January: Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, who had been assigned command
of the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana the previous
year, was headquartered at Meridian. Under his command were Maj.
General S.G. French's division at Brandon and Maj. Gen. W.W.
Loring's division at Canton. The 33rd was brigaded under the
command of Brig. Gen. W.S. Featherston with the 3rd Miss., 22nd
Miss., 31st Miss., 40th Miss., and the 1st Miss. Battalion. On
the 5th, Col. D.W. Hurst resigned and Lt. Col. Jabez L. Drake
was promoted to lead the 33rd. February: A Federal force, under
the command of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, advanced from
Vicksburg to capture Meridian and destroy the railroads. The
Confederate forces stiffly resisted but were unable to stop the
Federal advance and by mid-month had fallen back to Demopolis,
AL. Spring: The 33rd, along with the rest of Polk's army,
marched to Montevallo, AL. Over the next two months, while in
camp, religion became a prominent part of the lives of the
members of the 33rd. May: Sher