Virgil
7th MS Inf train wreck
Thu Apr 5 20:58:10 2001


Here is some information that I got out of the Confederate Records book in the Amite Co. Courthouse.
Letter from John C. Wilkinson to Micajah Wilkinson, my gggreat grandfather, about their brother Jeff's death. The only thing that I don't understand is the last sentence "my passing through unhurt" as John C. was in Co. K, 33rd MS, Jefferson W. was in Co. C, 7th MS.
"the last days of Feb, 1862, when it was ordered to Jackson, TN; on the run on the I.C. Railroad a few miles north of New Orleans (Chatawa, MS) the train on which they traveled came in collision a down freight train killing about 25 instantly and wounded about 50, my passing through unhurt."
And from a letter about Co. C, 7th MS, by N.C. Whittington dated Feb.4, 1916
" we left the coast on Feb. 28, 1862, going through New Orleans,- going north on the I.C. railroad, at Ponchatoula, about 7 o'clock AM we met a freight train which collided with us and killed 25 of our men and wounded 40 or more and several of the wounded died, Company "K" suffering the most; I made a very narrow escape; I went out on the platform of the boxcar on which we were traveling to look at the town and if I had remained one minute longer, I would have been mashed flat as my hand, but it knocked our car across the track but never hurt any of our company as we were at the rear end of the train."
And in the roll of Co. K, 7th MS the following were shown to have "died in ICRR wreck Feb. 28, 1862"
3rd LT N.B. Wilson
3rd Sgt E.T. Anderson
3rd Corp F.J. Edwards
Pvt J.A. Bright
Pvt W.J. Jones
Pvt W.J. Mercer
Pvt Frank Whittington
Pvt Sumter Wilson