New Exhibit Features Civil War Artifacts, Documents

OXFORD, Miss. – A new exhibit at the J.D. Williams Library titled, “‘This Fiery Trial’: An Exhibit on Mississippi and the American Civil War,” features a large collection of Civil War artifacts and documents.

“This exhibit deals with several issues,” said Jennifer Ford, head of UM archives and special collections. “It goes chronologically from Secession to 1865 and Reconstruction.”

The collection covers many topics including camp life, combat, prisons, slavery, the university and the war, people, hospitals and women in the home front. The exhibit even displays hair jewelry from the era and Civil War medical books.

“I think this exhibit offers a fresh perspective on Mississippi and the American Civil War,” Ford sad.

One notable item in the exhibit is a letter from a slave who was attempting to write his family history in two pages. 

“It’s very rare to find a slave letter,” Ford said.

Another item is a letter from William Nelson, a university student who fought with the 9th Mississippi Division. He wrote about Lincoln’s election and how it would cause a disillusion of the Union. Ford has published a book about his letters, “The Hour of Our Nation’s Agony: The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson.”

This collection is the first Civil War exhibit put together by UM Archives and Special Collections. It took about two months to assemble, and most of the items in the collection were donated.

“I think this exhibit is a wonderful way to learn something about a very important part of our history and one that our state certainly played a major role in and suffered major losses,” said Julia Rholes, dean of university libraries.

The collection can be viewed on the third floor of the J.D. Williams Library in room 318. The exhibit will be open to the public until September of 2011.