American Civil War Battlefields
The Shirley House
East of the Third Louisiana Redan
Vicksburg National Battlefield
Vicksburg, MS

Photo courtesy of LCWRT Member Paul Fridell

The home of James and Adeline Shirley, this house is the only Civil War era structure left on the Vicksburg Battlefield. During the siege of Vicksburg, this handsome home was surrounded by dug out shelters that protected Union soldiers from Confederate artillery.  While they were slave owners, the Shirleys were Union sympathizers, and their son Qunicy "joined the Union troops fighting at his doorstep fighting the Confederate troops."

From the NPS: "On May 18, 1863, as the Confederate rear guard fell back into the Vicksburg defenses, soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses in front of their works. The Shirley barns and outbuildings were quickly burned to the ground, but the soldier assigned to destroy the house was shot before he could apply the torch. 

Mrs. Shirley, her 15-year-old son Quincy, and several servants, were caught in the cross-fire as Union soldiers approached Vicksburg. Fearing for their lives, they remained in the house huddled in a chimney corner for three days before Mrs. Shirley tied a sheet to a broom handle and had it placed on the upper front porch. The frightened occupants of the 'white house' were finally removed by Union soldiers and given shelter in a cave."

 After the siege, this damaged and abandoned house was used as a smallpox quarantine hospital by Union troops.  Property of the US Government since 1900, the house has been restored to its Civil War era appearance.