Note 33 — Mason and Harpe—Double-Cross and Double Death

Greenville, originally called Hunston, was an important town on the old Natchez Trace. It lay about twenty-five miles northeast of Natchez, and was a thriving village as early as 1798, when the United States took possession of Mississippi Territory. A number of the state’s wealthiest and most aristocratic pioneers lived in or near the town. In 1825 the seat of justice was moved from Greenville to Fayette and soon thereafter the old town passed out of existence. The site of old Greenville has been under cultivation for many years. The court house and the jail stood in what is now known as “Courthouse Field.”

The city of Greenville, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River, which was established long after old Greenville became an extinct town, is a thriving place of more than 10,000 inhabitants.