Alston's Springs

The Search for Alston’s Springs

by Rebecca Blackwell Drake

Recent research has unveiled the location of Alston’s Springs,
where General John Gregg camped the night before the Battle of Raymond.

General John Gregg
Commander of Gregg’s Brigade

     For quite some time, historians have searched for the site where General John Gregg and members of his brigade camped the night before the Battle of Raymond. The answer finally surfaced in 2004-2005 after Mary Adams Kuhn and Pattie Adams Snowball, granddaughters of Mrs. H. B. Gillespie, made public a collection of century-old newspaper clippings that they inherited following the death of their mother, Mary Gillespie Adams. The vast assortment of clippings is historically significant in that it captures “moments in time” regarding all facets of Raymond’s history from the 1840s until at least the 1950s.
     Mrs. H. B. Gillespie, turn-of-the-century historian whose parents lived in Raymond during the war, recalled: “On the eve of the 11th of May, Gen. Gregg, with 1,500 gallant Tennesseeans and Texans, camped in the woods known as Alston’s Springs with heavy pickets guarding all the roads.” The statement identified the name of the site but failed to answer a question of equal interest. Where was Alston’s Springs?
     Found in the collection of clippings, now known as the Gillespie Collection, was a series of 24 articles, Raymond Years Ago, written in 1878-1879 by George Harper, owner and editor of the Hinds County Gazette. In Vol. 3 of Raymond Years Ago, Harper describes the town as it appeared during the 1840s and cites the numerous mineral springs in the area: “In 1844 the water of Cooper’s Well began to attract attention in the neighborhood. The young people of Raymond then first commenced their visits to the place and from the small beginning thus made, the Wells soon eclipsed Mississippi Springs; and from about 1848 – 1860 had a most extraordinary run of visitors and had acquired a reputation co-extensive with the Southwestern States…But the springs was not the only public resort that was captured by the Well. In 1842-43 there was a public house with a bar room, billiards, ten pins and the other attendant circumstances – in a house which stood where the residence of James M. Futch now stands, in the southern part of the town. A spring near the building [Alston’s Springs] was held forth as highly mineral, and the sporting men of the town found the place quite an agreeable refuge during the heat of the day as well as after nightfall.”
     In Volume 21 of Raymond Years Ago, Harper described Raymond as the town appeared in the 1850s and cited the popularity of Alston’s Springs in regard to town events: “In 1850, 1855 and 1860, we witnessed very large political gatherings in Raymond, held in the interest of the old Whig, Democratic, Union, American and Southern Rights parties. They assembled, as a general rule, at what was then known as Alston’s Springs, where was a beautiful grove, convenient and ample barbecue grounds, and excellent water privileges. Judge Sharkey, Jefferson Davis, H. S. Foote, W. A. Lake, P. W. Tompkins, A. G. Brown, A. R. Johnston, Fulton Anderson, and other equally well known and influential Mississippi statesmen, often thundered their eloquence there to very large and enthusiastic audiences.”
     In the years following World War I, a long-time resident of Raymond, W. Henry McNeil, wrote that Alston’s Springs had been a favorite picnic area: “The Alston Place, south of Palestine Road was quite a large place extending to the Dr. Watson home. This property was a favorite as a picnic grounds for the reasons of a fine spring on the same. It is now owned by Jeff Crisler.”

One-hundred and fifteen Confederate soldier’s mostly from Texas and Tennessee were memorialized in Raymond’s Confederate Cemetery in the years following the Battle of Raymond. The cemetery is located only hundreds of feet from the brigade’s final camp site at Altson’s Springs.

On May 12, 1863, when Gregg’s Brigade came to Raymond, Alston’s Springs would have been the ideal spot for the soldiers to camp. Undoubtedly, Col. Hiram Granbury, commander of the 7th Texas Infantry and a formerly of the Palestine community near Raymond, advised General Gregg of Alston’s Springs. The area was perfect since the spring provided ample water and was easily accessible to the main bridge across Fourteenmile Creek, the site where John Gregg chose to engage the approaching enemy. On the morning of May 12th, after Gregg was advised that the enemy was approaching from the west along the Utica Road, the soldiers marched out Dry Grove Road to assume their positions on the battlefield. Today, there is nothing left to remind us of Alston’s Springs, which once flowed in abundance, producing enough water to satisfy hundreds of soldiers. The wooded area behind Palestine Street, extending all the way to the intersection of Dry Grove Road and the present day Highway 18, fits the description of the location described in the historical writings.

To imagine the Alston’s Springs area as it would have appeared during the early years, stand in front of Phoenix Hall on Palestine Street and gaze directly westward toward the cemetery. The woods are still alluring as a long ridge laden with old cedar trees leads to the site of a dilapidated turn-of-the century house. On the site are several massive oak trees whose age appears to be at least a century and a half old. One can imagine the troops camped there and John Gregg as he waited for sunrise on the morning of the Battle of Raymond.

*Historic Source: The History of Raymond circa 1930-1950 by Mrs. H. B. Gillespie; Raymond Years Ago (articles 3 and 21) by George Harper as published in the Hinds County Gazette during the 1870s; and Reminiscences of an Old Timer (article #4) by W. Henry McNeil, as published in the Hinds County Gazette circa 1920-1930. A special thanks to Oliver V. Shearer, Jr., Pattie Snowball, and Jim Drake for helping to find this historic site.

To view the Gillespie Collection visit www.raymondhistory.org.