Re-enactors, authors, musicians and members of the John C. Pemberton Sons of Confederate Veterans will meet at Champion’s Hill Saturday to celebrate the unveiling of a Confederate headstone in honor of Sid S. Champion of the 28th Mississippi Cavalry.

The celebration will be at 2 p.m. on the grounds of Sid and Matilda Champion’s house on Champion’s Hill Road, four miles west of Bolton.

Champion and his wife, Matilda Montgomery Champion, built their plantation at Midway Station along the Southern Railroad around 1853.

He joined the Confederate Army 10 years later in hopes the war would be brief and that the South would be victorious.

In 1863, following the Siege of Vicksburg, the Champions’ home was burned by Yankees and Sid Champion was taken prisoner. After a prisoner exchange, Champion rejoined the 28th Mississippi Calvary and fought in the Tennessee and Atlanta campaigns. Champion was mustered out of the Confederate Army in May 1865 and returned to his wife and children. He and his family rebuilt their house a mile west of the original house.

In 1868, still weakened from the war, Champion developed a severe infection and died after a five-day illness. He was 45 years old.

Featured speaker for the headstone dedication will be Grady Howell, Civil War author and historian.

After the unveiling, Margie R. Bearss and Rebecca B. Drake, Civil War authors and historians, will dedicate their new book, &#8220Darwina’s Diary: A View of Champion Hill – 1865.” The book-signing will be at the Champions’ dining room table, which Union surgeons converted into an amputation table during the Battle of Champion’s Hill.

Musicians featured during the event will be concert artist Lester Senter Wilson, who will perform &#8220Dixie,” bugler Joe Gerache and bagpiper James Clark.

Buttermilk pies using Matilda Champion’s original recipe will be served at the reception following the afternoon’s events.

IF YOU GO.

The unveiling of a Confederate headstone in honor of Sid S. Champion of the 28th Mississippi Cavalry will be at 2 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of Sid and Matilda Champion’s house on Champion’s Hill Road, four miles west of Bolton. The event is open to the public.