The flush of patriotic enthusiasm that is so common at the outbreak of many American wars was no exception in the Civil War around America. Mississippians’ level of frustration with the war’s progress and then the Confederacy, however, set in fairly quickly and never much improved, judging from the Ben Wynne’s assessment in his Mississippi’s Civil War, A Narrative History (Mercer University Press, 2006).

Wynne, a native of Florence, Miss., who is an assistant professor of history at Gainesville State College, takes a broad view of the state’s involvement with the war, starting in the political developments in the 1850s that led to Mississippi’s secession, following with the military and civilian toll and finally examining the Lost Cause myth that took root around the South after the war. The result is that this concise work (243 pp.) quickly establishes the sort of framework needed for further examination of the state’s role in the war, whether it be military, civilian, social or political.

Those who are looking for information on such events as battles at Corinth or Brice’s Cross Roads, Grierson’s Raid or the siege of Vicksburg can find books on those topics that cover the details better. But putting these military matters into the context of suffering on the home front or the political infighting within the state and with the Confederate government throughout is not usually within the purview of most Civil War books. Wynne deftly connects the effects of all of these factors while recounting the sequence of events that affected Mississippi for decades to come.

An example of the sort of information rare in such Civil War narratives is his description of Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s return to Jackson on Dec. 26, 1862, to defend his position on conscription — not only to his home state, but via newspapers to the whole Confederacy. It was an awkward position, for a great many Mississippians had joined companies and regiments to defend their homeland in the narrowest sense. However, by late 1862, Mississippians were being shipped throughout South. To make matters worse, the provision that allowed large slaveholders to avoid the draft caused the conflict to be perceived as a “rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight.” A significant passage in Davis’s carefully worded speech in Jackson identifies the circumstances of the state at that moment: “I was among those who from the beginning predicted war as a consequence of secession, although I must admit that the contest has assumed proportions more gigantic than I ever anticipated.” (pp. 93-94) Neither he nor most Mississippians could have imagined how much worse it would become in the years that followed.

Readers will find that Wynne’s examination of Mississippi’s Reconstruction period indicates that the state’s circumstances do not appear to has been as dire as commonly believed. Wynne’s evidence indicates that Mississippi’s problems, both social and financial, can hardly be put solely at the feet of carpetbaggers or federal authorities. Wynne, too, examines the Lost Cause mythology and its hold into modern times — views that are well supported by his research but may still frustrate devotees of Civil War literature.

Wynne’s narrative, part of a state Civil War series that already includes a similar work on South Carolina, offers a solid starting point for those who wish to better understand this catastrophic period in Mississippi history. While aimed at the casual history buff, it would be a valuable tool for those just beginning to understand the war in the Mid-South generally, and seems a particularly useful tool for Mississippi’s teachers of American or state history.

N.B. For those interested in a similar book on the Civil War in Arkansas and unwilling to await the that state’s narrative in this series, Mark Christ’s Rugged and Sublime is an equally good choice.