3rd U.S. Colored Cavalry to Visit Woodville After Stop in Natchez
Published 15:17 Wednesday June 5, 2024
Reenactors of the 3rd US Colored Cavalry. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
NATCHEZ – Mississippi‘s 3rd U.S. Colored Cavalry reenactors head to Woodville on Friday, June 14, following their Civil War encampment program in Natchez. They will be in Woodville from noon to 2 p.m.
The cavalry’s visit will be led by Richard Wilder, president of Buffalo Soldiers Florida Inc. He and his team were invited by Mayor Drew Pierson and his wife, Frankie Pierson, who will host their visit, along with the library system of Wilkinson County.
The free public event kicks off the summer reading program for the Wilkinson County Library System.
“The 3rd US Colored Cavalry from Mississippi played an important role in our state during the Civil War,” said Mayor Drew Pierson. “They fought bravely for the freedom, peace and security of our great nation. “It is important for all of us to know these brave soldiers and their contribution to our nation’s heritage.”
The mayor said he is happy to welcome Wilder and his team of re-enactors to Woodville. “This is a great opportunity for our city – and Wilkinson County – as we reflect on the Juneteenth celebrations,” he said.
During their visit, reenactors will meet with the public to answer questions and discuss the history of black Mississippians in the Union army, Drew Pierson said.
“We are praying that this is just the beginning of many more important history programs that will take place in Woodville,” Frankie Pierson said.
Wilder and his team will leave Natchez between 11 and 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 14, and head to Woodville. Their agenda includes a private lunch at the Little Red Building at 155 Boston Row, Woodville, followed by a public presentation beginning at 1 p.m. at the Woodville Public Library at 489 Main St., where they will interact with the public.
“We’re really looking forward to this,” said Monique Joseph, library director. “This is an informative program for all ages. It is a family program and the entire community is invited.”
“We will talk to everyone who will be there and share our story,” Wilder said. “We also look forward to hearing about the history of Woodville and its place in Civil War history.”
Frankie Pierson said they will also visit a site near Bank Street where the Colored Cavalry confronted a Woodville property owner in October 1864.
The royal soldiers, also known as the “Black Horse Soldiers,” camped in Natchez on October 3, 1864. They later traveled to Woodville, where they attacked the Confederates at Bowling Green Plantation and forced them to retreat, according to historians.
Wilder said he and his re-enactors hope to visit Woodville.
“Visiting Woodville will be the highlight of our tour of Mississippi,” he said. “It’s not often we visit a small town with so much Civil War history. We hope our visit will enlighten and inspire the citizens of Woodville to appreciate those who came before them and to be proud of their rich heritage.”
Woodville is one of five places reenactors visit. In addition to Natchez, other sites include Vicksburg National Military Park June 7-8; the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson on June 11; and the Claiborne County Fairgrounds in Port Gibson on June 12.
Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-CM Boxley, coordinator of the Friends of the Forks of the Roads Society, said he initiated and organized these living history programs at each of the sites except Woodville.
“I did not organize the re-enactors to go to Woodville to complete the story as the real story says because of my own fearful thinking and imagination of the racial antagonism if we showed and told the truth of black Civil War history there,” Boxley said , who started Natchez’s Annual Black and Blue Civil War Living History Programs in 2008.
“Hallelujah!” he said. “In 2024, thanks to leadership from the Woodville community that he never imagined, they have been excitingly pushing for re-enactors to come to Woodville on their way back to Florida!”
Boxley said the upcoming visit “is a chance to walk and talk on the actual hallowed grounds of the Civil War Battle of Woodville, teaching and completing the southern end of the two expeditions of the Third U.S. Colored Cavalry.” to Woodville via stops in Natchez from Vicksburg and Memphis.”
For more information about the U.S. Colored Cavalry’s third visit to Woodville, call Frankie Pierson at 910-256-6216 or Mayor Drew Pierson at 910-617-3739. Information is also available by calling the Woodville Public Library at 601-888-6712.
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