https://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/files/original/503b6c89d4d88171764f317aa444f402.png 16737d8fb5eb46075c4a213c0af5381c https://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/files/original/127155cfcc240552e459ad029b86b788.png bda92b5f89121cab99b452fe41589181 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Soldiers and the Military Experience Subject The topic of the resource The sample documents in this section help site users explore the wartime experiences of Mississippi soldiers and their families. They reveal men's frustrations with military discipline, hardships suffered by families with their men absent, and the gradual increase of dissent and desertion across the state. New Recruits: Letters or petitions from new recruits reveal their resistance to strict military discipline, especially in the earliest days of the war. A great example of this appears in <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/7">James Gates's June 1861 letter</a> protesting his commander's strict treatment of the men, refusing to allow them to return home for a few days, and withholding their pay. Gates served in the Tallahatchie Rifles, organized in Charleston, MS, which later mustered into Confederate (national) service as Company F, 21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment. State Forces: Men who served in state-level forces also submitted protests to the governor, but these usually related to lack of pay, weapons and supplies, or to transfers to national service. State-level volunteers were usually older men with families who opted for service closer to home to stay near their families and work their farms. You can see this in this <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/34">January 1863 petition</a> from the men of the 1st Regiment, Mississippi Minute Men, explaining why they specifically sought state-level service and protest their transfer to national service. Note that they were not seeking discharges. This can be seen as a form of dissent, but it is not disloyalty and certainly not desertion, which surfaces in other records. These men were willing to stay in service, but along the terms of their original enlistment. Wartime Pressures: As the war dragged on, the documents reveal how white Mississippians responded to the need to recruit, supply, nurse, and feed soldiers. There are also concerns about counties' need to fulfill draft laws and increasing rates of desertion. See, for example, this <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/40">1863 petition</a> by 1st Lieutenant W. A. Mitchell, Company K, 4 Regiment Mississippi State Troops, for a 20-day furlough to provide for his impoverished wife and five children. Mitchell had been in service (first at the national-level, then state-level) since the beginning of the war. There is also a <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/17">June 1862 telegram</a> from Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard that speaks to the rising number of deserters and Confederate leaderships' determination to address this. His telegram clarifies that soldiers who do not have official leave for sickness or furloughs must be arrested as deserters. African-American Enlistments: At about the same time white soldiers' desertion rates became dangerous to the Confederate war effort in Mississippi, African-American enlistments in U.S. forces proved an equal troubling issue for the South. This <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/51">November 1863 telegram</a> from the commander-in-chief of the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis (a Mississippian), reveals those concerns as Davis discusses the recruitment (or conscription, as Davis phrased it) of African-American men into U.S. forces. It is unclear exactly what Davis proposes should be done about this, but the CWRGM research team is digging into the documents around this item in the collection to learn more. Desertion and Dissent: Most of the documents related to desertion and strong dissent are in the "Memory and Commemoration" and can be found by keyword searches for "desertion." Examples of desertion by soldiers and dissenting attitudes by soldiers and civilians include <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/39">this letter</a> by 1st Lt. P. G. Norman, 1st Mississippi State Troops, expressing his frustration in March 1863 that the residents of Canton, MS, were encouraging desertion and local authorities seemed to be doing little to arrest soldiers who were absent without leave.<a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/47"> Lewis Pipes of Natchez, MS </a>expressed similar frustrations in June 1863 (during the Vicksburg Campaign) noting that there were 500 deserters in the county living off of food meant for the army or families in the area. This does not mean, however, that all white Mississippians had abandoned their support for the Confederacy by 1863. Documents can be found from as late as February 1865, like this one from <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/64">M. S. Ward in Enterprise, MS</a>, suggesting ways that the state could more efficiently capture deserters and return them to military service. The Fog of War: Site visitors with an interest in military history will want to study the telegrams in this sampling and in the larger collection as it becomes available. They reveal the immediacy and urgency of military intelligence during campaigns, sometimes on a daily or even hourly basis. See, for example, this telegram from <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/61">November 1863 </a>warning the governor that 10,000 U.S. forces had left Vicksburg and were marching toward Jackson, or this <a href="http://susannahjural.com/cwrgm/items/show/52">1864 telegram</a> from Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, warning the governor of a sizable Federal force moving through the northern part of state. (Written by Susannah J. Ural, Ph.D.) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Page 1: Sardis Mi Mar 21st 1862 Dear Sir The undersigned citizens of Panola County in order that our county may be ready to respond to any demand that may be made upon her & lose none of the laurels she has gained in furnishing troops, respectfully request that you will at your earliest convenience inform us, what plan you will adopt in making the next call that may be necessary for troops? Whether you will order a draft or call for volunteers? Also if—in the event of a draft—Panola County will receive credit for all the men she has put in the field or only for those who have been first mustered into the State & afterwards into the Confederate Service. The object of this latter enquiry may be seen at a glance when we inform you that one or two of the eleven Companies now in the field new mustered into the service of Tenn or joined Tenn Regts without even having moved under the order of our State Authorities at all. We do not wish nor intend that our County shall be backward & as we stated in the outset, we desire to be ready in time, There are now four Companies being formed in the Army & three of them ready to organize & Besides some 125 or more recruits have joined old companies already in the field & yet with all this our voting population is only 1400. We desire you should distinctly understand that we are not making these enquires with any view to evade the law but on the Contrary, to carry it Page 2: out promptly. Panola claims to be the "banner County" in this war & she intends to make her claim good & all she wants is to be informed how many Troops you wish her To furnish & Then she will furnish them if it be to the very last man without the shadow of a doubt His Exy Gov Pettus Vy Respy A, V, Ellis J F Habgood? W D Heflin? J, Ned,? Simmons Wm Edwards W. B, Dickens F, B, Irby? D. C, Dunlap J, F, Lancaster? E, L, McCracken 11 Companies in the field 12 of Calvary & 1of Artilly 4/15 being [formed?]—one of artillery. 1 now started 125 new recruits to old companies equal to 1/2 companies [more?]. PS, 100 have just learned that you will [call?] next [week?] for one fourth of the—We wish to know If you will receive its quota of powder in the event above mentioned [strikethrough] will be recieved [strikethrough] as volunteers as we are determined that our county shall not be drafted the privilege is allowed to furnish our share as volunteers—[In?] [this?] [was?] of second Independence, we think it would be a [burning?] shame to act [its?] [laggard?] and submit to conscription—We can raise the required number in this county in a few days—all we want is ^to^ know what number is needed, and notwithstanding we have a large slow population to look after, we can furnish every man in the county capable of bearing Arms, if it is thought safe to do so, An early reply is respectfully desired— Resp &, A. V. Ellis & others Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from A. V. Ellis to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; March 21, 1862 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context mdah_757-941-6-18 Subject The topic of the resource Draft.; Mississippi. Governor; Pettus, John Jones, 1813-1867. Description An account of the resource From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Pettus Collection. Letter from A. V. Ellis and the citizens of Sardis, Mississippi, to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus asking if he will institute a draft for additional soldiers to serve in the military. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ellis, A. V. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Mississippi Department of Archives and History. (electronic version); Mississippi Digital Library. (electronic version) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-03-21 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Funding for this project provided by The Dale Center for Study of War and Society-USM, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Digital Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Watson-Brown Foundation Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1862