Photo courtesy of Visit Vicksburg.
Charles Pendleton pictured with exhibitions at the new Vicksburg Civil War Museum.
On a quiet weekend in Vicksburg four years ago, a Civil War gun show piqued the curiosity of resident Charles Pendleton. As a Black man, he recalls the discomfort his presence invoked in other attendees and sellers. “I just wanted to buy guns,” he said. But people would approach him, saying things like, “You know, this war wasn’t about slavery.”
Fascinated by the features of the antique guns, particularly those from the Civil War era, Pendleton continued to attend these events, eventually accumulating a collection of guns he believes to be the largest in Mississippi. Along with his collection grew a deeper curiosity about their history.
He began researching the Civil War and the following Reconstruction years, studying the lives of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. He visited various Civil War museums, noting with concern the lack of information available on the role slavery played in the war, and on the lives of enslaved people at all. Then, one day, his antique dealer Hardy Katzenmeyer showed him a collection of historic pre-Civil War documents, one of which was a bill of sale for a seven-year-old child named Ella, who was sold for $350.
Reading about a child sold in 1848 and “guaranteed a slave for life” stirred something in Pendleton. He approached his church congregation in the hopes they would be inspired to support an exhibit he would curate, but there was no interest. He tried to find what happened to Ella, but hit dead ends, experiencing yet another instance of American history left untold. Looking to his now vast collection of Civil War-era guns and other artifacts, he realized that he could play a role in telling the whole story.
In the spring of 2021, Pendleton opened the Vicksburg Civil War Museum as a non profit, with a mission to educate visitors on the war, its context, and its impact—especially focusing on the contributions of African Americans during combat.
A key element of the museum are its letters of secession from each Confederate state, documents he hopes every visitor reads when they first arrive. The letters demonstrate that slavery was indisputably the main issue of the war, he said. For instance, “A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union” lists the refusal of new slave states into the Union and the nullification of the fugitive slave act as reasons for Mississippi’s secession. It also rejects “negro equality, socially and politically.”
“No one can debate that this was a war that ended slavery,” Pendleton said, emphasizing the importance of having conversations about slavery’s role in the war, and its long-term effects on society.
Pendleton also uses his artifacts and historical documents to showcase the African Americans who fought in the Civil War, as well as every other U.S. war. “Here, we try to highlight the military role of African Americans,” he said. “For instance, twenty-five Black men were presented the Medal of Honor during the Civil War.”
Other artifacts featured at Pendleton’s museum include a replica enslaved person’s cabin and ephemera from both Confederate and Union soldiers, including uniforms, coffee pots, and musical instruments.
And then there is of course Pendleton’s remarkable gun and artillery shell collection, which fills up display cases throughout the museum.
Since the museum opened, Pendleton has received numerous visitors, including a steady tourist stream coming off the Mississippi River steamboats that regularly visit Vicksburg.
“We’ve had a ton of people in the museum and I can’t believe the positive feedback,” Pendleton said.
“The Vicksburg Civil War Museum has been a great addition to our Vicksburg attractions,” said Laura Beth Strickland, executive director of Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The museum has done an amazing job showcasing our Civil War history. . . It’s becoming a must-see attraction in downtown Vicksburg.”
The museum is located at 1123 Washington St. in the heart of downtown Vicksburg in a building that was formerly the Corner Drug Store. Hours are 9 am–6 pm daily, but Pendleton insisted that if he’s there, he will open the museum for visitors. Admission is $7 for adults, $3.50 for ages seven to twelve years old and free to ages six and younger.
A Destination for Civil War History: Other Museums to Visit While in Vicksburg
By the summer of 1863, in the thick of the Civil War, New Orleans had fallen to Union forces, cities north of Vicksburg were under Union control, and Natchez had acquiesced. U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant set his sights on Vicksburg and the fortification at Port Hudson, Louisiana downstream, hoping to take control of the Mississippi River. He surrounded Vicksburg with troops, facing Confederate guns and cannons, and from March 29 to July 4, 1863, Grant bombarded the city until the Confederates surrendered.
Vicksburg National Military Park, one of the oldest battlefields in the National Park Service, exists today on the hundreds of acres where the 1863 battle took place. The park contains more than 1,300 monuments and statues honoring those who fought and died there, plus a museum and welcome center.
In addition, the park contains a unique ironclad used in the Civil War. The U.S.S. Cairo was commissioned in January 1862, one of seven of its kind to patrol shallow waters like a submarine. The City Class gunboat prowled the Mississippi River and other waterways, firing on Confederate forces at Plum Point and Memphis, Tennessee, in 1862. The Cairo sustained damage and sank in the Yazoo River, but was later pulled from the mud and put on display in the national park.
For more Civil War history, Vicksburg’s Old Depot Museum downtown includes exhibits on the city’s siege, including a diorama depicting the battles, model Civil War gunboats, war-themed paintings by American artist Herb Mott, video footage, and more. In addition, the museum spotlights historical displays on Vicksburg and assorted memorabilia.
The museums are part of Vicksburg’s City Attraction Passport, a visitor’s guide that allows tourists to collect stamps from participating attractions, including the Vicksburg Civil War Museum, the Old Depot Museum, and the national park. After five stamps are recorded, visitors may return their passport to the Vicksburg Visitors Information Center (52 Old Highway 27) for a free Visit Vicksburg T-shirt. For more information, visit visitvicksburg.com/passport.
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