevertheless, although infinite conductivity cannot fully explain by itself the Meiss-
ner effect, it is an essential ingredient of the effect. Indeed the fact that the induction is
zero inside the superconductor is physically due to the existence of permanent currents
in the superconductor which screen the external field, and they can persist only because
conductivity is infinite.
If one does not look for a microscopic understanding of the superconductor and stays
only at a macroscopic level, one can summarize the Meissner effect by the fact that it is
a magnetic material with the property B = 0 in the superconductor in the presence of an
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by it.
John Harden brought three or four fine horses, one, he said, from
Florida and the others from Georgia; I advanced him the money and
passed them on to Wages, who sold them for me. S. Harden made
two trips to the vicinity of Mobile that year, one from North Alabama,
and one from western North Carolina: The first trip he brought two
good horses and a likely negro boy. I assisted him to sell the horses
near Fort Stoddart, for a fine price, to some men going to Texas. I
then furnished him two ponies and sent McIntosh to pilot him
through to Wages, who paid him for his negro and sent him to
Pearlington, where he again embarked for Tennessee, by way of
New Orleans.
About four months afterwards Harden returned again. He had two
splendid horses, fine traveling equipage, and a likely mulatto girl
about sixteen years old, dressed in boys clothes, traveling with him
as his waiter. He said he had traveled through Georgia and Eastern
Alabama to Blakely, and crossed the Bay over to Mobile, and came
out to our place. He told us he feared no pursuit; that he had
traveled too far, that there was no danger. I assisted him in selling
the two horses, in Mobile, and saw them often afterwards. They
were fine buggy horses. The girl he sold to a man in Mobile, who
kept her as a wife, and she now passes for free. He had stolen her
from a rich old widow lady in North Carolina, who had sent the girl
on an errand, on a Saturday morning, some twenty-five miles on the
same fine horse, to return on Sunday evening, and she never did
return.
In these two trips of Harden’s he gave me five hundred dollars for
my assistance. I then assisted him to steal a very fine horse on the
Tombigbee River, for which he gave me fifty dollars more, and left
for Tennessee. This had pretty well consumed the fall of 1845.
In December, Wages came home to his father’s; sent for me; told
me that he was going to get married shortly, and invited me to his
wedding; I promised him I would go if my business did not prevent
me; but it so turned out that he did marry a short time after, and I
was not present. After his marriage, he brought his wife to see his
father and mother, and spent some weeks with them. He had with
him plenty of counterfeit coin, and wanted me to take some and
pass for him. That I refused to do, and I then advised him that it
would be better for us all to let that alone; and then reminded him
that when there was none but him, McGrath and I together, that we
could get along to better advantage, do a more profitable business
and had a wider field to operate in. But he seemed to think that they
could manage to get along; and I found from his conversation that
old Allen Brown had got control of him, and I said no more on the
subject. I told him frankly that their money I would have nothing to
do with; but in other matters of stealing and selling horses, negroes
and cattle, I would take a hand as heretofore, to which he assented,
and here we dropped the subject for the present. I again urged
upon him the removal of our money. I dreaded an outbreak, for I
then believed that old Brown would blow the whole matter; and sure
enough he afterwards did.
So Wages and his wife left, and went back to Mississippi, to old
Brown, and he went to work building his house on Catahoula, in
Hancock County. He got it completed; moved into it; took his horse;
came again to Mobile; procured his father’s two horse wagon to haul
some articles for house-keeping from Mobile, and on his way back I
went with him, the first night, and we camped near where our
money was buried. We went and got the three kegs; placed them in
the bottom of his wagon, covered them with hay and placed the
balance of his load on them. He hauled them out to Hancock county,
and deposited them in Catahoula Swamp, about a mile and a half or
two miles from his house, and designated the place by a large pine
tree that grew at the margin of the swamp, to the north-east, and
about thirty-five yards from where the kegs were deposited, and a
magnolia tree that grew about ten yards to the south-west. He gave
me a diagram of the place, the courses, and distances which he had
measured accurately, marked in lines and explained in our mystic
key. That paper I somehow lost in the famous Harvey battle.
So it was Wages left and went to his place. Now he and his crowd
were for themselves, and me and my crowd for ourselves. My crowd
consisted of myself, and four brothers, Josh Walters, Jef. Baker and
old McIntosh, our outside striker, to run stolen horses or a negro,
when required. Our range was from Mobile to Pascagoula, and from
the Sea Coast to St. Stephen’s. We fed ourselves and families upon
pork, beef and mutton, in abundance, and we sold enough in the
market to pay us from fifty to one hundred dollars per month—
sometimes ready butchered and sometimes on foot, during the
summer and fall season. Those we sold the meat of, we generally
stole in the vicinity of Mobile. Old man Wages had a farm on Big
Creek Swamp, about twenty-five miles from Mobile, in rather an
obscure place. That was our place of resort and deposit, and many a
stolen beef and horse has been concealed there until we could
dispose of them.
We continued that business during 1845, 1846, and until the
summer of 1847. We had stolen a small drove of cattle out near
Chickasahay, and in driving them we gathered a few head near
Mobile, belonging to old Moses Copeland. We sold the cattle to Bedo
Baptiste, who paid my brother Henry and I for them. We claimed
them; Whinn, or Isham and John helped to drive, but received none
of the money. My brothers Henry and John, and Isham or Whinn,
were arrested and tried. Henry was convicted of the larceny and
served two years in the penitentiary of Alabama. Whinn and John
were acquitted; I took to the bushes. They did not catch me that
hunt, and I lay in the woods and was concealed among my clan the
balance of that summer, most of the time at old Wages’, on Big
Creek, waiting for Gale Wages to come so as to make a settlement
with him, and to close my business and leave the country.
The time passed on slowly. I stopped all further operations until I
could hear from Wages and McGrath, and, lo! some time late in the
fall up rolled Wages and old Brown, and sure enough old Brown, as I
had anticipated and expected, had blown the whole concern. He had
gone into the little town of Gainesville and passed a few dollars of
their money for some small articles of trade, where the old fool
might have known he would be detected; and sure enough he was.
Now the next step was for him to get out of the difficulty, and when
asked where he got the money, he said “from Bilbos.” They were
arrested and brought up, and he swore it on to them, and they had
to give bail to answer the charge of passing counterfeit money.
Bilbos then swore vengeance against Brown and Wages, who had
pulled up stakes and were leaving Hancock county, and Mississippi,
too. The Bilbos pursued them, and passed them some way; turned
back, and the parties met suddenly on a small hill. While one party
ascended on one side the other party ascended on the other side,
and both parties were within a few paces of each other at first view.
Wages had the advantage of them; he had his double barrel gun
well loaded and fresh caps on; Bilbos had their rifles well loaded and
fresh primed, but they had a rag over the powder in the pan to keep
it dry. These rags they had to remove before they could fire. Wages
immediately fired and killed one of them dead, and then fired at the
other before he could get ready to shoot and broke his thigh. From
some cause Bilbo’s horse got scared and threw him to the ground,
and he immediately begged for his life. At first sight of the Bilbos old
Brown ran, so Wages said.
Now it was that Wages and Brown both had to make their escape
the best way they could. They came to Mobile, and there they were
on the scout, as well as myself. McGrath was so well identified with
them that he was watched very closely about Gainesville. He got into
some corn stealing scrape, and broke into Hancock jail, and nothing
but the gold or silver key ever turned him out. He and Wages
happened to have a little of that, and he and his wife then left
Honey Island, and were at Daniel Smith’s, on Black creek, in Perry
county. So it was Brown and Wages managed to get their families,
and McGrath and his wife back into the vicinity of Mobile some time
in November, 1847.
Wages and McGrath had very near got through with all their
money. McGrath, in particular, had none, only as he borrowed.
Wages had some, but had spent a large amount in feeding and
clothing old Brown and his gang. Wages and his wife remained on
Big creek at the old man’s place, and I the greater part of the time
with him. Brown and McGrath moved down on Dog river, near Stage
Stand, pretending to burn coal and cut wood to sell, but they were
in fact stealing, for they had nothing to eat and but little money.
Brown had sold his possessions in Perry county to Harvey, and had
received all his pay but forty dollars. He had represented his land to
be saved or entered land, when it was public land, and Harvey
refused to pay the forty dollar note, and that same pitiful note, and
Brown’s rascality and falsehood cost Wages and McGrath their lives,
and Harvey and Pool their lives, and have placed me where I am.
Wages and I while on Big creek held a consultation as to our
future course. Wages then sorely repented any connection that he
ever had with old Brown, “and,” said he, “I intend to get away from
him, for I am fearful the old fool will get drunk and tell everything he
does know.” We then concluded our best way was for Wages to take
his horse and cart, take old Niel McIntosh with him, and his wife and
child, and start west and travel in the vicinity of Pearl river; there
leave his wife; take the cart and horse and he and McIntosh to travel
down Pearl river till they came opposite Catahoula; then turn in and
get our money, and cross the Mississippi river; send McIntosh back
to let McGrath and I know where to find him, and for us to slip off
and go slyly, and not let Brown know where we were going, “and,”
said Wages, “if I can manage to rob old Tom Sumrall on my route
and make a raise, so much the better. And you and your crowd may
manage to make a raise here before you leave.”

BURNING OF ELI MAFFITT’S HOUSE, AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF

HIS WIFE.

The same day Wages and I were consulting thus, my brother John
Copeland came to bring me some clothes, and he informed me that
it was reported that old Eli Maffitt held a large amount of money,
and that there was a project on foot to rob him and burn his house
the first good opportunity; that Maffitt had taken a contract to build
a bridge in Perry county, and would shortly leave home, and that Eli
Myrick was to let the party know what time Maffitt commenced the
bridge and would be absent from home. I then told Wages what was
on foot. He then said “let me leave home about three days before,
and I will try on the some night to rob old Sumrall and burn his
house.” In a few days Myrick came down and told us that Maffitt was
up in Perry county, and would not be home in two weeks. Wages
immediately geared up, and started with his cart, his wife and
McIntosh. Three nights after that Allen Brown, McGrath, John
Copeland and I went to Maffitt’s just after dark, about seven o’clock,
on the night of the 15th of December, 1847. Eli Myrick did not go
with us, because he said Mrs. Maffitt would know him too well, but
he was in the secret and shared his part of the money.
On getting near, we stopped to consult as to the safest way to get
the money. Some were for robbing the house and not injuring any of
the family. That I opposed, for I never believed in leaving any living
witness behind to tell what I had done, if there was any way to
prevent it. I always thought that two persons were enough to keep a
secret, and it was safest if one of them were dead, for dead
witnesses give no evidence. It was agreed that we should go into
the house and demand the money, and if given up, to leave the
inmates peaceably and unharmed.
John and I went in with a very stern look, thinking we could
frighten the old lady, and make her give up every dollar that was in
the house. But we were as sternly and peremptorily refused. The old
lady said that she knew nothing about the money, and if she did,
that we would not get it; we then told her that we had come after
money and that money we would have before we left that house, or
her life; and she still bravely defied us. John Copeland had in his
hand a large hickory stick and I had another. Perceiving that she was
determined, and our only chance to get the money was to kill her,
while the old lady and I were quarreling about the money, I gave my
brother John the wink, and he struck her a blow on the head which
felled her to the floor. He repeated the blows, and I hit her several
blows. We were then certain that we had killed her. We then
commenced plundering the house, in search of the money; and we
ransacked the whole house from top to bottom, but the amount we
did find was small. I do not remember the precise amount we got,
but it did not exceed two hundred dollars, and to our great
displeasure we afterwards found out, that there was a large amount
of gold and silver in the house at the time, that we did not find.
 After we had plundered the house to our satisfaction, of all the
money we could find, and each one of us had his load of the most
valuable articles about, we set the house on fire and burnt
everything up, together as we thought with Mrs. Maffitt who we
thought was dead, and we left with a full conviction in our own
minds that she would be burnt in the house. When I afterwards
learned that she was not dead, I often wondered at her providential
escape.
The gold and silver we had overlooked, was all melted, and I
understood that Maffitt afterwards took it to Mobile and disposed of
it.
Wages, in his adventure, was not so successful as we were. On
the same night, he and McIntosh camped near Tallahala, not far
from old Sumrall’s and in the vicinity of Bryant Barlow’s. Barlow
happened to pass their camp early in the night and discovered
Wages. He raised a company and got after Wages, themselves and
dogs, and Wages had to leave and take the woods for home again.
McIntosh and Wages’ wife turned back for Mobile on the Big Creek
place, where they all landed about five days after. There we were all
in the vicinity of Mobile again; Wages had made a water haul and we
had done worse. Wages was laying out, Brown and myself were in
the same situation. It became necessary for Wages, McGrath and I
to hold a private consultation, relative to our future operations, and
to devise some plan to get rid of old Brown. We could see no way to
do that, unless it would be to lie to him and frighten him to leave,
which we did. Our next plan was to manage to get our money from
Catahoula, and deposit it about the Bay of St. Louis, near the sea
coast, where we could get it on a boat. Wages and McGrath were to
attend to that matter, and I was to assist Brown over the Mississippi.
So Wages went to Brown and told him that there was a reward for
both of them, and said he, “I am going to leave, and you had better
do the same, for Maffitt has a crowd now on the look out for us.”
Brown had but little money. He then enjoined it upon Wages to take
Harvey’s note and give him the money for it. Said he, “if he won’t
pay the note you and McGrath kill the d——d rascal.” So saying,
Wages gave him the money for the note, and loaned him sixty
dollars more, and then told Brown that James Copeland would go
with him and assist his family to travel, while he, Brown, could
dodge before and behind. So the matter was understood, and in a
few nights Brown rolled off and crossed Dog River at Ward’s bridge,
where Wages, McGrath and I joined him; I took charge of the teams
and family, and Brown took his rifle and to the woods, mostly in the
daytime. We did not want for fresh meat; Wages and McGrath left
for Catahoula by way of Harvey’s, and crossed at Fairley’s; we
crossed at Robert’s and old Green court house, and up Black Creek,
on by Columbia, Holmesville and so on to the mouth of Red River.
After crossing the Mississippi, I loaned old Brown twenty-five dollars
more, bid him good-by and returned to the vicinity of Mobile. I was
gone over four weeks.

WAGES AND M’GRATH KILLED BY HARVEY.

On my way back I learned at Black Creek, of the death of Wages

and McGrath. They had got into some difficulty with Harvey about
the forty dollar note, and he shot and killed them both. This news
sounded in my ears like thunder; and so astounded was I that I lost
for the time all my senses. However, after a little reflection, I began
to think over my situation, and a thousand thoughts hurled through
my brain. Almost instantly, it seemed that every crime I had ever
committed in my life was then pictured before my eyes and the
awful consequences attending them. The object, for which I
committed them, was money; and it was now doubtful whether I
should ever obtain that, or not. Upon further reflection, I recollected
that Wages had given me a diagram or map of the place where our,
now my money was hidden, and a direction of the course so that I
certainly could find it. Stimulated with the idea of being worth thirty
thousand dollars, I began to cheer up and returned home.
 REWARD OF ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS OFFERED FOR HARVEY’S
SCALP.

The first thing was to procure my map or diagram, which I did. I

found all my friends grieving. The first word asked me by old man
Wages and the old lady was: “What are you going to do, James? Are
you not going to seek vengeance on that Harvey?” Both then said to
me, “James we will give you one thousand dollars for Harvey’s scalp,
if you will kill the rascal or have it done.” I then told them I would
see some of my friends, and let them know in a short time.
A short time after that I received a notice to attend a meeting of
the clan, at our Wigwam in the city, on a certain night. So I
disguised myself and went into the city and attended, and in that
meeting I met several officers of the city, such as constables, deputy
sheriff, etc., who all told me not to be afraid; that there would be no
exertion to arrest me. There were a number of resolutions passed
commemorative of the demise of our departed friends and brothers
Gale H. Wages and Charles McGrath. After the adoption of these
resolutions, I then raised the question before the meeting as to the
propriety of taking up with old Wages’ offer; and after explaining
that offer to the meeting, it was unanimously approved; and I was
nominated to head and lead the band on that expedition, with power
to select as many, and just such men of our clan as I thought
necessary. So I selected Jackson Pool, Sam. Stoughton, John
Copeland and Thomas Copeland. I selected them because they were
good woodsmen, and I knew that Pool and Stoughton were brave.
After I had made the selection, I called them all together and we
held a consultation. It was agreed that we would go and make the
trial on Harvey; but that we must have five hundred dollars from old
Wages in advance. I went to old Wages, and told him what was our
conclusion. He hesitated at first, and offered to give us security that
the money should be paid when we had done the job; I told him,
“no! it was a dangerous undertaking, and we must be paid
something to start with.” Finally, after consulting with his wife, he
agreed to give us the five hundred dollars. Our only business then
was to prepare ourselves with the best of double-barrel guns and
pistols and bowie knives, with plenty of ammunition and percussion
caps of the best quality, and thus armed and equipped we were
ready for our journey.
Now I had a two fold object in view; that was, to go on to
Catahoula, and search for my money, and for that purpose I took
with me my diagram or map. The old man forked over the five
hundred dollars, and we made ready for the start.
On Sunday morning the 8th day of July, 1848, we all set out from
Wages’ place on Big Creek, where we had assembled for that
purpose. We had not traveled far before Thomas Copeland was
taken sick and turned back, at Dog River. We then traveled on by
Fairley’s ferry, the O’Neal settlement and by James Batson’s to
Harvey’s place. We traveled leisurely and camped out every night.
We did not stop at any house after we left Pascagoula, and we
reached Harvey’s place early in the day on the Saturday following. I
was well acquainted with the place for I had been there with Wages
and McGrath when Allen Brown lived there.
We found the house empty, but from appearances we judged that
the farm was cultivated. We saw signs of foot steps about the house
and yard, from which we inferred that Harvey was in the habit of
coming about there daily. Our next business was to prepare for
action. We went into the house and made many port holes on every
side, so that we could shoot Harvey, let him approach which ever
side he would. Our next business was to examine around the
premises for his path, and place a sentinel there in ambush for his
arrival. This sentinel was cautiously relieved every two or three
hours, whilst the balance of us remained close inside or about the
house, eating figs, peaches and water melons and destroying more
than we eat.
In the afternoon we began to get hungry; I proposed to the
balance to go over to Daniel Brown’s, about a mile and get some
bread and meat for us all. Pool and Stoughton objected, and said,
“there is plenty of green corn in the field; let us make a fire and
roast some of the ears and eat here.” I then objected, and told them
that if Harvey discovered a smoke in the house he would take the
hint, and give the alarm, and that we should have the whole of Black
and Red Creek down upon us. They still persisted, and Stoughton
went into the field, gathered about twenty ears of the best and
greenest corn and brought them into the house. Pool went out and
brought in a load of wood and made a large fire and they roasted
their corn.
That was precisely what betrayed us—the smoke issuing from the
chimney of the house.
After the corn was roasted, we all eat heartily; John Copeland was
on guard; Pool took his place, and John came in and eat. A little
before sunset it was Stoughton’s time to relieve Pool. My brother
John proposed to Stoughton to let him relieve Pool, and for
Stoughton to take the next watch around the house. So it was
agreed, and Pool came to the house.

PRESENTIMENT OF POOL’S DEATH.

Awhile after sunset, Stoughton, Pool and I were sitting on the

gallery, talking very low, about the way we should have to manage.
We were fearful Harvey was not at home, or had left the country.
Some of us were eating figs and some eating peaches. All of a
sudden our attention was arrested by a large white fowl, which
passed through the yard some fifteen or twenty yards from us. It
was a kind of fowl that I had never seen before, nor had either of
my comrades, as they asserted. It walked some ten or fifteen yards;
we rose to get a more minute view, and it took flight and ascended,
until we lost sight of it in the distance. This seemed to strike Pool
with terror and amazement, and he reflected a few minutes and
said, “Boys, I shall be a dead man before to-morrow night! That is
an omen of my death!”
Stoughton laughed and said to Pool, that if he was a dead man he
would make a very noisy corpse; but Pool still insisted that it was a
signal of his death, and urged hard that we should leave that place,
and retire to one more secluded. “I did wrong,” said he, “in making
fire in the house.” We tried to laugh him out of his predictions, but
all to no purpose; and sure enough, as he had conjectured, before
the next night he was a corpse.
 The Famous Harvey Battle.—[See page 103.

Just before dark, Stoughton went to where brother John was

stationed, and they both remained until after dark; they then came
up to the house, and Stoughton mounted guard. All this time Pool
appeared to be in a deep study and had nothing to say, appeared
dejected and low spirited. We all laid down, except Stoughton, to try
to sleep; I could see Pool and John; they could not sleep. The moon
rose two or three hours before day, and I got into a doze several
times and each time the most huge serpents would be after me, that
I ever beheld. This would waken me, and finally I got up and walked
about; I found Pool was up. Stoughton said he could not sleep, and
brother John got up and said he could not sleep. We then consulted
together and Pool was for leaving the place before day. Stoughton
objected, and said, “Let’s wait until eight or nine o’clock in the
morning; after Harvey gets his breakfast he may come to the
orchard for fruit. If he does not come by this time, we may leave.”
Daylight made its appearance not long after that, and shortly after
the sun rose, and poor Pool said after the sun had risen above the
horizon: “How beautiful the sun looks this morning; the sky looks so
pure, clear and serene!” Poor fellow! It was the last sun that he ever
beheld encircling this earth.

THE FAMOUS HARVEY BATTLE.

The time passed on until between eight or nine o’clock. We were

all out in the yard, eating figs and peaches; John Copeland all at
once cried out: “Boys, there comes a young army of Black Creek
men!” We all dodged into the house. Pool seized his gun, and says,
“boys take your guns!” I said to him, “they will not trouble us; they
are a company out hunting, and are coming in here for figs and
water melons and other fruit; they are not in pursuit of us!” “Yes
they are,” said Pool, “and I will sell my life as dear as I can!” So
saying he cocked both barrels of his gun and pistol and eased his
bowie knife in the sheath.
We had given no instructions, only to be silent and remain still.
They seemed to separate and go in different directions. On coming
near the house, some one of their company hailed to the balance,
“come on, boys, here they are!” “There!” said Pool, “I told you so.”
So soon as we heard this, we knew that we had been discovered,
and that it was to kill or be killed.
I made my escape out of the house the first opportunity I saw,
dodged around a big fig tree, and looked back a moment at the
house. Pool was standing in the door with his gun at a poise. Harvey
came round the corner of the house, on Pool’s right, and jumped
into the gallery; Pool immediately fired, and struck Harvey in the left
side. Harvey immediately squared himself and shot the contents of
his whole load in Pool’s side, and fell on the gallery. Pool stepped
into the yard, and another man shot him in the breast, and he
immediately fell dead.
At this moment Stoughton and John Copeland jumped out of the
door and ran; I wheeled immediately as the crowd rushed around
the house, and ran. At the report of the next gun, the shot whistled
all around my head, I then heard several guns. It appeared to me
there must have been five hundred at that moment; and I have no
doubt that I made the best running there that I ever made in my life
before. In fact, it seemed to me that it was no trouble, that I never
touched the ground, but flew over it.
After I had got a sufficient distance from the place, and found I
was not pursued by any of their party, I stopped to reflect to myself,
and wondered what had become of Stoughton and my bother John.
Pool, I knew, must be dead, for I saw him fall, and the blood gush
from the wound. I felt almost certain that Stoughton and my brother
John were both killed also, from the number of guns I heard fired,
as I thought.
 It was then that I more seriously meditated on my situation than I
ever had done before, and wondered to myself what I should do for
the best. I felt very sad, and thanked my God for my providential
escape, believing that all the rest of my comrades were in eternity.
But after I had thus meditated and reflected upon the past, I felt
that I deserved death, when all my crimes again stared me full in
the face. I then formed a stern resolution within my own breast, that
if God would permit me ever again to reach my home, that I would
refrain from all my evil ways, and become a Christian, believing that
God had been merciful to me, in preserving me, and hurling my
comrades and associates into another world.
After a while I became more collected and concluded I would go
over to Daniel Brown’s, who, I knew, did not live far from that place.
I had been there but a short time when my brother John came up,
bare-headed, and mud above his knees, where he had run through a
muddy reed-brake. He called me to one side, and in a few words he
told me that Stoughton was not killed, but Pool was, and that our
enemies had left there. He saw them carrying Harvey away, and he
thought Harvey was dead; that we had better go over and do
something with Pool and get Stoughton, and leave.
This was on Sunday, the 15th of July, 1848. Several persons had
accidently happened in at Brown’s that day. I went into the house
and told the company what had happened over to the other house,
since I left; that there had been some shooting done, and that Pool
was killed, and I expected Harvey was; that we were on our way to
Honey Island, and stopped there for the night; and that I had come
over to Brown’s to get some bread baked, and that it had all
occurred since I left; and that I would like to go over and do
something with Pool, and see if Stoughton was killed. A number of
persons went with us to the place, some ladies among the rest.
When we got there we found Pool lying dead. We laid him straight
on his back. I recollected that he had some money, and I soon
sounded his pockets, and obtained one hundred and twenty dollars
of the money I had given him. There was a five dollar gold piece
missing. I took all he had. As he had other means, I knew that the
money would do him no good then. I went into the house and got
John Copeland’s hat, and went down to the side of the swamp and
called Stoughton, and he came out. We were then all together
again, except Pool.
We gathered our guns, returned to Brown’s, eat dinner, and left
for home. But in the affray I had lost my memorandum book, and in
that book was the diagram or map and directions where to find the
money which belonged to Wages, McGrath and myself; I hunted for
it diligently, but could not find it. It certainly went in a very
mysterious way, and I have often since thought that the decree of
Justice forbid me enjoying that money.
After we left Brown’s that day, we traveled on the same route we
had come. We slept in the woods that night, and next day we got
something to eat at Peter Fairley’s, and so continued our journey on
home, where we arrived on Sunday, the 22d of July, having been
gone just fourteen days. When we arrived, old Wages was highly
pleased that Harvey was killed, and he and the old lady very
promptly settled with us. He paid us off with his place on Big Creek,
in part, and the balance in hogs, cattle, pony horses, carts and
farming tools and utensils. My father and mother, with the family,
removed to the place.
In a very little while after that, the times began to be very squally.
Old Wages and his wife had to pull up stakes, take their negroes and
leave the country, at a great sacrifice of their property. I was already
an outlaw; my brother John now became one with me. Stoughton,
like a fool, as he was, took a yoke of oxen, or some cattle, which he
had received from Wages in part pay for his services, to Mobile for
sale. While there, he was arrested and put in jail, under the
requisition of the Governor of Mississippi, and conveyed from Mobile
to Perry county, where he was tried and convicted twice. The first
conviction was reversed by the Appellate Court, and while in prison,
waiting a second hearing, he died. So went another of our clan to
eternity.
 I still continued laying out and hiding myself from place to place,
fully intending to leave the country just as soon as I could settle my
business; and I even made several appointments of times that I
would go, but some way, or somehow, there appeared to be a
supernatural power which controlled my every action, and I could
not leave the vicinity of Mobile.
During that fall and winter my brother John and I made two trips
from Big Creek to Catahoula to hunt for that money, and the last trip
we made I was prepared to leave. Brother John had left the principal
part of his money at home, and had to go back after it, and he
prevailed on me to go with him. We returned to the vicinity of
Mobile, where I loitered away my time for some month or two, and it
seemed that my mind in some way became confused and impaired,
and I took to drinking too much spiritous liquors. One day, some
time in the spring of 1849, my brothers John, Thomas, Isham or
Whinn, and I were at a little grocery store near Dog river, about
twelve miles from Mobile. I drank too much spirits and became
intoxicated, and in that situation I imagined every man I saw was
trying to arrest me. I fell in with a man by the name of Smith, an
Irishman, and a difficulty occurred between us; I concluded that he
intended to arrest me. I drew my double-barrel shot gun upon him
and intended to kill him. He was too quick for me; he threw up my
gun, drew his dirk and stabbed me just above the collar bone. The
wound did not quite penetrate the cavity of the chest, or it would
have killed me; I threw down my gun and ran about two hundred
yards and fainted. My brothers then carried me about two miles, and
one of them went home and got a carriage and took me home.
Smith went to Mobile and told the news. A party came out and
tracked me up by the blood, and arrested and carried me to Mobile
jail.
I was now in the worst situation I ever was in in my life. One
indictment against me in Alabama for larceny, and another against
me in Mississippi for murder, and the requisition of the Governor of
Mississippi then in the hands of the officer to carry me there to be
tried. The question was which trial to avoid; if found guilty, as I felt
certain I would be, in both cases, one would be the penitentiary for
not less than four years, and the other would be hanging. I
employed the best counsel that could be procured in Mobile, and on
consulting with him and making him fully acquainted with all the
facts, he advised me to plead guilty of the larceny and go to the
penitentiary of Alabama; “for,” said he, “you may stand some chance
after your four years are out to make your escape from the clutches
of the law in Mississippi. They may not think to file their requisition
with the Governor of Alabama in time, and in that event, when your
time expires, you will be let loose.”
My trial came on before my wound was near well, and I was
brought into court and arraigned, and the indictment read to me in
open court. When asked “are you guilty or not guilty?” I plead guilty,
after which my counsel addressed the court and prayed its
indulgence in passing sentence, and that the term of punishment be
made as short as the law would permit, which was accordingly done,
and sentence of four years at hard labor in the penitentiary of
Alabama was passed upon me.
I accordingly served out my four years at Wetumpka, Ala., and all
to avoid going to Mississippi to be tried for the murder of Harvey.
However, I did not evade the rigor of the laws of Mississippi. The
vigilance of the Sheriff of Perry county threw a guard around me,
that secured to him the possession of my person at the expiration of
my time in the penitentiary of Alabama, and he immediately
transferred me to the county jail of Perry county, Mississippi.
I remained in the jail of Perry and Covington counties upward of
two years before I had a trial. I was found guilty of murder; and the
sentence of death was passed upon me, and the day appointed for
my execution. Within eight days of the time the Sheriff informed me
that my time was only eight days, and that my rope, shroud and
burial clothes were all ready. He then read to me the death warrant!
My tongue nor pen cannot express my feelings on that occasion
during that day and night. However, to my great joy, the next
morning he brought me the glorious news that the clerk of the court
had received a supersedeas and order to respite my execution, and
carry my case to the High Court of Errors and Appeals.
I cannot express my joyful feelings on receiving this intelligence. It
removed that cloud of horror and despair, which was lowering upon
and around me, and renovated anew my whole soul. It was to me as
a refulgent light from the sun of heaven cast upon the dark and
gloomy vale; but, alas, how ephemeral that sunshine of joy and
bliss! That fickle dame, Fortune, upon whose wheel I had so
successfully floated in former days, finally brought me to the same
point where I started.
I was, therefore, conveyed from the Perry county jail to the State
penitentiary at Jackson, to await there a hearing of my case in the
High Court of Errors and Appeals, and remained there about two
years. In the meanwhile my case was argued before this Court, and
the judgment reversed, and the cause remanded for further
proceedings in the Circuit Court of Perry county.
 TRIAL OF JAMES COPELAND.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.

At the September term of said Court, in the year A. D. 1857, on

Wednesday of the term, it being the 16th day of the month, James
Copeland was taken to the Bar of the Court and arraigned upon an
indictment, found by the following Grand Jury at the March term,
1857, to-wit: John McCallum, Lemuel Strahan, John W. Carter, Allen
Travis, Lewis H. Watts, James Chappell, G. W. Rawls, Wm. Jenkins,
Peter McDonald, Malachi Odom, Joseph G. Young, James M. Bradler,
Sr., Stephen Smith, Wm. Hinton, Edmund Merritt, Sidney Hinton,
Joseph T. Breeland, Henry Dearman, Lorenzo Batson and John
Fairley, Foreman—which indictment was as follows:
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,
Perry County. }
In the Circuit Court of Perry County—At March Term, 1857.
The Grand Jurors for the State of Mississippi, summoned,
empanneled, sworn, and charged to inquire in and for the State of
Mississippi, and in and for the body of the county of Perry, upon
their oath, present, that James Copeland, late of said county, on the
15th day of July, Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight, with force and arms in the county of Perry aforesaid, in
upon one James A. Harvey, then and there being in the peace of
God and the said State of Mississippi, feloniously, wilfully and of his
malice aforethought, did make an assault; and that the said James
Copeland, a certain shot gun, then and there loaded and charged
with gun powder and divers leaden shot, which shot gun, so loaded
and charged he, the said James Copeland, in both his hands, then
and there, had and held, to, at, against and upon the said James A.
Harvey, then and there feloniously, wilfully and of the malice
aforethought of him, the said James Copeland, did shoot off, and
discharge; and that the said James Copeland, with the leaden
aforesaid, out of the shot gun aforesaid, then and there by force of
the gun powder, shot and sent forth as aforesaid, the said James A.
Harvey, in and upon the left side of him the said James A. Harvey,
then and there feloniously, wilfully and of the malice aforethought of
him, the said James Copeland, did strike, penetrate and wound,
giving to the said James A. Harvey, then and there, with the leaden
shot so as aforesaid, discharged and sent forth, out of the shot gun
aforesaid, by the said James Copeland, in and upon the left side of
him, the said James A. Harvey, a little below the left shoulder of him
the said James A. Harvey, divers mortal wounds of the depth of
three inches, and of the breadth of one quarter of an inch, of which
the said mortal wounds, the said James A. Harvey, from the fifteenth
day of July in the year aforesaid, until the twenty-fifth day of July in
the year aforesaid, languished, and languishing did live; on which
said twenty-fifth day of July in the year aforesaid, the said James A.
Harvey in the county of Perry aforesaid, of the mortal wounds
aforesaid, died; and the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid,
do further present, that John Copeland, late of the county aforesaid,
on the day and year first aforesaid, in the county of Perry aforesaid,
feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, was present,
aiding, abetting and assisting the said James Copeland the felony
and murder aforesaid to do and commit; and the jurors aforesaid
upon their oath aforesaid do say, that the said James Copeland and
John Copeland him the said James A. Harvey, in manner and form
aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully and of their malice aforethought did
kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the State of
Mississippi.
George Wood, District Attorney.
Upon this indictment was indorsed “A true bill signed, John Fairley,
foreman.”
 At the September Term the following proceedings were had in the
case: “Be it remembered that there was begun and held a regular
Term of the Circuit Court in and for the county of Perry and State of
Mississippi, at the Court House of said county, in the town of
Augusta, the place designated by law for holding said court, on the
second Monday of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven, it being the 14th day of said month,
present the Hon. W. M. Hancock, presiding Judge of the 8th Judicial
District of Mississippi, George Wood, Esq., District Attorney for the
said 8th Judicial District, James R. S. Pitts, Sheriff of Perry county
and James Carpenter, Clerk of said Court.”
State of Mississippi,
vs.
James Copeland.
}M urder.

This day comes George Wood, District Attorney, who prosecutes

for the State of Mississippi, and the prisoner is brought to the bar in
custody of the Sheriff, and upon notice of the District Attorney, a
special venue for thirty-six free-holders, or house holders, of Perry
county, and liable to jury service therein, ordered returnable to-
morrow morning, at 8 o’clock; the prisoner, in his own proper
person, waiving two days’ service of a list thereof and a copy of the
indictment, consenting that it be returned at said time; and upon
suggestion that the prisoner is insane, it is ordered that the Sheriff
of Perry county summons twelve good and lawful men of said
county, to be and appear before said Court on Tuesday morning at 8
o’clock a.m., to take inquisition as to the case of lunacy, and try
whether the prisoner be of sound mind and understanding.
Tuesday Morning, 8 o’clock.
Court met pursuant to adjournment. Present as on yesterday.
State of Mississippi,
vs. }M urder.

James Copeland.
 This day comes George Wood, the District Attorney, who
prosecutes for the State of Mississippi, and the prisoner is brought to
the bar, in custody of the Sheriff, whereupon comes a jury of good
and lawful men, to wit: Porter J. Myers, Malachi Odom, Sr., J. M.
Bradley, Jr., Darling Lott, Malcolm McCallum, Angus McSwain, Q. A.
Bradley, J. M. Bradley, Sr., Wm. H. Nicols, W. C. Griffin, D. S. Sapp
and James Edwards, who are regularly summoned, elected and
sworn, and well and truly to try an issue joined, ore tenus, whether
or not the prisoner be of sound mind, and whether he possesses
sufficient intellect to comprehend the cause of the proceedings on
the trial, so as to be able to make a proper defense; or whether the
appearance of insanity, if any such be proven, is feigned or not; and
the evidence having been submitted to them in the presence of the
prisoner, they retired to consider of their verdict, and in his presence
returned the following, to-wit: “We, the jury, on our oaths, find the
prisoner sane; that he possesses sufficient intellect to comprehend
the cause of the prosecution on the trial, so as to be able to make a
proper defense, and that the appearance of insanity which he has
exhibited, is feigned.”
And thereupon the prisoner is arraigned on the charge of murder,
as preferred by the bill of indictment; and upon said arraignment,
says that he is not guilty in manner and form as therein and thereby
charged, and for the truth of said plea he puts himself upon the
country; and the District Attorney in behalf of the State of Mississippi
doeth the like.
And thereon come the following good and lawful men of Perry
county, to-wit: Zebulon Hollingsworth, J. J. Bradley, John A. Carnes,
Francis A. Allen, Wm. W. Dunn, Adam Laird, who were regularly
summoned on the special venue returned in this case, and who in
the presence of the prisoner are regularly tried and chosen between
the prisoner and the State; and the special venue being exhausted
the Sheriff proceeded to call the regular jurors in attendance at this
term, and Daniel S. Sapp, Seaborne Hollingsworth and Francis Martin
were in the presence of the prisoner tried, and chosen between the
State and the prisoner; and the regular jury being exhausted, the
Sheriff is directed to summon thirteen bystanders as jurors, and
from the number so summoned as last aforesaid, Milton J. Albritton
was in presence of the prisoner duly tried and chosen between the
State and the prisoner; and the said thirteen persons so last
summoned being exhausted, it is ordered that a venue issue,
commanding the Sheriff to summon twenty good and lawful men of
Perry county, to be and appear before the court to-morrow morning
at 8 o’clock, A. M., to serve as jurors in the trial of the issue
aforesaid, and the prisoner is remanded to jail, and John W. Carter is
sworn as bailiff to take charge of the jury.
Wednesday Morning, 8 o’clock, September 16, 1857.
State of Mississippi,
vs. }M urder.

James Copeland.
This day comes George Wood, District Attorney, and the prisoner
is again brought to the bar, in custody of the Sheriff, and also comes
the jury whom yesterday were duly tried, chosen and taken between
the parties; and thereupon comes James M. Pitts and John H.
Holder, who were this day returned as jurors in the case, in
obedience to the command of the venue, last issued on yesterday;
who in presence of the prisoner are regularly tried, chosen and
taken between the parties; and the jury so chosen, as aforesaid, are
empaneled and sworn, in the presence of the prisoner, well and truly
to try the traverse upon the issue joined between the State and the
prisoner aforesaid, and a true deliverance make according to the
evidence; and the evidence is submitted to them in the presence of
the prisoner, and the opening argument is heard, on the part of the
District Attorney and the further consideration of the cause is
continued until to-morrow morning, and the prisoner is remanded to
jail.

Thursday Morning, 8 o’clock, September 17, 1857.

 State of Mississippi,
vs. }M urder.

James Copeland.
This day comes the District Attorney, and the prisoner is again
brought to the bar in the custody of the Sheriff, and the argument is
resumed and concluded; and the jury are instructed by the Court at
the request of the counsel, in writing, and the jury retire to consider
their verdict. And in the presence of the prisoner return the
following, to-wit: “We, the jury, on our oaths, find the prisoner guilty
in manner and form as charged in the bill of indictment;” and the
prisoner is remanded to jail to await his sentence.

SENTENCE OF THE COURT.

Friday Morning, 8 o’clock, September 18, 1857.

State of Mississippi,
vs. }M urder.

James Copeland.
This day comes the District Attorney, and the prisoner, who was on
yesterday convicted of the crime of murder, is again brought to the
bar. And thereupon the prisoner by his counsel moves the Court for
a new trial, which motion was fully heard and understood by the
Court; and is by the Court here overruled. And to the opinion of the
Court in overruling said motion, the prisoner by his counsel here
excepts:
State vs. James Copeland.
Motion for New Trial of the Collateral. }M urder.

Issue joined as to the sanity of the defendant, and his capacity to

make defense in the charge of murder.
1st. Because the Court erred in refusing instructions asked by
defendant and in granting those asked by the State.
 2d. Because said verdict is contrary to law and evidence.
Taylor & Wilborn, for Motion.
And the prisoner being asked what further he had to say why the
sentence of death should not be passed upon him, says nothing in
bar or preclusion. “It is therefore considered by the Court, here, and
is so ordered and decreed, that the prisoner be taken hence to the
jail from whence he came, and there safely kept until the thirtieth
day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven; and that the Sheriff take him thence on the said day,
between the hours of ten o’clock in the forenoon and four o’clock in
the afternoon of said day, to the place appointed by law, for
execution; and that he, the said James Copeland, on the said day,
between the hours aforesaid, be hung by the neck until he be dead.”
 THE DEATH WARRANT.

THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,

To the Sheriff of Perry County—Greeting:

Whereas, at the September term, A. D. 1857, of the Circuit Court
of said county, on the fourth day of said term, James Copeland was
duly convicted of the murder of James A. Harvey, by a verdict of a
Jury chosen and sworn between the parties; and whereas, on Friday,
the fifth day of said term, by the order and decree of said Court, the
said Copeland was sentenced to be hung by the neck until he be
dead, on the thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and fifty seven, between the hours of ten
o’clock, a. m., and four o’clock, p. m., at the place appointed by law.
These are therefore to command you, in the name, and by the
authority of the State of Mississippi, to take the body of the said
James Copeland, and him commit to the jail of said county, and him
there safely keep, until the said thirtieth day of October, and that on
the said thirtieth day of October, between the hours of ten o’clock, a.
m., and four o’clock, p. m., of said day, at the place appointed by law,
you hang him by the neck until he be dead, dead, dead.
Given under my hand and seal, this, the 18th day of September, A.
D. 1857.
[Seal.] W. M. Hancock, Judge.
 THE EXECUTION.

The day arose clear and beautiful on which the sentence of the
law and of outraged humanity was to be executed on the man who
had so often violated their most sacred behests. The sky was blue
and serene; the atmosphere genial; all nature was calm and
peaceful; man alone was agitated by the various strong emotions
which the execution of the fatal sentence of retributive justice on a
fellow-man could not but create.
The place of execution was distant from the city of Augusta one-
quarter of a mile. The gallows was erected on a beautiful elevation
that was surrounded by the verdure of shrubby oak and the tall,
long-leaf pine. The ground was everywhere occupied by thousands
of spectators, gathered from Perry and the surrounding counties, to
witness the solemn scene. It was indeed one that they will long
remember.
About the hour of noon, the prisoner, after being neatly clad, was
led from the jail by the officers of the law, placed in the ranks of the
guard formed for the occasion, and the procession moved slowly
toward the fatal spot.
Soon the doomed man appeared on the gallows. The death
warrant was then read to him, and he was informed that he had but
a short time to live.
He proceeded to address the awe-struck and silent multitude. He
especially urged the young men present to take warning from his
career and fate, and to avoid bad company. His misfortune he
attributed principally to having been misled while young.
When he had concluded, a number of questions were asked by
the immediate spectators, in relation to crimes which had transpired