Rienzi during the Civil War

Introduction  

To skip the introduction and go right to the facts

Rienzi didn't have a big battle like Corinth, Iuka, Booneville, Shiloh, or Brice's Cross Roads.  There is no National Battlefield here. There are no statues of soldiers on or off horseback.  There isn't even a Historical Marker out on the highway.  When you read about the Civil War, Rienzi is hardly even mentioned.  Tourist pass us by on the way to the "big battlefields" and never give us a second thought except to say " Strange name" and they try to pronounce it.  Incorrectly, most likely.  But that's not the way it was DURING the Civil War.

I have spent hours reading military communications written by the officers to and from headquarters, both Union and Confederate.  John Heseltine, Kennebunk, Maine, sent over 200 pages from the several resources and the official war records.  What I found was that Rienzi was the hub of the wheel so to speak.  Rienzi was extremely important!  I am putting down dates and excerpts from these communications so you can see for yourself how many soldiers were here, when and for how long. There are many books written about the battles mentioned above so I am not going to dwell on them.   My focus will be Rienzi.  I hope you find it as interesting as I have.  Again, please remember that this is a work in progress.  

  Thanks, Pauline  

Just the facts