In the book "Confederate Mississippi" that I mentioned in my post to Dennis, the rich planter class was opposed to secession in the regions along the Mississippi River. Natchez being the heart of this feeling. I know that the bulk of rich planters were not Southern born or were children of non-Southerners. In Mississippi three regions stood out in opposition to secession; the hill country near the Tennessee border, the Pineywoods and the Mississippi River regions. After the start of the war, the Mississippi River region and Natchez fell in line with the rest of the state, the northern hill country dropped its oppostion, and the Piney Woods, who always had a problem with outside authority, slowly came around but was always a problem in getting full support. The problem seems to have been the Governor of Mississippi, Pettus, who was slow to react to the issues and when he finally did, overreacted. Pettus angered many poor farmers by mobilizing the entry militia and then let them sit in camps during the planting season. His handling of the state troops and militias was very poor and caused a lot of political fall-out for the secessionist cause.

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David Upton