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.
Kurz and Allison
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Kurz and Allison were a major publisher of chromolithographs in the late 19th century. Based at 267-269 Wabash Avenue in Chicago, they built their reputation on large prints published in the mid-1880s depicting battles of the American Civil War and this was a period of recollection among veterans, and the company was trying to capitalise of this sentiment. In all, a set of battle scenes were published from designs by Louis Kurz. Kurz, a native of Salzburg, Austria, had emigrated to the United States in 1848, while the prints were highly inaccurate and considered naive fantasies like Currier and Ives prints, they were still sought after. They did not pretend to mirror the events but rather attempted to tap peoples patriotic emotions. When the Spanish–American War broke out in 1898, the company created several large prints of the major battles, later conflicts such as the Russo-Japanese War were also illustrated by the company. Louis Kurz first worked as a lithographer in Milwaukee, together with Henry Sifert, after the Civil War, he was one of the founders of the Chicago Lithographing Company. He worked there until the company was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and he then returned to Milwaukee, and started the American Oleograph Company. He moved back to Chicago in 1878, where in 1880 he became a partner in the newly founded firm of Kurz, alexander Allison probably provided financial backing. According to Neely and Holzeer The influence of the Gettysburg cyclorama on the Kurz, … The print openly copied vignettes from the painting and in at least one instance perpetuated a historical error. In June 1886 Louis Prang published a series of prints under the title Prangs War Pictures, shortly thereafter Kurz and Allison reissued their print of the Battle of Gettysburg and designed and issued additional prints in the same format. Three such prints were issued in 1886, three in 1887, seven in 1888, six in 1889, four in 1890, six in 1891, one in 1891, four in 1892, and one in 1893. According to Neely and Holzeer Kurz and Alison, although inspired by Prangs work, Kurz and Alison remained true to the popular tradition in lithography embodied in the work of Currier and Ives, Prang was aiming higher. Several of the Kurz and Alison Civil War prints featured Black soldiers, particularly Storming Fort Wagner and The Fort Pillow Massacre, at least one lithograph entitled George Washington at Mount Vernon is known to exist depicting George Washington, Martha Washington and Marthas two children. The firm also produced a number of black and white lithographs on religious subjects. These were marketed to localized communities with ethnic identities, often separated from their compatriots, many of the firms prints were reproduced in New Mexican tinwork. Prints depicting the Civil War battles by Kurz and Allison are among the most sought after collectibles of Civil War enthusiasts, according to the Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College. In spite of their lack of accuracy, Kurz and Allison prints are still used as book covers
3.
Warren County, Mississippi
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Warren County is a county located in the U. S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 48,773, created by legislative act of 22 December 1809, Warren County is named for American Revolutionary War officer Joseph Warren. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 619 square miles. Interstate 20 U. S. Route 61 U. S.50. 3% were White,47. 0% Black or African American,0. 8% Asian,0. 3% Native American,0. 7% of some other race and 0. 9% of two or more races. As of the census of 2000, there were 49,644 people,18,756 households, the population density was 85 people per square mile. There were 20,789 housing units at a density of 35 per square mile. 1. 04% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,2005 census estimates based on the American Community Survey suggested that non-Hispanic whites were 51. 5% of Warren Countys population. Warren County was the county in Mississippi along the Mississippi River in addition to Desoto where whites formed a majority of the population. African Americans were 46. 0% of the countys population, people identifying as of two or more races were 0. 6%, less than in the previous ACS. The Latino population was 1. 2% of the total for the county,25. 80% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the family size was 3.14. In the county, the population was out with 28. 50% under the age of 18,9. 10% from 18 to 24,28. 40% from 25 to 44,22. 40% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 88.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.40 males, the median income for a household in the county was $35,056, and the median income for a family was $41,706. Males had an income of $33,566 versus $21,975 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,527, about 15. 00% of families and 18. 70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27. 80% of those under age 18 and 16. 20% of those age 65 or over. Warren County has the seventh highest per capita income in the State of Mississippi, members are elected from each of the five supervisory districts. The Board of Supervisors guides and establishes policies for the county government, members of the board of make decisions regarding economic development, public health and welfare and county roads
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
8.
John C. Pemberton
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John Clifford Pemberton, was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole Wars and with distinction during the Mexican–American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, noted for his defeat, Pemberton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the second child of John Pemberton, and Rebecca Clifford. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1833 and he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U. S. Artillery Regiment on July 1,1837, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery served in garrison duty at Fort Columbus, New York, in 1838 and into 1839, and then at the Camp of Instruction located near Trenton, New Jersey, in 1839. He then served along the northern U. S. frontier during the brief Canadian Border Disturbances of the Aroostook War. Pemberton and the 4th were next stationed in Michigan, serving at Detroit in 1840, at Fort Mackinac in the upper Great Lakes in Michigan in 1840 and 1841, and at Fort Brady in 1841. He then served in Buffalo, New York, in 1841 to 1842, from 1845 to 1846, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery were part of the U. S. He fought at the Battle of Palo Alto on May 8,1846 and he then fought well at the Battle of Monterrey in that fall, and was appointed a brevet captain for Gallant Conduct in the several Conflicts at on September 23. Pemberton was appointed a major for his performance at Molino del Rey on September 8. He then was part of the storming of Chapultepec Castle on September 13, and the Battle for Mexico City that day and the next, where Pemberton was wounded. He was an member of the Aztec Club of 1847 - a military society founded by U. S. Army officers who served in Mexico City during the military occupation following the war. In 1848, Pemberton married Martha Thompson of Norfolk, Virginia, after the war with Mexico, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery served in garrison duty at Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida, in 1849. He then fought in Florida during hostilities against the Seminoles in 1849 and 1850, the 4th returned to garrison duty at New Orleans Barracks in New Orleans in Louisiana in 1850, and Pemberton was promoted to captain on September 16. He next served in Fort Washington, Maryland, along the lower Potomac River below the capital in 1851 and 1852, at Fort Hamilton, New York and he and the 4th Artillery fought again in Florida during further hostilities against the Seminoles from 1856 to 1857. Pemberton and the 4th was then on duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from 1857 to 1858. Later in brief garrison duty at the Washington Arsenal in Washington and he resigned his commission, effective April 29, despite pleas from his family and his former commander Winfield Scott. His decision was due to the influence of his Virginia-born wife and he was promoted to colonel on May 8. On May 9, Pemberton took a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Artillery of the Provisional Army of Virginia and his first brigade command was in the Department of Norfolk, leading its 10th Brigade from June to November
9.
Surrender (military)
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Surrender, in military terms, is the relinquishment of control over territory, combatants, fortifications, ships or armament to another power. A surrender may be accomplished peacefully, without fighting, or it may be the result of defeat in battle, a sovereign state may surrender following defeat in a war, usually by signing a peace treaty or capitulation agreement. A battlefield surrender, either by individuals or when ordered by officers, normally, a surrender will involve the handing over of weapons, the commanding officer of a surrendering force symbolically offers his sword to the victorious commander. Flags and ensigns are hauled down or furled, and ships colors are struck or the raising of a flag to the masts signals a surrender. When the parties agree to terms, the surrender may be conditional, that is, the leaders of the surrendering group negotiate privileges or compensation for the time, expense and loss of life saved by the victor through the stopping of resistance. Alternatively, in a surrender at discretion, the victor makes no promises of treatment, an early example of a military surrender is the defeat of Carthage by the Roman Empire at the end of the Second Punic War. Over time, generally accepted laws and customs of war have developed for such a situation, most of which are laid out in the Hague Convention of 1907. Normally, a belligerent will agree to surrender only if completely incapable of continuing hostilities. Traditionally, a ceremony was accompanied by the honors of war. The Third Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war should not be mistreated or abused, US Army policy, for example, requires that surrendered persons should be secured and safeguarded while being evacuated from the battlefield. While not a military law, the Code of the US Fighting Force disallows surrender unless all reasonable means of resistance exhausted. Certain death the only alternative, the Code states, I will never surrender of my own free will, if in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist. False surrender is a type of perfidy in the context of war and it is a war crime under Protocol I of the Geneva Convention. False surrenders are usually used to draw the enemy out of cover to attack them off guard, accounts of false surrender can be found relatively frequently throughout history. One of the more infamous examples was the false surrender of British troops at Kilmichael. Capitulation, an agreement in time of war for the surrender to an armed force of a particular body of troops. Debellatio occurs when a war ends because of the destruction of a belligerent state. No quarter occurs when a victor shows no clemency or mercy, under the laws of war, it is especially forbidden
10.
Army of the Tennessee
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The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. It should not be confused with the similarly named Army of Tennessee, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Unions District of West Tennessee. In April 1862, Grants troops survived a severe test in the bloody Battle of Shiloh. In October 1862, Grants command was reconfigured and elevated to status, as the Department of the Tennessee. Grant commanded these forces until after his critically important victory at Vicksburg in July 1863 and it should suffice to note that the nucleus around which was to gather the. Army of the Tennessee first took shape in 1861–1862, while Grant was headquartered at Cairo and those troops continued under Grant in his next command, the distinct District of West Tennessee, they were then sometimes, and perhaps most appropriately, called the Army of West Tennessee. During the course of the war, elements of the Army of the Tennessee performed many tasks, and it is not feasible to chronicle every such development here, even at the corps level. Rather, this article traces the main thrust of the armys development, at any given time, substantial numbers of troops were engaged in activities not discussed here. For example, in April 1863, less than half of Grants departmental strength was directly engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, one of Grants wartime aides, John A. Rawlins, later stated that rom this time. Commenced the growth and organization of the Army of the Tennessee, paducah promptly became a separate Union command under Brig. Gen. Charles F. Smith, who soon occupied Smithland, Kentucky, at the junction of the Cumberland River and the Ohio. Grants own first engagement came on November 7 at Belmont, Missouri, Grants casualties in this first battle totaled about 500, Confederate casualties were similar. While Grant had suffered a repulse, he won favorable press coverage and this battle, reports Rawlins, confirmed General Grant in his views that he should give battle whenever he had what he thought a sufficient number of men. Also in November, John Fremont lost his command at St. Louis, to be replaced by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, on December 20, Grants command was reconfigured to include C. F. Smiths and renamed the District of Cairo, from that perch, in February 1862, Grant led the Union campaign against Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. His troops for this campaign eventually numbered approximately 27,000 men, Smith, and Brig. Gen. Lewis Wallace. Grant initially moved up the Tennessee River to Fort Henry with only two divisions, McClernands and Smiths. On February 6, even before he could organize his force for attack, additional Union regiments arrived at Fort Donelson by water, these were formed into the new 3rd Division under Lew Wallace. The Battle of Fort Donelson began on February 13 and, after sharp fighting, another historian notes that Grants troops had performed prodigies of valor and endurance during the campaign and had learned from it that hard fighting would bring success
11.
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
12.
Vicksburg Campaign
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The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lt. Gen. John C. The campaign consisted of important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives. Military historians divide the campaign into two phases, Operations Against Vicksburg and Grants Operations Against Vicksburg. Grant conducted a number of experiments or expeditions—Grants Bayou Operations—that attempted to enable access to the Mississippi south of Vicksburgs artillery batteries. All five of these failed as well. Finally, Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg, on April 29 and April 30,1863, Grants army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. An elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions fooled the Confederates and the landings occurred without opposition, over the next 17 days, Grant maneuvered his army inland and won five battles, captured the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, and assaulted and laid siege to Vicksburg. After Pembertons army surrendered on July 4, and when Port Hudson surrendered to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P, Grants Vicksburg Campaign is studied as a masterpiece of military operations and a major turning point of the war. Vicksburg was strategically vital to the Confederates, Jefferson Davis said, Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the Souths two halves together. The natural defenses of the city were ideal, earning it the nickname The Gibraltar of the Confederacy and it was located on a high bluff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river, De Soto Peninsula, making it almost impossible to approach by ship. About twelve miles up the Yazoo River were Confederate batteries and entrenchments at Haynes Bluff, the Louisiana land west of Vicksburg was also difficult, with many streams and poor country roads, widespread winter flooding, and it was on the opposite side of the river from the fortress. The city had been under Union naval attack before, admiral David Farragut moved up the river after his capture of New Orleans and on May 18,1862, demanded the surrender of Vicksburg. Farragut had insufficient troops to force the issue, and he moved back to New Orleans and he returned with a flotilla in June 1862, but their attempts to bombard the fortress into surrender failed. Farragut investigated the possibility of bypassing the fortified cliffs by digging a canal across the neck of the rivers bend, on June 28, Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams, attached to Farraguts command, began digging work on the canal by employing local laborers and some soldiers. Many of the men fell victim to diseases and heat exhaustion. In the fall of 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck was promoted from command of the Western Theater to general-in-chief of all Union armies. Halleck has received criticism for not moving promptly overland from Memphis, Tennessee and he believed that the Navy could capture the fortress on its own, not knowing that the naval force was insufficiently manned with ground troops to finish the job. What might have achieved success in the summer of 1862 was no longer possible by November because the Confederates had amply reinforced the garrison by that time, Grants army marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a forward base at Holly Springs
13.
USS Cairo
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USS Cairo /ˈkeɪroʊ/ was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U. S. Civil War. Cairo was the ship of the City-class gunboats and named for Cairo. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, as part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff. Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by a remotely detonated by hand. The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons, Cairo was built by James Eads and Co. Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, by contract to the United States Department of War. She was commissioned as part of the Union Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla, Cairo served with the Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributaries until she was transferred to the Navy on 1 October 1862, with the other river gunboats. She was commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, on 6 June 1862, two days later, Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis. Five of the gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action. That night, Union forces occupied the city, Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined the Yazoo Pass Expedition. Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, Cairo had her armament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service, Cairo and the other City-class ships were fitted with weapons were on hand. Though the 8 in smoothbore Dahlgren guns were modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified. These were, old smoothbores that had made into rifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker. Additionally, the confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat, over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand. Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location
14.
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
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The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills, fought December 26–29,1862, was the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. John C, pemberton repulsed an advance by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman that was intended to lead to the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi. On December 27, the Federals pushed their lines forward through the swamps toward the Walnut Hills, on December 28, several futile attempts were made to get around these defenses. On December 29, Sherman ordered an assault, which was repulsed with heavy casualties. This Confederate victory frustrated Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants attempts to take Vicksburg by a direct approach. Starting in November 1862, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant split his 70, Sherman commanded the Right Wing, or XIII Corps, Army of the Tennessee, redesignated the XV Corps on December 22. His expeditionary force of 32,000 troops was organized into four divisions, andrew J. Smith, Morgan L. Smith, George W. Morgan, and Frederick Steele. Grants wing marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a base at Holly Springs. He planned an assault in the direction of Vicksburg. After advancing up the Yazoo River, the transports disembarked Shermans men at Johnsons Plantation, opposite Steeles Bayou, the Confederate forces opposing Shermans advance were from the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, commanded by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, a Pennsylvanian who chose to fight for the South, the officer in direct command of the defenses of Vicksburg was Maj. Gen. Martin L. Smith, who commanded four brigades led by Brig. Vaughn, John Gregg, and Edward D. Tracy, Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee commanded a provisional division with brigades commanded by Cols. William T. Withers and Allen Thomas, Lee was the commander of the Confederate defense in the Walnut Hills until the arrival late on December 29 of Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Although the Union forces outnumbered the men to their front by two to one, they faced a formidable maze of both natural and man-made defenses, first was a thick entanglement of trees, which was broken intermittently by swampland. Furthermore, the Confederates had formed dense barriers using felled trees for abatis, on December 26, Sherman deployed the brigades of Col. John F. DeCourcy and Brig. David Stuart and Francis P. Blair, Jr. to perform reconnaissance and they moved slowly ahead through the difficult terrain, skirmishing with S. D. Lees covering force that had been at Mrs. Lakes plantation. On December 28, Steeles division attempted to turn the Confederate right flank, on the morning of December 29, Sherman ordered an artillery bombardment of the Confederate defenses to weaken them before a general Federal advance. For almost four hours, a duel took place all along the line of battle
15.
Yazoo Pass Expedition
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Grants objective was to get his troops into a flanking position against the Rebel defenders. The expedition was an effort to bypass the Confederate defenses on the bluffs near the city by using the backwaters of the Mississippi Delta as a route from the Mississippi River to the Yazoo River. Once on the Yazoo, the Army would be able to cross the river unopposed, the operation would require a deep penetration into enemy territory that was dominated by water, so cooperation between the two services was necessary. The Army was led by Brigadier General Leonard F. Ross, Naval commander was Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, who was in extremely poor health, his health was an important factor in the ultimate failure of the expedition. From the start, the expedition was delayed by obstacles that were more serious than the perfunctory Confederate resistance. Because progress was so slow, the Confederate Army under Lieutenant General John C, Pemberton was able to set up a fort and block passage of the Federal fleet near the town of Greenwood, Mississippi. The Federal fleet did not approach the fort until March 11, then, the Army troops present could not contribute significantly to the battle because of the nature of the ground, much of which was under water. Following the third repulse on March 16, Lieutenant Commander Smiths health failed him completely, Foster and Ross decided to withdraw to the Mississippi. The entire force had returned by April 12, and the expedition was over, the Vicksburg Campaign was bogged down in early 1863, following the repulse of the Union forces under Brigadier General William T. Sherman at Walnut Hills late the previous year. One of the operations he put in motion became known as the Yazoo Pass Expedition because it used a waterway of that name. The western part of the state of Mississippi, from the Tennessee state line to the north, as such, it is quite low, in many places, it is in fact lower than the level of the river. The region is occupied by numerous marshes, brakes, sloughs, bayous, lakes, creeks. Until the middle of the century, overflow from the Mississippi continued to pass into these waters. One such route left the Mississippi at a point a little south of Helena, Arkansas, passed through Moon Lake, the Coldwater is a tributary of the Tallahatchie River, which combines with the Yalobusha to form the Yazoo River at Greenwood, Mississippi. The Yazoo then flows 188 miles, to reenter the Mississippi a short distance above Vicksburg and this changed in 1856, however, when the coming of the railroad induced the state to drain some of the land for agricultural uses. To that end, they built levees to confine the river to its main course. Deprived of its source, the water level behind the levee dropped as much as eight feet. The Army and Navy had distinct but not incompatible reasons to get their forces to the east of Vicksburg, Grant wanted to get his soldiers onto dry ground with no rivers between him and the Confederate defense
16.
Steele's Bayou Expedition
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Its aim was to move Union forces from the Mississippi River to a point on the Yazoo River upstream of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. The army and navy contingents of the expedition moved separately, although their movements were coordinated, the naval flotilla moved into Steeles Bayou on March 14,1863. Two army transports followed them on the leg, others were to come later if the route were to prove satisfactory. Traversing Steeles Bayou was not particularly difficult, but the leg, along Deer Creek. The waterway, narrow and with frequent turns, forced the vessels to move at snails pace, exploiting this, the Rebels further impeded progress by felling trees across the stream, and brought the Union force to a halt within 1.5 miles of the Rolling Fork. The flotilla would have retreated, but Confederate troops got in their rear on Deer Creek, the soldiers, with the personal prodding of Major General William T. Sherman, made a forced march that got to the flotilla on March 22. They easily drove off the Confederate patrols that were blocking the retreat, so Porter, by March 27, the entire expedition was back on the Mississippi, having accomplished nothing. The Steeles Bayou Expedition was Grants last attempt to attack Pembertons right flank, following its failure, he turned his attention to the enemy left flank, and soon began the movement that led to the capture of Vicksburg. The campaign to capture the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Unions Major General Ulysses S. Grant had put into motion several operations aiming at flanking Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Writing in his memoirs long after the event, he stated that he did not have confidence that any of them would prove successful. Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter therefore set one more operation in motion, like the others, it was an effort to get on the enemy flank, it had the additional purpose of relieving some of the pressure on the earlier expedition. To avoid the lethargy in command that had hampered the Yazoo Pass operation, Porter himself went with the gunboats, Grants orders to Sherman lay out the course of the expedition. They also show that he was not completely sure of its success, the expedition was very much limited by the geography of the Mississippi Delta, the flood plain of the river occupying most of northwestern Mississippi. The land is low and is in fact lower in many places than the river. The region is characterized by marshes, brakes, sloughs, bayous, lakes, creeks. Until the middle of the century, overflow from the Mississippi continued to pass into these waters. When railroads provided more convenient commerce, however, levees to contain the flow had been built, then, when the war came, the levee was breached for the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the land was again flooded. Minor waterways swelled to the size of small rivers, raising the possibility that Union gunboats could travel on them
17.
Grierson's Raid
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Griersons Raid was a Union cavalry raid during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. It ran from April 17 to May 2,1863, as a diversion from Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants main attack plan on Vicksburg, Mississippi. Early in 1863, Major General Charles Hamilton, the commander of the Corinth section of Grants division, subsequently, due to Hamiltons insistence on procuring a command that would garner him more glory, Hamilton offered his resignation. Up until this time in the war, Confederate cavalry commanders such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, stuart had ridden circles around the Union, and it was time to out-do the Confederates in cavalry expeditions. The task fell to Col. Benjamin Grierson, a music teacher who, oddly. Griersons cavalry brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th Illinois and 2nd Iowa Cavalry regiments, total casualties for Griersons Brigade during the raid were three killed, seven wounded, and nine missing. Five sick and wounded men were left behind along the route, pemberton, commander of the Vicksburg garrison, had few cavalry and could do nothing to stop Grierson. The premier Confederate cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, was off chasing another Union raider, Col. Abel Streight, in Alabama, while Streights Raid failed, it did distract Forrest and this probably allowed the success of Griersons Raid. Although many Confederate cavalry units pursued Grierson vigorously across the state, battle of Newtons Station Clan Grierson Laliki, Tom. Griersons Raid, A Daring Cavalry Strike Through the Heart of the Confederacy, farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Roughshod Through Dixie – Grierson’s Raid 1863, Osprey Raid Series #12, Osprey Publishing
18.
Battle of Grand Gulf
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The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29,1863, during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862 Confederate field artillery had periodically harassed naval vessels from Grand Gulf, the town was largely burned in 1862 during bombardment and raids as the Federals attempted to suppress construction of earthworks around the town. However, construction of Confederate batteries with heavy artillery resumed in March 1863, the primary works at the time of the April 1863 battle were two earthen forts, Fort Cobun and Fort Wade. Atop Point of Rock, Fort Cobun was the stronger fortification due to its elevation, Fort Wade sat only 20 feet above the river, approximately three quarters of a mile downstream and a quarter of mile from the waters edge. Rifle pits ran along the ridge connecting the two works, gen. John A. McClernands XIII Corps who were on the accompanying transports and barges. The attack by Benton, Lafayette, Tuscumbia, Carondelet, Louisville, Mound City, during the fight, the armored vessels moved within 100 yards of the Confederate guns at Fort Cobun. The union gunboats successfully silenced the batteries of Fort Wade. The Union ironclads and the transports drew off, after dark, however, the ironclads engaged the Confederate guns again while the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet. Grant marched his men overland across Coffee Point to below the Gulf, after the transports had passed Grand Gulf, they embarked the troops at Disharoons plantation and disembarked them on the Mississippi shore at Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf. The men immediately began marching overland toward Port Gibson, Mississippi, the Confederates had won a hollow victory, the loss at Grand Gulf caused just a slight change in Grants offensive. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press,2004. Vol.2, Grant Strikes a Fatal Blow,8, The Confederate Magazine at Fort Wade Grand Gulf, Mississippi, Excavations 1980-1981. Mississippi Department of Archives and History,1982, national Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
19.
Battle of Snyder's Bluff
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The Battle of Snyders Bluff or Snyders Mill was fought from April 29 to May 1,1863, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman conducted a feint against Confederate units holding the bluff, to ensure that troops were not withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there, a combined Union Army–Navy force feigned an attack on Snyders Bluff, Mississippi. At 9 a. m. the next morning, the force, minus one gunboat, continued upriver to Drumgoulds Bluff, during the fighting, the Choctaw suffered more than fifty hits, but no casualties occurred. Around 6 p. m. the troops disembarked and marched along Blakes Levee toward the guns, as they neared Drumgoulds Bluff, a battery opened on them, creating havoc and casualties. The Union advance halted and, after dark, the men reembarked on the transports, the next morning, transports disembarked other troops. The swampy terrain and enemy artillery fire forced them to retire. The gunboats opened fire again, about 3 p. m. on May 1, later, the boats fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark. Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Millikens Bend, national Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
20.
Battle of Port Gibson
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The Battle of Port Gibson was fought near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on May 1,1863, between Union and Confederate forces during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union Army was led by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Grant launched his campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the spring of 1863, starting his army south from Millikens Bend on the west side of the Mississippi River. He intended to storm Grand Gulf, while his subordinate Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman deceived the main army in Vicksburg by feigning an assault on the Yazoo Bluffs, Grant would then detach the XIII Corps to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks at Port Hudson, Louisiana, while Sherman hurried to join Grant, McPherson for an inland move against the railroad. The Union fleet, however, failed to silence the Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Grant then sailed farther south and began crossing at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, on April 30. Shermans feint against the Yazoo Bluffs—the Battle of Snyders Bluff—was a complete success, Bowen moved south from Grand Gulf with Greens Brigade and took up a position astride the Rodney road just southwest of Port Gibson near Magnolia Church. A single brigade of reinforcements from Vicksburg under Brig. Gen. Edward D. Tracy arrived later and was posted across the Bruinsburg Road two miles north of Greens position, baldwins Brigade arrived later and was positioned in support of Greens Brigade. One-hundred-foot-tall hills separated by nearly vertical ravines choked with canebrakes and underbrush rendered Bowens position tenable, the absence of any Confederate cavalry would have a major impact on the campaign. If Bowen had known that Grants men were landing at Bruinsburg and not Rodney, he would have taken a position on the bluffs above Bruinsburg, denying Grants army a bridgehead into the area. Federal efforts to push rapidly inland were slowed because Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand had forgotten to issue rations to the men, despite the resulting delay, however, the Army of the Tennessee moved onto the river bluffs unopposed and pushed rapidly towards Port Gibson. Shortly after midnight on May 1, advanced elements of the 14th Division under Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr engaged Confederate pickets near the Shaifer House, sporadic skirmishing and artillery fire continued until 3 a. m. Wary of Tracys Brigade to the north, McClernand posted Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhauss 9th Division facing that direction, having developed each others positions, the opposing forces sat down and waited for daylight. General Carr scouted the ground before him and realized that an assault through the canebrakes would be fruitless. Brig. Gen. Alvin P. Hoveys 12th Division arrived and surged forward just as Carrs men were storming the Confederate position, both flanks were turned, and Greens men broke and ran. McClernand stopped to reorganize, then launched into a series of grandiose speeches until Grant pointed out that the Confederates had simply withdrawn to a defendable position. Reinforced by Brig. Gen. A. J. Smiths 10th Division and Stevensons Brigade of McPhersons XVII Corp, with 20,000 men crowded into a 1. 5-mile front, McClernands plan appeared to be to force his way past the Confederate line. A flanking assault by Col. Francis Cockrells Missourians crumpled the Federal right flank, sundown found the two sides settling into a stalemate along a broad front on the Rodney Road several miles from Port Gibson. McPherson showed up late in the afternoon with John E. Smiths brigade, donning a cloak to disguise his rank, he reviewed the front lines and quickly devised a turning movement that would render untenable the entire Confederate right flank
21.
Battle of Raymond
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The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12,1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The bitter fight pitted elements of Union Army Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army of the Tennessee against Confederate forces of Lt. Gen. John C, Pembertons Department of the Mississippi and East Louisiana. The Confederates failed to prevent the Federal troops from reaching the Southern Railroad and isolating Vicksburg, Mississippi, from reinforcement, during the morning of the 12th, the Confederates enjoyed a two-to-one advantage in numbers, as they faced off across Fourteen Mile Creek against a single Federal brigade. The ranking Confederate officer, Brig. Gen. Gen. James B, the Union casualties at Raymond were 68 killed,341 wounded, and 37 missing. The Confederate casualties were nearly double,100 killed,305 wounded, the small battle had an inordinately large impact on the Vicksburg Campaign. Union interdiction of the railroad interrupted Pembertons attempt to consolidate his forces and prevented him from linking up with his commanding officer. As a result, Pemberton was limited to three options, abandon Vicksburg, withdraw into the city and accept a siege, or fight an engagement against a superior force. Facing conflicting orders from his superiors and open insurrection from his subordinates, Pemberton would be forced into the choice on May 16,1863. There they would form the wing of a force superior in size to the Federal army. In Raymond, arriving reinforcements would be supported by Wirt Adamss Cavalry Regiment, Adams had been ordered by Pemberton to leave his regiment in Raymond and ride to Edwards, Mississippi,15 miles away to organize the assorted cavalry attached to the Confederate main body. However, Adams elected to obey a subsequent order from Confederate Maj. Gen. John S. Bowen instructing him to bring his force to Edwards. The Confederate infantry making its way to Raymond by way of the rail and road included Greggs and Maxeys overstrength brigades from Port Hudson, Louisiana, walkers and States Rights Gists brigades from the east. Complicating the journey, however, was Griersons Raid, which rendered unusable portions of the railroad east of Jackson and about 50 miles of south of Brookhaven. Greggs men consequently marched all but 85 miles of the 200 mile journey from Port Hudson to Jackson, a second cavalry raid, launched by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, cut the railroad just north of Brookhaven, trapping the cars of the Jackson & New Orleans Railroad with General Maxeys brigade too far south to assist in the ensuing battle. After being granted a day of rest on the Pearl River just north of Jackson, subsequently, Greggs brigade arrived in Raymond late in the afternoon, and dropped to rest as soon as halted. The rest would prove to be a short one, rather than finding Wirt Adamss cavalry regiment guarding the roads into town, Gregg found the network of roads posted by a five-man detachment of Confederate cavalry and a company of state cavalry. Gregg was forced to picket the roads out of town with his weary infantry, unbeknownst to anyone in the Confederate army, McPhersons men of the XVII Corps were lurking near Utica, Mississippi, maintaining strict drum and bugle silence and a strong cavalry screen
22.
Battle of Jackson, Mississippi
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The Battle of Jackson, fought on May 14,1863, in Jackson, Mississippi, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign in the American Civil War. On May 9, Gen. Johnston received a dispatch from the Confederate Secretary of War directing him to proceed at once to Mississippi and these corps, under the overall command of Grant, had crossed the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg and driven northeast toward Jackson. The railroad connections were to be cut to isolate the Vicksburg garrison, and if the Confederate troops in Jackson were defeated, they would be unable to threaten Grants flank or rear during his eventual assault on Vicksburg. Johnston consulted with the commander, Brig. Gen. John Gregg. Johnston ordered the evacuation of Jackson, but Gregg was to defend Jackson until the evacuation was completed, by 10 a. m. both Union army corps were near Jackson and had engaged the enemy. Rain, Confederate resistance, and poor defenses prevented heavy fighting until around 11 a. m. when Union forces attacked in numbers, in mid-afternoon, Johnston informed Gregg that the evacuation was complete and that he should disengage and follow. Soon after, Union troops entered Jackson and had a celebration in the Bowman House, hosted by Grant and they then burned part of the town and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg. Johnstons evacuation of Jackson was premature because he could, by late on May 14, have had 11,000 troops at his disposal and by the morning of May 15, the fall of the former Mississippi state capital was a blow to Confederate morale. General Sherman appointed Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower to the position of governor of Jackson. With the discovery of a supply of rum, it was impossible for Mowers Brigade to keep order among the mass of soldiers and camp followers. Grant left Jackson on the afternoon of May 15 and proceeded to Clinton, on the morning of May 16 he sent orders for Sherman to move out of Jackson as soon as the destruction was complete. Sherman marched almost immediately, clearing the city by 10 a. m, by nightfall on May 16, Shermans corps reached Bolton, Mississippi, and the Confederacy had reoccupied what remained of Jackson. Jackson had been destroyed as a center and the war industries were crushed. But more importantly the Confederate concentration of men and materials aimed at saving Vicksburg were scattered, Sherman would later lead an expedition against Jackson following the fall of Vicksburg to clear Johnstons relief force from the area. National Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
23.
Battle of Champion Hill
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The Battle of Champion Hill, fought May 16,1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate Lt. Gen. John C, Pemberton and defeated his army twenty miles to the east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading inevitably to the Siege of Vicksburg and surrender. The battle is known as Bakers Creek. Following the Union occupation of Jackson, Mississippi, on May 14, general Joseph E. Johnston, commanding all Confederate forces in Mississippi, retreated with most of his army up the Canton Road. However, he ordered Lt. Gen. John C, Pemberton, commanding three divisions totaling about 23,000 men, to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton. Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnstons plan was likely to result in disaster, on May 16, however, Pemberton received another message from Johnston repeating his former orders. Pemberton had already started after the trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road. When he obediently ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his supply wagons, had become the vanguard of his attack, around 7 am on May 16, Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began. Pembertons force formed into a three-mile -long defensive line ran southwest to northeast along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Grant wrote in his Personal Memoirs, where Pemberton had chosen his position to receive us, whether taken by accident or design, was well selected. It is one of the highest points in that section, Pemberton was unaware that one of the three Union columns was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank on Champion Hill. Pemberton posted Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lees Alabama brigade on Champion Hill where they could watch for a Union column reported moving on the crossroads, lee soon spotted the Union troops and they in turn saw him. If enemy force was not stopped, it would cut the Confederates off from their Vicksburg base, Pemberton was warned of Union movement and sent troops to defend his left flank. Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and their artillery began firing, when Grant arrived at Champion Hill at about 10,00 a. m. he ordered an attack to begin. John A. McClernands corps attacked on the left and James B, William T. Shermans corps was well behind the others, departing from Jackson. By 11,30 a. m. the Union forces had reached the Confederates main line, at 1,00 p. m. they took the crest, the troops from Carter L. Stevensons division retiring in disorder. McPhersons corps swept forward, capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route, the division of John S. Bowen counterattacked in support of Stevenson, pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge was halted. However, they were too few to hold the position, Pemberton directed William W. Loring to send forces from the southern area of the line, where they were only lightly engaged with McClernands ineffective attack, to reinforce the Hill
24.
Battle of Big Black River Bridge
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The Battle of Big Black River Bridge, or Big Black, fought May 17,1863, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate Lt. Gen. John C, pemberton following the Battle of Champion Hill, in the final battle before the Siege of Vicksburg. Reeling from their defeat at Champion Hill, the Confederates reached Big Black River Bridge, pemberton ordered Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen, with three brigades, to man the fortifications on the east bank of the river and impede any Union pursuit. The Bridge was 1250 ft. long and 150 ft. tall, three divisions of Maj. Gen. John A. McClernands XIII Corps moved out from Edwards Station on the morning of May 17. The corps encountered the Confederates behind breastworks of cotton bales fronted by a bayou and they took cover as enemy artillery began firing. Vaughns East Tennessee Brigade, which had combat experience and was composed of men from largely pro-Union East Tennessee. The entire charge lasted 3 minutes, as soon as they had crossed, the Confederates set fire to the bridge and steamboat, preventing close Union pursuit. The fleeing Confederates who arrived in Vicksburg later that day were disorganized, sergeant William Wesley Kendall of the 49th Indiana was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in the charge. The Union forces captured approximately 1,700 troops at Big Black and many drowned trying to cross the river. Fewer than half of the Confederates who had fought at Champion Hill made it into the defenses at Vicksburg, the Confederate force was bottled up at Vicksburg. 2nd ed. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.1998, massey, Steve Unlocked, The Battle of the Big Black River Bridge Createspace Publishing,2015. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press,2004. Vol.2, Grant Strikes a Fatal Blow, fullenkamp, Leonard, Stephen Bowman, and Jay Luvaas. Lawrence, University Press of Kansas,1998, grabau, Warren E. Ninety-Eighty Days, A Geographers View of the Vicksburg Campaign. Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press,2000, korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. War on the Mississippi, Grants Vicksburg Campaign, winschel, Terrence J. Triumph & Defeat, The Vicksburg Campaign. Campbell, CA, Savas Publishing Company,1999, woodworth, Steven E. ed. Grants Lieutenants, From Cairo to Vicksburg. Lawrence, University Press of Kansas,2001, CWSAC Report Update National Park Service, Vicksburg West Point Atlas map of Grants advance from Jackson to Vicksburg
25.
Battle of Milliken's Bend
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The Battle of Millikens Bend, fought June 7,1863, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Pemberton and his army were besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, in an effort to cut Grants supply line and relieve the city, the Confederates attacked the Union supply area at Millikens Bend up the Mississippi. The Millikens Bend area,15 miles to the northwest of Vicksburg, had recently served as a staging area for Grants Vicksburg Campaign. It was a site of supply depots and hospitals, many of which were manned and guarded by black soldiers, some of whom were recently recruited men who were freed slaves. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was under political pressure to come to the aid of the besieged Pemberton and his 40,000 troops. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith to send troops to break up that supply line, unknown to either Smith or Davis, Grant had recently shifted his supply lines to the east bank of the Mississippi above Vicksburg. Smith ordered Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor to mount this attack and he assigned Maj. Gen. John George Walkers Division of Texans, known as Walkers Greyhounds, to Taylors command for that purpose. Taylor objected, citing the marshy nature of the terrain and the uncertainty that the line still existed. He preferred instead to take Walkers troops south to attack a vulnerable New Orleans, banks Army of the Gulf to Port Hudson. Smith rejected Taylors plan, and Taylor reluctantly left with Walker and his men, going down the Red River from Alexandria to the Ouachita River, and from there north toward Richmond, Louisiana. On the morning of June 6, Union Colonel Hermann Lieb with the African Brigade, about three miles from Richmond, Lieb encountered enemy troops at the Tallulah railroad depot and drove them back but then retired, fearing that many more Rebels might be near. While retiring, a squad of Union cavalry appeared, fleeing from a force of Rebels, Lieb got his men into battle line and helped disperse the pursuing enemy. He then retired to Millikens Bend and informed his superior by courier of his actions, the 23rd Iowa Infantry and two gunboats came to his assistance. Walker proceeded east from Richmond at 7 p. m, at midnight, he reached Oaklawn Plantation, which was situated about 7 miles from Millikens Bend to the north and an equal distance from Youngs Point to the south. Around 3,00 a. m. on June 7, Confederates appeared in force and they continued their movement towards the Union left flank. The Federal forces fired some volleys that caused the Rebel line to pause momentarily, in spite of receiving more volleys, the Rebels came on, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. In this intense fighting, the Confederates succeeded in flanking the Union force, the Union force fell back to the river’s bank. About that time Union gunboats Choctaw and Lexington appeared and fired on the Rebels, the Confederates continued firing and began extending to their right to envelop the Federals but failed in their objective
26.
Battle of Helena
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The Battle of Helena was a land battle of the American Civil War fought on July 4,1863, at Helena, Arkansas. The battle was a Confederate attempt to pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg. The victory secured eastern Arkansas for the United States, Holmes wrote to General Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and received permission to attack Helena. Infantry under Major-General Sterling Price and cavalry under Brigadier-General John Marmaduke would move from Jacksonport to the vicinity of Helena, Price and Marmaduke would meet up with infantry out of Little Rock, under Brigadier-General James Fagan. Holmes, accompanied by Arkansas Governor Harris Flanagin, travelled to Helena to take command of the attack. Major-General Benjamin Prentiss, in command of the District of Eastern Arkansas, was headquartered at Helena with approximately 20,000 troops, four artillery batteries with breastworks and rifle pits were placed in a semicircle around the town. In addition, the USS Tyler, a gunboat was assigned to support Prentiss. Prentiss received word that an attack was in the works and actively worked to slow the movement of Confederate forces by felling trees, Helena itself was overcrowded with federal troops and was suffering from housing shortages and poor health and sanitation facilities. Occupying soldiers dubbed the town Hell-in Arkansas, just prior to the battle, a large number of troops were transferred to Vicksburg to strengthen the siege around that city. This transfer left only about 4,000 Union soldiers to protect the Federal enclave at Helena, Holmes planned for a dawn attack with Marmadukes 1,700 dismounted cavalry attacking fortified Rightor Hill northwest of the town and capturing the artillery battery stationed there. Fagans 1,300 men were assigned to capture Hindmans Hill southwest of the city, Brigadier-General Lucius Walker was assigned the task of guarding Marmadukes flank and preventing Union reinforcements from reaching Rightor Hill. The main attack however, would place in the center with Sterling Prices 3,100 men seizing Graveyard Hill. Marmadukes assault ran into trouble quickly and began taking artillery and small fire from his left flank. Walker was supposed to intervene for Marmaduke, but failed to come to his aid out of concern for his own exposed position, walkers failure would eventually lead to bad blood between Marmaduke and Walker that would end in a bloody duel during the campaign for Little Rock. The southwest and center elements of the Confederate attack also suffered from failed communications, Fagan and Price failed to coordinate their attacks due to Holmes vague order to attack at daylight. Price interpreted this order to mean an attack at sunrise and Fagan interpreted it to mean an attack at first light, Fagan was surprised to find his attack on Hindman Hill was opposed by artillery fire from Graveyard Hill. Fagan had expected Price to be engaged already with that battery, Fagans artillery had not been able to reach the battlefield because of felled trees blocking the road. Fagan had no artillery available to silence the Federal guns and had no choice, Fagans men reached the summit of the hill and managed to seize the outer fortifications but were pinned down just short of the summit by the two Union batteries
27.
Jackson Expedition
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The Jackson Expedition occurred in the aftermath of the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman led the expedition to clear General Joseph E. Johnstons relief effort from the Vicksburg area, during the Siege of Vicksburg Johnston had been gathering troops at Jackson, intending to relieve pressure on Lt. Gen. John C. Johnston cautiously advanced his 30,000 soldiers toward the rear of Grants army surrounding Vicksburg, in response, Grant ordered Sherman to deal with Johnstons threat. By July 1,1863, Johnstons force was in position along the Big Black River, Sherman used the newly arrived IX Corps to counter this threat. On July 5, the day after the surrender of Vicksburg was made official, Johnston hastily withdrew his force across the Big Black River and Champions Hill battlefields with Sherman in pursuit. Sherman had with him the IX Corps, XV Corps, XIII Corps, on July 10 the Union Army had taken up position around Jackson. The heaviest fighting came on July 11 during an unsuccessful Union attack, Brig. Gen. Jacob G. Lauman ordered a brigade under Col. Isaac C. Pugh to attack the Confederate works manned by Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Adamss brigade, as a result Lauman was relieved of command for failing to properly carry out the orders of his superior Maj. Gen. E. O. C. Ord, which resulted in heavy casualties, instead of risking entrapment, Johnston chose to evacuate the state capital and withdrew on July 16. Shermans forces occupied the city the following day, the capture of the city effectively ended the last threat to Vicksburg. Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books, war on the Mississippi, Grants Vicksburg Campaign. Map of Union and Confederate works around Jackson, Plate 37 Map of Laumans attack
28.
Union Army
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The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War,1861 to 1865. It included the permanent regular army of the United States, which was augmented by numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate Army during the war, at least two and a half million men served in the Union Army, almost all were volunteers. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes,280,000 were wounded and 200,000 deserted. When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U. S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate army. The U. S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, Lincolns call forced the border states to choose sides, and four seceded, making the Confederacy eleven states strong. The war proved to be longer and more extensive than anyone North or South had expected, the call for volunteers initially was easily met by patriotic Northerners, abolitionists, and even immigrants who enlisted for a steady income and meals. Over 10,000 Germans in New York and Pennsylvania immediately responded to Lincolns call, as more men were needed, however, the number of volunteers fell and both money bounties and forced conscription had to be turned to. Nevertheless, between April 1861 and April 1865, at least two and a million men served in the Union Army, of whom the majority were volunteers. It is a misconception that the South held an advantage because of the percentage of professional officers who resigned to join the Confederate army. At the start of the war, there were 824 graduates of the U. S, Military Academy on the active list, of these,296 resigned or were dismissed, and 184 of those became Confederate officers. Of the approximately 900 West Point graduates who were civilians,400 returned to the Union Army and 99 to the Confederate. Therefore, the ratio of Union to Confederate professional officers was 642 to 283, the South did have the advantage of other military colleges, such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, but they produced fewer officers. The Union Army was composed of numerous organizations, which were generally organized geographically, Military Division A collection of Departments reporting to one commander. Military Divisions were similar to the modern term Theater, and were modeled close to, though not synonymous with. Department An organization that covered a region, including responsibilities for the Federal installations therein. Those named for states usually referred to Southern states that had been occupied and it was more common to name departments for rivers or regions. District A subdivision of a Department, there were also Subdistricts for smaller regions
29.
Major general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
30.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
31.
General officers in the Confederate States Army
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The general officers of the Confederate States Army were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army prior to the Civil War, most Confederate generals needed confirmation from the Confederate Congress, much like prospective generals in the modern U. S. armed forces. Much of the design of the Confederate States Army was based on the structure, the Confederate Army was composed of three parts, the Army of the Confederate States of America, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, and the various Southern state militias. Graduates from West Point and Mexican War veterans were highly sought after by Jefferson Davis for military service, like their Federal counterparts, the Confederate Army had both professional and political generals within it. Ranks throughout the CSA were roughly based on the U. S. Army in design and seniority. On February 27,1861, a staff for the army was authorized, consisting of four positions, an adjutant general, a quartermaster general, a commissary general. Initially the last of these was to be a staff officer only, the post of adjutant general was filled by Samuel Cooper and he held it throughout the Civil War, as well as the armys inspector general. As officers were appointed to the grades of general by Jefferson Davis. The dates of rank, as well as seniority of officers appointed to the grade on the same day, were determined by Davis usually following the guidelines established for the prewar U. S. Army. These generals were most often infantry or cavalry brigade commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals, and War Department staff officers. By wars end the Confederacy had at least 383 different men who held this rank in the PACS, the organization of regiments into brigades was authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861. Brigadier generals would command them, and these generals were to be nominated by Davis and these generals also often led sub-districts within military departments, with command over soldiers in their sub-district. These generals outranked Confederate Army colonels, who commonly led infantry regiments and this rank is equivalent to brigadier general in the modern U. S. army. These generals were most commonly infantry division commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals and they also led the districts that made up military departments, and had command over the troops in their districts. By wars end, the Confederacy had at least 88 different men who had held this rank, divisions were authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861, and major generals would command them. These generals were to be nominated by Davis and confirmed by the Senate, Major generals outranked brigadiers and all other lesser officers. This rank was not synonymous with the Unions use of it, as Northern major generals led divisions, corps and this rank is equivalent in most respects to major general in the modern U. S. Army. All of the Confederacys lieutenant generals were in the PACS, the Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18,1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them
32.
Vicksburg, Mississippi
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Vicksburg is the only city and county seat of Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is located 234 miles northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and 40 miles due west of Jackson and it is located on the Mississippi River across from the state of Louisiana. The city has increased in population since 1900, when 14,834 people lived here, the population was 26,407 at the 2000 census. In 2010, it was designated as the city of a Micropolitan Statistical Area with a total population of 49,644. This MSA includes all of Warren County, the area which is now Vicksburg was long occupied by the Natchez Native Americans as part of their historical territory along the Mississippi. The Natchez spoke a language isolate not related to the Muskogean languages of the major tribes in the area. Before the Natchez, other cultures had occupied this strategic area for thousands of years. The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists, who built Fort-Saint-Pierre in 1719 on the bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood. They conducted fur trading with the Natchez and others and started plantations, on 29 November 1729, the Natchez attacked the fort and plantations in and around the present-day city of Natchez. They killed several hundred settlers, including the Jesuit missionary Father Paul Du Poisson, as was the custom, they took a number of women and children as captives. The Natchez War was a disaster for French Louisiana, and the population of the Natchez District never recovered. But, aided by the Choctaw, traditional enemies of the Natchez, the French defeated and scattered the Natchez and their allies, the Choctaw Nation took over the area by right of conquest and inhabited it for several decades. Under pressure from the US government, in 1801 the Choctaw agreed to cede nearly 2,000,000 acres of land to the US under the terms of the Treaty of Fort Adams. The treaty was the first of a series that led to the removal in 1830 of most of the Choctaw to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Some Choctaw remained in Mississippi, citing article XIV of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, they became citizens of the state and they struggled to maintain their culture against the pressure of the binary slave society, which classified people as only white or black. In 1790, the Spanish founded a military outpost on the site, when the Americans took possession in 1798 following the American Revolutionary War and a treaty with Spain, they changed the name to Walnut Hills. The small village was incorporated in 1825 as Vicksburg, named after Newitt Vick and they captured and hanged five gamblers who had shot and killed a local doctor. The historian Joshua D. Rothman calls this event the deadliest outbreak of violence in the slave states between the Southampton Insurrection and the Civil War
33.
Anaconda Plan
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The Anaconda Plan is the name applied to an outline strategy for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. Proposed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, the plan emphasized a Union blockade of the Southern ports, the snake image caught on, giving the proposal its popular name. A spearhead, a small amphibious force of army troops transported by boats and supported by gunboats, should advance rapidly. They would be followed by a traditional army, marching behind them to secure the victories. The culminating battle would be for the forts below New Orleans, when they fell, the river would be in Federal hands from its source to its mouth, Scotts plan had elements similar to a plan created before the Civil War. That antebellum plan was intended to crush a limited domestic insurrection by closing ports and it was not intended to deal with a new political organization with a regular army. The complete strategy could not be implemented immediately, as no warships of the type imagined for the Mississippi campaign existed, the U. S. Navy was also too small to enforce the blockade in the first months of the war. It would take time to gather and train the forces needed to out the Mississippi thrust. Hence, Scotts plan was subjected to a deal of ridicule. His opponents called for an overland campaign, directed primarily at the Confederate capital of Richmond. Their stated belief was that if a few strongholds were taken, the conflict was not the brief affair that Scotts critics imagined. In the four years of war, the Federal Navy enforced a blockade that certainly weakened the South, the form of the Northern victory thus turned out to look very much like what Scott had proposed in the early days. Consequently, the Anaconda has been rehabilitated, and general histories of the Civil War often credit it with guiding President Abraham Lincolns strategy throughout. The Anaconda had a development, both in its origin and the way it played out in the experience of battle. The blockade had already been proclaimed by President Lincoln and this executive order was not rescinded until the end of the war, so the blockade existed independently of Scotts plan. In the early days of the movement, the status of the border states Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland. All except Delaware had strong pro-Southern interests, because Congress was not in session to authorize Presidential initiatives to suppress the rebellion, the burden of raising troops for the war fell on the loyal state governments. Ohio was particularly active in doing so, and early acquired the services of George B, McClellan, who was to serve as the commander of its militia, with rank Major General of Volunteers
34.
Siege of Port Hudson
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The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, when his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history. A second attack failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander. This left the Mississippi open to Union navigation from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, from the time the American Civil War started in April 1861, both the North and South made controlling the Mississippi River a major part of their strategy. The Confederacy wanted to keep using the river to transport needed supplies, particularly important to the South was the stretch of the Mississippi that included the mouth of the Red River. In the spring and early summer of 1862, the Union advanced their control of the Mississippi from both the north and the south, a second Union fleet commanded by Charles H. Davis occupied Memphis, Tennessee, after defeating Confederate riverine forces in Battle of Memphis. To make sure it could continue to use the section of the river. The initial idea of fortifying the heights of Port Hudson came from the master of fixed defenses, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Commander, Army of the Mississippi. ”In June 1862, Major General Earl Van Dorn wrote Jefferson Davis, “I want Baton Rouge and Port Hudson” A few days after the fall of Baton Rouge to the Union. Breckinridge with 4,000 men, carried out the wishes of General Van Dorn by occupying Port Hudson, soldiers of the 4th Louisiana Infantry arrived at the site on August 15,1862. According to historian John D. Winters, Port Hudson, unlike Baton Rouge, was one of the strongest points on the river and it was a position similar to that of Quebec City in the French and Indian War. The political momentum behind the Union actions against Port Hudson came from the elections of November 1862, the Republican base, centered in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, had been shaken by embarrassing Democratic victories. A dramatic letter from Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton to Lincoln claimed “The fate of the North-West is trembling in the balance. ”His implication was that unless the independent trade of Union states along the Ohio River was restored by Union control of the entire Mississippi, further breakup of the Union was possible. Morton believed the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were in danger of breaking away from the Northeast to join the Confederacy, the threatening political fractures galvanized the Lincoln administration into action. Major General Nathanial Banks was diverted from an expedition to Texas and given Benjamin Butler’s command of the Department of the Gulf. ”On December 4,1862, Banks. In May 1863, Union land and naval forces began a campaign they hoped would give control of the full length of the Mississippi River. Banks simultaneously attacked Port Hudson, which stood at the southern end, Port Hudson was sited on an 80 feet bluff on the east bank above a hairpin turn in the Mississippi River 25 miles upriver from Baton Rouge. The hills and ridges in the area of the town represented extremely rough terrain, a maze of deep, thickly forested ravines, swamps, the town was a port for shipping cotton and sugar downriver from the surrounding area. Despite its importance, the city consisted of a few buildings and 200 people by the start of the war, the river had shifted south and the docks had been moved about.5 miles south
35.
Nathaniel P. Banks
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Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, always a political chameleon, Banks was the first professional politician to serve as Massachusetts Governor. But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and badly handled the Siege of Port Hudson and he then launched the Red River Campaign, a failed attempt to occupy eastern Texas that prompted his recall. Banks was regularly criticized for the failures of his campaigns, notably in tactically important tasks including reconnaissance, Banks was also instrumental in early reconstruction efforts in Louisiana, intended by Lincoln as a model for later such activities. In his later years he adopted more liberal progressive causes, Nathaniel Startle Prentice Banks was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, the first child of Nathaniel P. Banks, Sr. and Rebecca Greenwood Banks, on January 30,1816. His father worked in the mill of the Boston Manufacturing Company. Banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen, at point the familys financial demands compelled him to take a mill job. He started as a boy, responsible for replacing bobbins full of thread with empty ones, working in the mills of Waltham. Because of this role he became known as Bobbin Boy Banks and he was at one time apprenticed as a mechanic alongside Elias Howe, a cousin. Recognizing the value of education, Banks continued to read, sometimes walking to Boston on his days off to visit the Atheneum Library and he attended company-sponsored lectures by luminaries of the day including Daniel Webster and other orators. He formed a club with other mill workers to improve their oratorical skills. He honed his oratorical and political skills by emulating Robert Rantoul, Bankss success as a speaker convinced him to quit the mill. He first worked as an editor for two short-lived political newspapers, after they failed he ran for a seat in the legislature in 1844. He then applied to Rantoul, who had been appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, Banks again ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1847. Company leaders could effectively compel their workers to vote for Whig candidates because there was no secret ballot. This brought Banks, along with fellow Democrats Rantoul and George S. Boutwell to form a coalition with the Free Soil Party that successfully gained control of the legislature and governors chair. The deals negotiated after the win in the 1850 election put Boutwell in the governors chair. His role as speaker and his effectiveness in conducting business raised his status significantly
36.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
37.
Robert E. Lee
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Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, during the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the field army in 1862 he soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles. Lees strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat, Lees aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865. By this time, Lee had assumed command of the remaining Southern armies. Lee rejected the proposal of an insurgency against the Union. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, an icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy to some. But his popularity even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. Barracks at West Point built in 1962 are named after him, Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III, Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter. His birth date has traditionally been recorded as January 19,1807, one of Lees great grandparents, Henry Lee I, was a prominent Virginian colonist of English descent. Lees family is one of Virginias first families, descended from Richard Lee I, Esq. the Immigrant, Lees mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. Lees father, a planter, suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments. Little is known of Lee as a child, he spoke of his boyhood as an adult. Nothing is known of his relationship with his father who, after leaving his family, mentioned Robert only once in a letter. In 1811, the family, including the newly born child, Mildred, moved to a house on Oronoco Street, still close to the center of town. In 1812, Harry Lee was badly injured in a riot in Baltimore
38.
Battle of Gettysburg
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The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3,1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the war and is often described as the wars turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Meades Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lees attempt to invade the North. After his success at Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved of command just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade. Elements of the two armies collided at Gettysburg on July 1,1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there, his objective being to engage the Union army. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division under Brig. Gen. John Buford, on the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon of July 2, Lee launched an assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devils Den. On the Union right, Confederate demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culps Hill, all across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great loss to the Confederate army, Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the battle, the most costly in US history. Shortly after the Army of Northern Virginia won a victory over the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Such a move would upset U. S. plans for the campaigning season. The invasion would allow the Confederates to live off the bounty of the rich Northern farms while giving war-ravaged Virginia a much-needed rest, in addition, Lees 72, 000-man army could threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and possibly strengthen the growing peace movement in the North. Thus, on June 3, Lees army began to shift northward from Fredericksburg, the Cavalry Division remained under the command of Maj. Gen. J. E. B. The Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, consisted of seven corps, a cavalry corps. The first major action of the campaign took place on June 9 between cavalry forces at Brandy Station, near Culpeper, Virginia
39.
George Meade
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George Gordon Meade was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in the coastal construction of several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War, during the American Civil War he served as a Union general, rising from command of a brigade to command of the Army of the Potomac. He is best known for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Meades Civil War combat experience started as a brigade commander in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, including the Battle of Glendale, where he was wounded severely. As a division commander, he had success at the Battle of South Mountain. His division was arguably the most successful during the assaults at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who accompanied him throughout these campaigns. He also suffered from a reputation as a man of short, violent temper who was hostile toward the press, after the war, he commanded several important departments during Reconstruction. George Gordon Meade was born in 1815 in Cádiz, Spain and his father, a wealthy Philadelphian merchant, was serving in Spain as a naval agent for the U. S. government. He was ruined financially because of his support of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and his family returned to the United States in 1817, in precarious financial straits. Young George attended the Mount Hope Institution in Baltimore and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1831 and he graduated 19th in his class of 56 cadets in 1835. His brother, Richard Worsam Meade II, became a naval officer, for a year, he served with the 3rd U. S. Artillery in Florida, fighting against the Seminole Indians, before resigning from the Army and he worked as a civil engineer for the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida Railroad and for the War Department. On December 31,1840, he married Margaretta Sergeant, daughter of John Sergeant, finding steady civilian employment was difficult for the newly married man, so he reentered the army in 1842 as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. After that war he was involved in lighthouse and breakwater construction and coastal surveying in Florida. He designed Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, Absecon Light in Atlantic City, Cape May Light in Cape May, Jupiter Inlet Light in Jupiter, Florida and he also designed a hydraulic lamp that was adopted by the Lighthouse Board for use in American lighthouses. He was promoted to captain in 1856, in 1857, Meade relieved Lt. Col. James Kearney on the Lakes Survey mission of the Great Lakes. Completion of the survey of Lake Huron and extension of the surveys of Lake Michigan down to Grand, prior to Captain Meades command, Great Lakes water level readings were taken locally with temporary gauges, a uniform plane of reference had not been established. In 1858, based on his recommendation, instrumentation was set in place for the tabulation of records across the basin, in 1860, the first detailed report of Great Lakes was published. Meade stayed with the Lakes Survey until the 1861 outbreak of the Civil War and he was assigned command of the 2nd Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited early in the war, which he led competently, initially in the construction of defenses around Washington, D. C
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Turning point of the American Civil War
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There is widespread disagreement over the turning point of the American Civil War. The idea of a point is an event after which most observers would agree that the eventual outcome was inevitable. While the Battle of Gettysburg is the most widely cited, there are several other arguable turning points in the American Civil War, possibilities are presented here in chronological order. Only the positive arguments for each are given, at the time of the event, the fog of war often makes it impossible to recognize all of the implications of any one victory. Hindsight reveals the endpoint and all the developments that led up to it, in most cases, contemporary observers may lack confidence in predicting a turning point. In the Civil War, many of the points cited by historians would not have been recognized as such at the time. The First Battle of Bull Run, on July 21,1861, was the first major battle of the war. Until this time, the North was generally confident about its prospects for quickly crushing the rebellion with an easy, direct strike against the Confederate capital, Richmond, the embarrassing rout of Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowells army made clear the fallacy of this viewpoint. Northerners were shocked and realized that this was going to be a lengthier, bloodier war than they had anticipated, Lincoln immediately signed legislation that increased the army by 500,000 men and allowed for their term of service to be for the duration of the war. By mid-1861, eleven states had seceded, but four more slave-owning states remained in the Union—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Kentucky was considered the most at risk, the state legislature had declared neutrality in the dispute, which was a moderately pro-Confederate stance. The loss of Kentucky would have been catastrophic because of its control of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, Lincoln wrote, I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. On September 3,1861, Confederate General Leonidas Polk extended his defensive line north from Tennessee when Gideon Pillow occupied Columbus, Polk followed that by moving through the Cumberland Gap and occupying parts of southeastern Kentucky. This violation of state neutrality enraged many of its citizens, the legislature, overriding the veto of the governor. Kentucky was never again an area of operation for Confederate forces. Ironically, Polks actions were not directed by the Confederate government, thus, almost by accident, the Confederacy was placed at an enormous strategic disadvantage. Indeed, the early Union successes in the theater are directly related to Polks blunder. The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the Confederate surrender at the latter, were the first significant Union victories, the loss of control of these rivers was a significant strategic defeat for the Confederacy. This was the start of offensive actions by Grant that, with the exception of the Battle of Shiloh
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Arkansas
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Arkansas is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the states diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States, the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, the largest city in the eastern part of the state is Jonesboro. The largest city in the part of the state is Pine Bluff. The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15,1836, in 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Upon returning to the Union in 1868, the state would continue to suffer due to its reliance on slavery. White rural interests continued to dominate the politics until the Civil Rights Movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, aircraft, poultry, steel, tourism, cotton, and rice. The culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, wright, and physicist William L. McMillan, who was a pioneer in superconductor research, have all lived in Arkansas. The name Arkansas derives from the root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains, the word Arkansas itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw word, akakaze, meaning land of downriver people or the Sioux word akakaze meaning people of the south wind. In 2007, the legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the states name to be Arkansass which has been followed increasingly by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, as well as Tennessee, the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The state line along the Mississippi River is indeterminate along much of the border with Mississippi due to these changes. Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half, the highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta and this dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas
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Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the state in the U. S. with political subdivisions termed parishes. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Much of the lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh. These contain a rich southern biota, typical examples include birds such as ibis, there are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a process in the landscape. These support a large number of plant species, including many species of orchids. Louisiana has more Native American tribes than any other state, including four that are federally recognized, ten that are state recognized. Before the American purchase of the territory in 1803, the current Louisiana State had been both a French colony and for a period, a Spanish one. In addition, colonists imported numerous African people as slaves in the 18th century, many came from peoples of the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture. Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715, when René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane. The suffix -ana is a Latin suffix that can refer to information relating to an individual, subject. Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of related to Louis, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist 250 million years ago when there was but one supercontinent, Pangea. As Pangea split apart, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico opened, Louisiana slowly developed, over millions of years, from water into land, and from north to south. The oldest rocks are exposed in the north, in such as the Kisatchie National Forest. The oldest rocks date back to the early Tertiary Era, some 60 million years ago, the history of the formation of these rocks can be found in D. Spearings Roadside Geology of Louisiana. The sediments were carried north to south by the Mississippi River
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Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
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