![]() ![]() ![]() More than 17,000 enslaved Black Mississippians and freedmen fought for the Union.Ī large but undetermined number of enslaved persons served as body servants to White Confederate officers and soldiers, built fortifications, and did other manual labor for the Confederate Army. Around 80,000 White men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate Army some 500 White Mississippians fought for the Union. White and Black soldiers from Mississippi contributed to both the Union and Confederate war efforts, fighting within the state and as far away as the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Black and White Mississippians not only sent soldiers to war, they frequently experienced hard fighting first hand. ![]() The names Vicksburg, Jackson, Raymond, Port Gibson, Corinth, Iuka, and Meridian resonate in Civil War historical writing as do nearby Shiloh, New Orleans, Memphis, and Port Hudson. Mississippi's location along the strategic Mississippi River made the state a scene of a number of major battles inside its boundaries or nearby. The soldiers' motivation was generally more personal than it was ideological. Some joined the military to defend home and hearth, while others saw the conflict in broader sectional terms. ![]() White soldiers from Mississippi reflected the state's position on slavery, but they fought for a variety of other reasons, too. Slavery, therefore, seemed to be an absolute necessity for the state's White citizens. With a population of 791,000 people, Mississippi's enslaved people outnumbered White people 437,000 to 354,000. The second state to secede from the Union, its secession resolution, like those of the other southern states, clearly stated that defense of slavery was its reason for leaving the Union. Mississippi played a pivotal role in the war. Being a White or a Black soldier in the conflict between the North and the South was no glamorous adventure it was horror of the worst magnitude. Amazingly, more soldiers succumbed to disease, such as measles and dysentery, than died from the awful wounds caused by grape, cannister, and rifled musket minie balls. The Civil War took the lives of more Americans than all the other United States conflicts combined, from the American Revolution through Vietnam. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |