Southern Cedars Receives Rare Book Collection

Southern Cedars Receives Rare Books
"Official Records of the Civil War"

by
Parker Hills

Jerry McWilliams proudly offers the use of the 130-volumes of the Official Records to visitors to his home at Southern Cedars.

Photo by Carol Hills

Jerry and Kay McWilliams, Friends of Raymond members and owners of Southern Cedars (a circa 1834 history-filled home located on Kimbell Road southeast of Raymond), have announced they have recently received a donation for public use of a complete set of the Official Records of the Civil War, commonly referred to as the Official Records or the ORs.

The 130-book set is an essential research resource to any Civil War historian, and contains first-hand accounts, orders, reports, and correspondence from the American Civil War. Originally entitled The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, these volumes were compiled by the U.S. War Department and published between 1881 and 1901. The books, which are today found in relatively few libraries, contain 138,579 pages with 1,006 maps, and include correspondence and reports from both North and South. They are organized into 70 volumes grouped into four series: Series I—Military Operations; Series II—Prisoners of War; Series III—Other subjects; Series IV—Records not published in Series I-III. An index to the volumes was published in 1901.

While the ORs are now posted on the internet by Cornell University; are available in reprint (though a set will cost almost $3,000 with shipping); and are also available on CD for less than $100; not many researchers have the privilege of turning the actual pages of the 130 volumes and reading the words of Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, John C. Pemberton, Joseph E. Johnston, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, and thousands of other Americans who participated in that great struggle. For those in the Raymond area, however, a set is now available at Southern Cedars for researchers and interested readers.

The set of ORs was donated by Mr. James Jack Robinson in honor of his Confederate ancestors, one of whom was Captain James D. Meadows, who served at Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River and was captured on April 8, 1862 when the Confederate garrison of 7,000 men was surrendered to a joint Union Army-Navy force under Brigadier General John Pope and Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. Captain Meadows was paroled and served again in the defense of the Lower Mississippi River Valley at Port Hudson, Louisiana, only to again be captured in the surrender of Port Hudson’s 7,500 men on July 9, 1863. He was sent to a Union POW camp at Johnson’s Island near Sandusky, Ohio, and was shot while trying to escape. Surviving his escape-attempt wound, the very resilient Captain Meadows returned to Camp Hill, Alabama after the war.

For those interested in first-hand Confederate accounts, Jerry McWilliams also owns a complete hard-bound set of Confederate Veteran magazines, published from 1893 to 1932 which will also be available visitors to Southern Cedars. Like any library reference material, the ORs and Confederate Veteran volumes cannot be removed from the premises, but are available for on-site research. To arrange for a visit to Southern Cedars, call Jerry McWilliams at (601)832-0708 or Kay McWilliams at (601)832-0709, or e-mail: jerrymcart@yahoo.com.