United States Congressman from Mississippi

Colonel of the 17th Mississippi Infantry

Wounded during the Seven Days Battles in 1862

Rare 1861 Mississippi "Confederate Guards" document on Army of Mississippi imprinted letter sheet

(1820-91) Born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Featherston completed his preparatory studies, but left school in 1836 to enroll in a local militia company to fight the Creek Indians during the Creek War. He later moved to Mississippi where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, and established a successful law practice. He served as a Democratic United States Congressman from Mississippi from 1847-51. After his two terms in congress he settled in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and practiced law there. With the secession of Mississippi, Featherston was appointed as a commissioner to visit neutral Kentucky to try to influence Governor Beriah Magoffin into also seceding from the Union. When the War Between the States broke out in 1861, Featherston joined the Confederate State Army with rank of captain, and was in command of a Company called the "Confederate Guards," who would be incorporated into the 17th Mississippi Infantry, and on June 4, 1861, Featherston became colonel of the regiment, and he led them in the First Battle of Manassas, Virginia. Next seeing action in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Va., on October 21, 1861, he was cited for gallantry, and promoted to rank of brigadier general. Elevated to brigade command in the Army of Northern Virginia, he fought in the 1862 Virginia Peninsula Campaign, and was wounded during the Seven Days Battles at Glendale, Va. He then saw action in the Second Battle of Manassas, Va., at Antietam, Md., and at Fredericksburg, Va. Featherston was transferred to Mississippi in early 1863, and was assigned to command a brigade of Mississippians in General William W. Loring's Division, in General Joseph E. Johnston's army. General Featherston's brigade fought at the Battle of Champion Hill, on May 16, 1863 with Loring's division, which had marched off on its own to join General Johnston in Jackson, Mississippi, instead of retreating to Vicksburg. As a result, Featherston was not with General John C. Pemberton's army at Vicksburg when it was forced to surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant, on July 4, 1863. His brigade fought in other major campaigns in the western theater of the war, which included the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, and he saw action with General John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee during the Franklin and Nashville Campaign. He had two horses shot and killed from under him at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864. Featherston commanded a brigade in the 1865 Carolina's Campaign, and he surrendered with General Johnston's army in North Carolina, and was paroled in Greensboro, on May 1, 1865. After the war, he returned to his home in Holly Springs, and failed in an attempt to be elected as a U.S. Senator from Mississippi, and then returned to his law practice. He was elected to the Mississippi State House of Representatives in 1876, and again in 1880, and served as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was a delegate to the 1880 Democratic National Convention, and in 1882, he became Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of Mississippi, and in 1890 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. General Winfield Scott Featherston died at his home in Holly Springs, Mississippi on May 28, 1891, and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, in Holly Springs. There is a large bust statue of General Featherston at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

War Date Document Signed: 7 3/4 x 10, in ink, on a rare 1861 imprinted Army of Mississippi letter sheet.

Quarter-Master's Department, Army of Mississippi
Jackson, May 17th, 1861

Received of Col. Wm. Barksdale, Quartermaster General, of the Army of Mississippi the following Camp Equipage, blankets, knapsacks, canteens, and straps and tents complete for the use of my Company, the Confederate Guards. The document continues by giving a very detailed and itemized list of the other various camp equipage received by then Captain Featherston, in command of the "Confederate Guards" of Mississippi. Signed at the bottom, W.S. Featherston, Capt. Confed. Guards.

Light age toning and wear. Very fine, and neatly written early war, Confederate document. Large signature with rank of this very hard fighting future Confederate general on an early, and very desirable Army of Mississippi imprinted letter sheet. Captain Featherston commanded the "Confederate Guards" who were recruited in Marshall County, Mississippi, and became Company G, of the 17th Mississippi Infantry. Featherston was in command of the "Confederate Guards" for only a very short time before being commissioned colonel of the regiment. Very rare "Confederate Guards" document!

WBTS Trivia: An interesting note about this rare Confederate document is that these supplies were issued by then Colonel William Barksdale, Quartermaster General of Mississippi. Barksdale would go on to fame as a Confederate general who led the Mississippi Brigade at the battle of Gettysburg, and was mortally wounded in the fighting at the famous Peach Orchard, on July 2, 1863. He died the next morning in a Union field hospital, located at the Joseph Hummelbaugh farmhouse.