148th Anniversary Writers

148th Anniversary Event
to Feature Civil War Writers

On May 14, 2011, eight Civil War authors will be on the grounds of the Champion Hill Missionary Baptist Church to sign and sell books commemorating the historic occasion. The gates to the church will be open at 8:00 a.m. The book signing will end at 1:00 p.m. Featured writers include: Grady Howell Jr., Madison; Dr. Sid Bondurant, Grenada; Elizabeth Hoxie Joyner, Vicksburg; Randy Bishop, Middleton, Tennessee; Jeff Giambrone, Bolton; James Parker Hills, Clinton; Sue Moore, Longview, Texas, and Rebecca Drake, Raymond.

Elizabeth Hoxey Joyner, is a twenty-nine year veteran of the Vicksburg National Military Park where she currently serves as Museum Curator. She is a 1982 graduate of Mississippi State University where she attained a B.A. in Communications with a special emphasis in Journalism. A Vicksburg native, Joyner resides in Vicksburg with her husband, Raymond and son, Travis. She currently serves as Vice-Regent of the Ashmead Chapter of the Vicksburg, Mississippi Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She is also a member of the Southeastern Registrar’s Association. Published in 2006, Joyner is author of the book, U.S.S. Cairo History and Artifacts of a Civil War Gunboat with a foreword by Margie Bearss, co-author of the booklet U.S.S. Cairo Gunboat and Museum and author of the article How Civil War Sailors Lived published by Naval History Magazine in 2008.

Randy Bishop is a teacher at Middleton High School (TN) and an adjunct at Jackson State Community College. A six-time ‘teacher of the year’ at Middleton High School, he lives in Middleton with his wife and two sons and is the author of three books related to the Civil War. These include Mississippi's Civil War Battlefields, Tennessee's Civil War Battlefields, and The Tennessee Brigade. Bishop also wrote the foreword for the Pelican Press re-publication of the classic A Rebel's Recollections. A staunch advocate of the preservation and restoration of battlefields related to the Civil War, Bishop has contributed articles to a variety of publications including The Civil War Courier and Country Discoveries.

Dr. Sidney W. Bondurant is a fifth generation Mississippian who was born in Neshoba County. He grew up in Forest, Mississippi, where his parents still live. His interest in Civil War history was stimulated by his grandfather, Francis Marion Wiggins of Philadelphia, Mississippi, who told him stories of his great-great-grandfather and great-great-uncles who all served in the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He promised his grandfather that he would record the story of those ancestors and their regiment. His book, The History of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, is the result of that promise.

Dr. Bondurant is a graduate of Mississippi State University and Vanderbilt University Medical School. He is a Viet Nam Veteran having served with Navy Search and Rescue as a medical officer. He was appointed to the Mississippi Civil War Battlefield Commission by Gov. Kirk Fordice and served there until 2003. In 2003 he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives representing parts of Grenada, Calhoun, and Yalobusha Counties. He and his wife Aida reside in Grenada where he practices gynecology.

James Parker Hills holds a Masters Degree from Sul Ross State University and is a 1995 graduate of the U.S. Army War College. He retired as a brigadier general, Mississippi Army National Guard. He has served as President of Friends of the Vicksburg Campaign and Historic Trail, President of Friends of Raymond, Chairman of the Mississippi Civil War Battlefield Commission, and on the Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. He authored A Study in Warfighting: Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads, and co-authored the Vicksburg Campaign Driving Tour Guide, and Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Campaigns that Changed the Civil War.

Sue Burns Moore of Longview, Texas, has edited several historical publications including The World’s Richest Acre, for which she received a national award from the America Association for State and Local History. Along with Rebecca B. Drake, she has co-edited Leaves, The Diary of Elizabeth Meade Ingraham: The Rebel Sister of General George Meade. Throughout the years she has contributed to numerous genealogical and historical journals including Vicksburg’s Mississippi River Routes. During the course of her research, Moore has discovered rare newspaper articles pertaining to the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, Big Black River and Vicksburg. Moore, a retired teacher, enjoys helping historians, local and national, with research projects. Her in-depth genealogical study of the Meade/Ingraham family made it possible to edit the diary of Elizabeth Meade Ingraham. Moore’s passion for Mississippi history stems from her family’s Claiborne County roots where three of her Confederate-soldier grandfathers rest in its cemeteries today.

Grady Howell Jr., a ninth generation Mississippian and former jet fighter mechanic in the U. S. Air Force, holds a MA degree in History from Southeastern Louisiana University and diplomas in Archivy from American University/National Archives (Washington, D.C.) and Emory University/Georgia Department of Archivers and History (Atlanta, GA). He is the author of over sixteen non-fiction books referencing Mississippi History and is nearing completion of a novel entitled Invocation to Death based on the life of Alexander Keith McClung, the infamous “Black Knight of the South.” Howell published his book, Chimneyville: Likenesses Of Early Days In Jackson, Mississippi, in 2007 and it quickly became a best seller. Howell is a Historian with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson, Mississippi.

Jeff T. Giambrone is a native of Bolton, Mississippi, and grew up near the Champion Hill battlefield. He has a B.A. in history from Mississippi State University and a M.A. in history from Mississippi College. He worked as a historian at the Old Court House Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi, from 1996-2005, and for the past six years he has been employed as an historian by Communication Arts Company in Jackson, Mississippi. In addition to An Illustrated Guide to the Vicksburg Campaign, he has published two other books: Beneath Torn and Tattered Flags: A Regimental History of the 38th Mississippi Infantry, C.S.A., and Vicksburg and the War, which he co-wrote with Gordon Cotton. Giambrone has also written articles for publications such as North South Civil War Magazine, Military Images Magazine, and North South Trader's Civil War Magazine.

Rebecca Blackwell Drake of Raymond, Mississippi, is the author of three Civil War books: The Battle of Raymond and Other Collected Stories; In Their Own Words, Soldiers Tell the Story of the Battle of Raymond; and A Soldier’s Story of the Siege of Vicksburg. She is co-author with Thomas Holder of Lone Star General: Hiram B. Granbury and co author with the late Margie Bearss of My Dear Wife: Letters to Matilda; Darwina’s Diary: A View of Champion Hill ~ 1865 and Collected Stories of the Vicksburg Campaign. Her latest book, co-authored with Sue B. Moore, is Leaves, The Diary of Elizabeth Meade Ingraham: The Rebel Sister of General George Meade. Drake is the recipient of numerous awards including the William D. McCain Publication Award (2002) presented by the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a Resolution of Commendation (2003) presented by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for her contributions to historic preservation.