Mississippi Secedes, 1861

On this date in 1861, Mississippi became the second Southern state to secede from the United States. A month later, it joined with 6 other Southern states to form the Confederate States of America (more would join in the months ahead). The state's strategic location along the Mississippi River made it key to both the North and South during the war. Dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and cities.

Mississippi provided an incredible number of soldiers in the war, both for the South and the North. Eighty thousand men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate Army, among whom were relatives of mine. I plan to write about one of them, my great grandfather, Nathan Richadson Oakes, following his enlistment in his state's militia in 1861, and then in Confederate army at Corinth in March 1862. Some 500 white Mississippians fought for the Union, together with more than 17,000 Mississippi slaves and freedmen.

Source: Access Genealogy

Source: Mississippi History Now