Preservation at Champion Hill, Mississippi

From the May 2023 American Battlefield Trust calendar.

The fierce clash at Champion Hill, Mississippi, was the largest, bloodiest and most significant battle of the Vicksburg Campaign of 1863.

On land owned by Sid and Matilda Champion, Grant's army drove the Confederates back to the relative safety of their fortifications at Vicksburg and set the stage for a game-changing siege.

Today, the Champion family still calls this historic spot home but has kindly worked with the Trust to ensure that their ancestral lands are preserved for generations to come.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT June Meeting: 'Murphy's Law & the Peter Principle'

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table met Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at the Woodstock, Illinois, library and heard a talk onte Battle of Holly Springs by Jerry Allen.  We had earlier heard him give a talk about the 8th Wisconsin  The commander of the 8th Wisconsin was Colonel Robert Murphy.  He played a part in the Union disaster at Holly Springs, Mississippi, on December 20, 1862.

This caused General Grant's planned attack on Vicksburg to be delayed until the next spring.  Grant was depending the supplies at Holly Springs to support his advance on that city.

And, Murphy went far beyond his level of competence.

Earlier in 1862, the Union forces made great strides coming up the Mississippi River from New Orleans.  By April 29, 1862, New Orleans was in their control, followed by Baton Rouge on May 9 and Natchez on May12.  Union naval commander S.P. Lee even went to Vicksburg to demand its surrender.  James Autry refused to do so.

Then, came Holly Springs.

--Old Secesh

Why Do We Commemorate Memorial Day?-- Part 2: The Role of the GAR

One of the first Decoration Days was held in Columbus, Mississippi,  on April 25, 1866, by women who decorated graves of Confederate soldiers who perished at the Battle of Shiloh who perished at the Battle of Shiloh, with flowers.

On May 5, 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War,  the tradition of placing flowers on veterans' graves was continued by the  establishment of Decoration Day by an organization of former Union veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).

General Ulysses S. Grant presided over the first large observance of the day,  when a crows of  about 5,000  people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on May 30, 1873.  The orphaned children of soldiers and sailors killed during the war placed flowers and small American flags atop both Union and Confederate graves throughout the whole cemetery.

This tradition continues to this day.

Until World War I,  Civil War soldiers were the only ones so honored on this day.  Now, all American military who died are honored.

--Old Secesh

President Taylor's Grandsons Fought for the Confederacy-- Part 2: Col. Robert Cooke Wood

Service in the Confederate Army:

1861

Captain in the Confederate States Regular Army

Assistant Adjutant General to Gen. Braxton Bragg  in Pensacola

Resigned his rank as captain on October 15, 1861

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1861-1863

Lt. Col. of Adam's Mississippi Cavalry Regiment

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1862

Captured at Lebanon, Tennessee, on May 5, 1862

Prisoner of War held at Johnson's Island Prison in Ohio

Exchanged in prisoner exchange in September of 1862

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1863-1865

Colonel of Wood's Mississippi Cavalry Regiment

1864-1865

Acted as  Brigade Commander Mississippi Cavalry

1864

Acted as commander of Central Sub-District of Mississippi

1865

Paroled in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 17, 1865

--Old Secesh

The Battle of Port Hudson-- Part 3: The Siege of Port Hudson

There was a naval battle that occurred at Port Hudson which resulted  in a Union disaster.  Most of the casualties occurred on the USS Mississippi which was also lost in the battle.

Next, the Union Army surrounded the 7,000 Confederates with 40,000 men.  A full-frontal assault was ordered, but only a small number of Union soldiers made it  to the Confederate works and were easily killed, wounded or captured.

A second Union assault also failed and the Union troops began digging  trenches and set up a siege of Port Hudson.

Things got worse for the Confederates who began running out of pretty much everything.  They faced starvation and would eat  mules, horses and even rats.

When word of Vicksburg's surrender reached Port Hudson, at first the Confederates wouldn't believe it.  But finally on July 9, 1863, the 7,000 man garrison surrendered.  However, they had inflicted more than 5,000 casualties on Union forces while losing just 500 of their own.

Most people think that when Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, that the Union had control of the Mississippi River, but that actually did not occur until July 9 with the surrender of Port Hudson.

--Old Secesh

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Natchez, Ms., Civil War Sites Driving Tour, Fort McPherson

You can drive the Civil War in historic Natchez, Mississippi, and go to 30 sites on the tour.  All sites, of course would have something to do with Fort McPherson.

You start at the Natchez Visitor Center for instructions and maps.  The tour can be completely done from your vehicle and estimated time for it would be about 75 minutes.

Several of the sites were directly linked to Fort McPherson, including the fort itself.

SITE  5   

Located at North Canal Street and Madison Street intersection, was the site of the former fort.  Soon after their arrival in Natchez on July 13, 1863, Federal troops began the  creation of Fort McPherson, a large earthwork in the northern suburbs of the city.

It was designed by Captain  Peter Hains on the Engineering  Corps.  The fortification could accommodate  5,000 troops and provided an unobstructed view of the river and surrounding countryside.

SITE 6

CLIFTON   Federal troops destroyed he palatial home of  Frank and Charlotte Surget,  because it impeded the construction of the fort.  After touring the property before its destruction,  Union General Thomas Kilby Smith remarked that "one continuously wonders that such a paradise could be created here on  earth."

--Old Secesh

USCT Monument Proposed for Natchez Memorial Park

From the April 7, 2021, Natchez, Miss.  Democrat by Sabrina Robertson.

It will be placed prominently in the Natchez Memorial Park outside of St. Mary Basilica.  This would honor those who risked their lives by joining the U.S. Army.

The story of Forks of the Road, one of the largest slave markets in the country will also be a part of the monument's design.   Some of the people in the Forks of the Road were about to be sold when they were freed by Union forces.

Parts of the Forks of the Road were used in the construction of Fort McPherson in Natchez.  Some Natchez residents are calling for the removal of the Confederate memorial at the Memorial Park, but it sounds like it will remain as it gives another aspect of Natchez's heritage and past.

I agree whole-heartedly with letting the Confederate monument remain and building the monument to the USCT as more than likely, USCT troops manned Fort McPherson.  However, I would want there to be a separate monument to the Forks in the Road slave market.

I believe history should give all aspects of a group or place.

Natchez has a slave and a Confederate past.  Both should be memorialized.

--Old Secesh

Sure Was Nice to Get Together with Civil War Folk Again-- Part 3: Stephen A. Douglas Gets a Plantation

I was unable to find out how Stephen Douglas' wife's father living in North Carolina ended up with a large plantation in Mississippi.  Regardless, Douglas now was property manager of  a 2,500 acre plantation with 100 slaves in Mississippi.

As a senator from a free state with presidential aspirations, Douglas found that having this plantation posed a problem for him.  He created distance by hiring a manager to operate the plantation, while using his allocated 20% of the income from it to further his political career.

He only made one lengthy visit to the plantation in 1848 and  only brief emergency trips there afterwards.

In the summer of 1847, Douglas moved his family from Springfield, Illinois, to fast-growing Chicago and that is where he acquired a vast amount of land, some of which eventually became Camp Douglas, a training camp for Union soldiers initially and later a notorious prison camp for Confederate soldiers.

His wife, Martha died in 1853.

A Free State Senator With a Southern Plantation?  --Old Secesh

Sure Was Nice to Get Together With Civil War Folk Again-- Part 2: Illinois' Stephen Douglas

Actually, I should say that this "road trip" to Algonquin was the farthest I've been from home since March 4, when we went to DeKalb, Illinois, for the NIU basketball game.  This trip clocked in at an astounding 20.4 miles.

Back to the 1860 presidential election.  A lot of today's hatred of Stephen Davis among certain folk revolves about his being a slave owner.  I didn't know he owned slaves.  How could he own slaves if he lived in the Free State of Illinois which allowed no slaves?

His original last name was Douglass with a second letter "s", but he dropped it in 1846.  No one knows for sure why, but that was a year after Frederick Douglas published his first autobiography.

ABOUT THOSE SLAVES

In 1847 he married Martha Martin, daughter of the wealthy Robert Martin of North Carolina.  A year after they were married, Martha's father died and he had bequeathed her a 2,500-acre cotton plantation in Mississippi which was worked by 100 slaves.

So that was how he got the slaves.  But if her father lived in North Carolina, how did he get a large plantation in Mississippi?

Well, Anyway.  --Old Secesh

More Mascots-- Part 4: About Old Douglas, the Camel

Company B of the 43rd Mississippi has a camel named Old Douglas.  Though, I saw it was Co. A in several sources.  He even has a Wikipedia page.  And, one of those government-issue grave stones.  Because of him, the 43rd became known as "The Camel Regiment."

According to the Wiki article,he was from Jefferson Davis' (while U.S. Secretary of War) plan to use camels in the southwest instead of horses, so he had two Confederate connections.

During the war, he was assigned to the regimental band and carried instruments.  The men tried to treat him like a horse, but Old Douglas could break any tether, so they just let him graze freely.  He participated in the Battle of Corinth and was killed by Union sharpshooters at the Siege of Vicksburg.

He has his own grave at  Vicksburg's Cedar Hill Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

War's Hardening Ways-- Part 3: "No Idea of the Filth and Vulgarity"

**  "I had no idea of the filth and vulgarity of men in camp until I tried this little experiment."

--Colonel William Barksdale, 13th Mississippi Infantry, reflecting on his recent decision to join the army, in a letter to his brother.

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**  "It seems to me I am quite callous to death now, and that I could see my dearest friend die without much feeling....  During the last three weeks ... I have witnessed hundreds of me shot dead, have walked and slept among them, and surely I feel it possible to die myself as calmly as any."

--  Union surgeon John Gardner Perry, in a letter home written during the Battle of North Anna.

--Old Secesh

William M. Beckman

From Find-A-Grave.

This was Augustus Beckman's brother.

Born 1840 in Germany.  Died July 16, 1914, in Quitman, Mississippi.  Clark County.

Married Sarah Elizabeth Harris Burt Beckman, born Feb. 4, 1838.  She was first married to Gilbert Burt on October 25, 1853 in Clark County.  She became a widow when he was killed in the Civil War.  She had two daughters and one son with him.

She later married William M. Buckman.

They are both buried in Elim Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Best Name Ever for a Civil War Soldier: E. Pluribus Lincicum

From Civil War Talk.

A reader said he had found the name of an E. Pluribus Lincicum (Lincecum) of Co. E 11th Mississippi.

Unfortunately, he had a very short service in the Confederate Army.  He died of typhoid at Harpers ferry June 7, 1861.

What were his parents thinking.  Perhaps just very patriotic for a man destined to die while fighting against the United States.

--Old SeceshPluribus

Movie About Rebellion Against the Confederacy Coming Out

From the January 9, 2016,  Yahoo! Movie Wrap "Matthew McConaughey Leads rebellion Against Confederacy in 'Free State of Jones' Trailer"  by Daniel Holloway.

The trailer for the movie debuted Saturday during the Chiefs-Texan game.

McConaughey plays a poor Mississippi farmer and Confederate soldier who becomes disillusioned and leads his own rebellion against the secessionist government with the backing of former slaves.

"You, me, we're all out there dying so they can stay rich."

This movie is based on the true story of Newton Knight of rural Jones County, Mississippi.

STX Entertainment plans to release the movie "Free State of Jones" on May 13.

--Old Secesh

Union, Mississippi Saved from Sherman's Torch

From the WTOK ABC 11 News "150th Anniversary of Union Being Saved."

The 150th anniversary of the Meridian Campaign is occurring right now and much of the area in Mississippi was destroyed by Union forces.

One remainder from those days in Union is Boler's Inn, built in 1864 by Norfleet Staton who came to Mississippi from Union, North Carolina. It still stands and is now a museum.

Union troops were prepared to burn Union, Mississippi, but General Sherman got it in his head that the name of the town was Union because they supported the Union, and he spared it.

--Old Secesh

Confederate Legacy at Ole Miss

From the December 12, 2012, Jackson (Ms) Free Press "Rebel Land: a Racial History of Oxford and Ole Miss" by R.L. Nave.

The Lyceum is University of Mississippi's main administration building and was built in 1848.  During the Civil War it was a Confederate hospital.

The controversial Colonel Reb mascot was dropped in 2003.

And, I'm Still Not Happy.  --Old Secesh

"Heart's Blood:" Flag Saved By Him Needs Saving-- Part 1

From the May 25, 2012, Times by Charles Stanley.

Sgt. George Poundstone of Grand Ridge, Illinois, was mortally wounded but focused on saving his country's flag.  He stuffed it into his tunic to keep it from capture.

Today, that flag, stained with his blood, is stored flat in a cabinet in Springfield, Illinois, along with hundreds of other similar banners and awaiting funds for restoration.

Poundstone was in the 53rd Illinois Infantry regiment, organized in Ottawa in 1861-1862.  He was 32 and single when he joined in November '61.  On July 12, 1863, outside of Jackson, Mississippi, the 53rd was ordered to charge Confederate fortifications.  In just 40 minutes, half of the regiment had become casualties.

The 53rd commenced the attack with 250 officers and enlisted men and finished with just 66.  The eight members of Poundstone's color guard were all killed or wounded.  After the battle, the Confederates brought 3 flags and 200 prisoners into Jackson, including Poundstone who had been shot in the thigh, left eye and heart.

One Brave Man.  --Old Secesh

Illinois Returns Mississippi Flag

The flag of the 46th Mississippi Infantry, captured at Fort Blakely, Alabama, on April 9, 1865, was returned from the state of Illinois where it had been in the Hall of Flags in Springfield, Illinois.

The Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans worked hard to accomplish it.

A celebration was held April 28, 2012, at Beauvoir, Mississippi, Jefferson Davis' postwar home, where it will be on permanent display, near the graves of members of the 46th Regiment who are buried on the grounds.  It was made possible by efforts of the Illinois and Mississippi National Guards.

Good to Have It Home.  --Old Secesh

Collector Carries Sword to Grave of Fallen Hero-- Part 1

From the March 26, 2012, Auction Central News by Wally Spiers of the Belleville (Il) News-Democrat.

Allen Wandling held the old Confederate sword over the grave of its owner in Corinth, Mississippi and swears he felt the hair on his arms stand on end, "It was spooky."

He was at the grave of Confederate Col. William P. Rogers, killed at the Battle of Corinth on Oct. 4, 1862.  He had bought the sword from a man in Joplin, Missouri, but the sword had been in Belleville, Illinois, for many years after the war where it most likely was a war momento in the local GAR post.  Wandling has spent four years tracing the sword's history.

Wandling had bought the leather scabbard for the sword in 2006 from the man in Joplin who said his grandfather had inherited it from a sister who was married to a Belleville police officer, who had bought it when the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Hall had sold it at auction.

The scabbard did not have its drag, the brass tip of it,and Wandling had the man promise him to contact him if it was found.  They also didn't have the sword.  Six months later, he bought the drag, but still not the sword.  What good is a scabbard without its sword?

The Sword Cometh.  --Old Secesh

Back to the Colonel's Sword Coming Back

From the March 5th WTVA "Civil War sword unites two families" by Allie Ware.

Confederate General William Rogers' sword was a big attention-getter at the Crossroads Arena in Corinth, Mississippi, this past weekend. (Well, actually he was a colonel.)

Allen Wandling, who now owns it, said Rogers was a hero, "He charged the fort three times. [He did so] twice with his horse, and the last time he picked up the Texas flag, he had his sword in his hand. He charged the fort and was shot eleven times."

His remains are still on the field where he fell.

Knowing the sword's history makes it even a rarer Civil War relic. One member of Wandling's family in the 63rd Ohio actually was fighting against Rogers at the battle.

Not only that, but the great-great-great grandaughter of Rogers, Leslie Eckert, heard about the sword being there and came from Texas to see it. "It gives me goosebumps. Growing up, I had heard the story from my parents and seen the lithograph print in our den that depicted Williams P. Rogers on the battlefield at his death. I had always heard about him, but coming to Corinth brought it to life."

Wandling doesn't know the value of the sword and has no intention of selling it soon, but didn't rule out the possibility of its coming back to Corinth at some time in the future.

I would also have liked to know the history of the sword after it was taken from Rogers up to the time Wandling got it.

I Find That Fascinating. --Old Secesh