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Sights to See at the OLD CAPITOL MUSEUM

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Sights to See at the OLD CAPITOL MUSEUM Sights to see at the OLD CAPITOL MUSEUM The Old Capitol played a prominent role in Mississippi’s involvement in the American Civil War. Housing Mississippi’s state government made the Old TCapitol an important location for discussions leading up to secession and eventually made the Old Capitol and Jackson, Mississippi, a strategic military location as well. 1 2 The road to On January 7, 1861, Mississippi dele- WAR gates met again in the House Chamber to The Old Capitol hosted one of the first discuss secession. Two days later, by a vote public debates in the South concerning of eighty-four to fifteen, they passed an secession when Mississippi held a ordinance of secession, making Mississippi statewide convention in October 1849. In the second southern state to leave the the House of Representatives Chamber, del- Union. Mississippi eventually joined with six egates discussed the issue of slavery in the other states to form the Confederacy and 3 4 territories. After much discussion, they native son Jefferson Davis was elected FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR asked state leaders for prompt action President. should Congress pass the Wilmot Proviso, 1. History Happened Here - This permanent 3. House of Representatives Chamber - exhibit room charts the Old Capitol's history Mississippi's most historic room, the cham- a proposed bill that prevented slavery from War Comes to related to the city of Jackson. Exhibits also fea- ber has witnessed several important events. being allowed in any territory gained from ture the building and city's relationship to the Mississippi seceded from the Union in this the Mexican War. Slaveholders were also MISSISSIPPI Civil War. Artifacts on display feature weapon- room on January 9, 1861. President Davis encouraged to migrate to the southwest, ry, furnishings that survived, and a reproduction and General Joseph E. Johnston rallied the and more importantly, a call was made for Jackson and the Old Capitol escaped of the historic ordinance of secession. troops in speeches made here on December a convention of delegates from all southern the ravages of war for the first two years. 2. Governor’s Office - Two wartime gover- 26, 1862. The video presentation features states to be held in Nashville in June 1850 However, Union general Ulysses S. Grant’s nors, John J. Pettus (1859-1863) and Charles re-enactment of secession convention to further discuss these issues. Union army threatened Mississippi begin- Clark (1863-1865), used this office during the speeches made in January 1861. The Compromise of 1850, the publica- ning in late 1862. As Union forces pushed war. Also here, young Fred Grant reputedly 4. Government and Constitutions Room - tion of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the passage of further into the state, Governor John J. appropriated a pipe after Union forces cap- The permanent exhibit traces the difficult the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and John Pettus asked President Jefferson Davis to tured the city in May 1863. This room is deco- time in Mississippi history immediately after Brown’s raid further strained relations return to his home state to boost morale. rated more elaborately than it would have the war as the state attempted to rebuild between the nation’s two regions. Davis and Confederate general Joseph E. been during the Civil War. A newspaper corre- itself. Controversial legislation and important Abraham’s Lincoln’s election as president Johnston spoke to large crowd in the spondent in June 1861 described the room as events are explained as well the details convinced many southerners that secession House Chamber on December 26, 1862, reflecting "more than republican simplicity" with behind the drafting of Mississippi's last two was now their only recourse to insure the preaching unity and vowing to defend sparse furniture, ragged carpet, and walls and state constitutions. protection of their rights, slavery being the Mississippi. ceiling discolored by mildew. “right” most threatened. Five months later, Grant landed his army south of Vicksburg in an effort to capture the from Clinton. Johnston believed he had too Union forces remained only a short time years, the state government operated in city. After winning battles at Port Gibson and few men and inadequate entrenchments to before marching out again toward Enterprise, Meridian, Macon, and Raymond, Grant decided to attack Jackson resist Grant and decided to evacuate the Vicksburg. Before the last soldiers left, they Columbus. During these years, the Old before Vicksburg. Grant believed capturing city. He ordered a small contingent to hold destroyed most of the city’s manufacturing Capitol often stood vacant although the city the capital city would destroy Jackson as a out against Grant long enough to move key facilities and ripped up the railroads. Many of Jackson did decide to use the governor’s communications center and scatter the supplies and the rest of his army north homes and churches were also put to the office as a Confederate forces in the area, thereby pre- toward Canton. On May 14, in a driving torch. Miraculously, the Old Capitol sur- post office venting a large army from operating in his rainstorm, the two wings of the Union Army vived, although the interior was severely since the city’s rear while he moved his army toward eventually overran the Confederate detach- damaged. had been Vicksburg. ment. Some of the heaviest fighting took This was the first of several Union occupa- destroyed by Grant’s army marched toward Jackson in place near present-day Battlefield and tions of Jackson. After Vicksburg fell on July Federal forces. two wings, one from Raymond and the other Livingston Parks and the intersection of 4, Union forces returned to the capital to At the end Capitol and Delaware Streets. The confront Joseph Johnston’s army. During the of the war, Union troops were victorious in captur- siege of Vicksburg, Johnston had been Governor ing the city, but the Confederate force assembling men to attempt to relieve the Charles Clark did stall the Union army long enough Vicksburg garrision, but the cautious general called the leg- for supplies to escape. The Union army never attempted to attack Grant. After a islature back suffered approximately three hundred brief siege of the capital city, Johnston again into session to casualties, whereas Confederate forces evacuated Jackson and Union forces occu- meet at the A shirt made from brocade lost over eight hundred. pied the city from July 17-23, the longest capitol on curtains by a Union soldier Union forces quickly moved into the Union occupation during the war. Union May 18, during one of the invasions city. Members of the fifty-ninth Indiana forces left the city again, but did re-occupy 1865. The placed a United States flag on the Old the capital at least once more during the session never met due to fears of arrest by Capitol dome and stayed overnight to war. Each time, Union forces destroyed more Federal authorities. The state’s records were prevent it from being disturbed. One city and private property, but through it all, eventually turned over to the Federal govern- interesting story concerning the Union the Old Capitol survived. ment on May 22, officially ending army’s entry into the city occurred when These occupations forced the state gov- Mississippi’s participation in the Civil War. Fred Grant, the Union general’s son ernment to relocate several times. The legis- who traveled with the army, entered the lature met at the Old Capitol in November Battle of Jackson, May 14, 1863 Old Capitol and found a pipe still light- 1861 and December 1862, but the May Map courtesy Blue and Gray Magazine, ed, in the governor’s office. He confiscat- 1863 Union occupation required the state Columbus, OH, 1-800-CivilWar ed it for his “own individual use.” government to move. Over the next two “Raising the Stars and Stripes over the capitol of the state of Mississippi” Harper’s Weekly, June 20, 1863.
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