[Reposted on behalf of Suzanne Coats. Reply to coats@localink4.com] Kay, In looking through the book , Selma, Her Institutions And Her Men, I find no mention of any incident where a "muskmelon" or any thing was thrown at Union prisioners being released. As far as I can tell, the stockade where the Union prisoners were held was"..... just north of the Selma and Meridian Railroad track, on the east of the Range Line Road, near where the Matthews cotton factory now stands......" (this was written in 1879). "......this stockade had been built and used by the Confederates...." but, apparently, had been emptied by the Union forces on or before April 2, 1865 (day of Battle of Selma) because the Union used it to imprison 2700 Confederates taken at the Battle of Selma. They were kept in that place until the following Saturday when they were released and allowed to go wherever they would or could. About 10 pm on Sunday night (April 2, 1865) after the Battle was over and the Union forces were victorious, the first house to be burned was a 3 story brick building on the corner of Water and Broad streets. The 3rd story of that building had been used by the Confederates to house Union men and "skulkers" from the Confederate service. It was reported that the fire was started by a man named Gibson who had been held there. I am not sure, but reading about the Battle in this book, I would inagine the gates of the Confederate stockade were thrown open by Union forces on that fateful Sunday, and Union prisoners were released and were replaced with Confederates. The books also reports that Gen Wilson (Union) and Gen. Forest met on the 4th of April at Cahaba for the purpose of arranging for an exchange of prisoners, but no definite arrangement was made. About 400 wounded Federal soldiers"..... were left behind in Selma, all huddled together in the different stories of the present hardware store of John K. Goodwin..." (remember, this was written in 1879.) Of course, in a matter of about 2 weeks the Union wounded had been removed to Union boats and transferred to Mobile. I am very sorry that nothing was mentioned about the incident in which you are interested. Keep trying because, certainly, this is not the only accounty of the Battle of Selma. Good luck in your search! Suzanne -- Suzanne Coats Greetings from Mississippi! -------------------------- >Deeyak@aol.com wrote: > There must be someone out there who knows about the Battle of Selma. > I am especilly interested in knowing about an incident at the stockade > when someone threw a "muskmelon" at a group of the prisoners as they > were being released. > I am anxiously awaiting to hear from some historian. > Thank you. > Kay