Senate Concurrent Resolution 517

(As Adopted by Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO COMMEMORATE THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF IUKA AND TO RECOGNIZE THE GRAND REENACTMENT OF THIS IMPORTANT SEPTEMBER 19, 1862, ENGAGEMENT.

WHEREAS, the State of Mississippi witnessed critically important American Civil War military engagements on its soil, including the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Champion Hill, the Battle of Iuka and the Battle of Corinth, and hosts historic sites related to these strategic engagements which are nationally recognized centers of expertise in the study of the American Civil War; and

WHEREAS, the records show that the State of Mississippi contributed 49 regular Infantry Regiments, 25 regular Cavalry and Artillery Regiments, 78,000 men in service of which 60,000 were lost in action or by disease, the Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate armies (President Jefferson F. Davis) and 33 Generals of the Confederate Army whose remains lie in Mississippi soil; and

WHEREAS, Mississippi Battlefield Commission Chairman Harold Lomenick has worked in conjunction with the Tishomingo County Archives and History Museum to coordinate activities to commemorate the Battle of Iuka, an intensively savage but brief and indecisive engagement that occurred one mile south of the Village of Iuka, Mississippi, on the afternoon of September 19, 1862; and

WHEREAS, Battlefield Commission plans for the weekend of Labor Day 2012 include a reenactment on a scale not seen in many years, on parts of the actual battlefield site near the intersection of Highway 72 and Highway 25. The event will also use some of the historic homes in Iuka for living history exhibits and two large encampments of reenactors, one near the battlefield site, and one near Mineral Springs Park. This will involve students and volunteers in the activities to create a pride in local heritage; and

WHEREAS, while encamped in the woods near Jacinto, Mississippi, and expecting to be attacked, Union Major S.H.M. Byers obtained notice that General Sterling Price's southern Army was in Iuka, 18 miles away. Eagerly, his excited regiment, the 5th Iowa Infantry, led the march of General Rosecran's Army over the narrow country roads toward the Confederates. During the War Between the States, Major Byers met the Confederates at Corinth, Missionary Ridge, and in other battles, but it was the Battle of Iuka that he said was the "fiercest little conflict of the war...Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, could show nothing like it," he later wrote. "Only the setting sun put an end to what part of the time was a hand-to-hand conflict," he said. "For hours, the Blue and the Gray stood within 40 yards of each other and poured in sheets of musketry." The battle concluded with the death of Confederate Division Commander General Henry Little; and

WHEREAS, the Battle of Iuka reenactment will be held on Sunday, September 4, 2012, and has the potential to not only honor Iuka's rich Civil War heritage, but draw many heritage tourists that are taking advantage of the Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi, which occurred on September 19, 1862, and recognize and commend the organization and participation of thousands of volunteers at the Grand Reenactment of the Battle of Iuka to be held on September 4, 2012, on the actual battlefield site.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the Mississippi Battlefield Commission and the Tishomingo County Archives and History Museum to encourage the education and participation of the citizens of the State of Mississippi in this important event, and to be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.