I got the bug to research the battles around Jackson just recently. There's not much out there on this subject, plus there doesn't seem to have been much interest in it. Sherman's second battle of Jackson left him with nearly 26% of his three corps as casualties, mostly due to very high sickness and fevers contracted by his troops, but also about 1200 combat casualties; that’s higher than I expected since looking into this subject. It’s a shame the city of Jackson never really put much into its role in the war, as compared to Vicksburg. My interest in the guns was sparked by the amount of damage they did to the besieging forces. I believe they may have been the same pattern gun found at Vicksburg called the "Widow Blakely". Finding them would be a big draw to the Jackson area for Civil War buffs and historians.

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David Upton