M. A. MILLER'S SKETCHBOOK OF 1860
                    CORINTH: THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
                       OF A MISSISSIPPI BOOMTOWN

CHAPTER V - ILLUSTRATED CORINTH

       Although  many  images of Civil War Corinth  survive,  M.A.
Miller's  sketchbook  is the only known source of  pre-Civil  War
views  of the city.  Because of Corinth's strategic  location  at the
intersection of the two longest railroads in the  South,  it became a
center of military activity early in the Civil War.   As a result of
this importance, many photographs and engravings were made  of
Corinth.  These images typically do not  concentrate  on architecture,
and  the  structures they do  show  are  generally public  buildings
of military importance such  as  the  railroad depot,  local  hotels,
Corona College and other  such  buildings. The  only  private
residences shown in the Civil  War  views  are those  used  as
Headquarters by the commanding generals  of  both sides.   This
emphasis on military matters gives  an  incomplete view of the town.
Miller's sketchbook creates a context in which the  images of these
few public buildings can be seen  and  truly appreciated.    In
addition, these photographs serve as a sort of control group against
which the accuracy of Miller's sketches can be tested.   Based on this
test, the validity of Miller's  entire sketchbook can be ascertained.

     Two  photographic teams, Armistead and White and Howard  and
Hall,  made most of the Civil War photographs of Corinth.   Armi-
stead  and White established a Picture Gallery in Corinth  during the
Federal occupation and produced an unknown number of  photographs of
the community.[1]  Howard and Hall also made  photographs that show
locally prominent buildings as they appeared during the war.  One of
their images is of the Tishomingo Hotel.  Howard and Hall made at
least two separate photographs of the hotel.   These two  images  were
made from the eastern  side  of  the  railroad grounds  and show the
northeast corner of the building.[2]    These photographs were made at
separate times and from slightly different  locations.   A  clue as
to the different dates  of  the  two photographs  is  the condition of
the second story  gallery.   In what appears to be the earlier
photograph,(Appendix B,  Illustration  21) the second story gallery
is perfectly straight  but  is sagging dangerously by the time of the
second  photograph.(Appen- dix B, Illustration 22)  Miller made his
sketch of this  building from  the southwest, directly opposite from
the  photographs.   A fairly  complete  picture is given of this
building  by  merging Miller's sketch and the two Civil War
photographs.   By comparing these different views, one gains an
insight into Miller's accuracy  concerning details.  The photographs
show two large  chimneys in the eastern end of the building and three
smaller ones on  the northern  side.  In his sketch Miller shows the
same  arrangement as viewed from the southwest of two large chimneys
in the eastern end and three smaller ones on the southern side
presumably  similar  to  the three on the northern side.

     The photographs also show the railroad depot located to  the
north  of  the hotel across the railroad tracks.  In  the  photo-
graphs  the  depot is much larger than Miller shows it  in  1860.
Miller  shows the depot in his sketch (Appendix  B,  Illustration 23)
as a small one story frame building with a "flat tin roof"  . In 1860
the platform surrounding the depot was not covered so the Gothic
Revival trimwork around the doors and windows was  clearly visible.
In the photographs the building is obscured from clear view  by
cotton bales in the older view and by  boxcars  in  the later one.
Upon close observation, the gable end of the  structure  that
Miller sketched can be seen rising  above  the  later addition.

     A  clearer  view of the Tishomingo Hotel  and  the  railroad
depot  was  made  by an artist working  for  Harper's  Weekly  in
1862. (Appendix B, Illustration 24)[3]  This engraving, entitled the
Rail-Road  Junction near Corinth, shows the buildings in  clearer
relationship  to  their surroundings.  The depot with  its  later
additions  of  covered  platforms is clearly visible  as  is  the
eastern end of the hotel.  This is the only view surviving  which
shows  a first floor doorway on the eastern side.   Miller  shows
similar  doorways on the western end of the building on both  the
first  and  second  floors.  The artist of this view  is  not  as
careful as Miller for he shows all the chimneys to be of the same size
and in two parallel rows running east to west on the roof of the
building.  Other general view of this same area were made and were
published in similar periodicals.  In January 1865, James K. Newton,
a  Union soldier from Wisconsin wrote his  mother  about marching into
Corinth from Camp Eastport and told her of the fate of the Tishomingo
Hotel.  He wrote, "We found the Old  Tishomingo Hotel  in Corinth in
flames probably set on fire by the Rebs  who left the place on
learning of our approach".[4]


     The June 21, 1862 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated  News-
paper,(Appendix  B, Illustration  26) gives a panoramic  view  of the
area of town around the railroad intersection.  This  engraving
shows the Tishomingo Hotel and the depot on the  right  with the
Corinth  House, another hotel, at the  center.   This  scene shows
the evacuation of the town by the Confederates  and  their burning of
supplies that they could not carry with them.[5]  Another view taken
from this same spot shows Corinth after the evacuation.   Except for
the ruins of burned buildings, probably  warehouses,  near  the
railroad and the absence  of  soldiers,  this later view is identical
to the earlier one.[6]  Neither view  shows much  architectural
detail, but each is helpful in that it  shows the relationship of the
buildings to each other in a three dimensional fashion.

     Another  prominent hotel, the Corinth House, located at  the
southeast corner of Front Row and Fillmore Street, can be seen at the
center  of the illustrations depicting  Corinth  before  and after
the Confederate evacuation.  There is also one  photograph showing
the building as it appeared in 1862.(Appendix B,  Illustration
27)[7]   The  building looks virtually the  same  as  when Miller
sketched it two years before.(Appendix B, Illustration 25) If this
building survived the war, it did not survive reconstruction.[8]

     The  Moss House, located at the northeast  corner  of  Foote and
Fillmore  Streets, was photographed during the  war  in  its capacity
as the Provost-Marshall's office.(Appendix B,  Illustration  28)
The Moss House is the only one of these  three  hotels known  to  have
survived the war and  to have  returned  to  its civilian  role as a
hotel.  An engraving made in 1884 [9] shows  the Moss  House much as
it looked in a Civil War photograph with  the exception of not having
its Provost Marshall's Office sign on the center  column.(Appendix B,
Illustration 29) [10]  In Civil  War  Corinth  1861-1865,  Margaret
Greene Rogers writes  that  the  Moss House was used before the coming
of the railroad as a stage coach stop.[11]   If this is true, this
building was one of  the  earliest buildings in Corinth and probably
predates the town.[12]  There  are photographs of this building as
late as 1913.(Appendix B,  Illustration  30)   These  photographs
were taken when  the  old  Post Office  was first constructed.  The
Post Office was built on  the southwest  corner of Fillmore and Foote
Streets, directly  across the  intersection from the Moss House.  In
all of  these  images, the  Moss House looked just as it did in
Miller's 1860 sketch  of it.(Appendix B, Illustration 31)[13]

     Another  building popular with Civil War  photographers  and
artists was Corona College.  This three story brick building  was
first  recorded in 1860 by Miller in his sketchbook.(Appendix  B,
Illustration  32)  Miller shows the large building in  great  de-
tail,  even giving its measurements.  He recorded in his  sketchbook
that the main block was "100 X 25" feet with two wings  each "28  X
70" feet.  The only known photograph of the  building  is undated and
shows it in use as a Civil War hospital.(Appendix  B, Illustration
33)[14]  This photograph shows the center block without its  wings.
An engraving, prepared from sketches  made  by  war artist Henri
Lovie, which appeared in the New York Herald in June of   1862,
shows  the  center  block  from  the   other   front corner.(Appendix
B, Illustration 34)  These two images taken  together  clearly  show
that by 1862 the college had lost  its  two wings.[15]  Miller's
sketches and a description  of  the  building written  by  the wife of
the president of the College  Mrs.  L.B. Gaston  are the only evidence
that the building did  have  wings. Mrs.  Gaston gives the dimensions
of the wings as  being  "twenty eight  by seventy feet".[16]  Miller's
dimensions were off  by  only eight  feet.   Mrs. Gaston records in
the same catalog  that  the main  building was "one hundred feet
long".  This measurement  is the  same as that given by Miller.  She
states that the  building was  fifty  feet wide while Miller says it
was only  twenty  five feet wide.  Miller's errors in measurement can
be understood when one  considers  that he was probably guessing at
the  dimensions just  by  looking  at the building.  Miller's  visual
record  is extremely accurate even down to recording the wings which
are  not shown in any other view of the building.[17]

     The  only images of private residences made during  the  war were
of  those  houses which were used as  headquarters  by  the commanding
generals.   General  Beauregard's  headquarters,  the Robinson House
on page thirteen of Miller's  sketchbook, (Appendix B, Illustration 35)
was illustrated in the June 21, 1862 issue of Harper's Weekly.
(Appendix B, Illustration 36) [18]  Another view  of this  house
appears in the Pictorial History of the Civil War  in the United
States[19] by Benson J. Lossing.(Appendix B, Illustration 37) Still
another view of this house can be found in From  Sumter to  Shiloh,
Battles and Leaders of the Civil  War.[20] (Appendix  B, Illustration
38)   In addition to these images there is  a  late nineteenth century
photograph of the house in the  possession  of the current owners that
shows the house before extensive  twentieth century changes. (Appendix
B, Illustration 39)   All of  these images  show the house much as it
appeared in Miller's  sketches. A 1946 photograph shows the house with
a porch all the way across the  front.(Appendix B, Illustration 40)
The caption below  this photograph  lists  the house as serving as the
headquarters  for Confederate General J.C. Breckinridge and later of
Federal General  G.M.  Dodge.[21]  General Beaureguard is not
mentioned  in  this account.   Sometime later the porch was
reconstructed much as  it had been originally built.   This house is
commonly known as  the Fish Pond house because of the tin basin
surrounded by an  ornate wooden  balustrade  located on the roof and
used  to  catch  rain water.  This basin served as a roof cistern.

     The  Veranda  House, or Curlee House as it is  known  today,
served  as the headquarters for Generals Bragg, then Halleck  and
finally Hood.  A Civil War photograph exists showing this  house in
use as a military headquarters.(Appendix B, Illustration  41) This
photograph  shows  the house from  the  southeast  corner.[22] Another
photograph shows the house from the west or  rear. (Appendix  B,
Illustration 42)[23]  The double  octagonal  chimneys  that Miller
notes on his sketches are clearly visible in both of these
photographs.  The photograph of the southeast corner of the house also
shows  the  "pail" fence Miller noted  in  his  sketchbook. Miller's
sketch shows this house from the south or Childs  Street side,  not
the  entrance front on  Jackson  Street.(Appendix  B, Illustration
43)  Neither of these early photographs  shows  the front facade of
this house.  An engraving of the house  published in  Benson J.
Lossing's 1868 history of the Civil War  gives  the earliest  known
view of the front of the house. (Appendix  B,  Illustration  44)   The
fence here is either  the same  one  in  the earlier  photograph  or
an identical  replacement.   The  double octagon  chimneys are still
visible, but they appear to be  somewhat lower than in the other
photographs.  This engraving has the walls of the house marked off in
horizontal lines.  Perhaps  this is meant to show how the stucco had
been marked off in  imitation of  ashlar  masonry.[24]  Miller clearly
shows this  effect  in  his sketch.   A view of the house made in the
1880's is displayed  at the  North Mississippi Museum.  This same
image was published  in From  Sumter to Shiloh, Battles and Leaders of
the Civil  War  in 1956.(Appendix  B, Illustration 45)  The house is
basically  the same except that the double octagon chimneys are gone.
The  pail fence  has  been  replaced by a picket fence by  this
time.[25]  A photograph  was made of this house in 1946 which shows
the  house virtually  unchanged from Miller's 1860 sketch and the
Civil  War era  photographs.   This view was made from  the  Jackson
Street facade of the house.  The house was surrounded by the high
brick wall,  still extant, by this date.[26]  The Curlee house has
under- gone the least amount of change of any 1860 structure in
Corinth and consequently matches Miller's sketch the most closely.

     Another house which was used as military headquarters during the
Civil War is the house Miller calls the Allen  House.   This house is
shown in a Civil War era photograph while in use as  the headquarters
of Brigadier General Grenville  Dodge.(Appendix  B, Illustration
47)[27]  In this photograph Federal soldiers are shown standing  on
the  verandas.  Miller shows three  ladies  on  the veranda.
Miller's sketch was made from such an angle that  only one  of the
verandas is shown.(Appendix B, Illustration 48)   The photograph
shows two of them.   A photograph made in the  1880's shows  a  much
changed house.(Appendix B,  Illustration  49)[28]  A mansard roof has
been added, the square piers have been  replaced by thinner posts and
scrolled brackets, and an elaborate  lattice railing has been added to
the porch.  This house was torn down in the 1960's and the new First
Methodist Church Building constructed on its site.

     The house of W.M.Inge was sketched by Miller in 1860. (Appendix
B, Illustration 49)  This house was popularly known  as  the Rose
Cottage  because it was painted pink.   Miller  notes  this color  in
his sketchbook.  This house served as the  headquarters for
Confederate  General  Albert Sidney Johnston  and  later  of Federal
General  G.H. Thomas.  General Johnston's  body  lay  in state
following the Battle of Shiloh in this house.  An engraving of  this
house published in From Sumter to Shiloh,  Battles  and Leaders of the
Civil War shows the house much as Miller  sketched it  in
1860.(Appendix B, Illustration 51)[29]  A photograph made  of this
house  in the 1880's shows the  house  basically  unchanged except
for  the addition verandas to the sides of  the  original
portico.(Appendix B, Illustration 52)[30]  Both views show the  four
columned portico and the balustrade around the deck on the  roof, also
shown by Miller in his 1860 sketch.  This balustrade  possibly
surrounded  a tin basin used to catch rain water as  at  the Fish Pond
House.

     Two  other  houses sketched by Miller and used  as  military
headquarters during the war are the Oak Home (Appendix B,
Illustration 53) and the Duncan House.(Appendix B, Illustration 54)
The Duncan  House  served as headquarters for  Federal  General  W.S.
Rosecrans and the Oak Home served as the headquarters for Confederate
General Leonidas Polk.  There are no known photographs or drawings  of
either of these houses dating from the  Civil  War. The earliest known
photographs of both of these houses date  from 1946.[31]

     The  Duncan House has been drastically changed since  Miller
sketched it in 1860.(Appendix B, Illustration 55)  The one  story
frame  house with central portico had two windows  of  twenty-one
lights  each, seven down and three across, on either side of  the
portico.   By 1946, the house had been altered with the  addition of
a porch across the entire front and two one over one  windows on
either side of the central doorway which seems to be original. The
house  was also covered with green asbestos siding  by  this time.
The house retains its 1940's appearance today.

     The  Oak  Home was extensively remodeled in  the  1920's  by
Lymon Hoshall an architect from Memphis, Tennessee.   A three bay
addition  was made to the south end of the house and the  portico
changed  from two columns to four columns.  Miller shows the  two
columned portico in his 1860 sketch.(Appendix B, Illustration 56) The
rest of the exterior seems to be original.

     By  comparing  these  few photographs  and  engravings  with
Miller's  sketches,  the  accuracy  and  reliability  of  Miller's
sketchbook has been proven.  In all of the above cases,  Miller's
drawings are identical to the buildings as they actually  existed.
This accuracy is highly important since Miller's  sketchbook is  the
only record  of the antebellum town.  Of the     sketches Miller
made,  only the few buildings mentioned in  this  chapter were
recorded by other means.  Out of a total of 187 buildings in Miller's
sketchbook, only four remain basically as they  existed in  1860.
Miller's sketchbook records a town that has  vanished forever.


CHAPTER VI.  AN ANALYSIS OF MILLER'S SKETCHBOOK AS A TOOL FOR ANALYZING
             THE COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE OF CORINTH



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