Confederate Cemetery

he Confederate Cemetery has 140 graves of soldiers mortally wounded in the Battle of Raymond, May 12, 1863. The Civil War soldiers, mostly from Tennessee and Texas, died in private residences around the town that served as hospitals. A few probably died of sickness while stationed in the area or died of wounds from various local skirmishes or nearby battles such as Champion’s Hill. Those that were killed outright on the battlefield of Raymond were reported to have been buried where they fell by Union soldiers.

In 1985, an effort was initiated by Roger Hansen of Pascagoula to identify the Confederate dead of the Battle of Raymond. A total of 109 were found, based upon the Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers in the National Archives, to have been killed or mortally wounded on the Raymond battlefield. (The Union dead at Raymond were removed after the war by the Federal Government and reinterred in the National Cemetery at Vicksburg.) This compiled list is the first accounting of the Southern heroes that died in and around Raymond as a result of the 12 May 1863 battle, but it should not be considered all inclusive due to the incompleteness of historical records.

In a 1987 ceremony, the new grave markers were dedicated. Members of Stanford’s Mississippi Battery, a Civil War reenactment group in authentic uniforms, fired a six-gun salute to the dead. Writer Willie Morris, great-grandson of Civil War Major George Harper who founded the Hinds County Gazette, participated in the ceremonies. Text of Dedication Speech