Some were hardly noticed: The 11 presidents who visited Vicksburg

When President Donald Trump gives a speech, his audience usually numbers more people than the population of Vicksburg. He’s never been here, but at least 11 others who have held that office have. Some came before they were president, others after and some during their time in office. A few drew large crowds, and some were hardly noticed. None came seeking votes.

The first was a mere lad of about 19, working on a flatboat on its way to New Orleans. That was in the 1820s, when the main attraction of the river town was the mint that grew wild along the bayous or springs. Legend has it that men who worked on the river stopped to gather mint to put a sprig in their whiskey, which was the forerunner of the Mint Julep. The young man on that trip was from Illinois. His name was Abraham Lincoln. When he ran for president, he got no votes here as his name was not even on the ballot.

Andrew Jackson came to Vicksburg probably before and after he was president. He lived in Claiborne County, got married in Jefferson County and had in-laws in Port Gibson. He was definitely here in January 1840 on his way to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans.

The battle was fought on Jan. 8, 1815, two weeks after the end of the War of 1812, and as long as Jackson lived, the date was a national celebration. That was long, long before it was the birthday of Elvis or before Jimmy Driftwood in Timbo, Ark., wrote lyrics to the fiddle tune, “Eighth of January” and appropriately renamed it “The Battle of New Orleans.”

In 1840, the Mississippi Legislature chartered a steamboat, The Vicksburg, loaded it with notables including the aging Gen. Jackson, and headed downriver. One overnight stop was in Vicksburg where Jackson stayed with a longtime friend, William McKendree Gwin, who had a townhouse on Grove Street behind the building that is now the Attic Gallery.

The trip was a nightmare, for Jackson was old and sick. Every breath was torture, but he was determined to carry on, saying, “I have long found that complaining never eased pain.”

It was in 1849 that Vicksburg was host to a president elect: Zacharay Taylor. The hero of the War with Mexico, Taylor was living on his plantation in Jefferson County, south of Rodney, when the Whigs nominated him. His first official stop was Vicksburg, where he made a speech on Court Square where the Old Court House now stands. His son-in-law, a local resident, was Jefferson Davis.

Taylor was enthusiastically received. A reception was held for him at a local saloon, and then he was feted with a banquet. In Washington, he was inaugurated a day late because the official date was on a Sunday, a day on which he refused to take the oath.

The next to visit the city was Millard Fillmore, who ascended to the presidency upon Taylor’s death. Fillmore had left the Whig Party and joined the American Party, nicknamed the Know Nothing Party. At the time of his visit, every elected official in Vicksburg was a Know Nothing. (I’m not going to comment on that one.)

When James Knox Polk visited Vicksburg in the spring of 1849, shortly after leaving office, he didn’t receive the respect a former president was due—but it was an accident. A proper reception had been planned at the waterfront including a salute by cannon fire. A crowd waited, and when a boat came into view, the booming of the cannon announced Polk’s arrival.

But it wasn’t Polk. It was the wrong boat, and on board was Henry Clay, a long-time political opponent of Polk’s. When Clay realized that the military salute wasn’t for him, he quipped, “I hope, gentlemen, I am not stealing Mr. Polk’s thunder.” Polk wryly wrote in his diary that the welcoming committee told Clay they “had a plenty of powder for both.”

Gen. U.S. Grant was here during the war, as we are well aware, but he came back in 1880 after his presidency and a tour of Europe. Grant addressed the people of Vicksburg from the east portico of the Old Court House and was politely received. He was introduced by Col. William H. McCardle, a newspaper editor who had been on Gen. John C. Pemberton’s staff during the siege. McCardle assured Grant that though he had not been welcome 17 years earlier, it was an honor to have him visit the city. When asked if he would like to go to the site of his greatest victory, Grant declined, but he did place flowers on a grave in the National Cemetery.

On May Day in 1901, President William McKinley made a visit to Vicksburg, accompanied by his wife. He toured the National Cemetery and made a talk near the entrance in Waltersville. A reporter guesstimated that a crowd of 15,000 turned out to greet him. McKinley also made a speech on Court Square from a wooden platform build next to the Cherry Street steps.

McKinley was a Union Army veteran, but when his carriage ride took him down Grove Street, someone hung a Confederate flag from a second story window, and he doffed his hat in respect as the crown cheered. (I shouldn’t have revealed that story, for there are people who may want to impeach him posthumously.)

On an October day in 1907, a carriage on Washington Street passed beneath a cotton bale arch with a large sign: “Mississippi Greets America’s President.” (A similar arch was built for McKinley’s visit.) Flags were flying, bands playing, people cheering and suddenly, a child, Homer Smith, ran to the carriage and handed the president a bouquet of flowers.

The president was Theodore Roosevelt, who had made history in the area in 1902 when he refused to shoot a bear tied to a tree near Onward in Sharkey County. From that event, the teddy bear was born. During the 1907 visit, Roosevelt had his staff find out the name and address of the child’s parents—the child who had given him the flowers—and when back in Washington, he had a teddy bear sent as a gift. That teddy bear in now on display in the Old Court House Museum.

Roosevelt climaxed his 1907 visit with a speech at the Court House. In that appearance, he was flanked by former Confederate Gen. Stephen Dill Lee and U.S. Sen. John Sharp Williams, who introduced him. (The senator, who was president of the Senate, was from Yazoo County. He was the grandfather of Ann Flowers and Betty Bullard.)

Roosevelt was a wise politician. He was from New York and had once been very critical of Jefferson Davis, but in Davis’ hometown he made complimentary remarks about him. Roosevelt’s family was divided during the Civil War, like many in America, his mother’s people being active in the Confederate cause.

Next to come was William Howard Taft, weighing in at more than 300 pounds. Taft Day was proclaimed in Vicksburg, but the president’s train was a day late, and there wasn’t much of a celebration.

It was July 4, 1947, before another man who would become president came. He was Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower, who spoke in front of the Warren County Court House. The event was a celebration in thanks to God for the victory then ended World War II. It was hailed as a time when Vicksburg rejoined the Union, for the Fourth of July had not been officially celebrated here since the city surrendered on July 4, 1863.

The occasion was also the time when Eisenhower, in answer to a reporter’s question, said that if offered the nomination for the presidency, he would not refuse it. Until that time there was speculation about whether he would run.

I know of three vice presidents who came here. Vicksburg hadn’t been thought of when Aaron Burr passed downriver in 1806. John C. Calhoun came in the 1840s when he was running for the presidency, and John C. Breckinridge was here in 1862 as a Confederate general.

Presidents Washington, Madison, Polk, Lincoln and Grant each had relatives here, kin either by blood or marriage.

I didn’t mention Jefferson Davis, who was an American president, though not of the United States. When he was secretary of war under Franklin Pierce, he was sometimes called the “acting president.” Many volumes have been written about him, and he spent most of his productive years as a Warren County resident.