A Compendium of Births,
Deaths, Publications, Awards, and Other Events in Mississippi’s
Literary History
Note: In most cases, timeline entries are added
as articles on individual authors are added to this web site. The hyperlinks
listed below connect to biographical and critical articles about that
author. Articles on individual writers will continue to be added in the
coming months. If an author’s name does not appear on this timeline
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1860
Publications:
Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Major-General, U.S.A., and Governor of the State of Mississippi, by J.F.H. Claiborne (Harper & Brothers)
Life and Times of Gen. Sam. Dale, the Mississippi Partisan, by J.F.H. Claiborne (Harper & Brothers)
The Household of Bouverie, or The Elixir of Gold, by Catherine Ann Warfield (Derby & Jackson)
1861
January 9:
The Mississippi legislature votes to secede from the Union.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Jefferson Davis, a former senator from Mississippi, was inaugurated the first and only president of the Confederate States of America on February 18, a month prior to Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in Washington, D.C.
February 18:
In front of the state capitol at Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis, one of Mississippi's U.S. senators, took the oath of office as provisional president of the Confederacy.
A moderate secessionist who, Davis anticipates a "long and bloody war."
Mississippi will ratify the Confederate Constitution in March.
April 12:
In South Carolina, Confederate forces fire the opening shots of the Civil War on the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.
Regiments of volunteers from Mississippi are quickly organized and are dispatched to Pensacola, Virginia, and Tennessee.
April 6-7: The Battle of Shiloh, the first major
battle in the Civil War's western theater, takes place near Pittsburgh Landing
on the Tennessee River a few miles north of Corinth, Mississippi. Despite overwhelming
casualties on both sides, the Union under General Ulysses S. Grant is victorious.
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston is killed during the battle. As a
result of the battle, Confederate forces, now under the command General Pierre
G. T. Beauregard, retreat to Corinth, but being pursued by the Union forces
and outnumbered two to one, they retreat to Tupelo, where Beauregard is replaced
by General Braxton Bragg. The Union forces, now under the command of William
Starke Rosecrans, make their headquarters at Corinth.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
The Battle of Corinth occurred between October 3 and 4, 1862.
October 3-4: General Earl Van Dorn, who
had joined Beauregard's troops at Corinth, tries to recapture Corinth from the
Union forces in the Battle of Corinth, but he is repulsed.
December 12:
General Van Dorn makes a daring raid on Grant's storehouses in Holly Springs. Capturing more than 1500 Union soldiers and much-needed supplies, the raid would set back Grant's planned Vicksburg campaign by several months.
1863
July 4: Vicksburg surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant after a 47-day siege. The city will not celebrate the Fourth of July for more than 80 years.
1864
Publications:
Speech of Hon. L.Q.C. Lamar of Miss., on the State of the Country, by L.Q.C. Lamar (J.J. Toon and Company)
Master William Mitten: Or, a Youth of Brilliant Talents Who Was Ruined by Bad Luck, a novel by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (Burke, Boykin, and Company)