James Lusk Alcorn was a governor, and U.S. senator during the Reconstruction era in Mississippi. A Moderate Republican and Whiggish "scalawag", he engaged in a bitter rivalry with Radical Republican Adelbert Ames, who defeated him in the 1873 gubernatorial race. Alcorn was the first elected Republican governor of Mississippi.
Edmund Winston Pettus was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1897 to 1907. He served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the war, he was Grand Dragon, or supreme leader of the Ku Klux Klan, that terrorized and often killed African-Americans.
Charles Clark was the 24th governor of Mississippi from 1863 to 1865. A wealthy planter and lawyer, Clark served as a soldier in the Mexican-American War and joined the Confederate army as a general during the American Civil War. Severely wounded in battle, he ran for governor of Mississippi in 1863, serving in office until the final Confederate defeat in the spring of 1865.
In American history, the Fire-Eaters were a loosely aligned group of radical pro-secession Democrats in the antebellum South who urged the separation of the slave states into a new nation, in which chattel slavery and a distinctive "Southern civilization" would be preserved. Some sought to revive American participation in the Atlantic slave trade, which had been illegal since 1808. After eleven southern states declared independence from the United States in 1861, several Fire-Eaters were outspoken critics of the new Confederate government during the American Civil War.
John Jones Pettus was an American politician, lawyer, and slave owner who served as the 23rd Governor of Mississippi, from 1859 to 1863. Before being elected in his own right to full gubernatorial terms in 1859 and 1861, he served as acting governor from January 5 to 10, 1854, following the resignation of Henry S. Foote. A member of the Democratic Party, Pettus had previously been a Mississippi state representative, and a member and president of the Mississippi State Senate. He strongly supported Mississippi's secession from the United States and brought his state along as a founding member of the Confederate States of America in 1861. Pettus's term of office came to an end in 1863, the same year that saw much of Mississippi overrun by Union forces. At the close of the war he fled to Arkansas to avoid prosecution and died there in 1867.
John Alexander McClernand was an American lawyer, politician, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a member of the United States House of Representatives before the war. McClernand was firmly dedicated to the principles of Jacksonian democracy and supported the Compromise of 1850.
The history of the state of Mississippi extends back to thousands of years of indigenous peoples. Evidence of their cultures has been found largely through archeological excavations, as well as existing remains of earthwork mounds built thousands of years ago. Native American traditions were kept through oral histories; with Europeans recording the accounts of historic peoples they encountered. Since the late 20th century, there have been increased studies of the Native American tribes and reliance on their oral histories to document their cultures. Their accounts have been correlated with evidence of natural events.
Jonathan Tate Reeves is an American politician serving as the 65th governor of Mississippi since 2020. A member of the Republican Party, Reeves served as the 32nd lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020 and as the 53rd treasurer of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012.
John Bullock Clark Sr. was a militia officer and politician who served as a member of the United States Congress and Confederate Congress. Born in Kentucky, Clark moved with his family to Missouri in 1818 and studied law. He opened a legal practice in Fayette, Missouri, in 1824. He held several positions in the local government in the 1820s and 1830s. Clark was also involved in the state militia, serving as a colonel in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and eventually rising to the rank of major general. In 1838, during the Missouri Mormon War, Clark was the recipient of Governor Lilburn Boggs's infamous Mormon Extermination Order, and was involved in the ending stages of the conflict. He was the Whig candidate in the 1840 Missouri gubernatorial election. Clark was accused of conspiring to commit electoral fraud in the election and as a result almost fought a duel with Claiborne Fox Jackson, later a Governor of Missouri.
Mississippi was the second southern state to declare its secession 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 made it strategically important to both the Union and the Confederacy; dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and transportation nodes.
The 1861 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1861. Republican Party candidate Louis P. Harvey won the election with 54% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate Benjamin Ferguson.
The 1853 Mississippi gubernatorial election was held on 8 November 1853 in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Former Democratic US Senator for Mississippi John J. McRae defeated the Whig nominee Francis M. Rogers.
The 1859 Mississippi gubernatorial election was held on October 3, 1859, to elect the governor of Mississippi. Former Democratic acting governor of Mississippi John J. Pettus defeated the independent candidate Harvey W. Walter.
The 1863Mississippi gubernatorial election was held on October 5, 1863, to elect the governor of Mississippi. Charles Clark, a Democrat, won against Democrat A. M. West and Fire-Eater Democrat Reuben Davis.
The Mississippi State Troops were military units formed by the Mississippi Legislature for State defense during the American Civil War. Five infantry regiments, four infantry battalions, and one cavalry battalion were drafted from the Mississippi militia in 1862. Two of the infantry regiments participated in the 1863 siege of Vicksburg, and several State Troop cavalry units were later reorganized and brought into Confederate service. However, most of the State Troop units were kept in military camps and never saw combat. In 1864, another set of State Troop units was created, with all white men aged 16–55 required to report for 30 days military service. Reserve State Troop units were also organized in 1864, consisting of men and boys who were otherwise too young or too old for regular military service. All of the remaining State Troops were officially disbanded when Confederate Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor surrendered all Confederate forces in the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana to United States authorities on May 4, 1865, at Citronelle, Alabama.
The Army of 10,000 was a hastily-assembled volunteer unit of Mississippi troops in the American Civil War sent to support Confederate forces in Kentucky during the winter of 1861-1862. Despite the name, this organization amounted to less than 5,000 troops. Volunteers enlisted in the Army for a 60-day term of service, and after performing garrison duty in Kentucky, they were sent home in February 1862 and disbanded.
The 9th Mississippi Infantry Regiment was a Confederate infantry regiment from Mississippi. Organized from a group of volunteer companies at Pensacola in April 1861, the regiment was reorganized in 1862 and took part in many battles of the Western theater of the American Civil War before surrendering in April, 1865.
The 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army from Mississippi. As part of the Army of Northern Virginia, the 13th Mississippi took part in many battles of the Eastern theater of the American Civil War, as well as some battles in Georgia and Tennessee. The 13th Mississippi Regiment surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
The 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army that took part in many battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.
