Rosalie - Natchez, Mississippi
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Rosalie - Natchez, Mississippi
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
In 1820, Peter Little, a wealthy cotton broker, purchased a piece of the land on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to be the site of his future home.
This land had once been part of Fort Rosalie and was the location of the gruesome Natchez Massacre in 1729. The French had lived in harmony alongside the Natchez Indians for over a decade when the French colonial commandant, Sieur de Chepart demanded land from the Natchez village in which to build himself a plantation. The Natchez retaliated by killing approximately 230 Frenchmen and burning the fort and the colonist’s homes to the ground.
When Little’s mansion was completed in 1823, he named it Rosalie to honor those early settlers. One of the earlier mansions in Natchez, its Greek Revival style had a significant influence over the architecture of the area.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wilson owned the home at the start of the Civil War. General U.S. Grant took possession of Rosalie to be used as the Union headquarters a week after the Battle of Vicksburg on July 13, 1863. When General Walter Gresham took over the command a month later, he remained at Rosalie but stored most of the furnishings in the attic under guard to prevent theft and destruction. Army tents covered much of the grounds during the war, and the observatory atop the mansion was manned by Union soldiers.
Rosalie was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Copyright 2019 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
May 20th, 2019
Statistics
Viewed 2,822 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/29/2024 at 7:29 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet