Mississippi

Author John McBryde details the nuances of the Battle of West Point.

On February 21, 1864, Confederate and Union forces faced off over the banks of the Chuquatonchee Creek on Ellis Bridge in West Point, Mississippi. This three-hour battle pitted Nathan Bedford Forrest with his small but mighty cavalry against William Sooy Smith and his dogged Federal troops as they attempted to push through the prairie and destroy the railroad junction in Meridian. Smith's men did not succeed in their mission and suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Forrest in a precursor to the Battle of Okolona. Author John McBryde details the nuances of the battle that initiated Rebel opposition to the Meridian Campaign, including accounts from West Point locals of the time.

The Territory That Built Two States  

The Mississippi Territory existed as a political entity for nearly two decades. It stretched from the Tennessee border southward to the Gulf of Mexico and was bounded on the east by the state of Georgia and the west by the mighty Mississippi River. This enormous swath of America’s southwestern frontier in 1817 was divided into the state of Mississippi and the Alabama Territory. Two years later, Alabama entered the Union as a state. Between 1798 and 1817, the territory transitioned from a sparsely inhabited backwoods frontier to a thriving and dynamic centerpiece in one of the fastest-developing regions of the country. Mike Bunn and Clay Williams chronicle that story in a richly illustrated introduction and guide to discovery of this pivotal era. 

Images of America: Mississippi in the Great Depression reveals the politics, the economy, the places, and the people persevering the nation's most trying economic era.

By the time the Great Depression was well underway, Mississippi was still dealing with the lingering effects of the flood of 1927 and the Mississippi Valley drought of 1930. As Pres. Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, Mississippi senator Pat Harrison, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, oversaw the passage of major New Deal legislation, from which Mississippi reaped many benefits. Other Mississippi politicians like Gov. Mike Connor initiated measures to improve the treatment of inmates at Parchman Prison in the Delta and Gov. Hugh White established the Balancing Agriculture with Industry initiative. Women also played an active role. The Natchez Garden Club successfully spurred tourism by starting the state's first pilgrimage in 1932. Mississippians found employment through the Public Works Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, which stimulated economic development through new and add-on construction in urban and rural areas and the construction of nine state parks. For black Mississippians, segregation and discrimination in New Deal benefits and jobs continued, but what they did receive from the federal government spurred a determination to fight for equality in the Jim Crow South.

Lifelong Mississippian Richelle Putnam is an award-winning author, a Mississippi Arts Commission teaching artist, and a Mississippi Humanities speaker.

Although many bluesmen began leaving the Magnolia State in the early twentieth century to pursue fortune and fame up north, many others stayed home.

These musicians remained rooted to the traditions of their land, which came to define a distinctive playing style unique to Mississippi. They didn't simply play the blues, they lived it. Travel through the hallowed juke joints and cotton fields with author Roger Stolle as he recounts the history of Mississippi blues and the musicians who have kept it alive. Some of these bluesmen remain to carry on this proud legacy, while others have passed on, but Hidden History of Mississippi Blues ensures none will be forgotten.

The United States Naval Construction Force, known as the Seabees, have and are still an integral part of the Naval base located in Gulfport, Mississippi.

In June 1942, the U.S. Navy established an advance base depot in Gulfport because of its uncrowded deepwater port, rail access, open land, and a tepid climate that permitted training and open port facilities year-round. The base became the southern home for the Seabees and was ideal for shipping construction material and men to the Caribbean or the Pacific via the Panama Canal. Since the base reopened in March 1966, Seabees have deployed from Gulfport to serve during major conflicts as well as in peacetime. Seabees from Gulfport played an integral part in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and more recently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq to assist in local construction efforts to rebuild both countries. Seabees assist thousands each year in international humanitarian projects while still calling Gulfport home.

Washington County, located on the Mississippi River in the heart of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, is the culture that cotton built.

Founded by hearty pioneers willing to risk even their lives for the unexcelled wealth that the ""white gold"" of cotton promised, the county was literally carved out of a swampy, cane-covered wilderness where the brave were as likely to reap an early grave as elaborate grandeur. This collection of more than two hundred photographs from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth depicts the unique and pervasive dichotomies that the struggle to weave the ""Cotton Kingdom"" produced, especially the twin threads of prosperity and poverty. Here men struck it rich in an unprecedented short time, but here they lost it just as quickly. While high cotton bought white men opulent homes and the leisure to produce literary classics, simultaneously it bought the black man little more than a shotgun shack and the pain that birthed the blues. Witness the challenges presented to the mule by the machine and to the isolation of the county's way of life by international war and the infusion of industry. Despite the divisions, this collection also illustrates the common, commendable effort by the citizens of one American county in the South to clear their land, cultivate their fields, build their homes, pave their streets, construct their highways, lay their railroads, and protect it all from flood, fever, and fire with an unfaltering faith in the future.

Natchez, Mississippi, attracts thousands of visitors annually. One look through these pages and it is easy to see why. Beautiful exterior shots, rare interior photographs, and moving descriptions capture the essence of one of the largest and best-preserved collections of antebellum architecture in the country. Natchez truly is a living museum.

King's Tavern, circa 1789, is believed to be the oldest building in Natchez and still operates as a tavern and restaurant. The stately Greek Revival Stanton Hall occupies an entire city block and is considered one of America's finest house museums. Longwood, the largest octagonal house in the country, stands unfinished today because Northern workers stopped in their tracks and left for home at the outbreak of the Civil War.

For those fortunate enough to experience this bastion of the Old South or for those who hope to visit one day, The Majesty of Natchez makes the perfect memento or gift book. It presents the grandeur of this quintessential Southern town in all its radiant splendor.

Pelican's acclaimed Majesty Series takes detailed looks at the unique architecture of historic cities and geographic areas throughout the South. The nine titles currently in the ever-growing series include Colonial Williamsburg, Savannah, and New Orleans.

Authors Ryan Starrett and Josh Foreman uncover all-but-forgotten elements of Vicksburg history.

Vicksburg had an especially inauspicious start when its inhabitants were massacred by locals. The generation of the city’s official founding beheld vigilantes, duelists and an early incel roaming its streets. Citizens experienced the horrors of war: hunger, diarrhea and death. About 150 years later, their descendants hid in fear from a deranged killer on the loose. In between, the city overloaded a steamboat with recently released POWs and contributed to the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history. In the midst of war and suffering, an intrepid group of religious sisters worked to educate and nurse their fellow people. An immigrant family from Germany established a bottling empire that made them the embodiment of the American dream. Join authors Josh Foreman and Ryan Starrett as they explore the land and people who make Vicksburg one of the South’s most visited and recognizable cities.

The South is predominantly Christian, yet a small Jewish community in Lexington, Mississippi has flourished and sustained its unique identity. This saga is the heartwarming history of the residents, the trials and tribulations that they faced, their ability to connect with the surrounding Christian communities, and the remarkable story of Berman himself. After the original publication of this book, Lexington honored him by creating a "Robert Lewis Berman" day. In times of uncertainty, this book brings a message of hope.