Natchez Julyteenth anniversary commemorated with story-telling at historical sites

NATCHEZ –  A group of Natchez residents and visitors rode in a procession throughout the downtown area Saturday, July 13, to commemorate the 161st Julyteenth Anniversary. The event was a recognition of July 13, 1863, when thousands of enslaved people of African descent found freedom with the arrival of the Union Army and its occupation of Natchez and Vidalia.

Juneteenth or June 19th is celebrated as a national holiday that recognizes the time in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Galveston, Texas. However, in Natchez, freedom came when the Union Army arrived nine days following the defeat of Vicksburg in July 1863.

The term “Julyteenth” was coined by Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, who organized Saturday’s event. Ser Boxley said he was pleased with the event that took place at several historical sites between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

“I feel empowered,” Ser Boxley said after the event. “I feel wonderful. This empowered a lot of us. The people told me that they all got something out of it. They said it was educational. I can appreciate that as that is exactly what I was trying to do.”

Ser Boxley said he was also very pleased with the re-enactors and volunteers who assisted him with the program.

Forks of the Road

The people who attended the event travelled from site-to-site in their own vehicles in a “Julyteenth caravan.” At least two travelled on motorcycles. They were led by a Natchez Police Department cruiser with flashing lights. At each stop, participants recounted the history of U.S. Colored Troops. They left sprigs of rosemary, an ancient symbol of remembrance, at each site.

The day’s event began at Forks of the Road, the site of the second largest slave market in the Southwestern states between 1833 and 1863. Ser Boxley explained how Natchez became a “destination of domestic chattel slavery trafficking.” The Forks was not the beginning but the end of the trafficking of enslaved people in Natchez, he said.

Interestingly, he continued, Forks of the Road was a place of enslavement and freedom. Many thousands of enslaved people of African descent were sold at the site, he said. But in 1863, there were thousands who were self-emancipated by leaving their enslavers and fleeing to the Forks where they found freedom with the Union Army.

“There was one enslaved mother who was sold with her 12-year-old son to enslavers in Copiah County. When that son became an adult during the Civil War, he escaped from Copiah County to Vicksburg and joined the 58th regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops,” Ser Boxley said.

During their solemn assembly, Ser Boxley called to “the ancestors who were sold into chattel slavery at the Forks to offer them evidence we had gathered on July 13 to remember them.” He asked for them “to rise up in their spirit and to join us in the caravan in remembrance of their stolen lives and their history.”

Before leaving the Forks, Patricia Mahammad, a volunteer, placed sprigs of rosemary in the shape of a triangle on top of the chain monument at the site.

On the Natchez Bluff at the Silver Street intersection, the audience heard from re-enactor Mandi Toy of Tupelo who portrayed Mary Conway Shields Dunbar, the daughter of Francis Surget. Toy read an account of the arrival of the Union soldiers in July 1863 and the later account of the U.S. Colored Troops presence in Natchez.

Toy shared excepts from Elizabeth Dunbar Murray’s book, “My Mother Used to Say: Memories of Mary Conway Shields Dunbar” (The Christopher Publishing House, 1959).

Speaking after the program, Toy said she appreciated the day’s commemoration. “Hearing a more holistic story, standing in the place it occurred, was profound,”  she said. “I am grateful to have been part of the day of remembrance and learning. It was a powerful day.”

From the Bluff, the attendees traveled to the Under the Hill site of the U.S. Colored Troops barracks and contraband camps near the Devil’s Punch Bowl. It was there that Ser Boxley gave a presentation on the history of the sites. He also refuted claims about the area known as the Devil’s Punch Bowl being a concentration camp for Blacks and the site where they were tortured and buried under fruit trees.

During Ser Boxley’s presentation, re-enactors Norman Fisher, Tylan Collins, and Cameron Grover made appearances as members of the U.S. Colored Troops.

Certificate of Appreciation

Following his talk, Ser Boxley paused to recognize one of his many volunteers. He called up Bonita Welch of Hinds County and presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation. He said she was being honored for her service to the U.S. 1st Mississippi Colored Infantry Re-enactors.

“Her generosity [has] made a significant impact, and we are grateful [for] her dedication and support,” Ser Boxley said, reading from the certificate.

At the Natchez National Cemetery, Ser Boxley and the Julyteenth audience paid respect to both the known and unknown members of the U.S. Colored Troops. Jacqueline Marsaw, a volunteer, placed rosemary on their graves. She included the grave of Civil War Navy Landsman Wilson Brown (1841-1900), a Medal of Honor recipient.

The final presentation of the day’s program occurred at Watkins Street Cemetery, where Ser Boxley shared the history of the African American cemetery. He was followed by Fisher, a resident of Jackson, who delivered a passionate message about a U.S. Colored Trooper Frederick Caldwell, who is buried at the cemetery. Fisher also shared the history of his great-grandfather, Dennis Fisher, a member of the 51st USCT who fought at Milliken’s Bend, La., and Fort Blakey, Ala.

Norman Fisher also spoke about the contributions of Caldwell, who served in Dennis Fisher’s unit.

Additionally, Norman Fisher shared his thoughts about the song, “Dixie,” which became popular with minstrel shows in the 1850s where White actors wore blackface. The song became an unofficial anthem of the Confederacy during the Civil War and is generally considered offensive to African Americans.

Daniel Decatur Emmett of Ohio, a white man, is credited with writing the song. However, said Norman Fisher, the song was actually written by two Black men from Ohio, who were brothers: Ben Snowden and Lou Snowden. The Snowdens were born to parents who were enslaved.

Norman Fisher said he used to wonder why his feet would tap at the sound of “Dixie.” He said he eventually learned of the song’s Black roots.

The Julyteenth program ended with a black-powder gun salute by Norman Fisher, Collins, and Grover.

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