This week we are in Mississippi. Since the equinox just happened, I’m giving that chart as well from the Jackson location..

Read more: 2017, The week of the Fall Equinox in Jackson

In this week’s chart, note that Saturn and Uranus are in Hideck telling us that uncertainty rules, particularly if this is something that you rely on that is built with new technology. I can give a personal example, my new pair of glasses, (progressive lenses fall under the headline of new technology) broke yesterday. They are only 6 weeks old & I don’t have a backup. So do not be surprised if sudden things go afoul, but try instead to take it in stride.

The week’s highlights:

Weatherwise, we see the Northern half of the country, dry, maybe some snow in the higher elevations; and the Southern half will be wet and windy.  Wednesday we’ll be in Oxford where Ole Miss resides. We finish on Friday on the Mexican Gulf itself, in Gulfport.

 

---

JACKSON, a city and the county-seat of Hinds county, Mississippi, U.S.A., and the capital of the state.  It lies on the W. bank of the Pearl River, about 40 m. E. of Vicksburg and 185 m. N. of New Orleans, Louisiana. Pop. (1890), 5920; (1900), 7,816, of whom 4,447 were Negroes.

According to the Federal census taken in 1910, the population had increased to 21,262. The new state capital was finished in 1903.  The old state capitol, dating from 1839, is of considerable interest; in it were held the secession convention (1861), the ” Black and Tan Convention ” (1868), and the constitutional convention of 1890, and there, native son, former CSA President Jefferson Davis made his last speech (1884).

Jackson is the seat of Millsaps College, chartered in 1890 and opened in 1892 (under the control of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South), and having, in 1907-1908, 12 instructors and 297 students; of Belhaven College (non-sectarian, 1894), for girls; and of Jackson College (founded in 1877 at Natchez by the American Baptist Home Mission Society; in 1883 removed to Jackson), for negroes, which had 356 students in 1907-1908.

The city is a market for cotton and farm products and has several manufactories. In 1821, the site was designated as the seat of the state government, and early in the following year the town, named in honour of Andrew Jackson, was laid out.

The legislature first met here in December 1822 but it was not until 1840 that they chartered it as a city. During the Civil War Jackson was active military center.

Jackson in the War Between the States

In May 1864, General William T. Sherman started his troops out from near Chattanooga toward Atlanta. The Federal campaign depended on the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad, which was threatened by Confederate cavalry, namely those under General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Sherman directed General Cadwallader C. Washburn, in charge of the Department of West Tennessee, to send a force into Mississippi to divert the attention of Forrest. Washburn put General Samuel D. Sturgis in command of a force of 8,000 men with orders to keep the enemy occupied.

Sturgis moved out of Lafayette, Tennessee, toward Tupelo, Mississippi, on June 2, 1864. Heavy rains, mud, and intense heat marked the march. On June 10, the Union column approached Brice’s Crossroads, where Forrest executed a devastating flanking maneuver on exhausted Union forces. Union troops barely escaped and staggered back to Memphis, Tennessee.

Following days of marching, Union forces won the Battle of Tupelo on July 14, 1864. Forrest had refused to take command of the Southern forces, deferring to Lee, whom he resented. On July 15, Union troops began marching toward Memphis, camping near Old Town Creek, and were again engaged before the Southern troops retreated.

Sherman was pleased with the Union victory, but quite displeased that Forrest, though wounded, had escaped. Forrest continued to oversee raids until the end of the war, but Sherman and the North still pushed on to Atlanta. After the fall of Vicksburg, Johnston concentrated his forces at Jackson, which had been evacuated by the Federal troops, and prepared to make a stand behind the intrenchments. On the 9th of July, Sherman began an investment of the place, and during the succeeding week a sharp bombardment was carried on.

On the night of the 16th, Johnston, taking advantage of a lull in the firing, withdrew suddenly from the city. Sherman’s army entered on the 17th and remained five days, burning a considerable part of the city and ravaging the surrounding countryside.