Good to hear from you and thanks for your comments.

When I looked into the delegates who attended the Mississippi Convention on Secession, one thing that struck me is that those few who voted against leaving the Union either came from counties with comparatively low percentages of slave population (Perry, Tishomingo) or, conversely, rather high percentages (Adams, Amite, Warren, and Washington).

Natchez, Vicksburg, and a few other areas had a significant population of pre-war Whigs. Others existed in smaller numbers in the cotton producing regions. These were men (usually) who had engaged in cotton production for decades. Some had seen first hand the industrial might of the North. They were conservatives in the sense of eschewing any rash course of action. They viewed the secessionist Fire-Eaters of the 1850s as dangerous rabble-rousers. While these men were disturbed by the election of Abraham Lincoln, they felt it did not fundamentally threaten the right of Southerners to own slave property — a right that had made them very rich. But any attempt to secede from the Union would place all this at risk. In this sense they demonstrated far more prescience than many others, North or South.

In the 10 years after the war ended, some of these antebellum Whigs became scalawag Republicans, such as plantation owner John L. Alcorn. They enjoyed a brief ascendency to power between 1868 and 1874. But the gradual removal of Union military forces and other factors produced a tipping point. In 1875 the Democrats successfully made white supremacy and racial solidarity the political litmus tests they would remain for nearly a century. As one Democrat later stated, they achieved control at the ballot box by “revolutionary means.” Noting the disinclination of the North to intervene further, within short time the former Whigs entered the Democratic tent.

If Daniel McInnis left letters or diaries, they might offer fascinating insights into this period. Hope we can get together to discuss your continuing research on Covington County.

Best, Ed Payne

Ulysses Grant McInnis, a 3-great uncle of mine on the Magee side, as well as a cousin on my McInnis side, married a granddaughter of Robert Magee.

An interesting item I want to relate is that Ulysses Grant McInnis went through life as “Lish” McInnis. I can only imagine the political and cultural climate of post-Civil War Mississippi encouraged the use of this nickname, which also probably grew out of the Piney Woods pronunciation of Ulysses as “yoo-LISH-is.”

Another item of note is that my 3-great grandfather, Joseph McInnis, who was a brother of Daniel McInnis (thus, Lish’s uncle), named one of his sons Henry Clay McInnis (b. 1860).

Also, while researching other surnames, I came across a 19th-century source in Google books that related an incident wherein it was indicated Daniel McInnis was serving the post-war military government in a position at Mount Carmel. I want to say it was something about being a poll-watcher. Unfortunately, I did not bookmark it, and I’m unable to relocate it as yet.

It seems, at the least, the western Covington County branch of the McInnis family possibly showed Whig tendencies in a heavily Democratic part of the state. In fact, I remember a letter from the 1830s or 1840s, in the McLaurin papers, that related the fact that the “Whig cause” was gaining steam in the western part of the county. As you know, the Bouie Creek corridor, with its rich bottomlands, was the wealthiest part of the county, and home to several plantations, including those of the Magees and McLaurins.

I’ve often said that, when I finish the Magee book, I’m going for the Covington County McInnis clan. They have always intrigued me.