We saw the following sign as we drove along the parkway and had no idea what it was about. Our question was: do we keep on driving, or do we explore? You’re right, we love to explore. Come along with us to see a fascinating place.
When we drove to the parking lot and saw what was in front of us, we were amazed. What is this all about?
Let’s start looking at the signs around us.
In 1860, Claiborne County (where we are) was a wealthy plantation district, producing thousands of bales of cotton for export through New Orleans to markets in New England and Great Britain.
“Master mechanic” is a technical term that preceded the word “architect.” David Shroder of Maryland designed and built Windsor with a team of white artisans, carpenters, and enslaved laborers. He started in 1858 and finished in 1861.
A fire destroyed the home in 1890, and only 27 of the original 29 columns, the balustrade, and 4 iron staircases remained. In the years after the fire, 3 of the staircases disappeared and 1 now serves as the entrance to Oakland Memorial Chapel at nearby Alcorn State University. By 1970, only 23 columns remained.
The Windsor Mansion was at the heart of an large cotton plantation of 2500 acres and a workforce of over 300 enslaved people.
Windsor mansion flaunted its wealth with its massive Corinthian columns standing on 10-foot-high plinths (bases) and rising 45 feet from the ground.
history of the family
During the cotton boom of the early 1800s, Thomas Freeland bought the land on which Windsor ruins now stands. In 1857, he passed down part of his land to his daughter, Catherine Freeland Daniell. Her husband, Smith Coffee Daniell II, bought the rest of the land from his wife’s siblings. Construction on Windsor began in 1858 and was completed in 1861.
Just a few weeks after moving into the home, Catherine’s husband died. In his will, he appointed his wife (pregnant with their 6th child) and his mother as joint executors of the estate. Other states didn’t allow women to own property, but Mississippi was the first in the nation to grant that right in 1839. The women carried on the plantation operations and cotton business. Catherine remarried in 1868 to William G. Williams, and their family continued to live here as their home until 1890.
tragedy
Windsor hosted many dinner parties over the years. On February 17, 1890, the entire house was engulfed in flames.
Oral accounts compiled by Sam Magruder in 1975 describe the family’s chaos and panic:
“When Windsor burned … everyone rushed outside … A few grabbed whatever they could get their hands on …My great-aunt Priscilla got her diamond cross … My sister Agnes Coleman has two vases … and a fruit compote … and also a chaise lounge that came out of Windsor. My mother [Katherine Crane Daniell] recalled and told me that a number of times about standing under the big live oak tree out front and weeping because her dolls were burning there in Windsor.”
layout of the house
The grandson of the original owners said the home consisted of 23 rooms. The top 2 residential floors were decorated with red drapes; 25 fireplaces with marble mantels kept the rooms cozy and warm during the winter months. A rainwater storage tank in the attic supplied the interior bathrooms with running water—a rare amenity in the mid-1800s.
The columns were made of brick masonry covered by a natural cement stucco to create the paneled bases and whitewashed column fluting [a groove or set of grooves] forming a surface decoration.
The tops of the Corinthians columns were made of decorative pieces of cast iron attached to a thin cast iron bell-shaped base. A sturdy below-ground brick chainwall connects the columns to each other, which has allowed them to stand since the fire in 1890 without the lateral support provided by floor and roof beams.
For over 100 years, all images of the home seemed to be lost. But, in 1991, researchers found the following image of Windsor at the Ohio state archives. The drawing was made in 1863 by a U.A. Army officer of the 20th Ohio Infantry when Union Army camped at Windsor during the Vicksburg Campaign.
The windows on the main floor [where the working rooms were found] were flat-headed in the Greek Revival style, while the upper-floor windows had Italianate style round heads. The top windows on the cupola, known as belvedere windows, had the pointed heads of the Gothic style.
It helps to see this drawing so we’re not left only with our imagination.
Windsor laborers
Successful cotton plantation owners like the Daniells relied heavily on enslaved laborers. This family was one of the largest slave owners in the state with around 300 enslaved people working at Windsor and over 800 enslaved people working within the region. In addition to caring for the massive farmlands, the men, women, and children at Windsor tended to the house and the needs of the family such jobs as farming, blacksmithing, cooking, laundry, carpentry, brick making, housekeeping, childcare, and so much more.
The Brooks family were one of many enslaved families at Windsor. A daughter, Charity, worked in the laundry and milking room. She married an enslaved man in 1856, and they had at least 2 children. She was learning to read with help from her literate husband and a member of the Daniell family.
U.S. colored troops
This declaration allowed Fleet and Abraham, men in their 20s, to join the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) in the Union Army to fight against the Confederacy. Fleet, a carpenter, was promoted to corporal after only 7 months of service; Abraham served as the company shoemaker.
On July 4, 1863, the Confederates at Vicksburg surrendered to the Union Army. Soon after Union forces occupied Natchez. These 2 towns (only 72 miles apart) were venues for recruiting more men for these colored troops. By 1864, thousands of African-American soldiers occupied the fortifications protecting the towns being retaken by Confederate forces. After the Civil War, Fleet and Abraham both married, settled close by, and opened accounts with the Freedman’s Savings Bank.
Windsor and the Civil War
Our Nation’s Civil War began in 1861, the same year that construction on Windsor was completed. Confederate soldiers used the mansion’s cupola as an observatory to monitor the Union Navy’s movements on the Mississippi River (remember how close the house was to the river?). The mansion’s strategic position offered wide views of the area in Mississippi, as well as across the river in Louisiana.
The soldiers who resided at Windsor frequently dined with the Daniells, and records show that Catherine leased some of her enslaved laborers to the Confederacy.
War efforts in the region changed in December 1862 with the start of the Vicksburg Campaign. The Union’s General Grant adopted a new strategy that brought the war close to Windsor when he and his troops crossed the Mississippi at nearby town of Bruinburg on April 30, 1862.
With 22,000 Union soldiers close by, the Daniell family was close to the conflict. General Grant set up temporary headquarters at Windsor, and the army confiscated the plantation’s assets and burned its cotton bales. They transformed the mansion into a field hospital, treating over 400 wounded soldiers during the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1, 1863. The family was allowed to stay at their house, and at least 17 of the enslaved men joined the U.S. Colored Troops.
Following the end of the war, the Daniell family regained their land and home, although their wealth was diminished. With slavery abolished, many formerly enslaved people had no where else to go, so they stayed on as tenants who worked the land in exchange for a portion of the crops. Many descendants remained nearby, while others moved to other parts of Mississippi or to others states. These Black citizens built new lives through sharecropping, domestic service, land purchases, education, trades, and civic and religious participation.
The following picture shows USCT soldiers and officers, one with his wife and children at Fort McPherson in Natchez around 1863.
preservation efforts
Now that we’re done with the Natchez Trace Parkway, and there’s even more to see, let’s start exploring Natchez.
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