Originally constructed speculatively for resale alongside the neighboring home (now a five-plex), Steele Cottage was built by two ambitious young Vicksburg attorneys, Sargent S. Prentiss and John I. Guion, who would later serve briefly as Mississippi’s 17th governor in 1851. When the homes did not sell, they were used as rental properties during a time when Vicksburg was booming with opportunity as the cotton industry began to flourish.

Shortly before the Civil War, the cottage was purchased by Francis Newell Steele as a home for his bride, Esther Rawson Steele. Legend has it that on their journey home, Mrs. Steele remarked she hoped he had not bought a two-story home — she did not want stairs. After Mr. Steele’s death just a few years following the war, she closed off the downstairs entirely. It remained unused for more than 90 years.

Steele Cottage also holds a remarkable distinction: it contains the only remaining indoor cistern in Vicksburg. During the approach of Union troops, Mrs. Steele and her servant lowered the family silver into the cistern’s water for safekeeping before leaving town. The valuables were successfully protected. During the Siege of Vicksburg, newspaper editor J.M. Swords and his family occupied a cave on the property, where he began writing a now-famous article later completed by Union soldiers after their entry into the city.