1.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Hinds County, Mississippi
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Hinds County is a county located in the U. S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 245,285 and its county seats are Raymond and Jackson, the state capital. The county is named for General Thomas Hinds, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, Hinds County is part of the Jackson, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is a center of professional, educational, business and industrial elites in the state and it is bordered on the northwest by the Big Black River and on the east by the Pearl River. It is one county away from the Yazoo River and the southern border of the Mississippi Delta. In the 19th century, the areas of the county were devoted to cotton plantations worked by enslaved African Americans. From 1877 to 1950, this county had 22 lynchings, the highest number in the state, Mississippi has the highest total number of lynchings of any state. This form of terrorism was at its height at the turn of the 20th century. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 877 square miles. It is the third-largest county in Mississippi by land area and fifth-largest by total area. 69. 1% were Black or African American,28. 4% White,0. 8% Asian,0. 2% Native American,0. 7% of some other race and 0. 9% of two or more races. As of the census of 2000, there were 250,800 people,91,030 households, the population density was 288 people per square mile. There were 100,287 housing units at a density of 115 per square mile. 0. 79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 70% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the family size was 3.22. In the county, the population was out with 27. 90% under the age of 18,12. 10% from 18 to 24,28. 90% from 25 to 44,20. 10% from 45 to 64. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 88.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.50 males, the median income for a household in the county was $33,991, and the median income for a family was $40,525
3.
Mississippi
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Mississippi /ˌmɪsᵻˈsɪpi/ is a state in the southern region of the United States, with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of Mexico. Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River, the state has a population of approximately 3 million. It is the 32nd most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States, located in the center of the state, Jackson is the state capital and largest city, with a population of approximately 175,000 people. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, where slaves worked on cotton plantations. After the war, the bottomlands to the interior were cleared, by the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the Deltas property owners, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after a financial crisis. Clearing altered the Deltas ecology, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi, much land is now held by agribusinesses. The states catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States, since the 1930s and the Great Migration, Mississippi has been majority white, albeit with the highest percentage of black residents of any U. S. state. From the early 19th century to the 1930s, its residents were mostly black, whites retained political power through Jim Crow laws. In 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, the highest percentage of African Americans in any U. S. state, since gaining enforcement of their voting franchise in the late 1960s, most African Americans support Democratic candidates in local, state and national elections. Conservative whites have shifted to the Republican Party, African Americans are a majority in many counties of the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, an area of historic settlement during the plantation era. Since 2011 Mississippi has been ranked as the most religious state in the country, the states name is derived from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary. Settlers named it after the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, in addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Mississippi is entirely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains,807 feet above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast, the states mean elevation is 300 feet above sea level. Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, the coastal plain is generally composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast have somewhat higher elevations, yellow-brown loess soil is found in the western parts of the state. The northeast is a region of black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt. The coastline includes large bays at Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, the northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta, a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain
4.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
7.
John Alexander McClernand
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John Alexander McClernand was an American lawyer and politician, and a Union 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. McClernand was commissioned a general of volunteers in 1861. His was a case of the politician-in-uniform coming into conflict with career Army officers. He served as a commander under Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, fighting in the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson. McClernand left the Army in 1864 and served as a judge, McClernand was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, near Hardinsburg, but his family moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, when he was quite young. His early life and career were similar to that of another Illinois lawyer of the time and he was largely self-educated and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1832. In that same year he served as a private in the Blackhawk War. In 1835 McClernand founded the Shawneetown Democrat newspaper, which he edited, as a Democrat he served in 1836 and from 1840 to 1843 in the Illinois House of Representatives. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 until 1851 and he was known for his bombastic oratory and his adherence to Jacksonian principles. His dislike of abolitionists generated favor among his constituents, many of whom were natives of slaveholding states. McClernand vigorously opposed the Wilmot Proviso and he was an important ally to Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas played a role in formulating the Compromise of 1850. McClernand also served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands from 1845 to 1847, in 1850, McClernand declined to be a candidate for renomination, and his term expired in 1851. McClernand was again elected to the House to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Thomas L. Harris and his term began on November 8. He was a strong Unionist and introduced the resolution of July 15,1861, pledging money, McClernand supported the campaign of his friend, Stephen Douglas, in the 1860 presidential election. He served as one of his managers during the divisive Democratic presidential nomination convention held in Charleston. In November 1842, McClernand married Sarah Dunlap of Jacksonville, Illinois, Sarah was a daughter of James Dunlap, who served as a quartermaster in the Union Army during the Civil War, eventually appointed to the rank of brevet major general
8.
John S. Bowen
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John Stevens Bowen was a career United States Army officer who later became a general in the Confederate Army and a commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. He fought at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and the Vicksburg Campaign and he is often said to have died just as his abilities were gaining attention. Bowen was born in Bowens Creek, Georgia and he attended the University of Georgia in Athens in the early 1840s where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society, but left before graduating. He later entered the United States Military Academy in 1848, but was suspended in March 1851 and he graduated 13th of 52 cadets in the class of 1853. Among his classmates were future Confederate generals Henry Brevard Davidson, John Bell Hood and he subsequently was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U. S. He eventually became acting adjutant of the U. S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment, then in early 1855, he was reassigned to Fort McIntosh, while there, he decided to resign from the army due to loneliness and moved to Georgia, becoming an architect. He became a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia militia, but then moved to Missouri in 1857, there he became active in the Missouri Volunteer Militia. In 1861 he was appointed as lieutenant colonel commanding the MVMs Southwest Battalion, in early May 1861, Bowen was ordered to St. Louis where he took command of the new 2nd Regiment MVM, largely composed of members of the pro-secessionist Minutemen paramilitary organization. As he waited to be exchanged, he was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate States Army on June 11,1861, after arriving in Memphis, Tennessee he set about recruiting for and organizing the 1st Missouri Infantry. He was reportedly officially exchanged on November 1 and became a commander, serving at Columbus, Kentucky. Bowen was promoted to general on March 14,1862. Breckinridges Reserve Corps of the Army of Mississippi and he distinguished himself in command of his brigade at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was severely wounded by an artillery shell. After his recovery he was given a command in Mansfield Lovells division of the Army of West Tennessee. On the first day, Bowens brigade helped overrun the initial Union positions, during the Confederate retreat from Corinth, his brigade served as part of the rear guard and held off part of the Union army along the Tuscumbia River for an entire day. The court-martial cleared Van Dorn of all charges, Van Dorn was relieved of command in December and John C. Pemberton was put in his commanding the Vicksburg, Mississippi garrison. Bowen was assigned to fortify the post of Grand Gulf with a brigade of infantry, over the next several weeks, he constructed naval batteries along the river. After becoming convinced that Grant would land near Grand Gulf, he repeatedly requested Pemberton for additional supplies and men but each request was refused
9.
XIII Corps (Union Army)
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XIII Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was first led by Ulysses S. Grant and later by John A. McClernand and it served in the Western Theater of civil war, Trans-Mississippi Theater and along the Gulf of Mexico. The XIII Corps, along with the XIV Corps, were put into commission on October 24,1862 with the passing of General Orders No.168. These two corps were the first corps created in the Western Theater, while the XIV Corps constituted all forces under the command of William S. Rosecrans, the XIII Corps likewise constituted all the forces under Ulysses S. Grant. Because of the immense size and the fact that it was virtually synonymous with the Army of the Tennessee, Grant chose to subdivide the corps into the Right, Left. In December 1862 it was divided into the XIII Corps, XV Corps, XVI Corps. Grant remained in command of the Army of the Tennessee and John A. McClernand assumed command of the XIII Corps. Before the official order was passed along to all the commanders, William T. Sherman, commander of the Right Wing. Shermans wing of the XIII Corps fought the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on December 26–29, No matter the designation, it was the first time many of the troops had been under fire. Adding to the identity crisis the XIII Corps faced in its early years was John A. McClernands expedition against Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post, McClernand was given his XIII Corps and Shermans XV Corps. McClernand labeled these forces the Army of the Mississippi and renamed the XIII Corps I Corps, McClernand commanded the Army and placed General George W. Morgan in command of the I Corps. The divisions of Andrew J. Smith and Peter J. Osterhaus participated in the battle, only Stephen Burbridges brigade of Smiths division bore any heavy fighting. With the impending campaign against Vicksburg, Grant took personal command of the operation, McClernand returned to corps command and the Army of the Mississippi was merged back into the Army of the Tennessee and the XIII Corps took on its official title. Ross division was stationed in Arkansas during the campaign and did not participate in any engagements with the rest of the corps. In July, this division fought at the Battle of Helena as part of the District of Eastern Arkansas under Benjamin M. Prentiss, the Battle of Port Gibson was fought by the XIII Corps, with the aid of a portion of the XVII Corps. McClernand did not bring the force of the corps to bear at the Battle of Champion Hill. Immediately following the victory at Champions Hill the Battle of Big Black River Bridge was again fought exclusively by the XIII Corps, when Grant initiated siege operations the XIII Corps took up a position on the Union left. During the assaults on Vicksburg the XIII Corps lost nearly 1,500 soldiers, McClernand had been a long time thorn in Grants side and on June 19, Grant found an opportunity to remove him from command
United States
Confederate States
