Civil War and Reconstruction

The growing of cotton, Mississippi's major crop, became highly profitable in the 19th century, with steamboats as the principal means of shipping. The bank of the Mississippi filled rapidly with river towns and luxurious plantation homes. The cotton economy was based on the use of slave labor. When the conflict over slavery came to a crisis, Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union (January, 1861). Jefferson Davis, Mississippi soldier-statesman, became President of the Confederate States.

Struggle over control of the Mississippi River quickly brought the war into Mississippi. Most of the major cities were occupied by Union forces in 1862, and Vicksburg fell in 1863. The Reconstruction years were bitter ones. Most of the white population lost its vote, and the state government was in the hands of carpetbaggers and blacks until 1875.