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TOUR STOP 2,
The Shirley House
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| The Shirley House was owned by James and Adeline Shirley and is the only
wartime structure remaining inside Vicksburg National Military Park. Federal soldiers
called it the white house. On May 18, 1863, as the Confederate rear guard fell back into
the Vicksburg defenses, soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses in front of their
works. The Shirley barns and outbuildings were quickly burned to the ground, but the
soldier assigned to burn the house was shot before he could apply the torch. |
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| Mrs. Shirley, her 15-year-old son Quincy, and several servants were caught in the
cross-fire as Union soldiers approached Vicksburg. Fearing for their lives, Mrs. Shirley
quickly tied a sheet to a broom handle and had it placed on the upper front porch. They
remained in the house huddled in a chimney corner for three days. The frightened occupants
of the "white house" were finally removed by Union soldiers and given shelter in
a cave. It was near the Shirley House that mining operations against the Confederate
forts guarding Jackson road were initiated. Major General Grant did not want to waste more
soldiers' lives assaulting the southern strongpoints, so digging mines underneath the
Confederate lines became a viable alternative. West of the Shirley House is the Third
Louisiana Redan (a triangular earthwork). Federal soldiers dug approach trenches (referred
to as Logan's approach since troops digging the trenches were commanded by Maj. Gen. John
A. Logan) to near the base of the redan. A mine was started at that point. The plan was to
explode the mine and then union soldiers would rush into the gap created in the fort's
wall. |
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Last update: Friday, November 05, 1999
http://www.nps.gov/vick/ts_2/ts_2.htm
Editor: G. Zeman |
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