About the Author

G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery (1920-2006), noted for his forty years of public service, represented Mississippi's Third District in Congress, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, authored the modern GI Bill of Rights, and worked tirelessly as a veterans' advocate. Michael B. Ballard (1946-2016) was an archivist at Mississippi State University and is author of many books, including Civil War Mississippi: A Guide; A Long Shadow: Jefferson Davis and the Final Days of the Confederacy; and, with David Muench, Landscapes of Battle: The Civil War. Craig S. Piper is archivist at the Congressional and Political Research Center at Mississippi State University.