Mississippi Politics
For years prior to the Civil War, Mississippi had heavily voted Democratic, especially as the Whigs declined in their influence. During the 1860 presidential election, the state supported Southern Democrat candidate John C. Breckinridge, 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 of the Northern Democrats receiving 3,282 votes (4.75%). Abraham Lincoln, who won the national election, was not on the ballot in Mississippi.
Long a hotbed of secession and states' rights, Mississippi declared its independence from the United States on January 9, 1861, briefly forming the Republic of Mississippi before joining the Confederacy less than a month later. The state issued a Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union, proclaiming that "ur position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery--the greatest material interest of the world". With South Carolina, Mississippi was one of only two states in the Union in 1860 where the majority of the population were slaves. Although there were small pockets of citizens who remained sympathetic to the Union, the vast majority of Mississippians embraced the Confederate cause, and thousands flocked to the military. Around 80,000 white men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate Army; some 500 white Mississippians fought for the Union. As the war progressed, a considerable number of freed or escaped slaves joined the United States Colored Troops and similar black regiments. More than 17,000 black Mississippi slaves and freedmen fought for the Union.
Portions of northwestern Mississippi were under Union occupation on January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. All of Mississippi had been declared "in rebellion" in the Proclamation, and Union forces accordingly began to free slaves in the occupied areas of Mississippi at once.
Read more about this topic: Mississippi In The American Civil War
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