[724] and soon afterward he was elected governor of Louisiana. He was active in this position in the interests of the Confederacy, arranged for payment of the cotton tax in kind, and opened a route for the exportation of cotton and the importation of necessities through Texas to Mexico. After the war he settled in Mexico, and established the ‘Mexican Times’ at the national capital. He died in that city April 22, 1866.
John J. Pettus
John J. Pettus, first war governor of Mississippi, was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, October 9, 1813, and came when a young man to the State of which he was afterward the chief executive. He settled in Kemper county, which he represented in both branches of the legislature, in subsequent years. In 1859 he was nominated by the Democratic party for governor, was elected, and qualified November 18, 1859. During the term which followed he was confronted with the most momentous and trying duties, which he discharged with such signal ability and sound judgment as to win the confidence of the people of the State, and secure a reelection at their hands. In 1863 he was compelled by the continued encroachments of the Federal forces to remove the State offices to Columbus, Miss. Such was his intense devotion to the cause of the Confederacy that after the surrender of the armies he lost heart and hope, abandoned Mississippi, and went to Arkansas, where he lived the life of a recluse and died January 25, 1867.
Charles Clark
Charles Clark, the last war governor of Mississippi, was born in Ohio, May, 1811, a lineal descendant of a Mayflower colonist. He was graduated at Augusta college, Kentucky, and then emigrated to Mississippi, where he engaged in teaching school. While thus occupied he also pursued the study of law, and on being admitted to the bar located in Jefferson county, and subsequently made his home in Bolivar county, Mississippi.. Both of these counties he represented in the legislature. He
