Since several of you enjoyed yesterday's post on local reactions to the Battle of Memphis, I thought you might also like this account from yesterday's Commercial Appeal. It appeared as a separate article describing one of the festivities taking place this month. Davies Manor Plantation is hosting a Civil War living history on Saturday and Sunday. The event will offer insight into the daily life of the Morning Sun
settlement in June of 1862. Historians will portray the civilians and
military personnel who might have been in the town on June 30, 1862, the
date 150 years ago when a small skirmish occurred. In 1862, Morning Sun (now Davies Plantation) was a small community close to Memphis,
centered around a small church. In late June that year, it was witness
to a Confederate attack on a Union supply train. It is documented that
the residents of Davies Manor watched the passing of the supply train
on its way to Memphis and heard the gunfire, which caused the mule teams
to stampede. Francis Vaughn Davies kept a watchful eye and ear as she went about
her chores that day. Looking out a front window, she saw near her
front gate a Union officer holding the bridle of her horse Summoning all her courage while searching for a weapon, she rushed
from the house and down the brick sidewalk, concealing a sharpened
butcher knife in the folds of her full skirt. Confronting the officer,
she twice requested that he leave her the horse. "I am confiscating this horse in the name of the Union army," he
replied. Mrs. Davies took the horse's bit in one hand and with the
other slashed the reins in two. Standing poised and holding her horse,
she said, "Sir, I have my horse. You go." Astounded, he left. Apparently, Mrs. Davies was one of those who refused to give up! |
