Vicksburg, Mississippi - Pregnancy Minie Ball on Display

On a cross country trip we just couldn't resist the "quirky" Old Courthouse Museum, home of the fabled "pregnancy Minnie Ball". What we expected to be a quick 15-30 minute stop evolved into two hours of fascination at some of the exhibits. It was actually a very well done museum with amazing pieces, definitely worth the stop. Included was the sash that GEORGE WASHINGTON wore at his inauguration (well, OK, Jefferson Davis wore it as well). Nowhere to be found was the KKK exhibit and the famous "Pregnancy Minie Ball" was just a curious aside (Besides, it wasn't the REAL minie ball that did the damage). All in all it was a refreshing surprise. [Brent F. Winston, 01/21/2001]

You loonies have seen so much, you may well have already put this one on the radar screen: the Pregnancy Minie Ball at the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The museum is worth a 500 mile detour just for the display formats and captions alone -- all seemingly hand written by an unregenerate Confederate zealot who seems to be the 'curator'. The minie ball is displayed with a long caption describing what happened. In battle, it whizzed right through a young Confederate soldier who was standing next (probably REALLY closely next) to a flower of Southern maidenhood. It (the minie ball) went through his private parts and kept going, right into the flower of Southern womanhood. Miraculously (miracle one), he lived. Miracle two (considering heat of a bullet in flight), she became pregnant. He, honorable southern gentleman that he was, married her. This is but one of the highlights of the Old Courthouse Museum. Another is the room of Ku Klux Klan memorabilia. [Mary Means, 05/03/1997]