Vicksburg was the last place James Madison Furlow ever saw, but for years, the marker dedicated in his honor has been wrong and easily could have stayed that way.

Last week at the Port City Kiwanis meeting, Dickie Scruggs talked a lot about second chances. His new nonprofit is striving to give second chances to adults who don’t have a high school diploma. But his trip to Vicksburg also gave a second chance to the memory of Furlow, a man who has been dead well over 150 years.

I had about an hour after the meeting to sit and talk with Scruggs before he had to rush off to his next appointment. While most folks, I figure, would have spent every second grilling Scruggs on his past as the country’s most powerful tort attorney and his later judicial bribery conviction what I was most interested in — besides his new workforce development nonprofit — was a brief mention he made of Vicksburg National Military Park.

I asked him about his interest in the park and Scruggs told me one of his ancestors died defending Vicksburg and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. He had never visited the grave but intended to.

“I’ve got a photo right here,” he said as he pulled out his iPad and showed me a photo of Furlow’s grave he had downloaded.

I told him everything I knew about the First Mississippi Light Artillery from how they were in the thickest part of battle at Champion Hill to its position during the 47-day Siege Vicksburg. That’s when I noticed what I felt was a mistake.

Furlow’s death date on his tombstone said April 1, 1862.

“There’s no way,” I said. “The First Mississippi didn’t form until summer 1862.”

After our conversation, we loaded up in our vehicles and headed for Cedar Hill. Scruggs seemed overwhelmed to finally visit the resting place of his ancestor and stopped briefly to sit in the grass to have his photo taken next to the marble stone bearing Furlow’s name.

I told him I would check on the dates, and through the Sons of Confederate Veterans I discovered my hunch was correct.

Furlow was among a group of soldiers tasked with defending Vicksburg in summer 1862 during bombardment by the Union naval fleet. He died Aug. 10, 1862, rather than in April.

He died in a place called Parker’s Camp hospital, though I’m not certain if he met his demise from disease, a shell fragment or some other nasty cause. The research is ongoing.

I emailed Scruggs earlier this week and will soon get him an application so the tombstone can be replaced and the mistake on Furlow’s marker can be corrected. It’s been a long time coming.

Scruggs readily admits he’s made mistakes too, but after spending the morning with him I could tell he was sincere in his post-prison efforts. He knows who he was and who he is. Now he’s learning where he came from.