Complex sentence: In the years following the war, Chalmers returned to Mississippi where he resumed his law career and, as a prominent Mississippi political figure during Reconstruction, served as a member of the state senate from 1876 to 1877.
Split into simpler sentences: In the years following the war, Chalmers returned to Mississippi where he resumed his law career. As a prominent Mississippi political figure during Reconstruction, he was elected as a member of the state senate from 1876 to 1877.