text:
Kudzu in the United States
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Jump to: navigation, search
Kudzu smothering trees in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kudzu is an invasive plant species in the United States. It has been spreading in the southern U.S. at the rate of 150,000 acres (61,000 ha) annually, "easily outpacing the use of herbicide spraying and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually".[1] This claim, however, has recently been disputed, the United States Forest Service estimating an increase of only 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) per year.[2] Its introduction has produced devastating environmental consequences.[3] This has earned it the nickname, "The vine that ate the South".
Contents
[hide]
1 History and underlying biology
1.1 Description
1.2 Origin in Asia
1.3 History of US introduction
1.4 Uses and cultivation
2 Ecology in and effect on new communities
2.1 New communities
2.2 Ecological relationships
2.3 Economic and cultural impact
3 Control and removal methods
3.1 Mechanical
3.2 Chemical
3.3 Biological
3.4 Animals
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
History and underlying biology[edit]
Description[edit]
Kudzu is a perennial vine native to Asia, primarily subtropical and temperate regions of China, Japan, and Korea,[4][5] with trifoliate leaves composed of three leaflets.[6][7] Five species in the genus Pueraria (P. montana, P. lobata, P. edulis, P. phaseoloides and P. thomsoni) are closely related and kudzu populations in the United States seem to have ancestry from more than one of the species.[8][9] Each leaflet is large and ovate with two to three lobes each and hair on the underside.[6][10] The leaves have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, which can supply up to 95% of leaf nitrogen to the plant in poor soils.[6] Along the vines are nodes, points at which stems or tendrils can propagate to increase support and attach to structures.[6] As a twining vine, kudzu uses stems or tendrils that can extend from any node on the vine to attach to and climb most surfaces.[4][6][11] In addition, the nodes of the kudzu vine have the ability to root when exposed to soil, further anchoring the vine to the ground.[4][6] The roots are tuberous and are high in starch and water content, and the twining of the plant allows for less carbon concentration in the construction of woody stems and greater concentration in roots, which aids root growth.[6] The roots can account for up to 40% of total plant biomass.[4]
Kudzu's primary method of reproduction is asexual vegetative spread (cloning) which is aided by the ability to root wherever a stem is exposed to soil.[6] For sexual reproduction, kudzu is entirely dependent on pollinators.[6]
Although kudzu prefers forest regrowth and edge habitats with high Sun exposure, the plant can survive in full sun or partial shade.[4][6] These attributes of kudzu made it attractive as an ornamental plant for shading porches in the southeastern United States, but they facilitated the growth of kudzu as it became a "structural parasite" of the South,[6] enveloping entire structures when untreated[10] and often referred to as "the vine that ate the South".[12]
The word "kudzu" comes from the Japanese word for the plant, 葛, or kuzu.
Origin in Asia[edit]
Kudzu is believed to have originated in Japan, where the ecosystem (primarily the tendency of kudzu to experience above-ground die back over winter) kept the vine from becoming a nuisance,[13] and it is thought to have been introduced to China[10] and likely Korea.
In Japan, kudzu thrives in mountainous regions, ranging from the 44th parallel north (the island of Hokkaido) to the 30th parallel north (the island of Kuchinoshima) and many of the lowlands and the islands.[10] In Korea, kudzu grows in areas where the temperature can drop to -30° Celsius.[10]
History of US introduction[edit]
The kudzu plant was introduced to the United States from Japan in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.[6][7][13] Kudzu was introduced to the Southeast in 1883 at the New Orleans Exposition. The vine was widely marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental plant to be used to shade porches,[6][14] and in the first half of the 20th century, kudzu was distributed as a high-protein content cattle fodder and as a cover plant to prevent soil erosion. It was cultivated by Civilian Conservation Corps workers as a solution for the erosion during the Dust Bowl.[15] The Soil Erosion Service recommended the use of kudzu to help control erosion of slopes which led to the government-aided distribution of 85 million seedlings and government-funded plantings of kudzu which paid $19.75 per hectare.[6] By 1946, it was estimated that 1,200,000 hectares (3,000,000 acres) of kudzu had been planted.[6] When boll weevil infestations and the failure of cotton crops caused farmers to abandon their farms, kudzu plantings were left unattended.[6] The climate and environment of the Southeastern United States allowed the kudzu to grow virtually unchecked. In 1953 the United States Department of Agriculture removed kudzu from a list of suggested cover plants and listed it as a weed in 1970. By 1997, the vine was placed on the "Federal Noxious Weed List".[4][6] Today, kudzu is estimated to cover 3,000,000 hectares (7,400,000 acres) of land in the southeastern United States, mostly in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.[6][10] It has been recorded in Nova Scotia, Canada, in Columbus, Ohio, and in all five boroughs of New York City.[10]
Recent U.S. Forest Service information indicates that kudzu is much less of a problem than previously thought. It shows kudzu to cover 227,000 acres (92,000 ha), with "an increase of no more than 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) a year".[16] This can be compared to invasive Asian privet in the United States, which covers 3,200,000 acres (1,300,000 ha).[16]
Uses and cultivation[edit]
In the United States, kudzu has been used as livestock feed, in fertilizer, and in erosion control, and the vines have been used for folk art.[6][13] In Korea, kudzu root is harvested for its starch, which is used in various foods including naengmyon, as well as a health food and herbal medicine. In China, kudzu root is used in herbal remedies, teas, and the treatment of alcohol-related problems.[13] The efficacy of the treatment of alcohol-related problems is currently under question, but experiments show promising results.[10][13] In Japan, the kudzu root starch (or kuzu root starch) extracted from kudzu roots is used in cooking and natural medicines, and it is used to make hay that sick animals will eat.[10] The starch is used in Japanese cuisine, and is widely consumed as such in that country.[10] Kudzu is also used as a food crop in Java, Sumatra, and Malaya, and can be found in Puerto Rico and South America.[10]
Other uses may include: paper products, food products, insect repellents (the smoke from burning leaves), honey, and methane production.[10]
Kudzu also has potential as a source for biofuel.[17]
Ecology in and effect on new communities[edit]
Infestation of Kudzu in the United States.
New communities[edit]
Kudzu was intentionally introduced to North America by the Soil Erosion Service and Civilian Conservation Corp in 1876 for the purpose of controlling soil erosion in Pennsylvania.[6] When kudzu was first introduced in the southeast, it was initially used as an ornamental vine to shade homes. By the early 20th century, southerners began to use kudzu for purposes other than ornamentation and so kudzu began to come closer in contact with the land which, in turn, encouraged its spread throughout the southeast.[18] In the 135 years since its introduction, kudzu has spread over three million hectares (ha) of the southern United States, and continues to 'consume' the south at an estimated rate of 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres) per year, destroying power lines, buildings, and native vegetation in its path.[19] In the United States, kudzu is extensively reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Of these states, three in the southeast have the heaviest infestations: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.[18]
Ecological relationships[edit]
Kudzu kills or damages other plants by smothering them under a blanket of leaves, encompassing tree trunks, breaking branches, or even uprooting entire trees. Kudzu's ability to grow quickly, survive in areas of low nitrogen availability, and acquire resources quickly allows it to out-compete native species. Of the plants that can successfully compete with kudzu, many are other invasive species such as the Chinese privet and the Japanese honeysuckle.[18] In the southeast, the spread of kudzu is especially troublesome because of the high level of biodiversity in this region that is not found in other regions of the United States. Kudzu and other invasive weeds pose a significant threat to the biodiversity in the southeast. They reduce the environment to impoverished "vine barrens".[18] The fast growth and high competitive ability is achieved through several key features of kudzu that are detailed below.
Kudzu is a very stress-tolerant plant. Kudzu is drought tolerant and only the above ground portions of the plant are damaged by frost. Kudzu also forms symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonium which can be used by surrounding plants. Now the dominant nitrogen-fixing plant in the eastern United States, kudzu fixes an estimated 235 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year, which is an order of magnitude higher than the rates of native species.[5] This ability allows it to flourish in nitrogen-poor sites where other plants are unable to grow. In the absence of other plants, nitrogen then builds up in the soil, allowing the maintenance of large leaf areas and high photosynthetic rates.[6]
While little research has been conducted on the impacts of plant invasion on atmospheric conditions, a study conducted at Stony Brook University in New York shows that kudzu has increased the concentration of atmospheric NOx in the eastern United States, which causes a 2 ppb increase in tropospheric ozone during high temperature events in addition to soil acidification, aluminum mobilization, and leaching of NO3- into aquatic ecosystems.[5]
Once established in a habitat, kudzu is able to grow very quickly. Kudzu can grow up to 60 feet per season, or about one foot per day. Kudzu is also able to allocate large portions of carbon to root growth, allowing it to acquire sufficient nutrients for rapid growth and to spread clonally. Primary kudzu roots can weigh over 180 kg, grow to 18 cm in diameter, and penetrate soil at a rate of 3 cm in depth per day. Kudzu can also root wherever stems make contact with soil, allowing vines to grow in all directions. Once rooted, most stems lose connection with each other within one year, allowing each stem to become a physiologically independent individual, and requiring that all stems be treated or removed in order to eliminate a population.[6]
In addition to its abilities to obtain nutrients and spread quickly, kudzu leaves have paraheliotropic movements, meaning that they move in response to the movement of the sun in order to maximize photosynthetic productivity.[6] Kudzu is also a "structural parasite", meaning that, rather than supporting itself, it grows on top of other plants and buildings to reach light. Its ability to reproduce and spread quickly allows it to quickly cover shrubs, trees, and forests, where it blocks the Sun's rays from the plants below it, decreasing or completely eliminating their photosynthetic productivity.[6]
Economic and cultural impact[edit]
The economic impact of kudzu in the United States is estimated at $100 million to $500 million lost per year in forest productivity.[6] In addition, it takes about $5,000 per hectare (2.5 acres) per year to control kudzu.[6] Power companies must spend about $1.5 million per year to repair damage to power lines.[6]
Kudzu management is of great concern in the management of national parks in the southeast such as Vicksburg National Military Park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In Vicksburg, kudzu has invaded 190 of the 2,000 total acres of the park and threatens to diminish the historical value of the park.[18]
Control and removal methods[edit]
There are several methods for controlling kudzu growth that are used in the Southeastern United States. These include mechanical, chemical, and biological methods.
Mechanical[edit]
Most mechanical means of kudzu removal practiced in the southeastern United States involve mowing the vine or cutting it back. These methods, though more effective than herbicides, are more time consuming.[12] Vines must be mowed down just above ground level every month or two during the growing season in order to prevent them from growing back. When using this method of kudzu control, all of the plant material must be removed and/or destroyed (burned) to prevent the vines from taking root and re-growing.[12] Another method of mechanical removal is to remove the crown of the plant. This part must also be destroyed to prevent re-implantation.[7]
Chemical[edit]
A different, and sometimes less time consuming option for the control of kudzu is chemical treatment with herbicides. Some common herbicides used are Tordon and Triclopyr and the most effective are Picloram and Tebuthiuron.[4] However, chemical treatments are expensive, and killing off the plant completely requires large amounts of herbicides (40-80 gallons per acre).[7] Herbicides are found to be most effective when they are used during the typical growing season, June–October, and when used for successive years. One case study saw a significant decrease in the growth of kudzu after just two years, whereas another study required the use of the herbicide for up to ten years.[6][20]
Another form of chemical removal other than herbicides is soil solarization. Soil solarization is a thermal (heat) method that utilizes solar-enhanced heating of the soil to kill the root system of the plant, thereby avoiding the use of pesticides and other more dangerous (fire-based) means to control the plant.[21] Soil solarization affects the micronutrients and macronutrients in the soil. The most prominent effect of this method of control is the increase in potassium. The higher level of potassium in all soils undergoing solarization demonstrates the successful release of K from decomposing kudzu plant tissues. Such a rise in potassium levels by solarization is important for soils in the Southeastern United States that tend to be highly weathered and generally have low potassium contents.[21]
Biological[edit]
As chemical treatments are often ineffective for long term control and mechanical removal is likewise difficult and costly for long-term control, kudzu makes a good candidate for biological pest control.[14] There are several biological means that are already in place and more that may be implemented to control the growth of kudzu. Bacterial blights, insect herbivory, and insect seed predation occur in high levels in field populations of kudzu.[6] Seed predation is quite prevalent, with up to 81% of seeds incurring damage in populations studied in North Carolina. A different survey found twenty-five different species of insect feeding on the kudzu.[6] From this survey, several leaf-feeding beetles and sawflies that have no other known hosts were identified.[6] A separate study also found two weevils that attacked the stems of kudzu and eight beetles that complete larval development in the kudzu roots.[6] When evaluations of potential control agents are made, the range of the control agents must be taken into account. Organisms that feed on kudzu will often feed on similar non-target species that are important in agriculture, such as soybeans and hog-peanuts. Potential control agents have to be rejected if they are shown in laboratory and field tests to feed on these non-target plants.[14]
Of the diseases that have been identified as potential biological control agents, the fungal pathogen Myrothecium verrucaria has been shown to be very promising. Disease development is very high at around 30°C to 40°C, which matches field conditions. In addition, the fungus does not spread outside of areas where it is applied. However, one major drawback of this biological control agent is that it is highly toxic to mammals, so extreme care would have to be taken in handling this organism.[6] Other pathogens have been tested as potential biological control agents, but have proven to be ineffective.[6]
Animals[edit]
Another way to control kudzu is goats and sheep. A small herd can reduce an acre (0.4 ha) of kudzu every day.[citation needed] It has also been suggested that humans can help control the invasive vine by eating it as well.[22]
See also[edit]
Environmental issues in the United States
Invasive species in the United States
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Controlling Kudzu With Naturally Occurring Fungus". Science Daily. July 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
Jump up ^ Bill Finch, "Legend of the Green Monster," Smithsonian Magazine, vol. 46, no 5, September, 2015, p. 19
Jump up ^ Richard J. Blaustein (2001). "Kudzu's invasion into Southern United States life and culture" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Harrington, Timothy B., Laura T. Rader-Dixon, and John W. Taylor. "Kudzu (Pueraria Montana) Community Responses to Herbicides, Burning, and High-density Loblolly Pine." Weed Science,965-974, 2003.
^ Jump up to: a b c Hickman, Jonathan E., Shiliang Wu, Loretta J. Mickey, and Manuel T. Lerdau. "Kudzu (Pueraria Montana) Invasion Doubles Emissions of Nitric Oxide and Increases Ozone Pollution." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 107.22, 10115-10119, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Forseth. Jr., I.N. and Innis, Anne F."Kudzu (Pueraria montana): History, Physiology, and Ecology Combine to Make a Major Ecosystem Threat" Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, Vol. 23, 401-413, 2004.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Conservation Commission of Missouri. "Kudzu." Archived 2011-05-26 at the Wayback Machine. Missouri Department of Conservation,2011.
Jump up ^ D. K. Jewett; C. J. Jiang; K. O. Britton; J. H. Sun; J. Tang (1 September 2003). "Characterizing Specimens of Kudzu and Related Taxa with RAPD's". Castanea. 68 (3): 254–260. ISSN 0008-7475. JSTOR 4034173.
Jump up ^ Sun, J H; Li, Z-C; Jewett, D K; Britton, K O; Ye, W H; Ge, X-J (2005). "Genetic diversity of Pueraria lobata (kudzu) and closely related taxa as revealed by inter-simple sequence repeat analysis". Weed Research. 45: 255. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3180.2005.00462.x.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Mitich, L.W. "Kudzu (Pueraria lobata Ohwi)" Weed Technology, Vol. 14, 231-235, 2000.
Jump up ^ Black, R.J. and Meerow, A.W. "Landscaping to Conserve Energy" Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society, Vol. 102, 142-144. 1989.
^ Jump up to: a b c McGroarty, Michael J. "Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South." How To Control Kudzu, 2010
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Keung, W.M. and Vallee, B.L. "Kudzu Root: An Ancient Chinese Source of Modern Antidipsotrophic Agents." Phytochemistry, Vol. 47, 499-506, 1998.
^ Jump up to: a b c Frye, Matthew J., Judith Hough-Goldstein, and Jiang-Hua Sun. "Biology and Preliminary Host Range Assessment of Two Potential Kudzu Biological Control Agents." Environmental Entomology, Vol. 36, 1430-1440, 2007.
Jump up ^ Cogdell, Christina (2011). "Tearing Down the Grid". Design and Culture. 3 (1).
^ Jump up to: a b Bill Finch, "The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South", Smithsonian Magazine, September 2015 [1]
Jump up ^ Marshall, Jessica "Kudzu Gets Kudos as a Potential Biofuel"Kudzu Gets Kudos as a Potential Biofuel, 2008 Archived November 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Blaustein, R.J. (2001). "Kudzu's invasion into Southern United States life and culture". In McNeely, J. A. The Great Reshuffling: Human Dimensions of Invasive Alien Species (PDF). IUCN. pp. 55–62. ISBN 2-8317-0602-5.
Jump up ^ Webster, C.R.; Jenkins, M. A. & Jose, S. "Woody Invaders and the Challenges They Pose to Forest Ecosystems in the Eastern United States" Journal of Forestry, Vol. 104, 366-274. 2006.
Jump up ^ Miller, James H., and Ronald E. True."Herbicide Tests for Kudzu Eradication." Georgia Forestry Commission, Vol. 65, 1986.
^ Jump up to: a b Adams, Nicole E., et al. "Effects of Kudzu (Pueraria Montanta) Solarization on the Chemistry of an Upper Piedmont South Carolina Soil" Soil Science, Vol. 175, 61-71. 2010.
Jump up ^ "Kudzu Quickie - Eat The Weeds and other things, too". 31 August 2011.
External links[edit]
Kudzu at the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center
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text:
The Joy Luck Club (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Joy Luck Club
First edition
Author
Amy Tan
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Fiction
Publisher
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date
1989
Pages
288
ISBN
0-399-13420-4
OCLC
18464018
Dewey Decimal
813/.54 19
LC Class
PS3570.A48 J6 1989
The Joy Luck Club is a 1989 novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club, playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured somewhat like a mahjong game, with four parts divided into four sections to create sixteen chapters. The three mothers and four daughters (one mother, Suyuan Woo, dies before the novel opens) share stories about their lives in the form of vignettes. Each part is preceded by a parable relating to the game.
In 1993, the novel was adapted into a feature film directed by Wayne Wang and starring Ming-Na, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita, France Nguyen, Rosalind Chao, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, Lisa Lu, and Vivian Wu. The screenplay was written by the author Amy Tan along with Ronald Bass. The novel was also adapted into a play, by Susan Kim, which premiered at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in New York.
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
1.1 Feathers from a Thousand Li Away
1.2 Twenty-Six Malignant Gates
1.3 American Translation
1.4 Queen Mother of the Western Skies
2 Characters
2.1 Mothers
2.2 Daughters
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]
First Chinese Baptist Church at 15 Waverly Pl, San Francisco
The Joy Luck Club consists of sixteen interlocking stories about the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their four American-born daughters.[1] In 1949, the four mothers meet at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco and agree to continue to meet to play mah jong. They call their mah jong group the Joy Luck Club. The stories told in this novel revolve around the Joy Luck Club women and their daughters. Structurally, the novel is divided into four major sections, with two sections focusing on the stories of the mothers and two sections on the stories of the daughters.
Feathers from a Thousand Li Away[edit]
The first section, Feathers from a Thousand Li Away, introduces the Joy Luck Club through daughter Jing-Mei Woo, whose late mother Suyuan Woo founded the Joy Luck Club, and focuses on the four mothers. Jing-Mei relates the story of how her mother Suyuan was the wife of an officer in the Kuomintang during World War II and how she was forced to flee from her home in Kweilin and abandon her twin daughters. Suyuan later found out her first husband died, remarried to Canning Woo, and immigrated to the United States where Jing-Mei was born. Suyuan and Canning attempted to find Suyuan's daughters, and Canning assumed that Suyuan had given up hope. Jing-Mei, who has been asked to take her mother's place in the Joy Luck Club, learns from the other mothers that her half-sisters are alive. They ask that Jing-Mei go to China and meet her sisters, and tell them about Suyuan's death.
The other three mothers relate the stories of their childhood. An-Mei Hsu's story relates how her mother left her family to become the fourth concubine of Wu Tsing, a rich merchant, while An-Mei was raised by her maternal grandmother. Her mother returns only to cut off a piece of her flesh to cook a soup in hopes of healing An-Mei's grandmother, though An-Mei's grandmother still dies. Lindo Jong explains how in childhood she was forced into a loveless marriage and was pressured by her mother-in-law's desire for Lindo to produce grandchildren. Through her own ingenuity, Lindo fabricates a convincing story to annul her marriage and immigrate to the United States. The final story of the first section follows Ying-Ying St. Clair, who tells the story of how she fell into a lake during the Zhongqiujie festival when she was only four. After being rescued by a group of fishermen, she realizes that she is lost. This experience emotionally traumatizes her, and she is dropped at the shore, and wanders into an outdoor performance featuring the Moon Lady, said to grant wishes. But when Ying-Ying approaches the Moon Lady after the play to wish to be returned to her family, she discovers the Moon Lady is played by a man.
Twenty-Six Malignant Gates[edit]
The second section traces the childhoods of the Joy Luck children. In the first story, Waverly Jong talks about how she started playing chess, first with her brothers and then with old men in the playground near her school. At the age of nine, she becomes a national chess champion. She is embarrassed when her mother, Lindo introduces her to everyone she meets, showing her off like a trophy and seeming to take the credit for her daughter's brilliance. This leads to an angry confrontation between the two of them. Lena relates the stories her mother told her when she was younger (her great grandfather sentenced a beggar to die in the worst possible manner). Lena’s family moves to North Hill from Oakland. Her mother, who seems restless, delivers an anencephalic child who dies at birth. In Lena’s eyes, her mother becomes a ‘living ghost’. The story of their neighbors and the relationship between the mother and the daughter of the neighboring household is also mentioned. Rose Hsu Jordan wishes to tell her mother that she plans to divorce her husband Ted. She reflects on their relationship. She then goes on to relate an incident in which her family (her parents and six siblings) go to the beach. Her youngest brother, Bing, drowns. She returns along with her mother An Mei to search for Bing, but in vain. The last story is that of Jing Mei Woo and the pressure that her mother puts on her to perform exceedingly well in some field (to be a child prodigy). She begins to learn to play the piano but doesn't perform well in a concert and stops playing. This disappoints her mother because she wanted her to be a great pianist and Jing-Mei shows no interest in being anything else but herself. Around her 30th birthday, Suyuan presents her an old piano which she used to play as a child. Although Jing-Mei admits she had forgotten how to play the piano, Suyuan encourages her to try again. She admits to Jing-Mei that she still has the talent to be a great pianist, but self-doubt holds her back.
American Translation[edit]
The third section follows the Joy Luck children as adult women, all facing various conflicts. In Lena's story, she narrates her troubling marital problems and how she fears being inferior to her husband, but does not realize he has taken advantage of her both at home and at work, where he is also her boss and earns much more than her. Ying-Ying is very much aware of this and encourages Lena to stop being passive and stand up to her husband or nothing will change. Waverly Jong worries about her mother's opinion of her white fiance, Rich, and recalls quitting chess after becoming angry at her mother in the marketplace (believing that her mother still has absolute power over her and will object to her forthcoming marriage to Rich). After a disastrous attempt at a dinner party to tell her mother of their wedding, Waverly confronts her mother the morning afterwards and realizes that her mother has known all along about her relationship with Rich and has accepted him. Rose Hsu Jordan learns that Ted intends to marry someone else after divorcing her, she realizes through her mother's advice that she needs to fight for her rights and refuses to sign the conditions set forth by his divorce papers. She hires a good lawyer and wins possession of the house, forcing Ted to take her more seriously. In Jing-Mei's story, Jing-Mei has an argument with Waverly at a Chinese New Year's dinner the year before the story begins. Realizing that Jing-Mei has been humiliated, Suyuan gives her a special jade pendant called "life's importance," which Jing-Mei rues that she never learned the meaning of the pendant's name. She also confronts Suyuan with the belief that she had always been disappointed in Jing-Mei and admitted she could never live up to her high expectations. Jing-Mei believes that because she has never finished college, doesn't have a good career and remains unmarried are reasons that she is seen as a failure in her mother's eyes. Suyuan eventually reveals her true meaning; that while Waverly has style, she lacks the kind and generous heart that Jing-Mei has. She also tells Jing-Mei that she understands the frustrations of never being good enough in her eyes and admits she is proud of Jing-Mei.
Queen Mother of the Western Skies[edit]
The final section of the novel returns to the viewpoints of the mothers as adults dealing with difficult choices. An-Mei reveals what happened after her grandmother died; she accompanied her mother back to where she lived as the abused fourth concubine of Wu Tsing, whose second concubine manipulates and controls the household and has taken An-Mei's half-brother as her son. An-Mei learns how her mother was forced into accepting her position after Wu Tsing's second wife arranged for An-Mei's mother to be raped and shamed. When she came to her family for help, they cruelly turned their backs on her mother and telling her to leave. An-Mei finds her mother has poisoned herself two days before Chinese New Year, knowing that Wu Tsing's superstitious beliefs will ensure An-Mei will grow in favorable conditions. During the funeral, she takes her younger half-brother and forces Wu Tsing to honor both them and their deceased mother out of fear of him being haunted by the mother's ghost. When the Second Wife attempts to discredit her, An-Mei quickly makes an example of her by destroying the fake pearl necklace that she originally gave to her, which exposes her cruelty and manipulation. This causes the Second Wife to realize that she has lost control of the household and brought trouble on herself that she backs down. Fearing bad karma on the way, Wu Tsing honors both An-Mei and her brother as his children and their mother as his favorite 1st wife. Ying-Ying St. Clair reveals how her first husband, a womanizer, abandoned her and how she married an American man she did not love after relinquishing her sense of control in her life. She later took back her sense of control when she finally had a talk to Lena and convinced her to leave Harold. Lindo Jong relates how she arrived in San Francisco and met An-Mei Hsu when they both worked at a fortune-cookie factory, which eventually gave her the means to plant the idea of marriage in her boyfriend's head.
The novel's final episode returns to Jing-Mei and her mother's desire to find her lost twin daughters. Jing-Mei and her father fly to China, where Jing-Mei meets her half-sisters and embraces her Chinese heritage. In doing so, she was finally able to make peace with Suyuan.
Characters[edit]
Mothers[edit]
Suyuan Woo
During the Second World War, Suyuan lives in the Republic of China while her husband at the time served as an officer in Chungking (Chongqing). She starts the original Joy Luck Club with her three friends to cope with the War. There is little to eat, but they pretend it is a feast, and talk about their hopes for the future. On the day of the Japanese invasion, Suyuan leaves her house with nothing but a bag of clothes, a bag of food, and her twin baby daughters.
During the long journey, Suyuan contracts such severe dysentery that she feels certain she will die. Fearing that a dead mother would doom her babies' chances of rescue, she reluctantly and emotionally leaves her daughters under a barren tree, together with all her belongings, along with a note asking anyone who might find the babies to care for them and contact the father. Suyuan then departs, expecting to die. However, she is rescued by a truck and finds out her husband has died. She later remarries, goes to America, and forms a new Joy Luck Club with three other Chinese female immigrants she met at church. She gives birth to another daughter, but her abandonment of her twin girls haunts her for the rest of her life. After many years, Suyuan learns that the twins were adopted, but dies of a brain aneurysm before she can meet them. It is her American-born daughter Jing-mei who fulfills her long-cherished wish of reuniting with them.
As Suyuan dies before the novel begins, her history is told by Jing-mei, based on her knowledge of her mother's stories, anecdotes from her father, and what the other members of the Joy Luck Club tell her.
An-Mei Hsu
An-Mei is raised by her grandparents and other relatives during her early years in Ningbo after her widowed mother shocks the family by becoming a concubine to a middle-aged wealthy man after her first husband's death. This becomes a source of conflict for the young An-Mei, as her aunts and uncles deeply resent her mother for such a dishonorable act. They try to convince An-Mei that it is not fitting for her to live with her disgraced mother, who is now forbidden to enter the family home. An-Mei's mother, however, still wishes to be part of her daughter's life. After An-Mei's grandmother dies, An-mei moves out to live with her mother in the home of her mother's new husband, Wu-Tsing, much to the argument of her relatives who insists she remains at home with them.
An-Mei learns that her mother was coerced into being Wu-Tsing's concubine through the manipulations of his Second Wife, the favourite. This woman arranged for An-Mei's mother, still in mourning for her original husband, to be raped by Wu-Tsing. When her mother came to her family for their assistance, they cruelly refused and disowned her. The stigma left An-Mei's mother with no choice but to marry Wu-Tsing and become his new but lowly Fourth Wife. She later lost her baby son to Second Wife, who claimed the boy as her own child to ensure her place in the household. Second Wife also tried to win over An-mei upon her arrival in Wu-Tsing's mansion, giving her a necklace made of "pearls" that her mother later revealed were actually glass beads by crushing one with her teacup. An-Mei's mother re-knots the necklace to hide the missing bead, but now An-Mei knows the truth about Second Wife's seeming generosity.
Wu-Tsing is a highly superstitious man, and Second Wife takes advantage of this weakness by making false suicide attempts and threatening to haunt him as a ghost if he does not let her have her way. According to Chinese tradition, a person's soul comes back after three days to settle scores with the living. Wu-Tsing, therefore, is known to be afraid to face the ghost of an angry or scorned wife. After Second Wife fakes a suicide attempt to prevent An-Mei and her mother from getting their own small house, An-Mei's mother successfully commits suicide herself, eating tangyuan laced with lethal amounts of opium. Also taking advantage of Wu Tsing's beliefs, she times her death so that her soul is due to return on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a day when all debts must be settled lest the debtor suffer great misfortune. An-Mei takes her younger brother's arm and demanded that Wu Tsing honors them and her mother or face great consequences. When Second Wife attempts to dispute this at the funeral rites, An-Mei quickly makes an example of her and show her awareness of all Second Wife's deception by crushing the fake pearl necklace under her feet. This symbolizes her new power over the woman who made her mother's life miserable by abusing her and taking her brother away. Now fearing An-Mei, Second Wife realizes the bad karma she has brought upon herself and backs down having lost control of the house. With this in mind, Wu-Tsing promises to treat his Fourth Wife's children, including An-Mei, as if they were his very own flesh and blood and their mother as his honored First Wife.
An-Mei later immigrates to America, marries, and gives birth to seven children (four sons, three daughters). The youngest, a son named Bing, drowns at age four.
Lindo Jong
Lindo is a strong-willed woman, a trait that her daughter Waverly attributes to her having been born in the year of the Horse. When Lindo was only twelve, she was forced to move in with a neighbour's young son, Huang Tyan Yu, through the machinations of the village matchmaker. After some training for household duties through her in-laws, she and Tyan-yu married when she turned sixteen. She soon realized that her husband was a mere boy at heart and had no sexual interest in her. Its loosely implied that he might have been gay. Lindo began to care for her husband as a brother, but her cruel mother-in-law expected Lindo to produce a grandson. She restricted most of Lindo's daily activities, eventually ordering her to remain on bed rest until she could conceive and deliver a child.
Determined to escape this unfortunate situation, Lindo carefully observed the other people in the household and eventually formed a clever plan to escape her marriage without dishonouring herself, her family and her in-laws. She managed to convince her in-laws that Huang Tyan Yu was actually fated to marry another girl who was already pregnant with his "spiritual child", and that her own marriage to him would only bring bad luck to the family. The girl she described as his destined wife was in fact a mere servant in the household, indeed pregnant but abandoned by her lover. Seeing this as an opportunity for her to be married and living comfortably, the servant girl cheerfully agreed with Lindo.
Freed from her first marriage, Lindo decided to emigrate to America. She married a Chinese American man named Tin Jong and has three children: sons Winston and Vincent, and daughter Waverly.
Lindo experiences regret over losing some of her Chinese identity by living so long in America (she is treated like a tourist on a visit to China); however, she expresses concern that Waverly's American upbringing has formed a barrier between them.
Ying-Ying "Betty" St. Clair
From a young age, Ying-Ying is told by her wealthy and conservative family that Chinese girls should be meek and gentle. This is especially difficult for her, as she feels it out of step with her character as a Tiger. She begins to develop a passive personality and represses her feelings as she grows up in Wuxi. Ying-Ying marries a charismatic man named Lin Xiao not out of love, but because she believed it was her fate. Her husband is revealed to be abusive and openly has extramarital affairs with other women. When Ying-Ying discovers she is pregnant, she has an abortion and decides to live with her relatives in a smaller city in China.
After ten years, she moves to Shanghai and works in a clothing store, where she meets an American man named Clifford St. Clair. He falls in love with her, but Ying-Ying cannot express any strong emotion after her first marriage. He courts her for four years, and she agrees to marry him after learning that Lin Xiao had died, which she takes as the proper sign to move on. She allows Clifford to control most aspects of her life; he mistranslates her words and actions, and even changes her name to "Betty". Ying-Ying gives birth to her daughter, Lena, after moving to San Francisco with St. Clair. When Lena is around ten years old, Ying-Ying becomes pregnant a third time, but the baby boy is anencephalic and soon dies.
Ying-Ying is horrified when she realises that Lena, a Tiger like herself, has inherited or emulated her passive behaviors and trapped herself in a loveless marriage with a controlling husband. She finally resolves to call upon the more assertive qualities of her Tiger nature, to appeal to those qualities in Lena. She will tell Lena her story in the hope that she will be able to break free from the same passivity that ruined most of her young life back in China.
Daughters[edit]
Jing-Mei "June" Woo
Jing-Mei has never fully understood her mother and seems directionless in life. During Jing's childhood, her mother used to tell her that she could be anything she wants; however, she particularly wanted her daughter to be gifted, a child star who amazes the world, like Ginny Tiu (seen briefly on television) or June's rival Waverly. At the beginning of the novel, June is chosen to replace her mother's seat in the Joy Luck Club after her mother's death. At the end of the novel, June is still trying to deal with her mother's death, and she visits China to see the twin half-sisters (Wang Chwun Yu and Wang Chwun Hwa) whom her mother had been forced to abandon when the Japanese attacked China. Only when she visits China to meet her half-sisters and tell them about their mother, Jing-Mei finally accepts her Chinese heritage and makes her peace with her mother.
One critic[who?] has suggested[2] that the reason for the communication gap between Jing-Mei and her mother, and between the other daughters and their mothers—a major theme of the novel—occurs because the mothers come from a high context culture and the Americanized daughters from a low context culture. The mothers believe that the daughters will intuitively understand their cryptic utterances, but the daughters don't understand them at all.
Rose Hsu Jordan
Rose is somewhat passive and is a bit of a perfectionist. She had an unsettling childhood experience when her youngest brother, Bing, drowned while she was supposed to be watching him, and his body was never recovered. Rose marries a doctor, Ted Jordan, who loves her but also wants to spite his snooty, racist mother. After a malpractice suit, Ted has a mid-life crisis and decides to leave Rose. Rose confides in her mother and An-mei tells her the story of her own childhood. When Ted comes for the divorce papers, Rose finds her voice and tells him that he can't just throw her out of his life, comparing herself to his garden, once so beloved, now unkempt and full of weeds. An-Mei tells her that Ted has been cheating on her, which Rose thinks is absurd, but she later discovers this to be true. She hires a good lawyer and fight for possession of the house, which she eventually wins. This forces Ted to take Rose more seriously and not continue taking her for granted. It's unknown if they ever reconciled.
Waverly Jong is named for (and grew up on) Waverly Place in San Francisco's Chinatown
Waverly Jong
Waverly is an independent-minded and intelligent woman, but is annoyed by her mother's constant criticism. Well into her adult life, she finds herself restrained by her subconscious fear of letting her mother down. During their childhood, June and Waverly become childhood rivals; their mothers constantly compared their daughter's development and accomplishments. Waverly was once a gifted chess champion, but quit after feeling that her mother was using her daughter's talent to show off, taking credit for Waverly's wins. She has a daughter, Shoshana, from her first marriage with Marvin Chen, and she is engaged to her boyfriend Rich Schields. When Waverly believes that Lindo will object to her engagement to Rich after a failed dinner party, she discovers her mother had already accepted it.
Lena St. Clair
Throughout Lena's childhood, she gradually becomes her mother's voice and interprets her mother's Chinese words for others. Like her father Clifford, she translates Ying-ying's words to sound more pleasant than what Ying-ying actually says. Ying-ying has taught Lena to beware of consequences, to the extent that Lena visualizes disaster in the taking of any risk. Lena's husband, Harold, is also her boss. He takes the credit for Lena's business and design ideas. He demands financial "equality" in their marriage. Lena is an associate while Harold is a partner, so he has a larger salary than she does. However, he insists that all household expenses be divided equally between them. Harold believes that by making everything equal, they can make their love equal as well. Lena feels frustrated and powerless. She is like her mother, like a ghost, and her mother wants to help her regain her spirit and stand up for herself. When Ying-Ying breaks a leg from a table belonging to Harold, Lena finally admitted she's unhappy in her marriage including how frustrated she is with him for taking credit for her business and design ideas. Ying-Ying encourages her to leave Harold and not come back until he treats her with more respect.
Reception[edit]
The Joy Luck Club has received criticism for perpetuating racist stereotypes about Asian Americans.[3] Literary figures such as Chinese American author Frank Chin have noted that the novel contains fabricated Chinese folk tales that depict "Confucian culture as seen through the interchangeable Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese mix (depending on which is the yellow enemy of the moment) of Hollywood."[4][5] Novelist Nancy Willard, in a somewhat positive critique, said that "Amy Tan's special accomplishment in this novel is not her ability to show us how mothers and daughters hurt each other, but how they love and ultimately forgive each other."[6]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Joy Luck Club Summary". SparkNotes. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017. (in English)
Jump up ^ CUNY Brooklyn article
Jump up ^ Chin, Frank (2005). "Chapter 8: Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake". In Kent A. Ono. A companion to Asian American studies. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 134–135.
Jump up ^ Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake
Jump up ^ Review: The Joy Luck Club
Jump up ^ Willard, Nancy (July 1989). "Tiger Spirits". The Women's Review of Books. 6 (10): 12. doi:10.2307/4020553.
External links[edit]
Amy Tan discusses The Joy Luck Club on the BBC World Book Club
Teacher's Guide at Random House
The Joy Luck Club study guide, themes, quotes, teaching guide
[hide]
v
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Works by Amy Tan
Novels
The Joy Luck Club (1989)
"Two Kinds" (short story)
The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)
The Hundred Secret Senses (1995)
The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001)
Saving Fish from Drowning (2005)
The Valley of Amazement (2013)
Novellas
Rules for Virgins (2013)
Non-fiction
The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (2003)
Children's books
Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994)
Film
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Television
Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (2001–2002)
See also
Rock Bottom Remainders
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Mississippi in the American Civil War
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State of Mississippi
Nickname(s): "The Magnolia State"

Seal
Map of the United States with Mississippi highlighted.
Capital
Jackson
Largest City
Jackson
Admission to confederacy
February 4, 1861 (2nd)
Population
790,530 total
• 353,899 free
• 436,631 slave
Forces supplied
80,000 total
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Corinth
Governor
John Pettus (1859–1863)
Charles Clark (1863–1865)
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Albert Brown (1862–1865)
James Phelan, Sr. (1862–1864)
John Watson (1864–1865)
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February 23, 1870
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Mississippi was the second southern state to declare its secession from the United States of America, on January 9, 1861. It joined with six other southern slave-holding states to form the Confederacy on February 4, 1861. Mississippi's location along the lengthy Mississippi River made it strategically important to both the Union and the Confederacy; dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and transportation nodes.
Mississippian troops fought in every major theater of the American Civil War, although most were concentrated in the Western Theater. Confederate president Jefferson Davis was a Mississippi politician and operated a large slave cotton plantation there. Prominent Mississippian generals during the war included William Barksdale, Carnot Posey, Wirt Adams, Earl Van Dorn, Robert Lowry and Benjamin G. Humphreys.
Contents
[hide]
1 Secession and Mississippian politics
2 Enlistment
3 Emancipation of slaves
4 Mississippian towns during the war
4.1 Corinth
4.2 Jackson
4.3 Natchez
4.4 Vicksburg
4.5 Greenville
4.6 Choctaw County
4.7 Others
5 Battles in Mississippi
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 Further reading
8.1 Primary sources
9 External links
Secession and Mississippian politics[edit]
For years prior to the American Civil War, slave-holding Mississippi had voted heavily for the Democrats, especially as the Whigs declined in their influence. During the 1860 presidential election, the state supported Southern Democrat candidate John C. Breckinridge, giving him 40,768 votes (59.0% of the total of 69,095 ballots cast). John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, came in a distant second with 25,045 votes (36.25% of the total), with Stephen A. Douglas, a northern Democrat, receiving 3,282 votes (4.75%). Abraham Lincoln, who won the national election, was not on the ballot in Mississippi.[1][2] According to one Mississippian newspaper:
The slavery controversy in the United States presents a case of the most violent antagonism of interests and opinions. No persuasions, no entreaties or appeals, can allay the fierce contention between the two...
—  Mississippi Free Trader, (August 28, 1857).[3]
Long a hotbed of secessionist sentiment, support for slavery, and southern states' rights, Mississippi declared its secession from the United States on January 9, 1861, two months after the Republican Party's victory in the U.S. presidential election. The state then joined the Confederacy less than a month later, issuing a declaration of their reasons for seceding, proclaiming that "[o]ur position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery--the greatest material interest of the world".[4] Fulton Anderson, a Mississippian lawyer, delivered a speech to the Virginian secession convention in 1861, in which he declared that "grievances of the Southern people on the slavery question" and their opposition to the Republican Party's goal of "the ultimate extinction of slavery" were the primary catalysts of the state in declaring secession.[5] Mississippian judge Alexander Hamilton Handy also shared this view, opining of the "black" Republican Party that:
The first act of the black republican party will be to exclude slavery from all the territories, from the District of Columbia, the arsenals and the forts, by the action of the general government. That would be a recognition that slavery is a sin, and confine the institution to its present limits. The moment that slavery is pronounced a moral evil, a sin, by the general government, that moment the safety of the rights of the south will be entirely gone.
—  Judge Alexander Hamilton Handy, (February 1861).[6]
Along with South Carolina, Mississippi was one of only two states in the Union in 1860 in which the majority of the state's population were slaves.[7] According to Mississippian Democrat and future Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, Mississippi joined the Confederacy because it "has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal", a sentiment perceived as being threatening to slavery, and because the "Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races", a position that Davis was opposed to.[8]
William L. Harris, one Mississippian secession commissioner, told a meeting of the Georgian general assembly that the Republicans wanted to implement "equality between the white and negro races" and thus secession was necessary for the slave states to resist their efforts.[9]
Fulton Anderson, another Mississippian, told the Virginian secession convention that the Republicans were hostile to the slave states, accusing the Republican Party of having an "unrelenting and eternal hostility to the institution of slavery."[10]
Enlistment[edit]
Although there were small pockets of citizens who remained sympathetic to the Union, most famously in Jones County,[11] the vast majority of white Mississippians embraced slavery and the Confederate cause. Thousands flocked to join the Confederate military. Around 80,000 white men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate army; whereas some 500 white Mississippians remained loyal to the U.S. and fought for the Union. As the war progressed, a considerable number of freed or escaped slaves joined the United States Colored Troops and similar black regiments. More than 17,000 black Mississippian slaves and freedmen fought for the Union.[12] There were regional variations, as Logue shows. almost all soldiers were volunteers. The likelihood of a man volunteering for service increased with a person's amount of personal property owned, including slaves. Poor men were less likely to volunteer. Men living near the Mississippi River, regardless of their wealth or other characteristics, were less likely to join the army than were those living in the state's interior. Many military-age men in these western counties had moved elsewhere. Union control of the Mississippi River made its neighbors especially vulnerable, and river-county residents apparently left their communities (and often the Confederacy) rather than face invasion.[13]
Emancipation of slaves[edit]
Portions of northwestern Mississippi were under Union control on January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. All of Mississippi had been declared "in rebellion" in the Proclamation, and Union forces accordingly began to free slaves in the U.S.-controlled areas of Mississippi at once.[14] According to one Confederate lieutenant from Mississippi, slavery was the cause for which the state declared secession from the Union, saying that "This country without slave labor would be completely worthless... We can only live & exist by that species of labor: and hence I am willing to fight to the last."[15]
Mississippian towns during the war[edit]
Corinth[edit]
Corinth's location at the junction of two railroads made it strategically important. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard retreated there after the Battle of Shiloh, pursued by Union Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. Beauregard abandoned the town when Halleck approached, letting it fall into Union hands. Since Halleck approached so cautiously, digging entrenchments at every stop for over a month, this action has been known as the Siege of Corinth.
Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans moved to Corinth as well and concentrated his force with Halleck later in the year to again attack the city. The Battle of Corinth took place on October 3–4, 1862, when Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn attempted to retake the city. The Confederate troops won back the city but were quickly forced out when Union reinforcements arrived.
Oxford
On August 22, 1864 the city of Oxford, MS was burned to the ground by General A.J. Smith. Only the University of Mississippi and two shops were left standing. This action was taken was because Nathan Bedford Forrest took refuge in Oxford.
Jackson[edit]
Despite its small population, Jackson became a strategic center of manufacturing for the Confederacy. In 1863, during the campaign which ended in the capture of Vicksburg, Union forces captured Jackson during two battles—once before the fall of Vicksburg and again soon after its fall.
On May 13, 1863, Union forces won the first Battle of Jackson, forcing Confederate forces to flee northward towards Canton. Subsequently, on May 15 Union troops under William Tecumseh Sherman burned and looted key facilities in Jackson. After driving the Confederates out of Jackson, Union forces turned west once again and soon placed Vicksburg under siege. Confederates began to reassemble in Jackson in preparation for an attempt to break through the Union lines now surrounding Vicksburg. Confederates marched out of Jackson to break the siege in early July. However, unknown to them, Vicksburg had already surrendered on July 4. Union Army general Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Sherman to meet the Confederate forces. Upon learning that Vicksburg had already surrendered, the Confederates retreated back into Jackson, thus beginning the Siege of Jackson, which lasted for approximately one week before the town fell.
Natchez[edit]
During the American Civil War, the Mississippian city of Natchez remained largely undamaged. The city surrendered to Flag-Officer David G. Farragut after the fall of New Orleans in May 1862.[16] One civilian, an elderly man, was killed during the war, when in September 1863, a Union ironclad shelled the town from the river and he promptly died of a heart attack. Union soldiers sent by Ulysses S. Grant from Vicksburg occupied Natchez in 1863. The local commander, General Thomas Ransom, established headquarters at a home called Rosalie.[17]
Ellen Shields's memoir reveals a Confederate woman's reactions to Union occupation of the city. Shields was a member of the local elite and her memoir points to the upheaval of Confederate society during the war. According to historian Joyce Broussard, Shields's memoir indicates that Confederate men, absent because of the war, were seen to have failed in their homes and in the wider community, forcing the women to use their class-based femininity and their sexuality to deal with the Union Army.[18]
The 340 planters who each owned 250 or more slaves in the Natchez region in 1860 were not enthusiastic Confederates. The support these slaveholders had for the Confederacy was problematic because they were fairly recent arrivals to the Confederacy, opposed secession, and held social and economic ties to the Union. These elite planters also lacked a strong emotional attachment to the idea of a Southern nation; however, when the war started, many of their sons and nephews joined the Confederate army.[19] On the other hand, Charles Dahlgren arrived from Philadelphia and made his fortune before the war. He did support the Confederacy and led a brigade, but was sharply criticized for failing to defend the Gulf Coast. When the Union Army came he moved to Georgia for the duration. He returned in 1865 but never recouped his fortune; He went bankrupt and in 1870 he gave up and moved to New York City.[20]
Bishop Elder of Natchez
A few residents showed their defiance of Union authorities. In 1864, the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Natchez, William Henry Elder, refused to obey a Union order to compel his parishioners to pray for the U.S. president. In response, Union forces arrested Elder, convicted him, and jailed him briefly.
The memory of the war remains important for the city, as white Natchez became much more pro-Confederate after the war. The Lost Cause myth arose as a means for coming to terms with the Confederacy's defeat. It quickly became a definitive ideology, strengthened by its celebratory activities, speeches, clubs, and statues. The major organizations dedicated to maintaining the tradition were the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. At Natchez, although the local newspapers and veterans played a role in the maintenance of the Lost Cause, elite women particularly were important, especially in establishing memorials such as the Civil War Monument dedicated on Memorial Day 1890. The Lost Cause enabled women noncombatants to lay a claim to the central event in their redefinition of Southern history.[21]
Vicksburg[edit]
Vicksburg was the site of the Battle of Vicksburg, a decisive victory as the Union forces gained control of the entire Mississippi River and cut the western states off. The battle consisted of a long siege, which was necessary because the town was on high ground, well fortified, and difficult to attack directly. The hardships of the civilians were extreme during the siege, with heavy shelling and starvation all around.[22] Some 30,000 Confederates surrendered during the long campaign, but rather than being sent to prison camps, they were paroled and sent home until they could be exchanged for Union prisoners.[23]
Greenville[edit]
Greenville was a pivotal village for Grant's northern operations in Mississippi during the Vicksburg campaign. The area of the Delta surrounding Greenville was considered the "breadbasket" for providing Vicksburg's military with corn, hogs, beef, mules and horses. Beginning at the end of March 1863, Greenville was the target of General Frederick Steele's Expedition. The design of this expedition was to reconnoiter Deer Creek as a possible route to Vicksburg and to create havoc and cause damage to confederate soldiers, guerrillas, and loyal (Confederate) landowners. Highly successful, Steele's men seized almost 1000 head of livestock (horses, mules, and cattle) and burned 500,000 bushels of corn during their foray.[24] In addition to the damage done, the Union soldiers also acquired several hundred slaves, who, wishing to escape the bonds of slavery left their plantations and followed the troops from Rolling Fork back to Greenville. It was at this time that General Ulysses S. Grant determined that if any of the slaves chose to do so, they could cross the Union lines and become U.S. soldiers. The first black regiments were formed during the Greenville expedition, and by the end of the expedition nearly 500 ex-slaves were learning the "school of the soldier." General Steele's activity in the delta around Greenville pulled the attention of the Confederate leaders away from the Union activities on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River as they moved on Vicksburg. More importantly, it had serious consequences for the people and soldiers of Vicksburg who were now deprived of a most important source of supplies, food, and animals. In early May, as retaliation for Confederate artillery firing on shipping on the Mississippi River, Commander Selfridge of the U.S. Navy ordered ashore 67 marines and 30 sailors, landing near Chicot Island. Their orders were to "put to the torch" all homes and buildings of those citizens guilty of aiding and abetting Confederate forces. By the end of the day of May 9, the large and imposing mansions, barns, stables, cotton gins, overseer dwellings and slave quarters of the Blanton and Roach plantations were in ruins. Additional damage was done to Argyle Landing and Chicot Island and other houses, barns and outbuildings. The destruction of Greenville was completed on May 6 when a number of Union infantrymen slipped ashore from their boats and burned every building in the village but two (a house and a church).[25][26][27]
Choctaw County[edit]
During the war, Choctaw County Unionists formed a "Loyal League" allied with the U.S. to "break up the war by advising desertion, robbing the families of those who remained in the army, and keeping the Federal authorities advised."[28]
Others[edit]
Columbus was an important hospital town early in the war. Columbus also had an arsenal that produced gunpowder as well as cannons and handguns. Columbus was targeted by the Union on at least two different occasions, but Union commanders failed to attack the town, due to the activities of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men. Many of the casualties from the Battle of Shiloh were brought there, and thousands were buried in the town's Friendship Cemetery. Canton was an important rail and logistics center. Many wounded soldiers were treated in or transported through the city, and, as a consequence, it too has a large Confederate cemetery.
Meridian's strategic position at a major railroad junction made it the home of a Confederate arsenal, military hospital, and prisoner-of-war stockade, as well as the headquarters for a number of state offices. The disastrous Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863 happened 30 miles from Meridian, when the train was en route to the Vicksburg battle. After the Vicksburg campaign, Sherman's Union forces turned eastward. In February 1864, his army reached Meridian, where they destroyed the railroads and burned much of the area to the ground. After completing this task, Sherman is reputed to have said, "Meridian no longer exists."
A makeshift shipyard was established on the Yazoo River at Yazoo City after the Confederate loss of New Orleans. The shipyard was destroyed by Union forces in 1863. Then, Yazoo City fell back into Confederate hands. Union forces retook the city the following year and burned most of the buildings in the city.
Battles in Mississippi[edit]
Battle of Big Black River Bridge
Battle of Booneville
Battle of Brice's Crossroads
Battle of Champion Hill
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
Siege of Corinth
Battle of Corinth
Battle of Grand Gulf
Battle of Iuka
Battle of Jackson
Battle of Meridian
Battle of Okolona
Battle of Port Gibson
Battle of Raymond
Battle of Snyder's Bluff
Battle of Tupelo
Siege of Vicksburg
See also[edit]
American Civil War portal
Mississippi portal
Confederate States of America - animated map of state secession and confederacy
Mississippi Civil War Confederate Units
Mississippi Secession Ordinance
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ Leip, David. "1860 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved October 21, 2006.
Jump up ^ "American President:Abraham Lincoln:Campaigns and Elections". Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
Jump up ^ "Mississippi Free Trader". Mississippi Free Trader. Mississippi: Mississippi Free Trader. August 28, 1857. Retrieved September 12, 2015. The slavery controversy in the United States presents a case of the most violent antagonism of interests and opinions. No persuaions, no entreaties or appeals, can allay the fierce contention between the two mutually repulsive elements of our system.
Jump up ^ "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union".
Jump up ^ Anderson, Fulton (1861). "Speech of Fulton Anderson to the Virginia Convention". Civil War Causes. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2011. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
Jump up ^ Rhea, Gordon (January 2011). "Why Non-Slaveholding Southeners Fought". Address to the Charleston Library Society. Civil War Trust. Archived from the original on March 21, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
Jump up ^ University of Virginia Library Historical Census Browser
Jump up ^ Davis, Jefferson (January 21, 1861). "Jefferson Davis's Last Speech Before the U.S. Senate On Withdrawal from the Union". Washington. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
Jump up ^ Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion. p. 29. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
Jump up ^ Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion. p. 62. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
Jump up ^ Victoria E. Bynum, The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War (2003).
Jump up ^ Mississippi Soldiers in the Civil War
Jump up ^ Larry M. Logue, "Who joined the Confederate army? Soldiers, civilians, and communities in Mississippi." Journal of social history (1993): 611-623.
Jump up ^ Ira Berlin et al., eds, Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation 1861–1867, Vol. 1: The Destruction of Slavery (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 260
Jump up ^ McPherson, James M. (1997). For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p. 107. ISBN 0-19-509-023-3. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
Jump up ^ Mahan, A.T., Capt. USN. The Navy in the Civil War. Sampson Low, Marston, & Company, Ltd. London, UK. 1898.
Jump up ^ "A Brief History of Rosalie Mansion", Official Website
Jump up ^ Joyce L.. Broussard, "Occupied Natchez, Elite Women, and the Feminization of the Civil War," Journal of Mississippi History, Summer 2008, Vol. 70 Issue 2, pp 179–208
Jump up ^ William K. Scarborough, "Not Quite Southern," Prologue, Winter 2004, Vol. 36 Issue 4, pp 20–29
Jump up ^ Herschel Gower, Charles Dahlgren of Natchez: The Civil War and Dynastic Decline (2003)
Jump up ^ Melody Kubassek, "Ask Us Not to Forget: The Lost Cause in Natchez, Mississippi," Southern Studies, 1992, Vol. 3 Issue 3, pp 155–170
Jump up ^ Peter Franklin Walker, Vicksburg: a people at war, 1860–1865 (Broadfoot, 1960).
Jump up ^ Terry Whittington, "In the Shadow of Defeat: Tracking the Vicksburg Parolees." Journal of Mississippi History 4 (Winter, 2002): 307-330.
Jump up ^ "War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" (O.R.) Series I, Vol XXIV,Pt I, p 502.
Jump up ^ "War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" (O.R.) Series I, Vol XXIV,Pt II, p 144.
Jump up ^ Diary of Lt. Geo Hale, 33rd Wisconsin
Jump up ^ Diary of Lt. Anthony Burton, 5th battery, Ohio Artillery
Jump up ^ Foner, Eric (March 1989). "The South's Inner Civil War: The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became. To fully understand the vast changes the war unleashed on the country, you must first understand the plight of the Southerners who didn't want secession". American Heritage. Vol. 40 no. 2. American Heritage Publishing Company. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2013. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
Further reading[edit]
Ballard, Michael B. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2011.
Barney, William L. The Secessionist Impulse: Alabama and Mississippi in 1860 (University of Alabama Press. 1974).
Bercaw, Nacy. Gendered Freedoms: Race, Rights, and the Politics of Household in the Delta, 1861–1875 (University Press of Florida, 2003).
Bettersworth, John K. Confederate Mississippi: The People and Politics of a Cotton State in Wartime. (1943; repr., Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1978).
Blain, William T. "'Banner' Unionism in Mississippi: Choctaw County: 1861–1869." Mississippi Quarterly 2 (Spring, 1976): 207-220.
Bond, Bradley G. Political Culture in the Nineteenth Century South: Mississippi, 1830–1900. (LSU Press, 1995).
Brooks Tomblin, Barbara. The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River (University Press of Kentucky, 2016).
Dougherty, Kevin. The Vicksburg Campaign: Strategy, Battles and Key Figures (McFarland, 2015).
Frankel, Noralee. Freedom's women: Black women and families in Civil War era Mississippi (Indiana UP, 1999).
Frisby, Derek W. Campaigns in Mississippi and Tennessee, February-December 1864 Center of Military History; 2014.
Logue, Larry M. "Who Joined the Confederate Army? Soldiers, Civilians, and Communities in Mississippi." Journal of Social History 26#3 (1993): 611-623. in JSTOR
Pittman, Jr., Walter E. "Trading with the Devil: The Cotton Trade in Civil War Mississippi." Journal of Confederate History 2: 11 (1989): 132-142
Rainwater, Percy Lee. Mississippi: Storm Center of Secession, 1856–1861 (1938).
Rowland, Dunbar. Military History of Mississippi, 1803–1898: Taken from the Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi (1908. Reprint Company Publishers, 1978).
Ruminski, Jarret. "Southern Pride and Yankee Presence: The Limits of Confederate Loyalty in Civil War Mississippi, 1860–1865." (PhD dissertation. University of Calgary, 2013). Bibliography on pp 312–338. online
Smith, Timothy B. Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front. (University Press of Mississippi, 2010).
Smith, Timothy B. The Mississippi Secession Convention: Delegates and Deliberations in Politics and War, 1861–1865. (University Press of Mississippi, 2014).
Whittington, Terry. "In the Shadow of Defeat: Tracking the Vicksburg Parolees." Journal of Mississippi History 4 (Winter, 2002): 307-330.
Wynne, Ben. Mississippi's Civil War: A Narrative History (Mercer University Press, 2006).
Primary sources[edit]
Bettersworth, John Knox, and James Wesley Silver, eds. Mississippi in the Confederacy: As they saw it, (2 vol. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, 1961; reprint 1970).
Darst, W. Maury, ed. "The Vicksburg Diary of Mrs. Alfred Ingraham, May 2-June 13, 1863." Journal of Mississippi History 44 (1982): 148-179.
Galbraith, Loretta and William, eds. A Lost Heroine of the Confederacy: The Diaries and Letters of Belle Edmondson (University of Mississippi Press, 1990).
Silver, James W., ed. "The Breakdown of Morale in Central Mississippi in 1864: Letters of Judge Robert S. Hudson." Journal of Mississippi History 16 (1964): 99-120.
External links[edit]
Find more aboutMississippi in the American Civil Warat Wikipedia's sister projects
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National Park Service map of Civil War sites in Mississippi

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values: Mississippi durant la guerre de Sécession – French

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