Alabama is known as the "Yellowhammer State," a name that comes from the Confederate troops who wore strips of yellow cloth on their sleeves, collars, and coattails. Emblematic of the South, Alabama hosted the Confedracy's first capital in Montgomery and has come to be known as the "Heart of Dixie." Alabama was the 22nd state to be admitted to the U.S., but seceded in 1861. Following the Civil War, Alabama was readmitted in 1868.