The Delta and the Civil War

A lot of reading and time seems never enough. This is my 4th civil war tour through the area, and have still have only seen a few of the sites compared to many of the forum regulars in the area describe.
I hear you. I was in the Vicksburg area 3 nights,2 full days and 2 half days in February and Corinth for a night and half day in June and those are my only CW trips to Mississippi so far. I have an ancestor who served in Stone's Battalion in that area too.
 
A lot of reading and time seems never enough. This is my 4th civil war tour through the area, and have still have only seen a few of the sites compared to many of the forum regulars in the area describe.
Unfortunately (other than roadside signage) there's really nothing "Civil War" to see other than the landscape . . . which no longer looks the same in 2017, as it did during the War.

However, I would still recommend a trip through the Mississippi Delta.

Although our Delta remains one of the poorest regions within the United States, it's also one of the most unique areas as well.

The trip up Highway 61 from Vicksburg to Memphis is a must !

Just make sure that you're listening to some BB King during the road trip. :smoke:
 
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Unfortunately (other than roadside signage) there's really nothing "Civil War" to see other than the landscape . . . which no longer looks the same in 2017, as it did during the War.

However, I would still recommend a trip through the Mississippi Delta.

Although our Delta remains one of the poorest regions within the United States, it's also one of the most unique areas as well.

The trip up Highway 61 from Vicksburg to Memphis is a must !

Just make sure that you're listening to some BB King during the road trip. :smoke:
Aren't there some small museums scattered about in the region? And what about Cemeteries?
 
Unfortunately (other than roadside signage) there's really nothing "Civil War" to see other than the landscape . . . which no longer looks the same in 2017, as it did during the War.

However, I would still recommend a trip through the Mississippi Delta.

Although our Delta remains one of the poorest regions within the United States, it's also one of the most unique areas as well.

The trip up Highway 61 from Vicksburg to Memphis is a must !

Just make sure that you're listening to some BB King during the road trip. :smoke:
Went up Hwy 61 to Memphis, briefly however.
 
Ima ask again. Are there any Confederate cemeteries in the region that anyone knows of?
 
I thought that I would give my input on this thread after thoroughly researching the area for some years regarding the Confederate service of a few of my direct ancestors who were positioned and fought there for an extensive amount of time during the ACW. Three of my Great Great Grandfathers fought at Corinth, Farmington, Rienzi, Iuka and Waterford in 1862, two of them with the 36th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and the other with the 40th Mississippi Infantry Regiment.

My 3rd Great Grandfather, with the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment fought a plethora of battles, skirmishes and actions in numerous locations throughout the Mississippi Delta from 10 Apr 1863 to 27 Aug 1863 while part of Brig. General Daniel Ruggles` First District, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and then under Brig. General Samuel Wragg Ferguson`s Cavalry Brigade from 28 Aug 1863 - 28 Jan 1864, operating first out of Camp Johnston near Camargo, Ms. and then at Prairie Mount, 5 miles north west of Okolona. At this time the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Col. R. G. Earles), the 56th Alabama Partisan Rangers (Col. Boyles), Inge`s Regiment Mississippi Cavalry (12th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment) and the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (Col. Barteau), were operating side by side with Brig. General Chalmers` Cavalry Brigade, Brig. General Roddy`s Cavalry Brigade and a lot of Gholson`s Mississippi State Cavalry Troops, to include Ham`s and Ashcraft`s Regiments, all across the Mississippi Delta, as well as into south-western Tennessee and north-western Alabama and then returning back to their base camps near Okolona.

My 3rd Great Grandfather with the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment made numerous entries into his journal regarding locations of their fights, skirmishes, actions and patrols in the Mississippi Delta from 10 Apr 1863 - 28 Jan 1864. Some of those being at: Okolona, Prairie Mount, Pontotoc, Ripley, New Albany, Houston, Sparta, Panola, Holly Springs, Oxford, Melton, Gun Town, Molino, Cotton Gin Port, Jacinto, Baldwin, Saltillo, Ellistown, Buncombe, Wallersville, Fulton, Bay Springs, Ruckersville, Palmetto, Verona, Tupelo, Kings Creek at Blacklands, Buena Vista, Aberdeen, Palo Alto, West Point, Columbus, Starkville, Athens, Egypt, Town Creek, Camargo, Randolph, Chesterville, Birmingham, Campbelltown, Cairo and Rocky Ford to name a few of the places. He gave exact distances traveled between towns and the length of stay.

There was a lot of fighting up in the Mississippi Delta during this timeframe. If you want a really good account of it all I recommend that you read the Diary of Samuel Andrew Agnew (1833 - 1902), a resident and civilian in New Albany, Mississippi up in the Mississippi Delta who kept a very detailed daily journal and gave a day to day account of the fighting that went on around him during the War. I found it quite useful in my research and another source with which I could validate and confirm what my 3rd Great Grandfather wrote in his journal regarding fights, skirmishes, actions and locations. Andrew Agnew kept his diary from 1851 until his death in 1902 but of most interest to you would be folders 7-10 from October 1861 - December 1865. Follow the link and you will have access to them all, there are thumbnails of the original journal pages from which you can read.

https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00923/

Photo below: Samuel Andrew Agnew (1833 - 1902).

Samuel Andrew Agnew (Diary from New Albany, Ms.).jpg


Below is a great map showing Jackson, Ms. northward through the Mississippi Delta from 1862 showing some of the areas of which I wrote and where they are located in relation to one another.

Mississippi Map Showing the Delta Region (circa 1862).jpg
 
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2nd Alabama thanks for adding to this forum. It was good to see the thread again and thanks for information on your ancestors.

My pleasure Donna. For those that may want to visit the battlefields and sites where some of the major campaigns and fighting occurred in the Mississippi Delta, there are quite a few which can take a day or two in and of themselves to properly go through and enjoy. In my case where my 3rd Great Grandfather with the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment fought numerous fights, skirmishes, and actions in many small towns and communities all across the Mississippi Delta, as well as along numerous roads which connect them, in addition to fighting near rivers, creeks, streams and along numerous miles of railroad, it was impossible for me to visit all of these locations.

Over the years I have made numerous trips up to the Mississippi Delta, where I would visit the towns and smaller communities where these actions occurred, the ones that are not now extant anyway, and most are still small enough to where even though nothing was recorded in the town or community itself, I could just sit and look around and use my imagination regarding the action, fight or skirmish based off of what my 3rd Great Grandfather recorded in his journal. Sometimes I would get lucky and would find a placard which recognized the action and gave some brief information of it. Several instances I was surprised by this. Often I would run across one of the locals and ask what he had heard of the fight and typically I would get the response: "nothing at all" and they themselves would be surprised that any fighting took place there, as all of their lives they had never been told about it. Other times some of the locals would be able to pass information of what their families had passed down through the generations about the fighting in the area.

Either way I always have a blast anytime that I can make it up into the Mississippi Delta to uncover more of my family`s participation in the region during the ACW, as well as to honor my ancestors memory.
 
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Ima ask again. Are there any Confederate cemeteries in the region that anyone knows of?

Here is one that I have visited several times in the past to conduct my research. It is the Okolona Confederate Cemetery up in the Mississippi Delta in Chickasaw County. There are between 800 to 1,000 graves there. Find-a-grave has 574 memorials added to their site for this Cemetery. A few of the men that died during operations around Okolona with the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment are buried there, who fought alongside my 3rd Great Grandfather. That is what took me there the first time. Follow the link below for the map of the Cemetery.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1973388/okolona-confederate-cemetery/map

There is also one in Corinth that I know of and have visited in the past. That being the Corinth Battlefield Cemetery which commemorates thousands of unknown grave locations of both Union and Confederate soldiers who died on the battlefields of Corinth, Ms., during the ACW. Many of these unknown grave locations around Corinth were unmarked single graves, and some were trenches where many bodies were buried in mass graves. Some bodies were never buried but left in the woods and fields where the soldiers were killed or died.

The "Corinth Battlefield Cemetery" is distinctly different from the "Corinth National Cemetery". The Corinth National Cemetery was established in 1866 ty the U.S. Government as a place to intern the Union casualties of the Second Battle of Corinth, and it does not contain the Confederate soldiers and many of the Union soldiers from the First Battle of Corinth.

There is also a "Confederate Dead" section of the "Old Aberdeen Cemetery" at Aberdeen, Ms. up in the Mississippi Delta in Monroe County that would be worth your while to visit. Below is the link to that one showing the map.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1293954/old-aberdeen-cemetery/map
 
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