History is like a big puzzle. There are scattered pieces tucked away in different collections, archives and books just waiting to be assembled. Sometimes these scattered pieces come together and what had been unassociated events help to form a complete story.
Last week an old story of a local event took on a completely new light after coming across a letter written by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The letter is in the Alfred Whital Collection of Lincolniana at the Library of Congress. It was written by Gen. Grant from his Vicksburg headquarters on Oct. 8,1863, to Gen. S. A. Hurlburt.
Within the letter Grant said: “I am just sending out all the forces that can be sent from here to drive the enemy from Canton and Jackson, with instructions to remain at Canton a few days and scout with the Cavalry as far Eastward as possible. Columbus Miss. is a point of vast importance to the enemy and if threatened would necessarily cause the enemy to detain a large force at that point. The cavalry will try to create the impression that they are going there.”
Grant saw threats to the massive Confederate manufacturing facilities and supply depot at Columbus as an effective means to tie up Confederate troops defending Columbus and thereby open up other important Confederate centers for attack. On several occasions Union troops threatened Columbus while larger forces attacked elsewhere. One such victim of that strategy was the railroad hub of Meridian, which was attacked and burned by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in February 1864.
When I found Grant’s letter, I forwarded it to fellow local historians Gary Lancaster and Carolyn Burns Kaye. Gary responded with his research showing that Sherman had used diversions against Columbus when attacking other points and Carolyn reminded me of a local story that had been recorded in “War Memories,” a small book published by the S. D. Lee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The story was titled, “The Yankees Are Coming,” and was written by Georgia P. Young, who was living at Waverly during the Civil War. In her recollections of war time she wrote:
“One glorious sunlit crisp morning in October 1863, a servant rushed breathlessly to me, exclaiming as she came, ‘Old Master says get ready, the Yankees are coming’ … I rallied my fast ebbing courage and … gave orders to nurse and housemaid to quickly dress the children in two full suits of new clothing. This expedient was resorted to that my little ones should have a change of garments should our house be despoiled and burned, as others had been, and we turned adrift without the necessities of life … While the children were being dressed, I busied myself in packing a trunk with silver, plate and other valuables. This was my only hope of saving such things from the rapacious fingers of our expected visitors. The trunk was put in charge of a trusted slave who in my own childhood had given me many a ride on his brawny shoulder, and who, I felt sure, would do all in his power to shield me from harm. My confidence was not misplaced and sometime afterwards the trunk was brought back with its contents intact. The Federal raiding party never reached Waverly. We subsequently learned that it was in a half mile of us when they concluded they had advanced far enough for their safety, and our anxiety for a time was relieved.”
The Union cavalry party that approached Waverly, just across the Tombigbee from Columbus, occurred in the same month that Gen. Grant had ordered a diversionary raid be made toward Columbus thus bringing two pieces of a puzzle together.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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