The Mississippi Civil War Sesquicentennial continues and in the coming months we will be highlighting Museum Division collections related to 1862 and the Civil War. Special thanks to Nan Prince, Asst. Director of Collections, for writing this series.

Crutch of Private J.M. Weatherly. Accession Number: 1987.23.1 (Museum Division Collection)

The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, began on December 11, 1862, when a brigade of Mississippians under the command of General William Barksdale fired on Federal troops as they were building pontoon bridges to cross the Rappahannock River. The ensuing battle lasted five days and resulted in staggering casualties, 13,353 US and 4,576 CS. Among the Mississippi soldiers involved in this battle was Private J.M. Weatherly serving under Barksdale in Company I, 13^th Mississippi Infantry. According to his service records, Private Weatherly was wounded on December 11 and his leg was amputated. His crutch is pictured here. Weatherly returned to Attala County, Mississippi, after Fredericksburg where he married, fathered thirteen children and died of heart failure on August 17, 1892, at the age of forty-nine.

The Bible pictured below was found in the Federal lines at Fredericksburg on December 16, 1862. A faint inscription inside the front cover reads “Jack Boyd, Co. I, 13th Miss / This book found in Fredericksburg with other property Dec. 16th / 62.”

Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.

Bible found at Fredericksburg. Accession Number: 1960.49.1 (Museum Division Collection)

Front cover of Bible. Accession Number: 1960.49.1 (Museum Division Collection)

Sources:

National Park Service, “Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park,” http://www.nps.gov/frsp/index.htm.

National Park Service, “CWSAC Battle Summaries: Fredericksburg I,” http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va028.htm.

The Mississippi Civil War Sesquicentennial continues and in the coming months we will be highlighting Museum Division collections related to 1862 and the Civil War. Special thanks to Nan Prince, Asst. Director of Collections, for writing this series.

Cruet from the USS Cairo. Accession Number: 1979.23.1ab (Museum Division Collection)

In order to regain control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in two, the United States ordered the construction of seven ironclad gunboats, one of which was the U.S.S. Cairo, commissioned in January 1862. On December 12, 1862, a flotilla containing the Cairo came under attack on the Yazoo River seven miles north of Vicksburg while trying to clear the river of underwater mines. After being struck by two mines that ripped holes in the ship’s hull, the Cairo sank in just twelve minutes but, miraculously, no lives were lost. For more than one hundred years, the Cairo lay buried and forgotten under sand, silt, and water of the Yazoo River until it was salvaged and restored in the 1960s and 1970s. It has been on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park since 1977. Several artifacts, including the cruet (or small bottle for holding oil, vinegar, etc.) pictured here, were recovered from the wreckage of the Cairo.

Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.

Source:

National Park Service, Vicksburg National Military Park, “U.S.S. Cairo Gunboat and Museum,” http://www.nps.gov/vick/u-s-s-cairo-gunboat.htm.

The Mississippi Civil War Sesquicentennial continues and in the coming months we will be highlighting Museum Division collections related to 1862 and the Civil War. Special thanks to Nan Prince, Asst. Director of Collections, for writing this series.

The town of Corinth in northeast Mississippi was a strategic railroad junction valued by both Federal and Confederate forces. Following the battle at nearby Shiloh in April and a siege of the town in May, the Federal army occupied and fortified Corinth. On October 3, 1862, Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn’s Army of the West Tennessee engaged Major General William Rosecrans’ Union army. Heavy fighting continued the next day and culminated in frantic hand-to-hand combat at Battery Powell and Battery Robinett. Federal forces repulsed Van Dorn’s attack causing him to withdraw. Both sides experienced heavy casualties.

The collage pictured below commemorates the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Farmington and pictures the aftermath of the bloody fighting at Battery Robinett. In the photograph are shown the bodies of Col. William Rogers and members of the 2^nd Texas who were killed in the attack on Battery Robinett.

Collage. Accession Number: 1975.4.1 (Museum Division Collection

Collage detail. Accession Number: 1975.4.1 (Museum Division Collection)

Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.

Sources:

National Park Service, “CWSAC Battle Summaries: Corinth,” http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/ms002.htm.

National Park Service, “The Siege and Battle of Corinth: A New Kind of War,” http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/113corinth/113corinth.htm.