Wexford
Lodge - The Shirley House
In the center of the conflict that raged
around Vicksburg in the year 1863 stood the plantation home of Captain
Shirley (a native of New Hampshire and a noted Union man), called “Wexford
Lodge.” The house was built after the prevailing style of Southern
homes in the early 40’s, a story and half in height, a wide hall through
the center, on each side large rooms with high ceilings, upper and lower
galleries in front, a broad veranda in the rear. The long dining
room was in the basement.
The house stood on a high elevation some
distance from the public road; a driveway describing a semi-circle
passed the door, a wide walk extended from the gallery steps to the front
gate, thence by a flight of steps to the road. This walk was bordered
with red flowering quinces, fragrant syringas, and roses, while close to
the edge bloomed violets, jonquils, and hyacinths; at one end of
the porch was a beautiful pink crape myrtle, at the other a white althea
gave shade and perfume throughout the long summer months. A rustic
summer-house made of grape vines and roots with borders of flowers was
a great delight to the only daughter of the house. Here she spent
many hours reading; she had few companions of her age, and books were her
chief delight. She tells of reading “Paul and Virginia” many times,
Mrs. Sherwood’s books for children, and Hannah More’s works.
The gardens and orchard were at the side
and rear of the house; the kitchen was some distance away, typical of the
old South. During a storm, or on cold days, the biscuits and cakes
that left the kitchen hot, were sometimes rather damp and cold when they
reached the dining room, but small thought was given to such matters then.
When war came to Vicksburg the fiercest
of the fray was around “Wexford Lodge,” which was called the “White House”
by the Federals; and the battery posted there was known officially
as the “White House battery.” This house, the only one of the ante-bellum
houses now standing on the battle grounds, is known as “The Shirley House,”
and is considered the most precious relic of the siege of Vicksburg, and
by direction of the Secretary of War will be restored as nearly as possible
to its condition at the beginning of the siege.