There’s a pretty good reason no one re-enacts the events of Christmas 1863 around these parts.
It certainly must have not felt like Christmas. I imagine holiday spirit was mixed at best 151 years ago.
For Vicksburg’s white civilian population there wasn’t much to celebrate. Vicksburg had been heavily damaged in the 47-day siege earlier in the year during which civilians and soldiers alike were starving.
There was no more starvation at Christmas, but the city was occupied by Union troops and under martial law. A brutal war still raged across the county with no end in sight.
For black civilians, freedom had come, but so had disease.  Men, women and children who had rarely been off the plantations where they toiled were exposed to new illnesses. In the dead of winter, sickness was taking its toll. Then there was racism and resentment from Northerners and Southerners who thought blacks were unfit for freedom.
Union troops, to me, had the strangest troubles at Christmastime. They certainly didn’t want to be in Mississippi away from their families for another holiday. Their loneliness is evident from the trouble they got into. The provost marshal’s records show Billy Yank being arrested left and right for drunkenness.
Of course, there’s perhaps the strangest moment of the Civil War — the Christmas Day riot in Bovina involving Abraham Lincoln’s neighbor.
Think there’s not much in Bovina today?  Imagine if the only means of transportation were walking or horseback. Today at least Bovina has a store, a cafe and churches. In 1863, the sole local attraction for these northern troops was a brothel.
At about 9 p.m. on Christmas 1863, a man ran into the camp of the 20th Illinois Infantry about two miles west of the Big Black River shouting that the 1st Kansas Infantry had invaded the brothel, killing two Illinois soldiers and wounding four more.
Dozens of Illinois troops rushed to the brothel, ready for combat against men from their own army.
Among soldiers scurrying to the brothel was Pvt. Josiah Kent, a teenager who had lived essentially across the street from Abe Lincoln in Springfield, Ill..
When the annoyed Illinoisans arrived at the brothel, men of the 124th Illinois protected the house. Sgt. Edward Williams demanded that he and his troops be allowed inside to see if any Kansans remained. The guards told them to leave. Tussling and cursing ensued and a single shot was fired.
The Kansans were long gone, and no one was dead — not even wounded. The report of the violent Kansans had all been a hoax.
Or someone had hit the eggnog a little too hard.
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Josh Edwards is a reporter and can be reached by email at josh.edwards@vicksburgpost.com or by phone at 601-636-4545.