Beauvoir House
National Historic Landmark Re-opens

Beauvoir House - "Oh Beautiful to See" Photograph courtesy Albert & Associates Architects

 

Beauvoir House, the beautiful home of Jefferson Davis, was re-opened to the public Tuesday, June 3, 2008, after having sustained immense damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Since that time, Beauvoir has been undergoing construction to return the house to its original state - as it looked when Jefferson Davis lived there.

June 3, 2008, the anniversary of Jefferson Davis’ 200th birthday, was a perfect day to celebrate the re-opening of the National Historic Landmark. The house was re-opened to the public and they responded in unprecedented numbers. Approximately three to four thousand people attended the event. The massive turn out clearly showed the need of the people to return to some semblance of normalcy after seeing almost every building, home and business, destroyed by Katrina.

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The Long Road Home
by Pvt. Myron B. Loop

The 68th Ohio Infantry
in the Battle of Raymond

Excerpt from Chapter Four

The early morning of May 9 found us once more in motion. After a march of about 10 miles we went into camp near the little village of Utica. Early the following morning, Sunday, our brigade was ordered out to lead the advance. However, the order was revoked and we remained in camp until late in the afternoon, when we formed into line as Third Division train guard, marched 10 miles, and toward the hour of midnight went into bivouac.

On May 11 we took up our line of march in the direction of Raymond. We moved rapidly over the ground, now in bright sunshine and now in a torrent of rain, until late in the day, when we came to a halt and stacked arms on Roach's plantation, where we remained until the next morning.

The morning of Tuesday, May 12, we silently moved out of camp. Soon the enemy showed up in our front, when a heavy line of flankers was deployed on each side, and all moved forward in line of battle until about 10 o'clock, when we found the enemy strongly posted about two miles from Raymond.

"Come on Riggin, the Day is Lost"

By Rebecca Blackwell Drake

A first- hand account of the Battle of Raymond
written by Thomas. B. Riggin, a member of Hall’s Scouts, a state company, who patrolled the Utica-Raymond road the night before the battle.

In May 1863, as the word spread around Raymond that the dreaded “Yankees” were coming, everyone rallied to support the cause. The spirit of patriotism was exhibited not only by the women of Raymond who were busy knitting socks and making flags for the soldiers, but also by teenage boys who wanted to enter the army but were under the age of enlistment. One of the youngsters determined to do his part was Thomas Riggin, whose family lived two miles from Learned. Riggin traveled to Raymond and joined Hall’s Scouts, a local company comprised of underage boys who volunteered to serve for ninety days.