CHAMPION’S HILL – On Saturday, 141 years after the Civil War ended, more than 50 people showed up to honor the memory of a Confederate soldier.

&#8220Sid Champion was never given a Confederate headstone because he was buried in a private cemetery,” said Rebecca Drake, one of three Civil War authors at the ceremony at Champion’s Hill, four miles west of Bolton. &#8220We wanted to pay tribute to this Confederate soldier.”

The Confederate tombstone for Sid S. Champion was presented by members of the John C. Pemberton Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Grady Howell, Civil War author and historian, gave a brief speech about what he called Champion’s heroism, and he saluted the Confederacy.

Champion, who along with his wife, Matilda Montgomery Champion, built a plantation at Midway Station along the Southern Railroad around 1853, joined the Confederate Army in 1863 with hopes the war would be brief.

But after the Siege of Vicksburg ended, the same year Champion signed on, his home was burned by Union soldiers and he was taken prisoner.

After a prisoner exchange, Champion rejoined the 28th Mississippi Calvary and fought in the Tennessee and Atlanta campaigns. He was mustered out in May 1865 and returned to his wife and children.

The family rebuilt their house a mile west of the original house.

In 1868, still weakened from the war, Champion developed a severe infection and died after a five-day illness. He was 45 years old.

On Saturday, the Mississippi flag that covered the new headstone was presented to Sid J. Champion, a great-great-grandson who lives in Raymond.

After, he saw the dedication of a book by Margie R. Bearss and Drake, &#8220Darwina’s Diary: A View of Champion Hill – 1865.”

The authors signed books at the Champions’ dining room table, which Union surgeons converted into an amputation table during the Battle of Champion’s Hill.

&#8220Darwina’s Diary is about a woman who came to Mississippi from Philadelphia in 1864 and began teaching newly freed slaves to read,” said Drake. &#8220She kept a diary of daily events so that she wouldn’t forget her experiences.”

&#8220These are incredible historians,” Sid J. Champion said.

A reception following the afternoon’s events featured Buttermilk pies using Matilda Champion’s original recipe.