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Remembering Vicksburg’s first dentist

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Foster Lightcap was Vicksburg’s first dentist. According to the 1860 City Directory, his office was located on the west side of Washington Street.

Tragically, Lightcap was killed at the age of 55 in the shelling of Vicksburg by Admiral Farragut’s ships in 1862.

Foster Lightcap’s tombstone in the Cedar Hill Cemetery.

He had two residences, one in town and a plantation on Halls Ferry Road called Magnolia Hall. During the Siege of Vicksburg, Magnolia Hall was confiscated by Union forces for use as a hospital. This being one of three major Union hospitals, many soldiers died there.

The soldier’s graves were dug in various places, as there was not a central area for burial. Some were buried in an old cemetery behind the house, and some alongside Halls Ferry Road, which must have been a sight for civilians traveling the road.

Magnolia Hall burned soon after the war, and in 1930, the land was purchased for Waterways Experiment Station.

The painting of Lightcap hangs in the Old Courthouse Museum, and Lightcap Boulevard is named after him.

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