Mississippi joined South Carolina in rebellion when it voted to secede on January 9, 1861, making it the second state to leave the Union. The state provided numerous political and military leaders to the Confederacy, including President Jefferson Davis and Generals Earl Van Dorn, James Ronald Chalmers, Wirt Adams, Robert Lowery, S. G. French, and Benjamin Grubb Humphreys among others. Forty-nine infantry regiments, seven cavalry regiments, and twenty batteries of artillery saw service in all theaters of the war. Its geography, especially Vicksburg and Port Gibson, helped maintain contact with the Confederate Trans-Mississippi and prevented the Union from controlling the length of the Mississippi River until the middle of 1863. Several major battles and campaigns were fought in Mississippi, including Corinth, Iuka, Tupelo, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, and Vicksburg. The author, Charles E. Hooker, began the war as a lieutenant in the artillery and rose to the rank of Colonel. Individual chapters cover the state's secession and organization of troops; early duty outside the state, primarily at Pensacola and First Manassas; battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri; the blockade of the Mississippi River; the battles of Iuka, Chickasaw Bluffs, and Van Dorn's operations; the Vicksburg siege; the battles of Knoxville, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and Missionary Ridge; the Meridian Expedition, the destruction of Meridian, and the Battle of Tishomingo Creek; and the surrender of Mississippi troops.