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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Near Champion Hill in Hinds County, Mississippi — The American South (East South Central)
 

Chicago Mercantile Battery - Artillery in the Yard

 
 
Chicago Mercantile Battery - Artillery in the Yard Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Mark Hilton, October 24, 2017
1. Chicago Mercantile Battery - Artillery in the Yard Marker
Inscription. Artillery used the crest of this ridge throughout the battle. From here Confederate guns commanded the Raymond Road, preventing a Union advance from the right. Late in the afternoon, the Confederates deployed closer to Bakers Creek, and Union artillery moved up and took this position, aiming west.

One of the two Union artillery units in the Coker House yard was the Chicago Mercantile Battery, an elite unit sponsored by Chicago businessmen. Among the members, six received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the second assault on Vicksburg on May 22, six days after the Battle of Champion Hill.

"I took four guns up the road... We passed the line of infantry, who were lying down on either side of the road and went into battery on the left in front of a planter's [Coker's] house, which set back from the road about 300 feet. On the next ridge, which was 330 yards from us, the rebel batteries and infantry were posted. Their batteries were plowing the ground around us. We unlimbered and ran the guns by hand nearly to the top of the ridge so as to not expose the horses."
Capt. Pat White, Chicago Mercantile Battery


The Chicago Mercantile Battery was organized in August 1862, and most recruits were "well-born, well-bred, well-educatėd... Some
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were about to enter Harvard, Tufts, or Yale, and all were connected with good families.... We shall not see them all again."

Mary Livermore, from Chicago's Battery Boys
by Richard Brady Williams

[Photo captions]
Bottom middle: Typical 3-inch ordnance crew and a six-pounder field cannon, both of which had been supplied by the Chicago Mercantile Battery sponsors.
Bottom right: Flag of Company G, 1st Mississippi Light Artillery which engaged the Chicago Mercantile Battery.

 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. A significant historical date for this entry is May 22, 1862.
 
Location. 32° 18.261′ N, 90° 33.692′ W. Marker is near Champion Hill, Mississippi, in Hinds County. Marker is on Adams Lane south of State Route 467, on the left when traveling south. Located in front of Cal-Maine Foods on the grounds of the Coker House. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Adams Lane, Edwards MS 39066, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. The Death of General Tilghman (a few steps from this marker); A Narrow Escape (a few steps from this marker); A Refugee Family (a few steps from this marker); Architecture and Renovations (within shouting distance of this marker); The Vicksburg Campaign
This marker is just in front of the tree. image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Mark Hilton, October 24, 2017
2. This marker is just in front of the tree.
(within shouting distance of this marker); The Coker House and the Battle of Champion Hill (within shouting distance of this marker); Lloyd Tilghman (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Battle of Champion Hill (approx. 2˝ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Champion Hill.
 
Marker is on the grounds of the Coker House. image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Mark Hilton, October 24, 2017
3. Marker is on the grounds of the Coker House.
Once one of the few remaining structures associated with the Battle of Champion Hill, the Coker House was a one-story Greek Revival house, built around 1852 by H. B. Coker, a popular citizen and farmer. The interior layout followed the traditional central hall plan, having two rooms on each side. Bullet holes in the front door and jambs and cannonball holes on the west side of the structure provided evidence of this bloody and decisive battle. Falling into extreme disrepair, the Coker House was restored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 2008.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on November 3, 2017. It was originally submitted on November 3, 2017, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 454 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on November 3, 2017, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.

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Mar. 19, 2024