May 20, 1863, The New York Herald
Jackson is a city of Mississippi, of which State it is the capital. It is situated in Hinds county, and has heretofore been a very thriving place. It is located on the right or western bank of the Pearl river, at the terminus of the Vicksburg and Jackson Railroad. In the city are stations of the Southern Mississippi, New Orleans and Jackson, the Great Northern and the Vicksburg and Jackson railroads, and it is thereby a great centre of business. The site of the town is level and the plan regular. It contained, previous to the rebellion, a number of churches, several newspaper officers, the State and country buildings, executive mansion, the State lunatic asylum, an institution for the deaf and dumb, another for the blind, the penitentiary or State prison, a United States land office and several other prominent buildings. The State prison, is a large and handsome edifice, and the State House (which is reported as having been burned by the United States forces under General Grant) was an elegant building, and cost for its erection the sum of six hundred thousand dollars. The Pearl river is navigable for cotton and small boats from Jackson to the Mississippi sound, leading into the Gulf of Mexico, and in […..] times” from thirty to forty thousand bales of cotton were annually shipped from the Mississippi capital. To show the progress made in the prospective rise and progress of Jackson, it is but necessary to glance at the census returns. In 1850, the population numbered 1,881; in 1855 it had increased to about 3,000; and in 1859 the returns showed a further increase, numbering then 3,500. It is distant by rail from Vicksburg forty-four and a half miles; from Meridian, ninety-five and a half miles; from New Orleans, one hundred and eighty-three miles; from Grand Junction, two hundred and thirteen miles; from Corinth, via Grand Junction, two hundred and fifty-four miles; from Corinth, via Meridian, two hundred and eighty-nine and a half miles; from Memphis, via Grand Junction, two hundred and sixty-five miles; from I-U-K-A, via Grand Junction, two hundred and seventy-six miles, and via Meridian, three hundred and eleven and a half miles; from Chattanooga, via Grand Junction, four hundred and seventy miles, and via Meridian, five hundred and five and a half miles; from Mobile, via Meridian, two hundred and twenty-nine and a half miles; from Port Gibson, by the turnpike road, about sixty miles; from Raymond, about fifteen miles, and from Auburn, about thirty miles. As each station between Jackson and Vicksburg may become of prominent interest during the forthcoming operations, it may be as well to point them out individually, with their respective distances from each place.
From Jackson. Name. From Vicksburg.
9 1/2 miles. Clinton. 35 miles.
17 1/2 ” Bolton. 27 ”
26 1/2 ” Edwards. 18 ”
34 1/2 ” Bovine. 10 ”
36 1/2 ” Black River Bridge. 8 ”
39 ” Mount Alban. 5 1/2 ”
44 1/2 ” Vicksburg. – –
The county in which Jackson is situated is located in the southwest central part of the State, and has an area of about 930 square miles, or 595,200 acres. The Pearl river forms the boundary on the east and the Big Black river on the northwest. The surface is nearly level and the soil very fertile. In 1850 the country produced about eighty thousand bushes of peas and beans, the greatest quantity produced by any county of the United States. Raymond is the seat of justice of the county, although the State capital is also located in the vicinity. The county was named in honor of Colonel Thomas Hinds, a member of Congress for Mississippi. The population of the county in 1860 was 31, 339, of whom less than nine thousand were free.