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Re: Columbus MS - June 1862
In Response To: Re: Columbus MS - June 1862 ()

Jim and Gary: Thanks for your interest, follow-up and local knowledge of where Bluett's Bridge was once located on the outskirts of Columbus back in 1862.

There are a couple of stories out of the 37th Alabama Infantry Regiment that had at one time stood guard at that bridge. One involves the discovery and burial of a body (an apparent drowning) on Luxapalila Creek and the other is of the shooting of an 18-year-old sentinel on the bridge.

The sentinel and his equally youthful patrol partner told a tale about him getting shot by some Yankees hidden in the nearby brush -- which caused quite a stir in the ranks, especially since no one in the regiment had yet been issued any weapons! The sentinel finally told the truth to his regimental surgeon (J.W. Oslin) that he'd actually been playing with a pistol that went off accidentally, and had shot himself in the arm.

The doctor informed his colonel (J.F. Dowdell) who called off the frantic search for enemy infiltrators, and his officers suppressed talk of the event so that this group of green and nervous recruits wouldn't get saddled with some mocking-nickname from veteran soldiers that the regiment would then "have to carry throughout the war."

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Columbus MS - June 1862
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Bluett's Bridge location confirmed
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Re: Bluett's Bridge location confirmed