Dear Editor: 

A silent witness to most of Vicksburg’s 200-year history is in serious danger of extinction. It is the house at 1414 Grove Street, currently marked for demolition. The building is less than two blocks east of the Martha Vick House. Constructed by 1859 – within 34 years of Vicksburg’s incorporation – it belongs to a period inadequately represented today by extant buildings. 

It would have witnessed both Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War; and Mary Loughborough, author of “My Cave Life in Vicksburg,” would likely have driven past it in an army ambulance on her way to her new cave behind Vicksburg’s fortifications. Her husband, Capt. James M. Loughborough, had prepared a shelter for her there in greater safety than in the bombarded town. Loughborough wrote of her new cave, located around the eastern end of the abandoned hospital on Grove Street, in her 1864 national best-seller of civilian life during the siege.

Sometimes referred to today after two early owners as the Springer-Johnson House, in the war, 1414 Grove Street was Gen. Pemberton’s first headquarters, according to the general’s re-enactor Morgan Gates. The Vicksburg National Military Park currently owns his second headquarters at 1018 Crawford Street, where Pemberton moved after his first became too unsafe because of Union bombardment. The restoration of the second headquarters is proceeding at seemingly glacial speed. 

But 1414 Grove Street was declared condemned at a meeting of the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen on November 8, 2024. Easter Neely of Jackson currently owns it. While the property has been cleaned up, a demolition date seems yet to be determined. A for sale sign, associated with a company that deals with unpaid tax sales, is in front. Seemingly, no reference to the historical nature of the property was made at last November’s meeting.

However, because of its age and history, the house is infinitely more valuable than unpaid taxes. It represents an opportunity for Vicksburg to demonstrate that the preservation of a historic building is as important as words, – being more concrete and durable – to commemorate a bicentennial, or a win for Vicksburg in a national poll for the best historic small town of 2025 in the U.S. 

In fact, it is an opportunity for the city – and Warren County – to become obviously serious about preserving this historic city itself. 

Bernadette Cahill

Vicksburg