VIDEO: Civil War Collectors Come to Corinth

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CORINTH, Miss. ( WCBI) — Even though the Confederate States of America is no longer an official country, it’s currency is quite valuable.

This weekend Civil War relic collectors descended on the Crossroads Arena for the Sixth annual Corinth Civil War Relic and Militaria Show and Sales.

And if you were looking for the genuine article this was the place to find it. Buddy Ellis is one of the organizers. He says Corinth is the perfect place for this kind of event.

“Some shows, they just don’t promote them the way they ought to and some of them are sort of dying out, Ellis explains “But Corinth is so rich in Civil War history. You’ve got Shiloh twenty miles up the road and so the interest is really high in this area for the Civil War period,” he says.
Virgil Robinson is from Booneville and is President of the Tri-State Coin and Relic Congress Club. He says they hunt for buried relics 150 years later.
“There’s still things being found not to the extent it was a few years ago, Robinson points out. “But the technology with metal detectors are improving all the time. And places that used be to be considered hunted out people are still finding things in them,” he says.

Larry Mangus was born and raised in Ohio, but moved to Corinth and is now Commander of the Colonel Rogers Sons of Confederate Camp.
“When I moved here we did a geneology search and lo and behold on my mother’s side of the family I had a Confederate ancestor, Mangus explains. “And so I joined on my mother’s side of the family.”

And Mangus says while the Confederacy may never rise again, it’s currency has.
“I have a hundred dollar Confederate bill laying here on the table, that’s worth over 500 dollars, so I like the return that much better, he boasts.
“I keep telling my stock broker I want my stock portfolio to go up as much as my Confederate collection does and he says can’t do that, Mangus laments.
David Bradley is commander of 48th Tennessee Confederate Infantry Civil War reenactors. He says they could never use actual Civil War equipment during their reenactments.
“We are very demanding on our equipment. An original weapon would probably break the first time we used it. An original weapon is not made for that,” Bradley notes.
And Bradley says 48th Tennessee needs a few good men, to be Civil War reenactors.