Old

Posted by Bookfool (Mississippi, United States) on 18 December 2008 in Architecture and Portfolio.

The Old Courthouse Museum in downtown Vicksburg. This is a phone photo, shot when I went downtown to do a little Christmas shopping in the museum's gift shop and to replace a pristine minie ball my son recently lost.

Minie ball: A conical rifle bullet used in the 19th century and designed with a hollow base that expanded when fired.

Minie balls (made of lead and able to do some serious damage) used to be available for $1, back when we moved here. Now, they've become a bit more rare. I came home with a spent pistol bullet from the Union side (for $3 -- not bad) and acquired an unused minie ball, but it was pricey. I feel like I ought to put it in a vault.

When I was looking for information about minie balls, I came across a tourist website in which the curator of the Old Courthouse Museum (I can only assume the author is referring to Gordon Cotton, who recently retired from the museum and still writes a column in the local paper) was described as, " an unregenerate Confederate zealot". Huh. I think, actually, I'd refer to him as an historian of some reknown, since he's written quite a number of books and is well-known as a fount of Civil War knowledge.