More Montgomey Civil War Sites & Buildings

In our May 11 blog I mentioned Mary Ann Neeley's Civil War Walking Tour in downtown Montgomery. I mentioned some of the sites we visited, but other important places also need mentioning, and one of them is where the Alabama Confederate Prison was, near the corner of Coosa and Tallapoosa streets

Yes,  from Mid-April to December 1862 a Confederate military prison held 700 Union soldiers, most captured at Shiloh. Nearly 198 of them died in captivity. Survivors were moved to Tuscaloosa in Dec. A historic marker marks the location, outside Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Buiscuit's baseball team.

Nearby is Oakwood Cemetery, where many Confederate and Northern soldiers' graves are located. A memorial service is held there every April 26th, Confederate Memorial Day by the Ladies Memorial Associaton and wreaths are laid honoring both Confederate and Union graves..

St. John's Episcopal church is nearby, where Jefferson Davis worshiped while in Montgomery. His pew is still there and the parishioners say that only visitors sit on it because it is so hard! Members know better!!!

The Confederate Post office was located on the corner of Washington and Perry streets. It was the only Post Office that actually was profitable! It was also the only building in Montgomery that was earthquake-proof.

Another important building, still standing, is on the corner of Perry and Monroe streeets, where Jefferson Davis's Inauguration Ball was held, in the second floor ballroom. Don't we wish someone would restore it and it could be open to visitors? It would make a wonderful museum. Instead it is a boarded up building.

 So much Confederate history, with so much of it "gone with the wind". But ah, what stories these old buildings could tell if only they could speak! A grand and glorious past, one that we can be proud of. Thanks to Landmarks Preservation group we still have as much of the past as we do. And thankfully, the White House Association was able to save the First White House of the Confederacy. Come visit us!!!