John J. Pettus
John J. Pettus | |
|---|---|
Posthumous Portrait by Alexander Alaux, 1907 (Mississippi Department of Archives and History) | |
| 23rd Governor of Mississippi | |
| In office November 21, 1859 – November 16, 1863 | |
| Preceded by | William McWillie |
| Succeeded by | Charles Clark |
| President of the Mississippi Senate | |
| In office 1854–1857 | |
| Preceded by | James Whitfield |
| Succeeded by | James Drane |
| Governor of Mississippi | |
| Acting January 5, 1854 – January 10, 1854 | |
| Preceded by | Henry S. Foote |
| Succeeded by | John J. McRae |
| Member of the Mississippi Senate from Neshoba and Kemper counties | |
| In office 1848–1857 | |
| Preceded by | Emanuel Durr |
| Succeeded by | Isaac Enloe |
| Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from Kemper County | |
| In office 1844–1847 Serving with Lewis Stovall 1844–1845 | |
| Preceded by | Vacant |
| Succeeded by | Oswell Neely, Lumpkin Garrett |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Jones Pettus October 9, 1813 Wilson County, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | January 25, 1867 (aged 53) Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Flat Bayou Cemetery, Jefferson County, Arkansas 34°21′30.3″N 91°52′09.5″W / 34.358417°N 91.869306°W |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouses | Permelia Virginia Winston
(m. 1837; died 1857)Susan Hewell (m. 1861) |
| Relations | Edmund Pettus (brother) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Confederate States |
| Branch | Mississippi State Troops |
| Years of service | 1864–1865 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Wars | American Civil War |
John Jones Pettus (October 9, 1813 – January 25, 1867) was an American politician, lawyer, and slave owner who served as the 23rd Governor of Mississippi, from 1859 to 1863. Before being elected in his own right to full gubernatorial terms in 1859 and 1861, he served as acting governor from January 5 to 10, 1854, following the resignation of Henry S. Foote. A member of the Democratic Party, Pettus had previously been a Mississippi state representative, and a member and president of the Mississippi State Senate. He strongly supported Mississippi's secession from the United States and brought his state along as a founding member of the Confederate States of America in 1861. Pettus's term of office came to an end in 1863, the same year that saw much of Mississippi overrun by Union forces. At the close of the war he fled to Arkansas to avoid prosecution and died there in 1867.