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Battle of Champion Hill Partialmatch
Margie Bearss'
Cistern Quenches Soldier's Thirst
Finding a Rebel Belt Buckle |
Beauvoir House
Beauvoir House, the beautiful home of Jefferson Davis, was re-opened to the public Tuesday, June 3, 2008, after having sustained immense damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Since that time, Beauvoir has been undergoing construction to return the house to its original state - as it looked when Jefferson Davis lived there. June 3, 2008, the anniversary of Jefferson Davis’ 200th birthday, was a perfect day to celebrate the re-opening of the National Historic Landmark. The house was re-opened to the public and they responded in unprecedented numbers. Approximately three to four thousand people attended the event. The massive turn out clearly showed the need of the people to return to some semblance of normalcy after seeing almost every building, home and business, destroyed by Katrina.
Five Generations of
By Rebecca Blackwell Drake
The land now known as Champion Hill has been in the Champion family since 1853, when Sid S. Champion married Matilda Montgomery. The land located along the Southern Mississippi Railroad, midway between Bolton and Edwards, was a wedding gift from Matilda’s father, Eli Montgomery. Sid and Matilda established the Champion plantation in 1853-1854 and amassed a small fortune before the war broke out in 1861. Sid and Matilda lived in their lovely home for about 10 years before the war came and destroyed everything - even their lives. After the war, Sid and Matilda returned to Hinds County and built a second home at Champion Hill that still stands, though in poor repair. Sadly, Sid died three years later, leaving Matilda a widow with 4 young children to rear and the land to farm.
The Long
Road Home
The 68th Ohio Infantry in the Battle of Champion Hill Excerpt from Chapter Four
Photograph by William Pywell Captures Scenes at the Big Black River Station in 1864 By James & Rebecca Drake
William Redish Pywell, a young Baltimore photographer, moved to Washington to work under the master photographer Matthew Brady. In 1863 at the age of 19, Pywell was assigned to Vicksburg to capture scenes associated with the Civil War. A photograph taken at the Big Black River Station in February 1864 captures not only a few of the business sheds (left) and the home of Mrs. Spears (far right) but a train rounding the bend (highlighted) as it heads westward toward Vicksburg. Matilda Champion: "I was in the Cellar During the Fight" By Rebecca Blackwell Drake
On Saturday, October 26, 1906, Matilda Champion, age 79, woke up excited about the day in store. She dressed in her finest clothes, donned her hat and then called for her carriage driver to hitch up the horses. Soon she was on her way to Edwards Station to catch the train to Vicksburg where she had been invited by the State of Illinois to be an honored guest at the dedication of the Illinois Monument. |
Champion Hill
Tours
Tour Champion Hill with Sid J. Champion (Sid V), the great-great-grandson of Sid and Matilda Champion.
$25 per person (minimum of 2) Call 601-316-4894 Collected Stories of the Vicksburg Campaign
By Rebecca Drake and Margie Bearss
Darwina's Diary: A
View of Champion Hill ~ 1865
My Dear Wife ~ The Civil War Letters of Sid and Matilda Champion By Rebecca Drake and Margie Bearss
In Memoriam October 22, 1925 — October 7, 2006
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Copyright (c) James and Rebecca Drake, 1998 -
2008. All Rights Reserved.
Last Modified 6/21/2008
Webpage design by James Drake