Mississippi in The American Civil War

Mississippi In The American Civil War

Mississippi was the second southern state to declare secession from the Union on January 9, 1861. Mississippi joined with six other southern states to form the Confederacy a month later. Mississippi's location along the lengthy Mississippi River made it strategically important to both the North and South; dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and cities.

Mississippi troops fought in every major theater of the Civil War, although most were concentrated in the Western Theater. The only president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, though born in Kentucky, spent his formative years in Mississippi. Prominent Mississippi generals during the war included William Barksdale, Carnot Posey, Wirt Adams, Earl Van Dorn, Robert Lowry, and Benjamin G. Humphreys.

Read more about Mississippi In The American Civil War:  Mississippi Politics, Battles in Mississippi

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