AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Mississippi and other States united with her under the compact entitled “The Constitution of the United States of America.”
The people of the State of Mississippi, in convention assembled, do ordain and declare, and it is hereby ordained and declared, as follows, to wit:
Section 1. That all the laws and ordinances by which the said State of Mississippi became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and that all obligations on the part of the said State or the people thereof to observe the same be withdrawn, and that the said State doth hereby resume all the rights, functions, and powers which by any of said laws or ordinances were conveyed to the Government of the said United States, and is absolved from all the obligations, restraints, and duties incurred to the said Federal Union, and shall from henceforth be a free, sovereign, and independent State.
Sec. 2. That so much of the first section of the seventh article of the constitution of this State as requires members of the Legislature and all officers, executive and judicial, to take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States be, and the same is hereby, abrogated and annulled.
Sec. 3. That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the United States, or under any act of Congress passed, or treaty made, in pursuance thereof, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Sec. 4. That the people of the State of Mississippi hereby consent to form a federal union with such of the States as may have seceded or may secede from the Union of the United States of America, upon the basis of the present Constitution of the said United States, except such parts thereof as embrace other portions than such seceding States.
Thus ordained and declared in convention the 9th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 42.
http://www.constitution.org/csa/ordinances_secession.htm#Mississippi
Since today is the 150th anniversary of the start of the War Between the States, I am publishing a quick post about those in the Wilson-Gray family who served in the military during this dark time in American history. As you may recall, this civil war began on Friday, April 12, 1861 when Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter, just off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Although many of our ancestors lived in South Carolina during Revolutionary War days, most moved west in the following decades.
There are no Union soldiers in our direct line that I’m aware of. We have several who served the Confederacy, none of whom were slave owners as far as I know.
Wilsons — Joel Fowler Wilson was the patriarch. He was 31 and the father of seven when the war broke out. Three more children were born between 1862-1865 making it unlikely that the Reverend served in the military at this time. However, his eldest sons Dixon L., Isom A. and Joel L. were old enough to have possibly served. More research needed.
Albert Pierce Mitchell and his brothers Whitman, George, and Ben served in the 30th Mississippi Infantry, Company D (Dixie Heroes). He was injured severely in the jaw during the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His older brother Whitman came to his aid and was killed. Pierce was sent to a confederate hospital in Marietta, Georgia. On 24 November 1863 he was captured at the Battle of Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee and was imprisoned in Rock Island Barracks, Illinois. He was exchanged on 28 March 1865 and sent to Camp Lee near Richmond, Virginia. He returned to Attala County. (Read more about his brothers’ military service in an earlier post. [Albert Pierce Mitchell’s daughter, Leona Mitchell Wilson, is the mother of L.A., Roy, Frank, and Willie Wilson]
Grays — Annabelle Gray Wilson’s father, Lott Dulin Gray, and most of his siblings were born during or after the war but their father, Coleman C. Gray, might be the C.C. Gray listed in the National Park Service’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System among the soldiers in Perrin’s Battalion – Company H, also known as the Chicksaw Rangers, and/or the 8th Mississippi Calvary – Company E, also from Chickasaw County. Coleman might have had a brother, Lott (Lod) D. Gray, that also served. Much more research is needed.
Thompsons — Annabelle Gray Wilson’s maternal grandfather, John F. “Jack” Thompson, lost a leg in battle. His wooden prosthesis, shaped like a fork without the middle tine, is still in the family’s possession. I believe he was a member of the 31st Mississippi Infantry. Again, more research is needed.
I’ve started a virtual cemetery on find-a-grave.com that contain photos, transcriptions, locations, etc. of the Wilson-Gray family graves.
Mississippi Cemeteries:
- Prospect Methodist Church Cemetery (Houston, MS) — including, Coleman C. Gray and his wife Nancy Morehead (Moorehead) Gray, their children Lott Dulan Gray, Belle Gray Houston, and Lenore Gray Sims, and Lott’s first wife Alice Madora Thompson Gray.
- Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery (Houston, MS) – including John F. “Jack” Thompson and his wife Anna Gordon Thompson, and their 10 year old daughter Annie Pearl, plus what is likely his first wife and their daughter Mary.
- New Albany (MS) Cemetery – William Ransom Wilson and his wife Leona A. Mitchell Wilson.
- Oakridge Cemetery (Clarksdale, MS) – Willie A. Wilson and his wife Annabelle Gray Wilson.
- Shady Grove Church Cemetery (Kosciusko, MS) – Albert Washington Mitchell and his wife Susan Cone Mitchell.
- Kosciusko (MS) City Cemetery (old section) – including Joel Fowler Wilson and his sons Dixon and Lemuel, also Frances Hines Mitchell Harper.
- Lee Memorial Park (Tupelo, MS) — Nancy Edna Gray Trussell and her husband James Earl Trussell.
Texas Cemeteries:
- Caddo Cemetery (Joshua, TX) — Ellender Coker Wilson, wife of Joel Fowler Wilson, her son Isom Alexander Wilson.
- Greenwood Memorial Park (Fort Worth, TX) – Thompson Everett “Tip” Gray. Note: Tip was cremated and his ashes were scattered beneath the Turner Oak; there is no marker.
- Rose Hill Cemetery (Fort Worth, TX) – John Coleman Gray
- Masonic Cemetery (Pilot Point, TX) – Joseph Quitman Gray
- Ridge Park Cemetery (Itasca, TX) – Robert Benton Gray
- Itasca Cemetery (Itasca, TX) – Mollie Gray (metal marker)
Wilson-Gray Family History 