Mississippi

One of the Southwestern States of the American Confederacy. It was first visited by Europe ans about the year 1540, when De Soto, with 1000 followers, cro ed the State on an exploring expedition from Florida, and remained in it for nearly a year. This party having suffered severely by attacks from the aborigines, no other attempt was made to establish a permanent colony till 1682, when La Salle descended the Mi i ippi and visited this region. He returned in two years with a party which he intended to settle in Mi i ippi, but meeting with misfortunes, the colony never reached its destination. The next attempt at settlement was made by Iberville, but with no succe ful result. The settlement at Fort Rosalie (now Natchez) in 1716, by some French men under Bienville, was generally considered the first permanent colony. A general ma acre of the white inhabitants by the savages took place in 1728, but, as in every other contest between the Indians and the whites, victory ultimately rested with the latter. Other conflicts in 1736, 1739, and 1752, though carried on for a time with varying succe , had the same result. At the peace of Paris, in 1763, Mi i ippi became a part of the English territory. Soon after a portion of the French, so inhumanly driven by the English from Nova Scotia, settled in Mi i ippi; and in 1768 commenced an emigration from the Eastern colonies by way of the Ohio and Mi i ippi Rivers. In 1798 the United States having attained the rights of the British government in this region, erected it into a Territory, and in 1817 it was admitted into the Union as an independent State. Mi i ippi was one of the first of the Southern States to secede from the Union, and it suffered severely during the civil war. It was the scene of several engagements, raids, etc., the most important being the battles of Iuka, Corinth, siege and capture of Vicksburg, and raids to Meridian.