Most of us are familiar with the famous quote from the beloved radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, “And now for the rest of the story.” If you are interested in Civil War History, or more specifically, the story of Confederate veterans from Natchez, please make plans to attend the annual Grace MacNeil Lecture, sponsored by the Natchez Historical Society.

The Beauvoir Veteran Project is the work of this year’s guest lecturer, Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D. This is a digital history project that focuses on more than 1800 veterans, wives and widows who lived at the Confederate Soldier Home located at Beauvoir in Biloxi from 1903 through 1957. Several of these residents were from Natchez. The Beauvoir Veteran Project investigates impoverished Mississippi veterans and their families to see how the war affected them and their communities and how representative they are of larger trends in the late 19th and early 20th century American South. More information can be found at BeauvoirVeteranProject.org.

Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D. is the Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Alumni Professor of the Humanities and co-director of the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society in the history department of the University of Southern Mississippi. She is also the vice-president of the Mississippi Historical Society. A war and society scholar by training, Ural’s work focuses on the soldiers and families of the United States Civil War era. Ural is the author of several books and articles including “The Harp and the Eagle: Irish Catholic Volunteers and the Union Army, 1861-1865” and “Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades: Soldiers and Families in America’s Civil War.” Her latest book, “Hood’s Texas Brigade and the Southern Confederacy,” is a socio-military history of soldiers and families of an elite Confederate unit. In conjunction with her academic and literary career, Ural serves on the boards of the Journal of Military History, War and Society, and Civil War Times.

This year Ural is launching her latest work, the County Courthouse Project (CCP) in connection with Mississippi’s bicentennial celebrations for the year 2017. The CCP will start in Marion County and then serve as a pilot program to promote similar work in counties across the state, making courthouse records more readily available and more easily searchable by scholars, researchers, genealogists and the general public online and to encourage site visits to county seats across the state.

What a perfect way to continue the tricentennial celebration of Natchez. Make plans to attend the Natchez Historical Society’s Grace MacNeil Lecture, held annually in March. This year’s event will be tonight at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 South Commerce St. A reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by the program at 7 p.m.

The program is free and open to the public. Call 601-446-6461 for information. Come enoy the program. You won’t be disappointed!

 

Kathy King is the publicity chair for theNatchez Historical Society.