This collection contains correspondence, financial, and legal records of several families from the Port Gibson, Mississippi region. Among the themes reflected in the collection are the Presbyterian Church and its activities in Mississippi; economic pursuits especially plantation management; relations with African Americans as both enslaved people and freedmen; and health concerns including recurring yellow fever epidemics. The major figures represented in this collection are James Smylie, Amelia Smylie Montgomery, Joseph A. Montgomery, James Cotton, James W. Watson, and Caroline Buck.

Also included are the papers of Major J.W. Watson, U.S. Army (ca. 1865-1920) who served in Indian Wars and as an Indian Agent during the 1890s, and in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Following his retirement for reasons of health, he returned to Cuba. He wrote about a Cuban land dispute in which he was involved and the Cuban Revolution of 1917. He also wrote some virulently anti-German pieces during World War I.

The collection was donated by Dalton Watson of Waterproof, Louisiana.