The Shaifer House is one of the sites listed as having a part
in
the Battle of Port Gibson, which is included in the Vicksburg
Campaign of the Civil War. The house is owned by the
Mississippi
Department of Archives and History, and permission has been
obtained to place a cache at this site.
On the night of April 30, 1863, Union troops were advancing
down
the road in front of the house (now known as Rodney Road)
around
midnight. Word was sent to warn a group of Confederate soldiers
approx. a quarter mile away guarding the road from the site of
the
Magnolia Church (which has only its foundation remaining). A
three-hour gun battle took place in the dark. Then when
daylight
broke the next morning (May 1st), more skirmishes took place
along
the road and on into the town of Port Gibson with more and more
troops entering the conflict. By the time the Battle of Port
Gibson
ended around sunset on the evening of May 1st with the retreat
of
the Confederate troops, over 2000 soldiers had either been
killed
or wounded.
The house was converted into a hospital for the wounded.
With
limited medical supplies and doctors, many of the soldiers who
came
in with wounds to their arms and legs had them amputated as the
simplest form of treatment. People coming to the house in the
days
following reported seeing amputated limbs piled in a heap out
in
the yard.
Located about a mile down the road is one of the premier
caches
in Mississippi - Rodney Road (GCD6CC) by Mauler6.
