Red silk military sash with accompanying typed inscription attributing the sash to Confederate General Jeptha Vining Harris (1816-1899), Mississippi State Troops. The sash is constructed of brocade silk curtain fabric and embellished with fringe. The sash is folded in mounted on board.

At the outset of the Civil War, Harris equipped, at his own expense, a Confederate Army troop. On 2 September 1862, Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus commissioned Harris a brigadier general of Mississippi State Troops. His brigade was ordered to Vicksburg on 7 May 1863, where he held the left line of the Confederate defenses. Harris' brigade was surrendered along with the other Confederate units serving at Vicksburg. A plaque honoring Harris is on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

After the war, Harris returned to his farm in Lowndes County, MS, and a life of relative seclusion. He died 21 November 1899.

Provenance: The sash was obtained in 1955 from the descendants of General Harris, Billups Harris and Lucy Maxwell, who lived at the home the general built around 1857 in Columbus, Mississippi, known as White Arches.