Category Archives: Siege of Petersburg

Mississippi’s fugitive newspapers

In late July, 1864, the 13th Regiment was in the trenches at Petersburg where they’d been since late June. So some of them may have been able to receive mail from home, including newspapers. But many of those newspapers, if they … Continue reading

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Mississippi, Siege of Petersburg | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Desertions reached epidemic proportions

S.A. Gerald of Matagorda, Texas, wrote Confederate Veteran magazine after the war: “…for two or three months [in 1865]…I was on detail on the ‘dead line,’ on duty at night, the only object being to catch any who might desert to the Yankees.” … Continue reading

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Muster Rolls, Newton Rifles, Siege of Petersburg, The Minute Men of Attala, The Pettus Guards, The Secessionists, The Spartan Band, The Winston Guards | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Defending Richmond

There’s little extant information about the activities of the 13th Regiment and the rest of Kershaw’s division from November 1864 to early April 1865. Historians report no more than that the division was posted on the Nine Mile Road near … Continue reading

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Jess N. McLean, Siege of Petersburg, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In the trenches at Petersburg

The 13th Regiment, along with the rest of Kershaw’s Division of Anderson’s First Corps, occupied the right-hand half of the Confederate trenches at Petersburg from late June through late July. According to the First Corps Diary in the Official Records, … Continue reading

Posted in Siege of Petersburg | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Siege of Petersburg begins

On the morning of June 13, when the Rebs were still entrenched at Cold Harbor, their commanders realized that Grant’s army had largely disappeared from their front. The Yankees were once again moving south in an attempt to get around … Continue reading

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Siege of Petersburg | Tagged , | Leave a comment