Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Columbus Sykes Papers, (Z/0012).
Creator/Collector: Columbus Sykes.
Date(s): 1851-1897.
Size: 3.00 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, 1949; Biographical sketch, Laura Heller, 2023.
Provenance: Gift of Mrs. Sykes Hewitt Neas, of Marietta, GA, on February 24, 1948.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Columbus Sykes Papers, (Z/0012), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Columbus Sykes

Columbus “Lum” Sykes was born on February 23, 1832, in Virginia, the son of Mary Ann Edmunds (1811-1861) and George Augustus Sykes (1805-1874). He was educated in 1852 at Cumberland University in Tennessee. He married Emma Pauline Moore (1839-1922) on November 24, 1857, in Lowndes County, Mississippi. The couple had three children: George August Sykes, III (1859-1934), Eliza “Leila” Moore Sykes (1862-1883), and Columbus Moore Sykes (1864-1865).

Columbus practiced law with Thomas H. Davis in Aberdeen, Monroe County, had planting interests in Noxubee County, and served as major and lieutenant colonel in the 43rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment Infantry, Confederate States of America, during the Civil War.

After the death and funeral of his brother Dr. William E. Sykes on October 27, 1864, who also served in the 43rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Columbus rejoined the regiment on December 31, 1864. On the afternoon of January 5, 1865, the soldiers made camp in Itawamba County and Colonel Sykes picked a spot under a tall dead tree. During the night the tree fell on Sykes and two other soldiers killing them. Two different sources state the day of his death, either on January 6 or 7, 1865 at the age of 32 in Monroe County, Mississippi, and he is buried in Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Aberdeen, Monroe County.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of correspondence and accounts of Columbus Sykes, who practiced law in Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, had planting interests in Noxubee County, and served as major and lieutenant colonel in the Forty-Third Regiment of Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States of America. Also included are papers of members of his family. In May 1857, Sykes and Thomas H. Davis became law partners.

The correspondence are distributed by date as follows:

Undated, 20 pieces
1853–1859, 165 pieces
1860–1862, 56 pieces
1889, 1 piece

1. Legal Notebook of Columbus Sykes, Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, April 8, 1851 - April 1852, pp. 53.
2. Legal Account Book of Columbus Sykes and of Sykes and Davis, May 10, 1853 - March 16, 1860, pp. 184 (including index).
3. "Minute Book of the Leader's of the Aberdeen Station of the Memphis Conference," Columbus Sykes, Secretary, January 25, 1854 - January 19, 1855, pp. 21.
4. Letter Book (letter-press copies) of Columbus Sykes and of Sykes and Davis, May 16, 1855 - April 2, 1861, pp. 167 (including index).
5. Account Book of Columbus Sykes, January 1, 1854 - December 14, 1864, pp. 146 (including index).
6. "Private Docket of Sykes and Davis," 1865-1858, pp. 181.
7. Plantation Record Book of Mrs. E. P. Sykes, January 1 – December 25, 1866, pp. 42.
8. Farm account Book of G. A. Sykes, Bardstown Junction, Ky., July 27, 1883 - January 25, 1890. 
9. "Journal-Daybook of E. P. Barbour," September 16, 1896 - January 9, 1897, pp. 85.