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“Mississippi's Stonehenge” and the Story of Windsor Mansion Provide an Unconven- Tional Avenue for Midsouth Tourists

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“Mississippi's Stonehenge” and the Story of Windsor Mansion Provide an Unconven- Tional Avenue for Midsouth Tourists windsor ruins From Riches to Ruin “Mississippi’s Stonehenge” and the story of Windsor Mansion provide an unconven- tional avenue for MidSouth tourists Story and Photos by TONYA THOMPSON he night the Yankees showed up to crash a party at one of Mississippi’s T most legendary plantation homes on the Delta, they quickly learned the hazards of disrupting an event hosted by a Southern belle. While the mistress of the house, the recently widowed Catherine Daniell, had invited several Confederate officers to her soiree, that same invitation wasn’t extended to the Union Army occupying the territory. The words from a let- ter written by one of the crashers, a Captain in the U. S. Marines, best sum up the series of events that occurred next: "So we entered and there in the parlor of the house was quite a party, singing and laughing and having a fine time generally. Among them were three Confederates dressed in their gray uniforms. I walked in and went up to the one that seemed to be in command, touched him on the shoulder and inquired, 'Are you a Confeder- ate officer?' He promptly replied, 'Yes, I am.' At this the singing stopped, and the ladies present came around and insisted that we Yankees were not gentlemen and that we should not spoil 80 MARCH 2014 | myclickmag.com their evening by arresting and taking prison- ers these three Confederates. The ladies grew very boisterous and attacked us with their fists and fingernails, and refused to allow the Voted arrest.” Despite the spirited resistance of the women at the party, that incident was soon Best Mortgage Company followed by Union control of the 25-room Greek Revival mansion, located approxi- Thank You, DeSoto County! mately 10 miles southwest of Port Gibson in Claiborne County. Built by Smith Coffee Daniell II between 1859 and 1861, the estate was designed to embody the affluence and gentility of the South. Daniell’s father, an Indian-fighter-turned-planter, passed on to his son extensive plots of land throughout the Delta and Arkansas, including Windsor’s 2,600 acres located approximately 40 miles from Vicksburg. A Rodney, Mississippi resident, David Shroder, designed the grand estate and $175,000 went into its construction. This cost was for materials alone, as slave labor was used to build all of the structures on the grounds, while much of the brick and mortar used were made onsite. Daniell brought in skilled carpenters from New England for all of the woodwork, but ordered the iron from St. Louis, including the stairs, which pres- FAIRWAY ently grace Alcorn State University chapel’s Independent Mortgage Corporation entrance. In addition to these stairs, the most 224 West Commerce Street notable iron pieces on the mansion were the Corinthian capitals at the heights of the Hernando, MS 38632 • 662-429-5100 fluted columns, which supported a projecting www.FairwaySouth.com roof and lavish ornamental cornices. With modern conveniences like interior water tanks and fireplaces in every bedroom, Windsor earned its reputation as a luxurious Southern home. The main floor contained a wide main hall leading to a master bedroom, two parlors, a bath, a study, a library, and a dining room. The kitchen was located UL directly below the dining room on the base- ment level of the home, with a dumbwaiter servicing between the two rooms. In addition to the kitchen, the basement also housed a schoolroom, a dairy, storage rooms, a commis- sary and an infirmary, although the infirmary didn’t save 34-year-old Daniell from death two weeks after construction on the home was finished. During the height of the Civil War and the days leading up to the crucial battles moving through the area, the remaining members of the Daniell family had an opulent, front-row seat in a very important theater. The party crashing incident wasn’t the first time Grant’s men visited Windsor plantation, nor would it be the last. The Union’s first recorded glimpse of the home happened at the begin- ning of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. On April 30 and May 1, 1863, as a steady stream of 17,000 Union troops crossed at Bruinsburg to later head east on Rodney Road, a Union officer, Henry Otis Dwight, sketched the mansion in his journal as his company passed by its expansive grounds. Within a matter of months from that fateful crossing, Vicksburg, the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy” would fall. It is rumored that due to Catherine myclickmag.com | MARCH 2014 81 windsor ruins Daniell’s generosity in caring for the Union struction efforts, Windsor Mansion returned wounded after the battles that led up to to some of its former glory and reclaimed its Vicksburg’s surrender, her home was spared reputation as the place to be seen among the the ravages of war. Whether this is true or not, South’s rich and famous. Mark Twain often the house certainly had other strategic benefits visited the plantation and used its rooftop for Grant. With an infirmary and several observatory to muse over his beloved river as well-stocked supply rooms, it was the perfect he penned the seminal Life on the Mississippi. location to house Union soldiers who had been Parties continued to fill Windsor’s expansive injured in battle. The home’s nearness to the halls, and it was at one such party on Febru- Mississippi River also made it an ideal outpost, ary 17, 1890, that a guest dropped the cigar and both Confederate and Union troops com- (or cigarette—stories vary) that would burn mandeered the roof’s observatory at various down the estate completely, except for 23 of its points in the war. Corinthian columns. In the days following the Civil War and Recon- In 1935, Eudora Welty, one of the South’s most honored authors, took a photograph of her shadow here. The ruins of these columns, referred to by many as “Mississippi’s Stone- henge,” still attract visitors seeking glimpses of the Magnolia State’s storied and unique past. It’s a past that continues to haunt the people of this region—perhaps those ghosts are what fascinate us the most. 82 MARCH 2014 | myclickmag.com.
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