News
• Confederate Memorial Day Services April 25th and 26th 2009
Confederate Memorial Day Services will be held on the grounds of the Curlee House in downtown Corinth on Saturday April the 25th and Sunday April the 26th.The public is welcome both days.Weather permitting here will be Civil War relics on display,a period band and also period reeanactors plus vendors selling Civil War items. Read More...
• W.P. ROGERS CAMP 321 SPONSORS CIVIL WAR RELIC SHOW.
The First Annual Corinth Civil War Relic and Militaria Show.MARCH 6-7 2010 MORE INFO
• An Open Report On Christmas Day.
Monday morning December 25, 2006, I would adorn the uniform of the Southern Soldier, pick up his battle banner, and travel down highway 23 North into the city of Burnsville, North Carolina, where I would spend several hours on the side of the road wishing those who pass by a Merry Christmas, and explaining to those who stopped to chat, like the car filled with two elderly couples from Virginia, and a fine young manner ably Burnsville Police Officer that I was there to commemorate and remember the Confederate Soldier on this Christmas morning. They like the many others who would stop, thanked me, wish me well, and a Merry Christmas. Read More...
• Local Businessman Roy Albright Jr. Receives S.C.V. Award for Flying Confederate Battle Flag.
Dixie Coins and Collectables of Corinth was presented a certificate of appreciation for proudly flying and displaying the Confederate Battle Flag at there business located on Hwy 72 East in Corinth. Read More...
• July 15, 2006 10:00 AM Verona,MS
Private W. H. Grist 5th Mississippi Cavalry was killed in action in the battle of Harrisburg in 1864. Read More and pictutes...
• Confederate Memorial Day Services April 23, 2006 at Battery Robinette.
This years Confederate Memorial Day Services were held at Battery Robinette.We had a real good turnout of members and guests. Pictures from Sunday...
• Corinth Civil War Heritage Day April 22, 2006 at the Curlee House.
This years Heritage Day celebration at the Curlee House was a big success.The Tri State Coin and Relic Hunters Club and Col. W.P. Rogers S.C.V. Camp #321 had several displays and reported a good turnout for Saturdays events. Pictures from Saturday...
• Did you know information about Mississippi's state flag
The official flag of Mississippi during the War for Southern Independence (1861-1865) was a white flag with a magnolia tree in natural colors. The canton was blue and had a single white star (reminiscent of the Bonnie Blue flag). The fly was a thin red bar extending vertically the length of the flag; sometimes it included red fringe as well. The flag was so popular, it is the reason Mississippi became known as the Magnolia State....Read More Here. (12/20/2004)
• Milton Sandy's Corinth history Web site back online
In 1995, local Alcorn County historian Milton Sandy, Jr. posted his collection of information about Corinth and Alcorn County during the Civil War on the Internet. The text and link based Web pages offer a world of information that simply can't be found anywhere else on the Web. From letters, poems, and timelines, this Web site is a must for both local and national Civil War fans.
After seven years online, the site was closed for several years after a local Internet Service Provider was sold to another company. Now, back by popular demand, the site is back and can be viewed by clicking here. (12/07/2004)
• Col. Rogers article discovered in 1896 'Confederate Veteran' newsletter
The following article is from the 'Confederate Veteran', Volume IV, Number 7, Nashville, Tenn., July 1896.
"With Col. Rogers When He Fell" was written by J.A. McKinstry, who was a private in Company D, Forty-second Alabama regiment and at the time the article was written was of Wyeth City, Ala., May 26, 1896.
It is Col. Rogers Camp #321's honor to be able to present the following article:"With Col. Rogers When He Fell" For thirty years I have been urged by comrades to put in print what I saw and did in the storming of Battery Robinette, at Corinth, Miss., Oct. 4,1862, but for reasons of my own I have until now refused to do so. In a recent issue of the Confederate Veteran my name appears in connection with a mention of that terrible charge, and my gifted college chum, also gallant comrade, Dr. John A. Wyeth, of New York, renews the request that I give to surviving comrades a description of the charge, and the death of Col. Rogers, Capt. Foster, and the brave thirteen who fell with them, as I recollect it, and I consent. In doing so, I wish to preface my description by saying that I am not accustomed to write for publication, and that I do not claim to be mathemetically correct as to time, position, and distance in what I say; but merely give the recollections that were indelibly impressed upon the mind of a barefooted boy, who went as far, and who saw and felt as much, as any one that day.
I was a private in Company D, Forty-second Alabama Regiment, Moore's Brigade, Maury's Division, Price's Corps; and Col. Rogers' regiment (the Second Texas) was a part of our brigade, and acted as skirmishers in that engagement. I was only seventeen years of age, and weighed less than one hundred pounds. Being the smallest member of the company, my position was on the extreme left, which rested upon the regimental colors. On Friday, the 3d of October, we stormed the outer works of the Federals, and carried them. The first shot fired at our regiment was a shell that exploded a few feet in front of our colors. It killed and wounded eleven men, including the color bearer. I was knocked off my feet by the concussion, but not otherwise hurt. The flag was instantly raised by Corporal J. A. Going (now of Birmingham, Ala.), and we were soon in possession of the works. We had several running fights during the day, as the Fedelals were driven from the outer to the inner fortifications. We lay on our guns during the night, and just before daylight we took position in a skirt of woods, directly in front of Robinette and some four or five hundred yards from it. We were discovered at dawn, and Forts Williams, Robinette, and College Hill opened a terrific enfilade fire of shot and shell upon us. We lay flat upon our faces. and the shells passed a few feet over us (we thought these feet were only inches), doing but slight damage. We remained in this position, hugging the ground, for four mortal hours before the signal gun was fired and the order to charge was given. The forts caught the sound of the signal gun, and ceased firing. We raised the rebel yell, and made a rush for the opening, some fifty yards in our front. There we were met by a deadly volley of shrapnel shells from the three forts, and our men fell dead and wounded all along the line.
In front of us was the most obstructive abattis that it was my misfortune to encounter, or to see, during the war. Beyond this in our front, to our right and to our left, were the forts belching destruction into our ranks; yet our men did not waver or halt, but over the tops, under the limbs, around the stumps, along the fallen trunks of the trees, like squirrels, they scrambled in their effort to reach the fort in front. Forts Williams and College Hill were soon devoting their attention to the columns in their respective fronts; and when about half through the abattis, Robinette changed shells for grape and canister on us. Our yells grew fainter, and our men fell faster; but at last we reached the unobstructed ground in front of the fort, which was still a hundred yards away. Minies had been added to the missiles of death by the battery's infantry support; still we moved onward, ns our badly scattered forces rallied on the flag. Twenty steps further, and our colors went down again. Going had fallen with a bullet in his leg. Comrade Crawford, of Company A, dropped his gun, and, almost before the flag had touched the dust, hoisted it again, and shouted: "On to the fort, boys!" A few steps farther, and the guns of the fort again changed their charges; now whole bags of buckshot were being belched from the cannons' mouths into our now nearly annihilated ranks, and our flag went down the ill-fated third time to rise no more on that battlefield. Poor Crawford had caught nine buckshot seven in his breast and two in his arm; but we, Only a remnant now of those who started, pressed on and reached the outside of the fort, and for a moment had protection; but before we could scarcely catch a breath, hand-grenades came flying thick and fast over the walls of the fort, and, falling in the dust, which was ankle deep, began to explode under our feet, filling the air with dust and smoke, and wounding our men. It took but a moment, however; to put a stop to this; for, having been educated in the tactics of fort defense, we quickly answered the command of a comrade, "Pick them up, boys, and pitch them back into the fort;" and immediately these infernal machines were bursting upon the inside among those who first threw them. Some one at this juncture shouted, "Over the walls, and drive them out;" and up the steep embankment we clambered. Comrade Luke was on my right, and Comrade Franks was on my left. As we scaled the top of the parapet, a volley of musketry met us. Luke went on over, Franks was killed with a bullet in the forehead, and, as he fell backward, he cliched me around the neck and carried me tumbling back with him to the bottom of the ditch on the outside. I was considerably rattled by the fall; but I heard Luke shout from the inside of the fort," Come on, boys; here they are;" and I picked up my gun to go back to him, when I saw a "blue coat" jump from behind a stump, on the right of the fort, and run back in the direction of Corinth. He was only a few steps from me, and I held my gun on him and tried to fire, but could not. He soon got behind the fort, so that I could not see him, and I took my gun down to see what was the matter, and found that in my excitement I had only half-cocked it Firing had almost ceased, and I heard the shout of "Victory! victory!" and I thought we had won the day. I ran to the left of the fort whence the shout of victory came, and joined a small squad of our men that were standing a few paces from the fort. Col. Rogers and Capt. Foster were in this squad. On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us. 'Twas then that Capt. Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief; and I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of fifteen hundred muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Col. Rogers, when a minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my right shoulder, which changed my position to front; and another ball crushed through my left shoulder, causing me to drop my gun and my left arm to fall limp by my side. I looked, and, lo! every one of the fifteen men who were standing with me had fallen in a heap. I looked again, and not a Confederate was in sight. The battle was lost, and our men had fallen back to the cover of the woods. Desperation seemed to seize me; and, though the blood was spurting from six gaping wounds, and I was already staggering from weakness, I took my dangling left arm up in my right, and, in the face of that deadly fire, I turned and ran for a quarter (in full view of that column of Federals, who were popping away at me every step that I took), and on for half a mile before I fell. He who seems to take special care of the boys was certainly with me in my desperate flight; for, though hundreds of minies passed uncomfortably near my ears, I was not hit in the back, nor was I captured. I lay on my back for three months without being able to turn over; but twelve months from then I, with a discharge in my pocket, was again with Gen. Moore in the battle above the clouds, and on with Johnston to Atlanta.
I have only to add that Crawford, after being shot down, saved our flag by tearing it from the staff, pulling it in his bosom, and crawling out with it. Poor Luke was killed inside the fort. Of the thirty-three men belonging to our company who went into the charge that morning only eleven answered to roll call next day.
Reading the accounts of the battle published in the papers afterwards, and remembering to have heard Capt. Foster shout, "Cease firing, men," and seeing him after I fired waving his handkerchief, I have always thought that perhaps if I had not fired my last shot that day we might have been permitted to surrender without being fired upon. Consequently, while I've always loved to talk about it, I've never thought that I would like to see my terrible experience in that battle put in print. So far as I know, I am the only person near Col. Rogers when he fell who was not killed with him. Col. W. P. Rogers. (09/05/2004)
• Camp asks for donations to help repair downtown statue
On January 15, 2004, the 'Daily Corinthian' published an story written by 'Daily Corinthian' Staff Writer Amy Sims about the Col. Rogers Camp #321's battle to repair the statue of its namestake in downtown Corinth.
With credit and a thank you to the 'Daily Corinthian', the story appears below:
For more than a century the stony face of Col. William P. Rogers has watched over downtown Corinth and now a group of Confederate descendants is beginning an effort to look after him. "Group seeking funds to repair statue"
The W.P. Rogers Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is kicking off a campaign to restore the statue of Rogers on the Alcorn County Courthouse Square . Del Horton with the SCV said they hope to raise enough money to stabilize and repair the statue which is the only such monument in Corinth .
A native of Georgia and former resident of Mississippi , Rogers commanded an infantry company under Jefferson Davis in America 's war with Mexico in the 1840s. He later moved to Texas and when the Civil War began was named lieutenant colonel of the Second Texas Infantry.
Rogers and his troops arrived in Corinth in March of 1862 and moved on to Shiloh where they fought in the two-day battle before joining the retreat to Corinth .
At Corinth , Rogers was promoted to colonel and commanded the second Texas in Moore 's Brigade. During the Battle of Corinth, the Second Texas Infantry participated in the defeat of the Federals at Battery F. Rogers was killed in the effort to take Batter Robinett.
The years have not been kind to the statue of the colonel erected in April 1895 by they United Confederate Veterans. The monument originally stood at the intersection of Franklin and Waldron streets before being moved to its present location on the square in October 1916.
Horton said the elements have left the once pristine monument with cracks, chips, and other damage. One restoration expert the group has spoken with estimated the cost of the work at around $48,000. He said the plan to get a second opinion, but acknowledge the work will be expensive.
“Restoration is not cheap,” he said.
The biggest fundraiser for the project is expected to come in October 2005 when the SCV joins with the North-South Alliance to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Corinth with a full scale reenactment.
( Anyone who wished to donate to the restoration effort may send donations to W.P. Rogers Statue, P.O. Box 1591 , Corinth MS 38835 .) (09/05/2004)
MORE PICTURES OF THE STATUE
• Real sons of Confederate soldiers carry on tradition today
On Fedruary 8, 2004, the 'Daily Corinthian' published a story about two Alcorn County natives who are among the six living true sons of Confederate soliders. 'Daily Corinthian' Staff Writter Jebb Johnston interviewed Willie Cartwright and James Nelms in February and created the following story, we reprint here with credit and a thank you to the 'Daily Corinthian':
"Two men are true sons of Confederate veterans;
Parallels of first cousins run very deep"Two first cousins and Alcorn County natives are among the six living true sons of Confederate veterans documented in the state of Mississippi , but the parallels between the two men run much deeper.
Willie Cartwright, who will be 87 on March 11, lives on Bunch Street . James Nelms, who will be 85 on April 9, lives on County Road 709in the Holly Community. They were reunited on April 2003, when Nelms joined the W.P. Rogers Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp that Cartwright had been a member of since 1988.
Cartwright's mother Laura and Nelms' mother Kate were half sisters.
Cartwright was 21 years of age when his father Pvt. John Harvey Cartwright of the 1 st Mississippi Infantry, died at the age of 90, and Nelms was 23 when his 93-yar-old father James Joseph Nelms died. Unlike Cartwright's father who was twice wounded during Civil War battles in Virginia , Nelms' father was a 16-year-old Confederate soldier-in-training around the time the “war between the states” ended.
Nelms' grandfather Capt. Matthias Nelms with Company I of the 2 nd Mississippi Infantry did see Civil War action.
“We don't have proof, but we've always heard he rode with N.B. (Nathan Bedford) Forrest,” Nelms said of the grandfather he never had the chance to meet.
U.S. Army Pfc. Cartwright followed in his father's footsteps serving three years in North Africa , Italy , France and Germany during World War II, and Nelms was stationed with the U.S. Army in Columbus during World War II when his father passed away.
Both are soft-spoken men who describe their fathers in similar ways.
“Hw was a good daddy. He spanked me when I needed it, but he wouldn't whip you when he was mad,” remembered Cartwright. “He never failed to do what he set out to do. He was one of the most truthful people I've ever known.”
Nelms recalled, “He was a strict dad like most were in those days. We got along real well, but when he said ‘no' he meant ‘no'.”
Cartwright and Nelms were exact taught strong work ethics by their fathers as well. Both were reared working side-by-side with their fathers on the farm. Cartwright has worked as a mechanic, truck driver and most recently a grocery bagger at Gardner 's Super Market where he officially retired in the summer of 1999. Nelms was a cotton farmer at one time who retired at a truck driver for a children's home in Cullman , Ala. He also operated a sawmill from 1977 until about five years ago.
Cartwright's wife Virginia passed away of a stroke in 1998. Nelms and his wife Virginia – yes, the cousins married women with the same name – celebrated 60 years of marriage in July 2003.
One thing that sets the cousins apart is that Cartwright is the father of three as well as grandfather and great-grandfather. Nelms and his wife have no children.
And while Cartwright thrives on the physical rehab he completes twice daily for a total of four hours, Nelms is more laid back.
“I mostly stay around the house and do as near nothing as I can get away with,” Nelms admitted. (09/05/2004)
• Interpretive center opens doors
July 24, 2004 marked the opening day of Corinth, Mississippi's $9.5 million National Park Service Civil War Interpretive Center. The center will interpret the Cross City's role during the Civil War and its effects on the western theater.
For more information contact the Corinth Area Tourism office at 800-748-9048 or visit the office's Web site at www.corinth.net
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