people, that assembled in the State just after the war, in 1865) addressed to the man by whose order Mr. Davis had been shackled and thrown into a military prison. The memorial states that if vengeance was to be visited upon any one, it should be visited upon them and not upon him; and that in the event that prison, exile or the grave—no matter the place—was to be his portion, it would be "a Mecca at whose shrine we would feel bound every day and year to remember that he was sacrificed for the people among whom he was born, with whom he was educated, whose prejudices and opinions he entertained, and whose fate and fortunes he wished to share."
A major-general elected, the convention then elected in their order, Earl Van Dorn, Charles Clark, James L. Alcorn and C. H. Mott as brigadier-generals. Mr. Davis having been elected to the presidency of the Confederate States, Gen. Earl Van Dorn was promoted to the command of the Mississippi volunteers. On assuming command he promulgated General Orders No. 1, dated March 12, 1861, in which the following appointments and elections were announced to the division: Richard Griffith, brigadier-general, vice Van Dorn appointed major-general; Beverly Mathews, adjutant and inspector-general, vice Griffith appointed brigadier-general; William Barksdale, quartermaster-general; Samuel G. French, chief of ordnance. The following assistant adjutant-generals were appointed: P. F. Liddell, first; H. H. Miller, second; J. N. Davis, third; John McQuirk, fourth; Melancthon Smith, fifth.
The first call was for four regiments, and the enlistment was very rapid. After several regiments had been furnished to the Confederate States, the organization of Mississippi volunteers was continued until eighty companies had been formed and ordered into camp at the four brigade places of rendezvous—Iuka, Enterprise, Corinth and Grenada.
