11th Annual Fall Pilgrimage
Raymond Robinson, portrayed by Bob Mayo, led the Presence with the Past
Evening Cemetery Stroll.
"Mini-Park Day 2009"
Achieves Goals
Friends of Raymond’s (FOR) innovation, a
“Mini-Park Day,” which was held on Saturday, June 13, was a huge
success in sprucing up the Raymond Walking Trail. This “extra”
Park Day, held as an adjunct to the Annual Park Day in April, was
initiated by FOR to enhance the appearance and utility of the Raymond
Walking Trail, as the trail, which now surrounds a field full of
six-foot lush corn, has happily been experiencing heavy usage during the
spring and summer months.
FOR
Continues Artillery Mission
With the acquisition of ten additional cannon carriages, Friends
of Raymond has set its sights on attaining the unique status of
becoming the only Civil War Battlefield in
America
where tourists and history enthusiasts may witness replicas of the same
sizes, models, numbers, and locations of the artillery used during the May 12, 1863
engagement. Twenty-five cannons blasted their deadly barrage over this
hallowed ground—three Confederate and twenty-two Union.
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Doug Waters and his father, Ed Waters,
donated a rare and valuable artifact, a Confederate Whitworth cannon
shell, to Friends of Raymond during an October 21, 2006, Raymond
battlefield tour attended by Doug, who works for Gallagher Bassett
Services, Inc. in Plano, TX. The younger Waters, who is intensely
interested in Texas’ participation in the American Civil War, has
often visited Raymond, where Colonel Hiram Granbury’s Seventh Texas
Infantry Regiment fought on May 12, 1863. On his most recent visit
Waters came bearing the prized Whitworth shell, which was manufactured
in England; was shipped to the Confederate States in America; and was
dug out of the ground near Warrenton, VA. The non-explosive shell was
manufactured to exacting specifications and was designed to be fired by
the English-made Whitworth rifled cannon.
The first walking trail to be constructed on
the Raymond battlefield—an asphalt ribbon that encircles the 23.6
acre Friends of Raymond tract located at Fourteenmile Creek west of
modern Highway 18—has been completed.
Funding for the nearly $250,000 trail comes
from a Tea 21 federal grant to the State of Mississippi. The one mile trail, with visitor
parking lot, will serve as the lynchpin for battlefield visitation and
interpretation. Upon completion of the trail, plans include battlefield
interpretive signage and Civil War cannon.
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Raymond
Battlefield
Doubles in Size
On June 30, 2009, the issue
was settled--the bucolic fields along Highway 18 south of Raymond would
remain that way, even though the fight to save them lasted 1,065 days,
as opposed to the single day of combat on those hallowed grounds in May
of 1863. Friends of Raymond, a local non-profit volunteer
historical preservation group, working with the Civil War Preservation
Trust, a national organization dedicated to saving America’s Civil War
battlefields, purchased 66.62 acres of core battlefield property, thus,
ending a three year process of negotiations and fund-raising. As a
result, the preserved area of the Raymond battlefield has grown from 65
acres to almost 150, because the purchase of the property brings with it
a preservation easement for additional acreage on the battlefield.
 In
October 2009 the 25th annual West Coast Civil War Conference convened in
Clovis, California. The event, which focused on the 1863 campaign for
Chattanooga, Tennessee, drew attendees from across the United States and
hosted some of the most recognizable historians on the subject. By weekend’s end, the symposium had consummated
a modest victory, earning just over $7,500 for battlefield preservation.
Impressed with the model grassroots preservation achievements of the
Friends of Raymond Battlefield in Mississippi, all of the proceeds have
been donated to help further their continued efforts. The event was
hosted by the San Joaquin Valley Civil War Round Table of central
California.
Gift
to Raymond from the UK
On December 28, 2009, the
American Civil War Round Table UK sent Parker Hills a check from the
United Kingdom for $500 for the battlefield preservation efforts of
Friends of Raymond. After
touring the Vicksburg Campaign with Hills in 2008, Peter Lockwood,
president of Old Country Military and History Tours, went back to England
and spearheaded the preservation funding effort through his Round Table.
Lockwood was successful, and his note with the check advised Hills
to select how the funds would be used for preservation.
The money will go toward a "foundation" project to
construct reinforced concrete bases for the cannon at Raymond.
These bases, which will be fabricated by Paul Gore of A to B Signs
in Clinton, will help to secure the cannon in their proper place "in
battery," and will prevent the wheels and trails of the guns from
gradually sinking into the historic Mississippi soil.
Raymond
Battlefield Trail Officially Opened
Friends of Raymond dedicated the Raymond
Battlefield Walking/Interpretive Trail in a ceremony conducted at the
Raymond Battlefield at
10:00 a.m. on
Saturday, April 21, 2007. The trail, which includes interpretive markers and a kiosk that
explain the Battle of Raymond, the Vicksburg Campaign, and the Little J
Railroad that once traversed the battlefield, was enhanced with a new
granite marker that denotes the Raymond
Military
Park
while honoring those who helped make it possible. The ceremony was
conducted on the new tourist bus parking lot constructed by Hinds County,
and included an unveiling of the granite marker by Friends of Raymond
Generals in attendance. The unveiling was followed by a
ribbon-cutting to officially open the trail. The event was followed
by a reception and an opportunity to walk the trail, which is a ¾ mile
asphalt route that circumvents a 24-acre tract of hallowed battlefield
ground acquired from Gaddis Farms through an exemplary cooperative effort
of agricultural land conservation and historic preservation.
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