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"Grant's crown of immortality was won, and the jewel that shone most brightly in it was set
there by the blood of the men of Champion Hills ...... Six thousand blue and gray-coated men were lying there in the woods, dead or wounded, when the last gun of Champion Hills was fired.

Major S. H. M. Byers, Fifth Iowa Infantry

 













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Battle of Champion Hill

 


"The Hill of Death"
Historic Marker


"THE HILL OF DEATH" read by Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus, National Park Service

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RECENT ARTICLES

"Aunt Lula's" Headstone Set
  Rebecca B. Drake
Letters of Pvt. Ackless W. Geeslin
   22nd Iowa Infantry
General Bowen's Wife in Raymond
   Rebecca B. Drake

Janesville Daily Gazette
Memoir of Pvt. James Warren
  McPherson, 10th Iowa

Lieut. Col Leonidas Horney
  Killed at Champion Hill

Union Occupies Cook Plantation
  Rebecca Drake & Sue Moore
Diary of Pvt. Arthur McCullough
  Co. D, 81st Ill
Discovering Names & Faces of
  Civil War Soldiers

Fighting for Vicksburg
  B.F. Boring, 30th Ill.
Alvin P. Hovey Reminisces
  Rebecca B. Drake
"Three Years with Grant"
  Sylvanus Cadwallader
Memorial Dedicated at St Albans
  Rebecca B. Drake
America History Tours Visits
  Champion Hill, Oct 2, 2009
Memoirs Historical and Personal
  Ephraim Anderson, 1st Missouri
2009 Anniversary Event
  Rebecca B. Drake
Tilghman Monument Dedication
  Rebecca B. Drake
Five Generations of Sid
 Champions
, Rebecca B. Drake
The Long Road Home
  Pvt. Myron B. Loop
1864 Pywell Photograph
  Big Black River Station
Coker House to be Razed
  Rebecca B. Drake
Administering Last Rites
  Father John Bannon
Maltida Champion: "I was in
  the Cellar During the Fight"
Mary Dabney Ware:
 "Behind Enemy Lines"
Margie's 1960 Scrapbook:
  Charm, Dot & Paul Jones
Battle of Big Black River Bridge
  Rebecca Blackwell Drake
Champion Dedication
  Grady Howell. Jr.
Capt. Samuel Ridley:
 "Bravest of the Brave"
Battle of Champion Hill:
  Killed and Wounded
The Battle of Baker's Creek
  W.T. Moore, Miss Light Artillery
Charles E. Comstock Diary,
  Co G, 34th Indiana
Gen. Cumming's Letter
  to Gen. Stephen D. Lee
Matilda Champion:
  "A Sorrow's Crown of Sorrow"

Vignettes of Champion Hill
  Margie Bearss
Champions of Champion Hill
  Rebecca B. Drake
Diary of William Montgomery:
  Confederate Scout
Will Montgomery: Scout
  Kay Cornelius
Brother Against Brother
  Rebecca B. Drake
History of the 78th Ohio
  Rev. Stevenson, Chaplain
Champion Hills
  Alonzo L. Brown, 4th Minnesota
Battle of Champion Hill
  G. B. McDonald, 30th Illinois
The Death of Gen John Bowen
  Rebecca B. Drake
Lt. William Drennan:
  Letters to His Wife
The Defense of Vicksburg
  Maj. Samuel Lockett
Letters of George B. Boomer
  Mary Boomer Stone
Vivid Experiences
  Pvt. A. H. Reynolds, 19th Ark.


Photography from Anniversary Events

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In Memoriam
Margie Riddle Bearss

October 22, 1925 — October 7, 2006

Sesquicentennial Event a Grand Success

By Rebecca Blackwell Drake

 

On May 18th, 2013, over 600 visitors arrived at Champion Hill to be a part of the 150th Anniversary Commemoration. The visitors came from 22 states and more than 200 of those present were descendants of those who fought in the battle.

The Champion Hill Road leading from Bolton to the battlefield set the stage for those who had never visited the historic site. Sections of the Old Jackson-Vicksburg Road, Grant’s 1863 pathway to Champion Hill was visible nearby. Magnolia trees were in full bloom, just as they were on May 16, 1863, when the battle was fought. Union soldiers were taken with the magnolia trees, describing them as white flowers whose blooms were the size of a hat. The picturesque sunken road was draped with arching tree limbs, forming a sight almost comparable to that of Oak Alley in Louisiana.

 

Bertram Hayes-Davis shakes the hand of Joshua C. Eddington (Illinois) during the Honorary Medallion presentation. Sid Champion V, Rebecca Blackwell Drake and Reverend Billie Abraham presented medallions to recipients from twenty-two states during the morning ceremony.

 

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Letters of Pvt. Ackless W. Geeslin
to his wife, Mary Ann

22nd Iowa Infantry

 

May 16 Three miles west of Raymond I have had no opportunity of sending my letter out yet so I will write some more. I am still well and hearty. Good news. Jackson is ours, the Capitol of the state. O’ we are playing smash down here. I tell you the poor rebs have got perfectly scared and just as soon as we open on them they run. We have tore up their R.R. for miles. Their troops can neither get to nor from Vicksburg.

 

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Gen. Bowen's Wife in Raymond

By Rebecca Blackwell Drake

 

In 1862, when the War came to Mississippi, one of the Confederate officers assigned to protect the Big Black River railroad bridge between Edwards and Bovina was Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen, commander of the First Missouri Regiment. Accompanying Bowen to Mississippi was his pregnant wife, Mary Kennerly Bowen of St. Louis. She refused to be separated from her husband. When Bowen left St. Louis to enter the war, Mary was by his side, leaving their two small children, Menard Kennerly (age seven) and Anna, (age two, at the family home to be cared for by Mary’s mother.

General Bowen received his first real taste of war on April 6, 1862, when, during the battle of Shiloh, he had two horses shot from under him and was severely wounded. Mary accompanied him to Memphis where he was hospitalized until early May. Bowen rejoined his regiment at Corinth and was soon ordered to Vicksburg to defend the city from naval attacks.

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Commemorative Medallions
Awarded
to Descendants of Soldiers Who Fought
 

Sesquicentennial Event

Battle of Champion Hill

May 18, 2013

Medallion Honoring
The Soldiers Who Fought

Medallions are now available for purchase by the public.

Plain Medallions ~ $20

Medallions in presentation boxes or on plastic presentation stands ~ $25

Send a check payable to the Champion Heritage Foundation,

Rebecca B. Drake

P.O. Box 336

Raymond, MS 39154 


Champion Hill Tours
With Sid Champion V

Tour Champion Hill with Sid J. Champion (Sid V), the great-great-grandson of Sid and Matilda Champion.

  • The Cross Roads

  • Old Jackson Road

  • The Hill of Death

  • Original House Site and Historic Marker

  • Midway Station

  • Family Cemetery and Memorabilia

  • Margie Bearss Memorial

$50 per person (minimum of 2)  Call 601-316-4894

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 and tourists comments>

 

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NEW

LEAVES
The Diary of Elizabeth Meade Ingraham

The Rebel Sister of
General George Meade

By Rebecca B. Drake & Sue B. Moore

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Collected Stories of the Vicksburg Campaign

By Rebecca Drake and Margie Bearss

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Darwina's Diary: A View of Champion Hill ~ 1865
Edited By
Rebecca Drake and Margie Bearss

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My Dear Wife ~
Letters to Matilda

The Civil War Letters of Sid and Matilda Champion

By Rebecca Drake and Margie Bearss

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