More Maps Online

On June 6, 2012, in Digital Archives, Maps, by Amanda
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Marion County, County Highway Maps, 1938-1972. Call Number: Series 1604 (MDAH Collection)

Marion County, County Highway Maps, 1938-1972. Call Number: Series 1604 (MDAH Collection)

These maps were recently scanned and made available in the MDAH online catalog. Click the map title to view the map or click “Link to the catalog” to view its catalog record.

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Maps Available Online

On May 30, 2012, in Digital Archives, Maps, by Amanda
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Plot of Vicksburg District for leasing abandoned plantations, 1864. Call Number: MA/94.0045 (c) MDAH Collection

Plot of Vicksburg District for leasing abandoned plantations, 1864. Call Number: MA/94.0045 (c) MDAH Collection

These maps were recently scanned and added to the online catalog. Click the map title to view the map or click “Link to the catalog” to view its catalog record.

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Civil War Sesquicentennial: Today in 1862

On April 6, 2012, in Artifacts, by Amanda
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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.

Civil War battle flag. Accession Number: 1960.202.1 (Museum Division Collection)

Civil War battle flag. Accession Number: 1960.202.1 (Museum Division Collection)

The Battle of Shiloh in southern Tennessee began on April 6, 1862, and became the bloodiest battle of the Civil War up to that point with almost 24,000 casualties. This flag, which has been stored in the candy jar since before it was sent to the Department of Archives and History in the early 1900s, was reputedly carried by the 6th Mississippi Regiment during the battle. A label inside the jar with the flag states that seven color-bearers were killed or wounded while carrying this flag during the battle. The 6th Mississippi sustained horrific casualties during the first day’s fighting at Shiloh. According to General Cleburne’s report in the Official Records, the 6th suffered 300 casualties of the 425 men it carried into the battle, earning the unit the nickname of the “Bloody Sixth.”

Sword of scabbard of Col. John J. Thornton, carried at Shiloh. Accession Number: 1960.131.1ab (Museum Division Collection)

Sword of scabbard of Col. John J. Thornton, carried at Shiloh. Accession Number: 1960.131.1ab (Museum Division Collection)

Colonel John Jones Thornton commanded the 6th Mississippi at the Battle of Shiloh. A Unionist, Thornton was sent by Rankin County to the Secession Convention  in January 1861, and, though it overwhelmingly passed, he refused to sign the Ordinance of Secession. However, once Mississippi seceded, Thornton was an ardent supporter of his state. He reorganized the Rankin Guards into the Rankin Greys and when they joined the 6th Mississippi, he was elected colonel of the regiment and led them into battle at Shiloh. While carrying the sword and scabbard pictured above, Thornton was critically wounded on the first day of the battle. The scabbard has been patched where it was perforated by a bullet. Due to his injuries, Thornton was forced to resign his commission on May 25, 1862.

Now on Display

This flag is currently on display through April 29, 2012, in the exhibit A Walk Through History in the Old Capitol Museum. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 9-5 and Sunday 1-5 p.m.

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:

Grady Howell, Jr., “Col. John Jones Thornton, M.D.: A Sparrow Along Upon the Housetop” (1988), from the personal papers of the author.

Robert N. Scott (United States War Dept.), The War of the Rebellion, Series 1: Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, vol. 10, part 1 (Gettysburg, PA: The National Historical Society, 1972), 580-84.

National Park Service, Shiloh National Military Park website, http://www.nps.gov/shil/historyculture/shiloh.htm.

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Civil War Sesquicentennial: Today in 1862

On February 16, 2012, in Artifacts, by Amanda
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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.

Flag of Company A., Blount Guards, 23rd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Accession Number: 1968.61.1 (Museum Division Collection)

Flag of Company A, Blount Guards, 23rd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Accession Number: 1968.61.1 (Museum Division Collection)

The Surrender of Ft. Donelson

This First National pattern flag belonged to Company A, “Blount Guards,” 23rd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Captain C.G. Blount raised the Blount Guards in August 1861, in Iuka in Tippah County. Blount’s sister presented the company with this flag shortly before they left to join General Albert Sidney Johnston’s forces in Kentucky.

Known as the 3rd Mississippi in Kentucky, this regiment was stationed at Fort Donelson, a Confederate fort on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tennessee, when Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote’s and Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s forces began their combined attack on February 13. Three days later on February 16, Fort Donelson surrendered unconditionally to Grant and this flag was captured. With the fall of Fort Donelson and its sister fort, Fort Henry, the North gained its first major victories of the war, and “Unconditional Surrender” Grant earned a nickname and became a hero.

The members of the 3rd Mississippi who did not escape from Fort Donelson became prisoners of war and were sent north to prison camps. The prisoners were exchanged in the fall of 1862, and the regiment was reorganized. This Blount Guards flag remained in the possession of its captors until it was returned to Mississippi in 1910.

Sources:

National Park Service, “Fort Donelson National Battlefield,” http://www.nps.gov/fodo/index.htm.

Mississippi Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, “23rd Mississippi Infantry,” http://www.mississippiscv.org/MS_Units/23rd_MS_INF.htm.

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More Historic Maps Available Online

On February 1, 2012, in Maps, by Amanda
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A map of Louisiana and of the river Mississipi, 1719. Call Number: MA/92.0009(b) MDAH Collection

A map of Louisiana and of the river Mississipi, 1719. Call Number: MA/92.0009(b) MDAH Collection

Panorama of the Mississippi Valley and its fortifications, 1863? Call Number: MA/88.0004 (c) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

A map of Louisiana and of the river Mississipi, 1719. Call Number: MA/92.0009 (b) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record (pictured above).

Map of the country between Monterey, Tenn. & Corinth, Miss. showing the lines of entrenchments made & the routes followed by the U.S. Forces under the Command of Maj. Genl. Halleck, U.S. Army, in their advance upon Corinth, in May 1862. Call Number: MA/92.0125 (c) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

Map of the siege of Vicksburg, Miss. by the U.S. forces under the command of Maj. Genl. U.S. Grant, U.S. Vls., Maj. F. E. Prime, Chief Engr. Call Number: MA/92.0150 (d) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

Colton’s map of the state of Mississippi, 1867. Call Number: MA/92.0178 (d) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

Carte des environs du Mississipi], ca. 1701. Call Number: MA/94.0062 (a) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

Post route map of the states of Alabama and Mississippi, with adjacent parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana showing post offices, with the intermediate distances between them, 1883. Call Number: MA/2002.0039 (d) MDAH Collection. Click here to view the catalog record.

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