214 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI Cooperationist, in favor of secession but only in the company of other states. On January 9, the convention voted to secede from the United States with eighty-four votes in favor of separation and fifteen opposed. The Capital Area in War and Reconstruction Men from all six counties flooded into volunteer regiments, and Governor Pettus found providing arms and uniforms to be a difficult task. Most of Mississippi’s men found themselves in volunteer companies named after prominent leaders in their communities. In Copiah County, however, the Pettus Rifles drew their name from the governor. They eventually joined Company D in the 12th Mississippi Infantry. In Madison County, volunteers joined the Helen Johnstone Guards, a company that drew its name from its sponsor, the owner of the Annandale Plantation. They served in the 24th Mississippi Infantry. Most volunteers were unmarried young men who had not yet established their own property and livelihood. The officer corps, in contrast, tended to be more settled in their social standing. Many officers were slaveholders ad property owners, and their rank often reflected their standing in the civilian world. The central area of the state held less significance in the beginning of the war than other parts of the state. Corinth, a railroad hub in the northeast, and Vicksburg, a boomtown whose location was on the Mississippi River, were more coveted targets for Union forces. The Mississippi Central Railroad, however, ran right through Jackson and served as a critical connection between the Gulf Coast and Tennessee. In the spring of 1863, a campaign to take Vicksburg drew the area into battle. Grierson’s Raid, as it would come to be called, was launched as a diversion from TOUGALOO MANSION Built on a former slave plantation, Tougaloo College is now a liberal arts institution of higher learning in Jackson. The college was founded in 1869 by the American Missionary Association as a “normal school” for the purpose of training teachers. In 1897, Tougaloo began offering classes for full college credit. Tougaloo Mansion, built in Italianate style, is registered on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a Mississippi Historic Landmark. The Mansion is the highest point on campus. The building has served at various times as the college president’s residence, and as the first classrooms of the college, a dormitory, and administrative offices. In the 1960s Tougaloo College, a historically African American college, also served as the main hub for the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson. As the school was privately run and free from state control, students were encouraged to take part in restaurant sit-ins, protests, voter registration drives, and freedom rides. The college president at the time would often bail students out of jail for their anti-segregation activities. PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY