Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
was the second southern state to declare its
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
from the United States, doing so on January 9, 1861. It joined with six other southern states to form the
Confederacy on February 4, 1861. Mississippi's location along the lengthy
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
made it strategically important to both the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and the Confederacy; dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and transportation nodes.
Mississippian troops fought in every major theater of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, although most were concentrated in the
Western Theater. Confederate president
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
was a Mississippi politician and operated a large cotton plantation there. Prominent Mississippian generals during the war included
William Barksdale
William Barksdale (August 21, 1821 – July 3, 1863) was a lawyer, newspaper editor, US Representative, and Confederate general in the American Civil War. A staunch secessionist, he was mortally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg while he le ...
,
Carnot Posey
Carnot Posey (August 5, 1818 – November 13, 1863) was a Mississippi planter and lawyer, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bristoe Station.
He was transported for care to the Universit ...
,
Wirt Adams,
Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820May 7, 1863) started his military career as a United States Army officer but joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out. He was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict.
A g ...
,
Robert Lowry Robert Lowry may refer to:
* Robert Lowry (governor) (1829–1910), American politician, governor of Mississippi
* Robert Lowry (hymn writer) (1826–1899), American professor of literature, Baptist minister and composer of gospel hymns
* Robert L ...
, and
Benjamin G. Humphreys
Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (August 26, 1808December 20, 1882) was an American politician from Mississippi. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and served as List of Governors of Mississippi, Governor of Mi ...
.
Secession and Mississippian politics
For years prior to the American Civil War, slave-holding Mississippi had voted heavily for the
Democrats, especially as the
Whigs declined in their influence. During the
1860 presidential election, the state supported Southern Democrat candidate
John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...
, giving him 40,768 votes (59.0% of the total of 69,095 ballots cast).
John Bell, the candidate of the
Constitutional Union Party, came in a distant second with 25,045 votes (36.25% of the total), with
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...
, a northern Democrat, receiving 3,282 votes (4.75%).
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, who won the national election, was not on the ballot in Mississippi. According to one Mississippian newspaper in the late 1850s:
Long a hotbed of
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
ist sentiment, support for slavery, and southern
states' rights
In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...
, Mississippi declared its secession from the United States on January 9, 1861, two months after the Republican Party's victory in the U.S. presidential election. The state then joined the Confederacy less than a month later, issuing a
declaration
Declaration may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Declaration'' (book), a self-published electronic pamphlet by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
* ''The Declaration'' (novel), a 2008 children's novel by Gemma Malley
Music ...
of their reasons for seceding, proclaiming that "
r position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery--the greatest material interest of the world". Fulton Anderson, a Mississippian lawyer, delivered a speech to the Virginian secession convention in 1861, in which he declared that "grievances of the Southern people on the slavery question" and their opposition to the Republican Party's goal of "the ultimate extinction of slavery" were the primary catalysts of the state in declaring secession. Mississippian judge
Alexander Hamilton Handy
Alexander Hamilton Handy (December 25, 1809 – September 12, 1883) was a Mississippi attorney who served on the Mississippi Supreme Court from 1853 to 1867, sitting as Chief Justice of Mississippi from 1864 to 1867. Leslie SouthwickMississippi Su ...
also shared this view, opining of the "black" Republican Party that:
Along with
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, Mississippi was one of only two states in the Union in 1860 in which the majority of the state's population were slaves. According to Mississippian Democrat and future Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, Mississippi joined the Confederacy because it "has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal", a sentiment perceived as being threatening to slavery, and because the "Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races", a position that Davis was opposed to.
William L. Harris, one Mississippian secession commissioner, told a meeting of the Georgian general assembly that the Republicans wanted to implement "equality between the white and negro races" and thus secession was necessary for the slave states to resist their efforts.
Fulton Anderson, another Mississippian, told the Virginian secession convention that the Republicans were hostile to the slave states themselves, thus accusing the Republican Party of having an "unrelenting and eternal hostility to the institution of slavery."
Enlistment
There were small pockets of
Unionist citizens who remained sympathetic to the Union in Mississippi, most famously "The Free State of Jones" in
Jones County, led by
Newton Knight
Newton Knight (November 10, 1829 – February 16, 1922) was an American farmer, soldier and Southern Unionist in Mississippi, best known as the leader of the Knight Company, a band of Confederate Army deserters who resisted the Confederacy du ...
. The vast majority of white Mississippians embraced slavery and the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
cause, with thousands joining the Confederate military. Around 80,000 white Mississippians served in the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
; whereas some 545 white Mississippians would join
Union Forces.
![African-American Monument at Vicksburg National Military Park closer view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/African-American_Monument_at_Vicksburg_National_Military_Park_closer_view.jpg)
As the war progressed, a considerable number of freed or escaped slaves joined the
United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...
and similar black regiments. More than 17,000 black Mississippian slaves and freedmen fought for the Union.
There were regional variations, as Logue shows. almost all soldiers were volunteers. The likelihood of a man volunteering for service increased with a person's amount of personal property owned, including slaves. Poor men were less likely to volunteer. Men living near the Mississippi River, regardless of their wealth or other characteristics, were less likely to join the army than were those living in the state's interior. Many military-age men in these western counties had moved elsewhere. Union control of the Mississippi River made its neighbors especially vulnerable, and river-county residents apparently left their communities (and often the Confederacy) rather than face invasion.
Emancipation of slaves
Portions of northwestern Mississippi were under Union control on January 1, 1863, when the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
went into effect. All of Mississippi had been declared "in rebellion" in the Proclamation, and Union forces accordingly began to free slaves in the U.S.-controlled areas of Mississippi at once. According to one Confederate lieutenant from Mississippi, slavery was the cause for which the state declared secession from the Union, saying that "This country without slave labor would be completely worthless ... We can only live & exist by that species of labor: and hence I am willing to fight to the last."
Mississippian towns during the war
Corinth
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...
's location at the junction of two railroads made it strategically important. Confederate
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
P.G.T. Beauregard
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 - February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer of Louisiana Creole descent who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is commonly ...
retreated there after the
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...
, pursued by
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
Maj. Gen.
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Henry W. Halleck
Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a senior United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory: "Old Brains". He was an important par ...
. Beauregard abandoned the town when Halleck approached, letting it fall into Union hands. Since Halleck approached so cautiously, digging entrenchments at every stop for over a month, this action has been known as the
Siege of Corinth
The siege of Corinth (also known as the first Battle of Corinth) was an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry ...
.
Maj. Gen.
William Rosecrans
William Starke Rosecrans (September 6, 1819March 11, 1898) was an American inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and U.S. Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War. He was t ...
moved to Corinth as well and concentrated his force with Halleck later in the year to again attack the city. The
Battle of Corinth took place on October 3–4, 1862, when Confederate Maj. Gen.
Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820May 7, 1863) started his military career as a United States Army officer but joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out. He was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict.
A g ...
attempted to retake the city. The Confederate troops won back the city but were quickly forced out when Union reinforcements arrived.
Oxford
On August 22, 1864 the city of Oxford, MS was burned to the ground by
General A.J. Smith. Only the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment.
...
and two shops were left standing. This action was taken because
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...
had taken refuge in Oxford.
Jackson
Despite its small population,
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name
Places
Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Q ...
became a strategic center of manufacturing for the Confederacy. In 1863, during the
campaign
Campaign or The Campaign may refer to:
Types of campaigns
* Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed
*Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme
* Bl ...
which ended in the capture of
Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to:
* Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States
* The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign
* The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle
Vicksburg is also the name of ...
, Union forces captured Jackson during two battles—once before the fall of Vicksburg and again soon after its fall.
On May 13, 1863, Union forces won the first
Battle of Jackson, forcing
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
forces to flee northward towards
Canton. Subsequently, on May 15 Union
troops
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troop Ro ...
under
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
burned and looted key facilities in Jackson. After driving the Confederates out of Jackson, Union forces turned west once again and soon placed Vicksburg under siege. Confederates began to reassemble in Jackson in preparation for an attempt to break through the Union lines now surrounding Vicksburg. Confederates marched out of Jackson to break the siege in early July. However, unknown to them, Vicksburg had already
surrendered
Surrender, in military terms, is the relinquishment of control over territory, combatants, fortifications, ships or armament to another power. A surrender may be accomplished peacefully or it may be the result of defeat in battle. A sovereign ...
on July 4. Union Army general
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
dispatched Sherman to meet the Confederate forces. Upon learning that Vicksburg had already surrendered, the Confederates retreated back into Jackson, thus beginning the
Siege of Jackson
The Jackson Expedition, also known as the Siege of Jackson, occurred in the aftermath of the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman led the expedition to clear General Joseph E. Johnston ...
, which lasted for approximately one week before the town fell.
Natchez
During the American Civil War, the Mississippian city of
Natchez Natchez may refer to:
Places
* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
* Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...
remained largely undamaged. The city surrendered to
Flag-Officer David G. Farragut after the fall of New Orleans in May 1862. One civilian, an elderly man, was killed during the war, when in September 1863, a Union
ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
shelled the town from the river and he promptly died of a heart attack. Union soldiers sent by Ulysses S. Grant from Vicksburg occupied Natchez in 1863. The local commander, General Thomas Ransom, established headquarters at a home called Rosalie.
Ellen Shields's memoir reveals a Confederate woman's reactions to Union occupation of the city. Shields was a member of the local elite and her memoir points to the upheaval of Confederate society during the war. According to historian Joyce Broussard, Shields's memoir indicates that Confederate men, absent because of the war, were seen to have failed in their homes and in the wider community, forcing the women to use their class-based femininity and their sexuality to deal with the Union Army.
The 340 planters who each owned 250 or more slaves in the Natchez region in 1860 were not enthusiastic Confederates. The support these slaveholders had for the Confederacy was problematic because they were fairly recent arrivals to the Confederacy, opposed secession, and held social and economic ties to the Union. These elite planters also lacked a strong emotional attachment to the idea of a Southern nation; however, when the war started, many of their sons and nephews joined the Confederate army. On the other hand, Charles Dahlgren arrived from Philadelphia and made his fortune before the war. He did support the Confederacy and led a brigade, but was sharply criticized for failing to defend the Gulf Coast. When the Union Army came he moved to Georgia for the duration. He returned in 1865 but never recouped his fortune; He went bankrupt and in 1870 he gave up and moved to New York City.
![elder33](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Elder33.jpg)
A few residents showed their defiance of Union authorities. In 1864, the Catholic bishop of the
Diocese of Natchez,
William Henry Elder
William Henry Elder (March 22, 1819 – October 31, 1904) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi from 1857 to 1880 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio b ...
, refused to obey a Union order to compel his parishioners to pray for the U.S. president. In response, Union forces arrested Elder, convicted him, and jailed him briefly.
The memory of the war remains important for the city, as white Natchez became much more
pro-Confederate after the war. The
Lost Cause
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. First ...
myth arose as a means for coming to terms with the Confederacy's defeat. It quickly became a definitive ideology, strengthened by its celebratory activities, speeches, clubs, and statues. The major organizations dedicated to maintaining the tradition were the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. At Natchez, although the local newspapers and veterans played a role in the maintenance of the Lost Cause, elite women particularly were important, especially in establishing memorials such as the Civil War Monument dedicated on Memorial Day 1890. The Lost Cause enabled women noncombatants to lay a claim to the central event in their redefinition of Southern history.
Vicksburg
Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to:
* Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States
* The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign
* The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle
Vicksburg is also the name of ...
was the site of the
Battle of Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Missis ...
, a decisive victory as the Union forces gained control of the entire
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and cut the western states off. The battle consisted of a long siege, which was necessary because the town was on high ground, well fortified, and difficult to attack directly. The hardships of the civilians were extreme during the siege, with heavy shelling and starvation all around. Some 30,000 Confederates surrendered during the long campaign, but rather than being sent to prison camps, they were
paroled
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
and sent home until they could be
exchanged for Union prisoners.
Greenville
Greenville was a pivotal village for Grant's northern operations in Mississippi during the Vicksburg campaign. The area of the Delta surrounding Greenville was considered the "breadbasket" for providing Vicksburg's military with corn, hogs, beef, mules and horses. Beginning at the end of March 1863, Greenville was the target of General Frederick Steele's Expedition. The design of this expedition was to reconnoiter
Deer Creek as a possible route to Vicksburg and to create havoc and cause damage to confederate soldiers, guerrillas, and loyal (Confederate) landowners. Highly successful, Steele's men seized almost 1000 head of livestock (horses, mules, and cattle) and burned 500,000 bushels of corn during their foray. In addition to the damage done, the Union soldiers also acquired several hundred slaves, who, wishing to escape the bonds of slavery left their plantations and followed the troops from Rolling Fork back to Greenville. It was at this time that General Ulysses S. Grant determined that if any of the slaves chose to do so, they could cross the Union lines and become U.S. soldiers. The first black regiments were formed during the Greenville expedition, and by the end of the expedition nearly 500 ex-slaves were learning the "school of the soldier." General Steele's activity in the delta around Greenville pulled the attention of the Confederate leaders away from the Union activities on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River as they moved on Vicksburg. More importantly, it had serious consequences for the people and soldiers of Vicksburg who were now deprived of a most important source of supplies, food, and animals. In early May, as retaliation for Confederate artillery firing on shipping on the Mississippi River, Commander Selfridge of the U.S. Navy ordered ashore 67 marines and 30 sailors, landing near Chicot Island. Their orders were to "put to the torch" all homes and buildings of those citizens guilty of aiding and abetting Confederate forces. By the end of the day of May 9, the large and imposing mansions, barns, stables, cotton gins, overseer dwellings and slave quarters of the Blanton and Roach plantations were in ruins. Additional damage was done to Argyle Landing and Chicot Island and other houses, barns and outbuildings. The destruction of Greenville was completed on May 6 when a number of Union infantrymen slipped ashore from their boats and burned every building in the village but two (a house and a church).
Choctaw County
During the war, Choctaw County Unionists formed a "Loyal League" allied with the U.S. to "break up the war by advising desertion, robbing the families of those who remained in the army, and keeping the Federal authorities advised."
Others
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
was an important hospital town early in the war. Columbus also had an arsenal that produced gunpowder as well as cannons and handguns. Columbus was targeted by the Union on at least two different occasions, but Union commanders failed to attack the town, due to the activities of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men. Many of the casualties from the Battle of Shiloh were brought there, and thousands were buried in the town's
Friendship Cemetery
Friendship Cemetery is a cemetery located in Columbus, Mississippi. In 1849, the cemetery was established on 5 acres by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With . The original layout consisted of three interlocking circles, signifying the Odd F ...
.
Canton was an important rail and
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
center. Many wounded soldiers were treated in or transported through the city, and, as a consequence, it too has a large Confederate cemetery.
Meridian
Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to
Science
* Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon
* ...
's strategic position at a major railroad junction made it the home of a Confederate arsenal, military hospital, and prisoner-of-war stockade, as well as the headquarters for a number of state offices. The disastrous
Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863 happened 30 miles from Meridian, when the train was en route to the Vicksburg battle. After the Vicksburg campaign, Sherman's Union forces turned eastward. In February 1864, his army reached Meridian, where they destroyed the railroads and burned much of the area to the ground. After completing this task, Sherman is reputed to have said, "Meridian no longer exists."
A makeshift shipyard was established on the Yazoo River at
Yazoo City
Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...
after the Confederate loss of
. The shipyard was destroyed by Union forces in 1863. Then, Yazoo City fell back into Confederate hands. Union forces retook the city the following year and burned most of the buildings in the city.
Battles in Mississippi
*
Skirmish at Aberdeen
*
Battle of Big Black River Bridge
The Battle of Big Black River Bridge was fought on May 17, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. After a Union army commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's Confed ...
*
Battle of Booneville
The Battle of Booneville was fought on July 1, 1862, in Booneville, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. It occurred in the aftermath of the Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh and within the context of Confederate General Braxton Brag ...
*
Battle of Brices Cross Roads
The Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, also known as the Battle of Tishomingo Creek or the Battle of Guntown, was fought on Friday, June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn, Mississippi, then part of the Confederate States of America. A United States Army, Fe ...
*
Battle of Champion Hill
The Battle of Champion Hill of May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confe ...
*
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills, fought December 26–29, 1862, was the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton repulse ...
*
Siege of Corinth
The siege of Corinth (also known as the first Battle of Corinth) was an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry ...
*
Battle of Corinth
*
Battle of Grand Gulf
The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during the American Civil War. As part of Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg campaign, seven Union Navy ironclad warships commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter bombarded Confederat ...
*
Battle of Iuka
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
*
Battle of Jackson
*
Battle of Meridian
The Meridian campaign or Meridian expedition took place from February 3 – March 6, 1864, from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Meridian, Mississippi, by the Union Army of the Tennessee, led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman captured Mer ...
*
Battle of Okolona
The Battle of Okolona took place on February 22, 1864, in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, between Confederate and Union forces during the American Civil War. Confederate cavalry, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, faced over 7,000 c ...
* Battle of Oxford
*
Battle of Port Gibson
The Battle of Port Gibson was fought near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on May 1, 1863, between Union and Confederate forces during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union Army was led by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and was victo ...
*
Battle of Raymond
The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Initial Union (American Civil War), Union attempts to capture the strategically important Mississippi River cit ...
* Burning of Seminary
*
Battle of Senatobia
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
*
Battle of Snyder's Bluff
The Battle of Snyder's Bluff or Snyder's Mill was fought from April 29 to May 1, 1863, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman conducted a feint against Confederate units holding t ...
*
Battle of Tupelo
The Battle of Tupelo, also known as the Engagement at Harrisburg, was a battle of the American Civil War fought from July 14 to 15, 1864, near Tupelo, Mississippi. The Union victory over Confederate forces in northeast Mississippi ensured the ...
*
Siege of Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Missis ...
Restoration to Union
As stipulated by the
Reconstruction Act
The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, (March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 428-430, c.153; March 23, 1867, 15 Stat. 2-5, c.6; July 19, 1867, 15 Stat. 14-16, c.30; and March 11, 1868, 15 Stat. 41, c.25) were four statutes passed duri ...
s during the
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
period,
Arkansas and Mississippi were part of the
Fourth Military District
The Fourth Military District of the U.S. Army was one of five temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department that existed in the American South. The district was stipulated by the Reconstruction Acts during the Reconstruction period foll ...
of the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
. At various times, the district was commanded by generals
Edward Ord
Edward Otho Cresap Ord (October 18, 1818 – July 22, 1883) was an American engineer and United States Army officer who saw action in the Seminole War, the Indian Wars, and the American Civil War. He commanded an army during the final days of th ...
,
Alvan Cullem Gillem
Alvan Cullem Gillem (July 29, 1830 – December 2, 1875) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Southern-born, he remained loyal to the Federal government and fought in several battles in the Western Theater befor ...
, and
Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. A Radical Republican, he was military governor, U.S. Senato ...
.
See also
*
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
- animated map of state secession and confederacy
*
List of Mississippi Civil War Confederate units
This is a list of Mississippi Civil War Confederate Units, or military units from the state of Mississippi which fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The list of Union Mississippi units is shown separately.
Confederate Army
In ...
*
List of Mississippi Union Civil War units
This is a list of units from Mississippi that served in the Union during the American Civil War. Only a single unit of white Union troops was raised within the state, along with several regiments of African-American volunteers, eventually becomi ...
*
Mississippi Secession Ordinance
The Mississippi Secession Ordinance was written by Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (II), who resigned from the U.S. Congress in January 1861. and The Local ordinance, ordinance was signed by James Z. George and others.
Text of Ordinance:
Ref ...
References
Further reading
*
* Ballard, Michael B. ''The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles''. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2011.
* Barney, William L. ''The Secessionist Impulse: Alabama and Mississippi in 1860'' (University of Alabama Press. 1974).
* Bercaw, Nacy. ''Gendered Freedoms: Race, Rights, and the Politics of Household in the Delta, 1861–1875'' (University Press of Florida, 2003).
* Bettersworth, John K. ''Confederate Mississippi: The People and Politics of a Cotton State in Wartime''. (1943; repr., Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1978).
* Bettersworth, John Knox, and James Wesley Silver, eds. ''Mississippi in the Confederacy: As they saw it'', (2 vol. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, 1961; reprint 1970).
* Blain, William T. "'Banner' Unionism in Mississippi: Choctaw County: 1861–1869." ''Mississippi Quarterly'' 2 (Spring, 1976): 207-220.
* Bond, Bradley G. ''Political Culture in the Nineteenth Century South: Mississippi, 1830–1900''. (LSU Press, 1995).
* Brooks Tomblin, Barbara. ''The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2016).
* Darst, W. Maury, ed. "The Vicksburg Diary of Mrs. Alfred Ingraham, May 2-June 13, 1863." ''Journal of Mississippi History'' 44 (1982): 148-179.
* Dougherty, Kevin. ''The Vicksburg Campaign: Strategy, Battles and Key Figures'' (McFarland, 2015).
* Frankel, Noralee. ''Freedom's women: Black women and families in Civil War era Mississippi'' (Indiana UP, 1999).
* Frisby, Derek W
''Campaigns in Mississippi and Tennessee, February-December 1864''Center of Military History; 2014.
* Galbraith, Loretta and William, eds. ''A Lost Heroine of the Confederacy: The Diaries and Letters of Belle Edmondson'' (University of Mississippi Press, 1990).
* Logue, Larry M. "Who Joined the Confederate Army? Soldiers, Civilians, and Communities in Mississippi." ''Journal of Social History'' 26#3 (1993): 611-623
in JSTOR* Pittman, Jr., Walter E. "Trading with the Devil: The Cotton Trade in Civil War Mississippi." ''Journal of Confederate History'' 2: 11 (1989): 132-142
* Rainwater, Percy Lee. ''Mississippi: Storm Center of Secession, 1856–1861'' (1938).
* Rowland, Dunbar. ''Military History of Mississippi, 1803–1898: Taken from the Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi'' (1908. Reprint Company Publishers, 1978).
* Ruminski, Jarret. "Southern Pride and Yankee Presence: The Limits of Confederate Loyalty in Civil War Mississippi, 1860–1865." (PhD dissertation. University of Calgary, 2013). Bibliography on pp 312–338
online* Silver, James W., ed. "The Breakdown of Morale in Central Mississippi in 1864: Letters of Judge Robert S. Hudson." ''Journal of Mississippi History'' 16 (1964): 99-120.
* Smith, Timothy B. ''Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front''. (University Press of Mississippi, 2010).
* Smith, Timothy B. ''The Mississippi Secession Convention: Delegates and Deliberations in Politics and War, 1861–1865''. (University Press of Mississippi, 2014).
* Whittington, Terry. "In the Shadow of Defeat: Tracking the Vicksburg Parolees." ''Journal of Mississippi History'' 4 (Winter, 2002): 307-330.
* Wynne, Ben. ''Mississippi's Civil War: A Narrative History'' (Mercer University Press, 2006).
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mississippi In The American Civil War
.American Civil War
American Civil War by state
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
Western Theater of the American Civil War