Rosalie Mansion

Rosalie Mansion is a historic pre-Civil War mansion and historic house museum in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in 1823, it served as the architectural inspiration for a large number of Natchez's grand Greek Revival mansions, and was a major influence on Antebellum architecture in the greater region. During the American Civil War, it served as Union headquarters for the Natchez area from July 1863 on. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.DescriptionRosalie is located southwest of Natchez's downtown area, overlooking the Mississippi River at the junction of Orleans and South Broadway Streets. It is a basically cubical three-story brick building, with a truncated hip roof encircled by a low balustrade. Its front facade has a monumental four-column Tuscan portico, with entablature and a gabled pediment with a semi-oval window at its center. Broad entrances in the center bay provide access to the house on the ground floor and a balcony on the second; both have double-leaf doors, sidelight windows, and semi-oval transom windows. A five-column portico extends across the center of the rear elevation, although it is covered by a flat roof without entablature.HistoryRosalie Mansion was built for Peter Little, a wealthy cotton broker, in 1823 on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. It is on a portion of the site of the Natchez Indians' 1729 massacre of the French at Fort Rosalie. On July 13, 1863, a week after the Battle of Vicksburg, General Grant took possession of Rosalie to use as Union Army headquarters. On August 26, 1863, General Walter Gresham took command of Union Army troops at Natchez. His headquarters remained at Rosalie.