Wexford Lodge (Shirley House) - Mississippi Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

"Built in the late 1830s, Wexford Lodge is the only surviving wartime structure in the park. Better known as the Shirley House, the building was the home of James and Adeline Shirley. Although they were both northern born, their three children, Frederick, Alice, and Quincy, were all born in Vicksburg. The Shirleys owned twenty-five slaves and made Wexford Lodge the center of a successful farm. Upon the secession of Mississippi, the Shirleys, who remained ardent supporters of the Union, kept to themselves for safety. During the siege of Vicksburg, the family fled first to a cave located in the ravine to your right, and then to an empty slave cabin several miles away. The house -- badly damaged by shot and shell -- was later converted by the Union army to a smallpox hospital. In 1864 it was abandoned altogether. This house and 60 acres were sold to the Federal Government in 1900 by Alice Shirley Eaton. James and Adeline are interred behind the house."

The photo shown on the historical marker is the "Only known photograph of the Shirley House taken during the siege. Notice the "shebangs" that shielded Union soldiers from enemy fire and the heat of a Mississippi summer."

The following additional information about Wexford Lodge (Shirley House) is from the Vicksburg National Military Park website:

"The Shirley House was owned by James and Adeline Shirley and is the only wartime structure remaining inside Vicksburg National Military Park, and was referred to as the 'white house' by Federal soldiers during the siege." "On May 18, 1863, as the Confederate rear guard fell back into the Vicksburg defenses, soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses in front of their works. The Shirley barns and outbuildings were quickly burned to the ground, but the soldier assigned to destroy the house was shot before he could apply the torch." "Mrs. Shirley, her 15-year-old son Quincy, and several servants, were caught in the cross-fire as Union soldiers approached Vicksburg. Fearing for their lives, they remained in the house huddled in a chimney corner for three days before Mrs. Shirley tied a sheet to a broom handle and had it placed on the upper front porch. The frightened occupants of the 'white house' were finally removed by Union soldiers and given shelter in a cave." "It was near the Shirley House that mining operations against the Confederate forts guarding Jackson road were initiated. When Major General Grant chose not to waste more soldiers' lives assaulting the southern strongpoints, digging mines underneath the Confederate lines became a viable alternative. West of the Shirley House lies the Third Louisiana Redan, a triangular earthwork, where Federal soldiers dug trenches to near the base of the redan. This avenue was known as Logan's Approach, since troops digging the trenches were commanded by Major General John A. Logan. Here a mine was started with the plan to explode a charge under the redan, allowing and Union soldiers to rush into the gap created in the fort's wall."