Book Store

Friends of Raymond Bookstore
All proceeds from our gift selection will be used by Friends of Raymond for battlefield preservation.

Featured Item: National Treasures of Raymond

Judge Bobby DeLaughter and his wife Peggy have recently donated to Friends of Raymond a number of their book, National Treasures of Raymond. This 2005 book contains thirty-eight 8.5 by 11 high-gloss pages of beautiful photographs by Peggy and text by Bobby of the structures in and around Raymond that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is a must for anyone interested in Raymond's history and architecture. Available for $15.00.

A Jewish Colonel in the Civil War
Marcus M. Spiegel, a German Jewish immigrant, commanded the 120th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Vicksburg Campaign. During the Civil War he saw action in Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana before he was fatally wounded in May 1864. Mrs. Jean Powers Soman, great-great-granddaughter of Colonel Spiegel and co-editor of his letters to his wife Carolyn, has graciously donated copies of this book, originally published as Your True Marcus, to Friends of Raymond for fund-raising in honor of the service of Colonel Spiegel. His letters home "reveal the traumatizing experience of a soldier and the constant concern of a husband and father." Available for $17.95.

The Founding of Raymond: A History of Its Early Citizens, 1830s-1860's
Raymond native, Oliver V. Shearer, (Retired), U.S. Navy, has recently completed his book, The Founding of Raymond: A History of Its Early Citizens, 1830s-1860s, which he donated to Friends of Raymond, and which Friends has just printed and offered for sale. Captain Shearer’s book, in his own words, “relates major events leading to the creation of Hinds County and Raymond” and provides “a look back into the activities of its early citizenry and business establishments . . . Additionally, there is more detail about some of the citizens as well as Raymond’s early newspapers, schools, and businesses and political activities that were contained in articles written during 1878-1879 by George W. Harper, founder of the Hinds County Gazette, and who settled in Raymond in 1844 and died there in 1894.” Available for $15.00.

In Their Own Words: Soldiers Tell the Story of the Battle of Raymond by Rebecca Blackwell Drake tells the story of the Battle of Raymond based on numerous old diaries, old newspaper articles, rare and out of print books, and historical data. The book features diaries and first hand accounts of the soldiers as well as photographs of men who fought in the Battle of Raymond. Available for $15.00.

The Vicksburg Campaign II Video features a 22 minute narrated story of the Battle of Raymond using excerpts from In Their Own Words: Soldiers Tell the Story of the Battle of Raymond. Available for $15.00. There is also a 90-minute video of the narrated version that includes 90-minutes of unedited footage taken during the 2001 Re-enactment of the Battles of Raymond and the Battle of Champion Hill. Price: $15.00.

Lone Star General: Hiram Bronson Granbury by Rebecca Blackwell Drake and Thomas Holder tells the story of a Confederate soldier who was torn between two passions - fighting for the Confederate Cause and caring for his terminally ill wife. To Fannie he had pledged, “To love and to cherish until death do us part,” and to the Confederate army he had pledged to serve “Three years or the war.

Granbury married Fannie Sims Granbury, a 20-year-old beauty from Alabama. She would follow Hiram from battlefield to battlefield and from prison to prison before she was stricken with cancer and died at the age of twenty-five.

Following Fannie’s death, Granbury served as commander of the 7th Texas Infantry in the battles of Raymond, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge. On February 29, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general and given his own command, Granbury’s Brigade, comprised of all Texas regiments. General Hiram Granbury was one of the six Confederate generals killed at the Battle of Franklin. Available for $15.00.

A Soldier’s Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, by Osborn H. Oldroyd was first published in 1885, gives a sixty-five day account of the Vicksburg Campaign beginning May 1, 1863, after Grant landed his army on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and ending July 4, 1863, with the surrender of Vicksburg.

The Personal Diary portion of the book, as well as the Author’s Preface and the Introduction by Maj. Gen. M. F. Force, was edited by Rebecca Blackwell Drake and has been reprinted for the Friends of Raymond. The Diary provides a fascinating account of Grant's march from Bruinsburg to Vicksburg. Sixty-five captivating entries shed light on the events that happened as Oldroyd marched with the Seventeenth Corps on the long and hard march inland. The diary is available for $15.

Fall of 2000 Blue and Gray Magazine featuring
articles on the Battle of Raymond by Edwin C. Bearss and Terry Winschel.

Price $8.00.

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Or add $5.00 for shipping and send your order to:
Friends of Raymond
P.O. Box 1000
Raymond, MS 39154

David McCain
601-857-8046