Killing and Plundering in Port Gibson, Mississippi

Directly across from the Claiborne County Courthouse, Port Gibson, Mississippi, is this very imposing Confederate Monument. It honors the soldiers from Claiborne County who fought to defend their homeland against Northern invaders during the War Between the States. The monument was dedicated Oct. 26, 1907 in a fitting ceremony led by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.


Claiborne County was the scene of two important battles of the War. The Battle of Grand Gulf, April 29, 1863, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was counted as a Confederate victory although it allowed Union General U.S. Grant to move his troops past the fortifications and land them at Bruinsburg. This helped set the stage for the infamous Siege of Vicksburg and the opening of the Mississippi for the invading Yankees. The former town of Grand Gulf is now Grand Gulf Military Park with a museum, historic buildings, hiking trails and an observation tower with an outstanding view of the Mississippi River.

The Battle of Port Gibson was started by Northern aggressors near the A. K. Shaifer house, May 1, 1863. A Union victory, the battle resulted in 1,648 casualties, all of them American - 861 Union, 787 Confederate.   Three of my great uncles, two from Alabama and one from Georgia, were among the Confederate soldiers who survived the battle.  All three were later captured in Vicksburg.  They were the lucky ones.  Others of my kin had already been killed in Mr. Lincoln's War.

A portion of the Port Gibson battlefield is now preserved within the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Below is an eye-witness account of the aftermath of the Battle of Port Gibson, written by two Union Soldiers:

“Early next morning, May 2d, we advanced with a strong skirmish-line in front, and entered Port Gibson at 9 A. M., where we found the public and private buildings crowded with rebel wounded. The Regiment stacked arms on the side-walk, under the shade-trees. The enemy had retreated over the south fork of Piere River, destroying the bridge after them. The following morning we crossed the river on a pontoon bridge, marched all day, and crossed the north fork at Grindstone Ford in the evening, and camped near the stream.

"The provisions that we started with had lasted up to this time, but we had cut loose from our base, which prevented us from getting another supply. Orders were therefore issued to subsist on the products of the country through which we marched; and from that time forward until the siege of Vicksburg, foraging parties, or perhaps better known as "bummers," were sent out daily, to procure all the provisions and forage that was required for the army. They left camp every morning, in advance of the infantry, and a curious sight they were to behold, as they galloped by at full speed, mounted on such "critters" as they could gather up on their expeditions. They were dressed in such clothes as suited their fancy - the Union blue, the rebel gray and butternut, with a considerable number in citizens' attire.

“They were a jolly, mischievous set, eager and ready for any adventure. No sooner were they beyond the lines than they began their work. They slaughtered the pigs in the pens; the cattle and horses were driven from the fields; smokehouses and cellars were ransacked for flour, meal and bacon; the chickens and turkeys were captured in the yard; the mules were hitched to the family carriage, and the provisions stowed away in it, when it was driven to the next plantation, where the same ceremony was repeated. Toward evening the foragers returned to camp, driving the cattle before them, followed by a long line of vehicles of every description, loaded with all kinds of provisions, which was equally distributed among the different regiments.”

--Maj. John A. Bering & Capt. Thomas Montgomery, 1880, in History of the Forty-eighth Ohio Vet. Vol. Inf.

The invaders saw themselves as "... a jolly, mischievous set, eager and ready for any adventure.” In truth, they were a brutal force of murderers, marauders and plunderers. When the Yankees arrived at Port Gibson they found a beautiful, prosperous and peaceful town. Two days later they went on their "jolly" way, the Yanks left behind hundreds of dead and wounded. The innocent, civilian surviviors – including old men, women and children, both black and white – were left destitute and hungry.

Port Gibson, the third oldest town in Mississippi, is still a lovely place. However, in many ways it has never fully recovered from the devastation of the War to Prevent Southern Independence.

1845 Claiborne County Courthouse, Port Gibson, Mississippi

Photos and Story by J. Stephen Conn