MISSISSIPPI 



3850 



MISSISSIPPI RIVER 



battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Port Gibson, Vicks- 

 burg and other smaller engagements, and a 

 large part of the state was devastated during 

 the War of Secession by the opposing armies. 

 In 1867, during the reconstruction period, the 

 state was placed under military government; 

 in 1870 it was readmitted to the Union, after it 

 had adopted a constitution enfranchising the 

 negroes and had ratified the Fourteenth and 

 Fifteenth amendments to the Federal Constitu- 

 tion. During the period of reconstruction the 



AT NATCHEZ 

 Residence of the Spanish governor in 1781. 



state was greatly disturbed by the struggle be- 

 tween the whites and negroes and by the ex- 

 travagance and corruption of its officials. In 

 1875 the Democratic party obtained a majority 

 in the legislature, and has remained in power 

 in the state since that time. It required over 

 a quarter of a century to recover from the 

 losses suffered during the War of Secession, and 

 to readjust the state's economic life to the new 

 conditions, but after 1890 it entered upon an 

 era of prosperity. Since that time Mississippi 

 has made great strides in the development of 

 its agricultural and industrial resources. The 

 political reforms it has adopted and the social 

 legislation it has introduced have brought the 

 state in line with some of the most advanced 

 states in the Union. 



In national politics Mississippi has always 

 been Democratic, except in 1840, when it voted 

 for Harrison, the Whig candidate, and in 1872, 

 when its vote was given to Grant. O.B. 



Consult Ellett's Outline of Mississippi History ; 

 Garner's Reminiscences of Mississippi. 



Related Subject*. The following articles in 

 these volumes will be of interest in connection 

 with a study of the geography and the industrial 

 life of Mississippi : 



Biloxi 

 Columbus 

 Hattiesburg 

 Jackson 



CITIES' 



Laurel 

 Meridian 

 Natchez 

 Vicksburg 



LEADING PRODUCTS 



Corn Lumber 



Cotton Sugar Cane 



Cottonseed Oil Sweet Potato 



RIVERS 



Mississippi Yazoo 



Tombigbee 



MISSISSIPPI, UNIVERSITY OF, was chartered 

 in 1844 and opened four years later, at Oxford. 

 Since 1882 the institution has been coeduca- 

 tional. It is one of the original members of 

 the Association of Colleges and Preparatory 

 Schools of the Southern states, and its entrance 

 requirements are those adopted by this organi- 

 zation. Students from approved high schools 

 which meet certain standards are admitted 

 without examination. There are about thirty- 

 five members of the faculty, and the student 

 enrolment is over 650, to which should be 

 added nearly 500 who attend the summer term. 

 The university possesses a general library of 

 about 29,000 volumes, a law library of 2,000 vol- 

 umos, and grounds and buildings valued at 

 $500,000. Except during the period of the War 

 of Secession, the university has been in opera- 

 tion since it was first opened. Courses offered 

 lead to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor 

 of Science, Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of En- 

 gineering, Bachelor of Arts in Education, 

 Bachelor of Science in Education, Graduate in 

 Pharmacy, Master of Arts and Civil Engineer. 

 There is also a two-years' course in medicine, 

 for which a certificate is awarded. The grounds 

 and buildings are valued at nearly $700,000. 



MISSISSIPPI RIVER, the "Father of 

 Waters," the greatest river of North America, 

 and one of the greatest in the world. Indeed, if 

 the Missouri, instead of the northern reaches of 

 the Mississippi proper, be taken as a part of the 

 main stream, it is the longest river in all the 

 world. It has had a history as interesting as 

 that of a living thing, for it has borne on its 

 waters the dancing canoes of the Indians; those 

 of the determined missionaries and explorers; 

 the rafts and boats of the early settlers, and, 

 still later, the Commerce of the rich, central 

 section of a great nation. Nor, it seems, is this 

 last-named phase of its existence past, for pres- 

 ent indications are that its importance as a 

 commercial stream is to become again more 

 nearly what it was a half-century ago (see sub- 

 head Commerce, below). 



Its Course. Few of the world's largest rivers 

 lie entirely within any one country, but the 

 Mississippi with all its immense drainage sys- 

 tem is wholly within the boundaries of the 



