THE CAPITAL AREA 215 Grant’s advance on Vicksburg. After a sweep through the eastern part of the state, federal troops arrived at the railroad depot at Hazlehurst. A handful of civilians were waiting for them, but they dissipated as soon as shots rang out. Union troops proceeded to destroy a train and local buildings. In preparation for the Civil War’s Vicksburg campaign, General Ulysses S. Grant needed to destroy the rail lines running west out of Jackson in order to isolate supply lines and obstruct Confederate troop refreshment. Capturing the capital city was a critical piece of the plan. The move toward Jackson began with a raid of the rural areas surrounding it. Confederate troops anticipated Grant would pursue a direct assault on Vicksburg and bypass Jackson. With that in mind, Confederate forces camped out at Raymond, the county seat in Hinds County and a bustling commercial town. On the morning of May 12, 1863, 3,000 Confederate troops arrived anticipating a small force of Union troops. Instead, they found themselves vastly outnumbered and facing an army 10,000 strong. The Battle of Raymond began around noon. After two hours of fighting, the badly outnumbered Confederate troops abandoned the town after suffering around 500 casualties. Following the Confederate retreat, Raymond’s buildings became hospitals for Union and Confederate wounded. Churches, hotels, and the county courthouse soon filled, and local women volunteered as nurses. Union troops who were not wounded occupied the town and raised the American flag. News of the Confederate retreat initiated massive slave migrations into Union lines. Yazoo, Madison, and Hinds counties, among the top slaveholding counties in the state, became fearful that the slaves may go into open revolt. The Battle of Raymond injected a fresh wave of panic as residents in the area confronted the realities of battle and defeat on their own soil. Following the defeat at Raymond, the Confederates headed to Jackson and found a city terrified. Governor Pettus had already pulled out and had moved the capital to Enterprise, south of Meridian. Jackson mayor Charles H. Manship urged his constituents to stay calm, but he failed to stem frantic flight out of the city. The residents that remained isolated themselves in their houses. On May 14, Union troops arrived in Jackson. The devastating Battle of Jackson lasted for five hours, at a cost of 800 Confederate and 250 Union casualties. Most of Jackson was burned to the ground and residents suffered the loss of personal property. Convicts from the penitentiary next to the Governor’s Mansion looted local shops alongside DUTCH AIRMEN After the Nazis and the Japanese had taken over Dutch military training bases during World War II, the Netherlands needed somewhere else to train troops, specifically, their military pilots. Jackson became the site of the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School in 1942. Dutch and Indonesian pilots came to Mississippi’s capital city be trained for active duty in World War II. The pilots and their families lived in Jackson for two years during training, some even marrying Mississippians and remaining in the area after their service. Cedar Lawn Cemetery contains a plot of land considered Dutch soil where airmen and at least one widow are buried near a memorial inscribed “Voor Hen Die Vielen,” or “For Those Who Fell.” In preparation for the Civil War’s Vicksburg campaign, General Ulysses S. Grant needed to destroy the rail lines running west out of Jackson in order to isolate supply lines and obstruct Confederate troop refreshment. PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY