Scholarship
William L. Barney, "Pettus, John Jones," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00782.html.
Insisting that the Republicans would force emancipation on Mississippi and turn the state into "a cesspool of vice, crime and infancy," Pettus led the forces that took Mississippi out of the Union on 9 January 1861….
Pettus was an energetic and forceful wartime governor. As soon as Mississippi seceded, he established a state armory, sent militia to Florida to assist in the seizure of Federal installations, and redoubled his efforts to acquire arms for the state. Although hampered by a cumbersome political structure that forced him to share power in 1861 with the legislature and secession convention, he moved decisively to put his office at the center of the Mississippi war effort. If anything, he was overly zealous. He accepted into state service far more troops than the number of four regiments of twelve-month volunteers authorized by the legislature. The problem of what to do with the idle troops who could not be equipped because of the lack of arms plagued Pettus until a mobilization order in September 1861 called these troops into the Confederate army. This order removed a political embarrassment for Pettus and strengthened his bid for reelection in October 1861. He carried all but four of the state's counties.
Pettus was an energetic and forceful wartime governor. As soon as Mississippi seceded, he established a state armory, sent militia to Florida to assist in the seizure of Federal installations, and redoubled his efforts to acquire arms for the state. Although hampered by a cumbersome political structure that forced him to share power in 1861 with the legislature and secession convention, he moved decisively to put his office at the center of the Mississippi war effort. If anything, he was overly zealous. He accepted into state service far more troops than the number of four regiments of twelve-month volunteers authorized by the legislature. The problem of what to do with the idle troops who could not be equipped because of the lack of arms plagued Pettus until a mobilization order in September 1861 called these troops into the Confederate army. This order removed a political embarrassment for Pettus and strengthened his bid for reelection in October 1861. He carried all but four of the state's counties.
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