Alan J. Pitts
Re: Training camps
Fri May 25 11:18:11 2001


Nothing interesting; just that companies were there for several weeks in the late winter/eary spring of 1862. The governor ordered companies into camp on February 15, 1862, and the regiment organized on March 22, 1862. My notes show the first company arriving in camp on February 18, 1862, and the last on April 10, 1862. Don't know exactly when the regiment left for Corinth, but I'd guess during the last week of April.

Of course Shelby Springs later became the site of a Confederate hospital when the 1st Mississippi Hospital relocated from Jackson MS in the summer of 1863. Entries in Confederate records continue to read "1st Mississippi Hospital, Jackson MS", long after after relocation, but these all refer to Shelby Springs.

It's just my opinion, but many of the temporary camps used for assembly points by Confederate commands were probably antebellum militia campgrounds well-known to residents for miles around.