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1861: Creation 5 of the Confederacy

n the first weeks of 1861, six Southern states began the Iprocess of establishing their own government, even as Northerners debated whether to let them leave the Union in peace or use force to stop them. On February 23, two weeks before Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the , Texas became the sev- enth state to leave the Union. After taking office, President Lincoln reacted cautiously to these events. He felt very strong- ly that the states that had seceded (left the Union) had no right to do so, and he was determined to keep the Union to- gether. But he also did not want to upset the large number of states in the mid-South—sometimes called the border states— that had yet to decide whether to join the Confederacy.

On April 12, 1861, however, troops at- tacked , a U.S. outpost located in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. A day later, the Federal troops sta- tioned at Fort Sumter were forced to surrender, and Lincoln prepared for war. He promptly proclaimed that the seceding states were in “a state of insurrection” and vowed to drag the states of the newly born Confederacy back into the Union. Lin-

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spite all the pre-election warnings that the South had delivered, many North- erners never really believed that their Words to Know Southern neighbors might actually de- cide to leave the Union. Confederacy eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States in When it became apparent that 1860 and 1861 the slave states of the Deep South were Federal national or central government; willing to make good on their threat, also refers to the North or Union, as however, several lawmakers scrambled opposed to the South or Confederacy to bring them back into the fold. Polit- ical leaders in Virginia organized a Rebel Confederate; often used as a name peace convention in which representa- for Confederate soldiers tives from twenty-one states tried—but Secession the formal withdrawal of failed—to come up with a compromise eleven Southern states from the Union that would satisfy both sides. President in 1860–61 (1791–1868) also States’ rights the belief that each state made some half-hearted attempts to has the right to decide how to handle repair the damage that had been done. various issues for itself without interfer- But Buchanan, a Democrat, blamed ence from the national government Lincoln and the Republicans for the crisis. After all, the Republicans had Union Northern states that remained loyal been the ones taking a hard line to the United States during the Civil against slavery. The Southern states War only planned to secede because they felt that Lincoln could not possibly represent their interests as president. In the end, the outgoing president coln’s call to arms was warmly received seemed willing to leave the messy situ- in the North, but it also convinced four ation to Lincoln, who was scheduled important states—Virginia, North Car- to take over the presidency after his in- olina, Tennessee, and Arkansas—to auguration on March 4, 1861. leave the United States and join the The most serious proposal to Confederate States of America. restore the Union was crafted by a Ken- tucky lawmaker named John Critten- The den (1787–1863). A senator from one In the days and weeks imme- of several mid-South states that had diately following the secession of not yet decided whether to stay with South Carolina and six other Southern the Union or secede, Crittenden called states, the people living in America’s for a series of compromises on a wide Northern states reacted with a mixture range of issues. The major elements of of anger, confusion, and surprise. De- his proposal, however, were two pro-

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posed constitutional amendments (re- visions). One amendment would pro- tect slavery in all of the states where it already existed, and the other one People to Know would provide for the extension of Robert Anderson (1805–1871) Union slavery all the way to the Pacific Ocean major who surrendered Fort Sumter to in American territory located south of Confederates in April 1861 the old line. Pierre G. T. Beauregard (1818–1893) The Crittenden Compromise Confederate general who captured was studied by both sides, but in the end Fort Sumter in April 1861; also served it was rejected. The states that had al- at First Bull Run and Shiloh ready seceded were tired of compromis- James Buchanan (1791–1868) fifteenth ing and arguing, and their leaders president of the United States, 1857–61 showed little interest in resuming their tense relationship with the North. Lin- Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) president of coln, meanwhile, was willing to consider the Confederate States of America, an amendment protecting slavery where 1861–65 it currently existed. But he and his fellow Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) sixteenth Republicans flatly rejected the proposal president of the United States, 1861–65 that would have allowed the South to expand slavery into new areas. “We have William Seward (1801–1872) U.S. secre- just carried an election,” Lincoln wrote, tary of state, 1861–69 “on principles fairly stated to the people. Now we are told in advance that the gov- ernment shall be broken up unless we surrender to those we have beaten, be- fore we take the offices. . . . If we surren- der, it is the end of us and the end of the and cities all across the North by citi- government.” zens and political leaders who were weary of dealing with their stubborn Southern neighbors. This feeling was Formation of the Confederate also strong in some abolitionist cir- States of America cles, since the departure of the seces- By early 1861, the North was sionist states meant that slavery might engaged in a bitter debate with itself be more easily stamped out in other over the secessionist activities taking parts of the United States. But other place in the South. Some people ar- Northern communities called for the gued that the United States should Federal government to maintain the allow South Carolina and the other se- Union by force if necessary. These cessionist states to establish their own people ranged from farmers, who country without any interference. wanted to make sure that they could This sentiment was voiced in towns continue to transport goods down the

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business of forming a new govern- ment. In February 1861, delegates from each of the six states gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to draw up a constitution for their new nation, called the Confederate States of Amer- ica. As it turned out, the Confederate Constitution was very similar to the U.S. Constitution in most respects. But the document created in Mont- gomery was different in two major ways. First, it gave individual states greater freedom to run their own af- fairs while also putting significant re- straints on the power of the central government. Second, the Confederate Constitution explicitly protected the rights of slaveowners and confirmed slavery’s importance to the states of the Confederacy. After the Constitu- tion was approved, newly elected Confederate vice president Alexander H. Stephens (1812–1883) of Georgia Kentucky senator John Crittenden’s proposed rejoiced, saying that “the new consti- series of compromises regarding slavery was tution has put at rest, forever, all the rejected by both the Union and Confederacy. agitating questions relating to our pe- (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.) culiar institution—African slavery as it exists among us. . . . [Our new govern- ment’s] foundations are laid . . . upon Mississippi River, to Northern manu- the great truth, that the negro is not facturers and merchants, who worried equal to the white man; that slavery— about the impact of Southern inde- subordination to the superior race—is pendence on their business dealings. his natural and moral condition. This, The most important factor in the our new government, is the first, in North’s opposition to Southern seces- the history of the world, based upon sion, however, was the widespread this great physical, philosophical, and feeling that Southern selfishness was moral truth.” threatening to destroy a growing na- tion just when it was on the verge of becoming a world power. The Confederacy selects its first president In the South, meanwhile, the On February 9, 1861, delegates states that had seceded went about the of the Confederate States of America

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elected Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), a wealthy slaveholding senator from Mississippi, to be its first president. Davis had served as the United States’ secretary of war in the mid-1850s under President Franklin Pierce (1804–1869). Dedicated to the princi- ple of states’ rights and respected throughout the South, Davis was seen as a solid choice for the presidency, even though he had expressed reserva- tions about secession in the past.

Immediately after his February 18, 1861, inauguration, Davis began the process of putting together his ad- ministration and organizing a mili- tary. Forming a new nation involved a multitude of other tasks, from intro- ducing new legal and government sys- tems to developing new commerce and banking systems that were inde- pendent from the North. Davis and other Confederate officials spent a Confederate vice president Alexander H. great deal of time and energy on these Stephens. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.) issues. But although this process of na- tion-building was complex and time- consuming, it was helped along by a Another factor that helped the number of different factors. Confederacy develop quickly was the undeniable excitement that many One major development was Southerners felt upon beginning this the defection of another state to the new chapter in their lives. Schools, Confederate side. On February 23, churches, and taverns throughout the 1861, the vast state of Texas formally Deep South echoed with songs and seceded from the United States over speeches touting the many fine quali- the strong objections of its governor, ties of the Confederate states, and Mexican War hero Sam Houston pride in the region’s history and tradi- (1793–1863). The addition of Texas to tions became even stronger than it the Confederacy encouraged the white had already been. All throughout the populations of the other secessionist Confederacy, the move to secede from states, some of whom continued to the Union was compared to the Amer- harbor quiet doubts about the course ican Revolution of a century earlier, that they had taken. when independent-minded people re-

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CANADA

Washington 0 150 300 mi Territory 0 150 300 km Maine Oregon Dakota Territory Minn. M Vt. ic h N.H. ig Wis. a n New Mass. York R.I. Conn. Nevada Nebraska Territory Iowa Pa. Terr. N.J. Utah Ohio Md. Territory Ind. Delaware Colorado Ill. W.Va. Territory (1863) Kansas Missouri California Virginia Kentucky N.C. Indian Tennessee New Mexico Territory Territory Ark. S.C. PACIFIC OCEAN Ala. Georgia Miss. ATLANTIC La. Texas OCEAN

F l o r Confederate states i d a Union states N Union territories Gulf of Mexico MEXICO State/territorial boundaries, 1861

A breakdown of the Union and Confederate states/territories during the Civil War. (Illustration by XNR Productions. Reproduced by permission of The Gale Group.)

belled against the tyrannical orders of customs offices, financial institu- a distant ruler. tions, and other Federal offices were taken over by state troops loyal to the Confederacy in villages and Lincoln signals determination cities across the Deep South. With to preserve the Union each passing day, Confederate lead- President Lincoln and other ers worked to erase all signs of their Northern political leaders watched previous membership in the Union. events unfold in the South with con- By the time Lincoln took office in siderable concern. After all, the Con- March 1861, the only four military federate states had gone about the institutions located on secessionist process of creating a recognizable soil that were still under Union con- nation for themselves in energetic trol were three forts along the Flori- fashion, and Federal authority in da coastline and a lone fort, called those states was diminishing quickly. Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Post offices, courts, military posts, Bay in South Carolina.

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e E Lak Despite these developments, N New York however, Lincoln adopted a reasonable Pennsylvania tone in his March 4 inaugural address. . He made it clear that he was deter- Ohio N.J. Md. mined to preserve the Union, stating R. io that “the Union is unbroken, and to h Washington, D.C. Del. O (Union capital) the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself express- Virginia ly enjoins upon me, that the laws of Kentucky Richmond (Confederate capital) the Union be faithfully executed in all Chesapeake Bay of the states.” But he also declared that Tenn. he had no wish to go to war against his North countrymen. “There needs to be no Carolina bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the South national authority,” he proclaimed. “In Atlanta Carolina Sa ATLANTIC va your hands, my dissatisfied fellow- n n OCEAN a countrymen, and not in mine, is the h Charleston Georgia R . momentous issue of civil war. The Gov- Fort Sumter ernment will not assail [attack] you. Savannah April 12, 1861: South Carolina troops launch You can have no conflict without being 0 50 100 mi an artillery assault on the Union garrison at Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War. yourselves the aggressors.” Lincoln 0 50 100 km then concluded his address with an ap- peal for reconciliation, saying that “we Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South must not be enemies. Though passion Carolina. (Illustration by XNR Productions. may have strained it must not break Reproduced by permission of The Gale Group.) our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to acy. He also knew that some people in every living heart and hearthstone all the Confederate states remained doubt- over this broad land, will yet swell the ful of the wisdom of secession, and he chorus of the Union, when again thought that the rebels might eventu- touched, as surely they will be, by the ally return to the Union of their own better angels of our nature.” free will. As a result, he did his best to avoid violent confrontation with the Lincoln’s speech reflected his rebel states throughout his first month belief that there was still a chance to in office in hopes of keeping Virginia, preserve the Union without resorting Maryland, North Carolina, and other to warfare, provided that he did not of- Mid-South states from bolting from the fend the eight other slaveholding states already tattered Union. in the Mid- and Upper South that re- mained undecided about whether to On April 12, 1861, though, stay in the Union or join the Confeder- Lincoln’s hopes of restoring the Union

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the command of Major Robert Ander- son (1805–1871). A five-sided brick building that stood guard over the port of the largest city in South Carolina, it remained in Union hands throughout the first few months of 1861, even as the Confederacy took control of most other Federal military outposts and of- fices in the Deep South.

The continued occupation of Fort Sumter by Union troops quickly developed into a major point of dis- agreement between North and South. In the aftermath of secession, the peo- ple of South Carolina and the rest of the Confederacy regarded the Union garrison at Fort Sumter as a foreign military presence that should not be permitted to operate in their territory, especially since it was located right in the middle of one of the Confederacy’s most important harbors. With each Major Robert Anderson. (Photograph by passing week, the sight of the Ameri- George Cook. Courtesy of the Library of can flag flying over the fort further in- Congress.) furiated the people in Charleston and other Confederate communities.

without bloodshed were shattered. It Confederate representatives was on that night that South Carolina made a number of efforts to convince troops launched an artillery assault on the Union to hand over the fort to the Union garrison at Fort Sumter, and South Carolina troops peacefully dur- the awful civil war that had threat- ing the first few months of 1861, but all ened to envelop the United States for of these attempts failed. First, Confeder- years and years finally began. ate officials tried to convince President Buchanan to give up the fort before he left office in March. Buchanan had The controversy over Fort withdrawn Federal troops from other Sumter locations in the Confederacy because of Located at the entrance to his strong desire to finish his term be- Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, fore war erupted. But Buchanan refused Fort Sumter was manned by approxi- to abandon Fort Sumter, which had mately sixty-eight U.S. soldiers under come to be regarded throughout the

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North as a symbol of Union strength Lincoln attempts to send and pride. “If I withdraw [Major] An- supplies derson from Sumter, I can travel home Almost as soon as he took of- to Wheatland [after leaving office] by fice, Lincoln found out that the situa- the light of my own burning effigies,” tion in Fort Sumter was even more se- said Buchanan, referring to his home in rious than he had previously believed. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A day after delivering his inaugural address, he was informed that Major The South had no better luck Anderson and his men had only with Lincoln after he took office, de- enough food and supplies to remain at spite the secret activities of William Se- the fort until about April 15. If the ward (1801–1872), Lincoln’s secretary Union proved unable to resupply An- of state. Seward was a talented and dis- derson before then, he and his men tinguished politician who ranked as would have to surrender the fort or one of the most powerful figures in the face starvation. Moreover, Lincoln was Republican Party. But despite Lincoln’s told that on March 3, South Carolina decision to select him for the impor- military troops under the command of tant position of secretary of state, Se- General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beau- ward remained bitter about the party’s regard (1818–1893) had taken up posi- decision to nominate Lincoln instead tions all around the harbor, their can- of himself as its presidential candidate nons poised to fire upon Fort Sumter in the 1860 elections. In fact, Seward at any time. did not hold a high opinion of the new president, and he believed that he would be able to shape Lincoln’s poli- After consulting with his cabi- cies to his own liking from his position net to review his options, Lincoln de- as secretary of state. cided that he would attempt to resup- ply Anderson’s troops at Fort Sumter. Seward thought that if the He knew that any attempt to send United States avoided angering the food and other provisions to the fort Confederate states, they would even- was risky. The Union had attempted tually return to the Union. He thus be- to transport supplies and reinforce- lieved that U.S. forces should vacate ments to the fort two months earlier Fort Sumter and leave it to the citizens via a ship called the Star of the West, of South Carolina. Acting on this con- only to be turned away by a hail of ar- viction—and on his belief that he tillery fire from South Carolina can- could manipulate Lincoln—Seward of- nons. Despite that earlier clash, fered secret assurances to the Confed- though, Lincoln was unwilling to eracy that the Union would soon abandon the fort. He knew that if Fed- abandon Fort Sumter. But as the days eral control of Fort Sumter was relin- passed by, it became clear that Seward quished, Northern morale would suf- had underestimated the will of his fer, and Southern confidence in the new president. Confederacy’s ability to break away

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President James Buchanan

James Buchanan was president of most impossible for his administration to the United States from 1857 until 1861, get anything done. Indeed, he was assum- when Abraham Lincoln took his place. Born ing leadership of the country at a time in Pennsylvania, Buchanan established a when Northern and Southern positions on thriving law practice before turning to poli- slavery and states’ rights were hardening. tics. He spent ten years (1821–31) as a As these two sides battled in the legislature member of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House dele- and the nation’s newspapers, the gation, then moved over to the Senate, Buchanan administration’s fumbling at- where he represented his home state from tempts to resolve these issues did little to 1834 to 1845. A Democrat, he left the Sen- bridge the widening gap between Ameri- ate in 1845 to serve as secretary of state for ca’s Northern and Southern regions. President James K. Polk (1795–1849). Dur- ing his four-year stint in that position, Buchanan helped prosecute the Mexican Buchanan’s personal views of slav- War (1846–48), which ultimately gave the ery were mixed. On the one hand, he United States huge expanses of new terri- thought that slavery was morally wrong. tory in the West. But he also believed that the South’s claims that slavery was not unconstitutional were After serving as minister to Great correct, and that the region would never Britain in the administration of President accept the abolishment of slavery. This Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1856, conviction, combined with his knowledge Buchanan won the 1856 presidential elec- that the Democratic Party owed much of tion as the nominee of the Democratic its national power to support in the South, Party. Soon after assuming office, however, made Buchanan fairly sympathetic to he found that the slavery issue made it al- Southern demands.

from the Union permanently would attempt to increase Federal troop increase. strength at Sumter might be interpret- ed as an aggressive action by the Con- On March 29, 1861, Lincoln federate military and the remaining ordered the U.S. military to send ships slave states in the Union, and that bearing food and supplies to the sur- such a step would increase the likeli- rounded outpost, but he declined to hood of a violent clash between An- send reinforcements to help Anderson derson’s troops and the forces under defend the fort. He believed that any Beauregard’s command.

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ing this period, for while Buchanan did not believe that states had the right to secede from the Union, he also did not believe that the Federal government had the right to force them to stay. During his last months of power, Buchanan adopted a cautious position designed to ensure that he would not preside over the beginning of a civil war. In March 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as America’s sixteenth presi- dent, and Buchanan left the White House, relieved that he had managed to get out be- fore hostilities exploded between the na- James Buchanan. (Courtesy of the Library of tion’s two angry sections. Within a few Congress.) weeks of his departure, Buchanan’s worst fears were realized, as a battle for control of After Lincoln won the November Fort Sumter in South Carolina ignited the 1860 presidential election and Southern Civil War. For years, Buchanan, who died in threats of secession exploded, Buchanan 1868, was often viewed as a key reason why was faced with the task of holding the na- the Civil War occurred. In recent years, how- tion together until the Republican formally ever, historians have judged Buchanan’s took office in March 1861. Buchanan re- policies more kindly. fused to support one side or the other dur-

Determined to avoid a for the fort from New York to deliver bloody clash if possible, Lincoln no- the provisions. tified South Carolina governor Fran- cis Pickens (1805–1869) on April 8 Upon learning of the Union of his plan to send ships carrying plan to resupply Fort Sumter, Confed- food and other supplies to Fort erate president Jefferson Davis called Sumter. Two days later, a small fleet his cabinet together to discuss their of Union ships headed by Captain options. The letter that Pickens had Gustavus Fox (1821–1883) set out received from Lincoln made it clear

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fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen,” warned Confederate secretary of state Robert Toombs (1810–1885). “You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death.” But Davis and many other leaders believed that the Confederacy needed to take a strong stand. On April 10, Beauregard was or- dered to take the fort by force if he could not convince Anderson to sur- render willingly.

Southern forces attack Fort Sumter Over the next few days, Beau- regard tried to convince Anderson to surrender. But Anderson, who had been one of Beauregard’s instructors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, refused to give in. Abraham Lincoln. (Painting by Douglas Volk. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.) The Confederate assault on Fort Sumter was launched early in the morning of April 12, 1861. All day that Seward’s secret assurances of an long, Confederate guns under Beaure- impending federal departure from the gard’s command rained fire on the outpost could no longer be believed. fort held by the rebel commander’s Davis and his cabinet were thus left former teacher. As the onslaught con- with two choices: permit Fox’s fleet to tinued, pockets of flame and smoke carry out its mission to Fort Sumter, erupted around the outpost, a sight which would allow Anderson’s troops that delighted the many Charleston to man the outpost for several more citizens watching the battle unfold months; or attack the garrison before from their rooftops. Anderson and his the supplies could be delivered and men put up a brave defense in hopes risk triggering an all-out war with the of holding their foes off until help ar- Union. rived, but rough seas and indecision slowed Fox’s fleet, and they were Some Confederate leaders cau- never able to lend a hand. Finally, tioned against launching any attack after enduring more than thirty-four on Fort Sumter. “The firing on that hours of cannonfire, the Union troops

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The Confederate flag flies following the South’s victory over the North at Fort Sumter on April 4, 1861. (Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

ran out of ammunition. No longer the fort. Midway through the salute, able to defend the fort, Anderson was however, one of the cannons explod- forced to surrender on April 13. The ed. Private Daniel Hough died in the defeat saddened Anderson, although explosion, and Private Edward Gal- he took comfort in the knowledge loway died a few days later from in- that none of his men had been killed juries suffered in the accident. Hough in the assault. and Galloway thus became the first casualties in a war that would ulti- One day later, Anderson and mately claim more than 620,000 his troops assembled to evacuate the American lives. fort as Fox’s fleet watched helplessly from just outside the harbor. Beaure- gard had agreed to let the Union sol- Undecided states join the diers give the tattered American flag Confederacy that they had defended a 100-gun The battle for Fort Sumter salute before lowering it and leaving marked the beginning of the Ameri-

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Perspectives on the Battle for Fort Sumter

As the following newspaper ac- moral force, it panoplies [armors] the Re- counts show, reaction to the assault on Major public as with a wall of fire. She enters the contest with that triple arming which jus- Robert Anderson’s troops at Fort Sumter in tice gives to a cause. The moral con- Charleston, South Carolina, was far different science of the world is on her side. . . . The in the North than it was in the South: [Lincoln] Administration is not brought face to face with a Revolution. This is not The perspective of the North, as the attitude. It has to deal with a plot, a editorialized in the New York Times, April conspiracy. There will be no ‘fraternal blood’ shed, unless it be the blood of 15, 1861— men who are willfully and persistently in The reverberations from Charles- the position of traitors. . . . That Treason ton Harbor have brought about what should be claimed as a right—that anar- months of logic would have been impo- chy [complete absence of government] tent to effect—the rapid condensation of should rule—it is this which thrills with in- public sentiment in the Free States. The dignant amazement. How profound has North is now [united]. . . . In entering been the humiliation, how hot the indig- upon this struggle [against the South], the nation, are shown in the tumultuous great community of Free States does so, surgings of passion that are now baptis- prepared to bring to bear on the vindica- ing with one common sentiment of con- tion [justification] of its national honor in- stitutional unity and patriotic devotion exhaustible material resources. . . . As to every loyal American heart.

can Civil War. The Confederate attack sand soldiers in order to stop the se- on Union forces convinced Lincoln cessionist rebellion. and his cabinet—which had previous- ly been deeply divided over how to Lincoln’s April 15 announce- deal with the secessionist states—that ment was immensely popular in the such aggression could not go unpun- free states of the North. News of the ished, and that the Confederate states Confederate attack on Fort Sumter could only be brought back into the had enraged Northerners, and thou- Union through the use of force. Lin- sands of volunteers eagerly rushed to coln subsequently announced to the join the Federal army. Reaction to nation that “combinations too power- Lincoln’s call to arms was far different ful to be suppressed” by peaceful ef- in the slave states that sat between forts now controlled the Deep South, the North and the states of the Con- and he called on the remaining states federacy, however. Although they had of the Union to provide the Federal been unwilling to secede over the government with seventy-five thou- issue of slavery, these so-called “bor-

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The view from the South, as de- what . . . will be a most momentous mili- scribed in Charleston Mercury, April 13, tary act. It may be a drama of but a sin- gle act. The madness which inspires it 1861— may depart with this single paroxysm The bombardment of Fort [sudden outburst]. It is certain that the Sumter, so long and anxiously expected, people of the North have rankling at has at length become a fact. . . . [At their hearts no sense of wrong to be dawn] the circle of batteries with which avenged; and exhibiting to those who the grim fortress of Fort Sumter is belea- expect power to reconstruct the shat- guered opened fire. The outline of this tered Union, its utter inadequacy to ac- great volcanic crater was illuminated with complish a single step in that direction, a line of twinkling lights; the clustering the Administration of the old Govern- shells illuminated the sky above it; the ment may abandon at once and forever [cannon] balls clattered thick as hail upon its vain and visionary hope of forcible its sides; our citizens . . . rushed again to control over the Confederate States. But the points of observation; and so, at the it may not be so; they may persist still break of day, amidst the bursting of longer in assertions of their power, and if bombs, and the roaring of ordnance [ar- so, they will arouse an independent spirit tillery], and before thousands of specta- in the South, which will exact a merciless tors, whose homes, and liberties, and and fearful retribution [payback]. lives were at stake, was enacted this first great scene in the opening drama of

der” states quickly decided to stand capitals sat only one hundred miles with their Southern neighbors once it from one another. became clear that war was imminent. On April 17, the state of Virginia an- The defections of these states nounced that it was leaving the Unit- were a severe blow to Lincoln, who ed States to join the Confederacy, and had hoped that they would ultimately Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Car- fight to keep the Union intact. Con- olina joined the Confederate cause a versely, the addition of these four few weeks later (although much of states greatly strengthened the Con- eastern Tennessee remained loyal to federacy. Each possessed large popula- the Union throughout the war). The tions of white men who could be Confederacy promptly made arrange- added to the still-forming Confederate ments to transfer its capital from Army. Southern strategists recognized Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, that factories located in these states Virginia, thus creating a situation in could be used to manufacture ammu- which the Union and Confederate nition, clothing, and other supplies

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for its military. Finally, military leaders center of Confederate support. The ex- on both sides recognized that Vir- tent of Baltimore’s sympathy to the ginia’s decision to stand under the Confederate cause had become clear Confederate flag posed a great threat on April 19, when the 6th Massachu- to the Union because the state was lo- setts —a Union regiment under cated right next to Washington, D.C., the command of Benjamin Butler the Union’s capital. (1818–1893) that was traveling to Washington, D.C.—came under attack The Union fights to keep in the city from a secessionist mob. By the time the clash ended, dozens of other border states injured people and dead bodies lit- After losing Virginia, Arkansas, tered the city’s streets. Tennessee, and North Carolina to the Confederacy, Lincoln turned his atten- The Union eventually gained tion to four border slave states— control of Baltimore and the rest of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Maryland, but Lincoln was forced to Missouri—that had not yet an- establish martial law to do so. Martial nounced their support for North or law is a situation in which military South. Lincoln was certain that forces take over the responsibility of Delaware would remain loyal to the administering and enforcing laws in a Union, but he knew that Confederate city or region from civilian lawmakers. sympathies were strong in the other Moreover, the president suspended a three states. piece of the Constitution known as Determined to prevent any the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland other states from joining the Confed- in order to quiet anti-Union voices. eracy, Lincoln took drastic measures in The writ of habeas corpus was de- both Maryland and Missouri. Keeping signed to protect Americans from Maryland in Union hands was particu- being arrested and held in custody on larly important because it was situated unreasonable charges or without north of Washington, D.C. This meant being charged with a crime. But Lin- that if the state joined the Confedera- coln had decided that it would be very cy, then the U.S. capital would be cut difficult to control Maryland if the off from the rest of the Union and state’s secessionist movement was not would almost certainly fall to the Con- neutralized. federate Army. With these considera- tions in mind, Lincoln acted swiftly. Ignoring protests from a wide range of people, including U.S. Supreme Court chief justice Roger Lincoln silences Maryland Taney (1777–1864), Lincoln took ad- secessionists vantage of his suspension of habeas First, Lincoln decided to clamp corpus to silence secessionists all down on secessionist activities in Bal- around the state. Over the course of timore, a big city that had become a several weeks, Federal officials arrested

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the mayor and police chief of Balti- the state basically ended in a draw. more, thirty-one state legislators, and After four months of official neutrality a number of newspaper publishers and (showing no support for either side) in editors, and threw them all in jail. the conflict, separate Union and Con- With his leading opponents out of the federate state governments were orga- way, Lincoln then made sure that nized. Given this political deadlock, it Maryland would remain in the Union is not surprising that both the rebel camp. In the fall of 1861, Federal (Confederate) and Federal armies forces manipulated state elections so eventually included large numbers of that pro-Union legislators assumed Kentuckians. firm control. The struggle in Kentucky The Union struggle to keep seemed to symbolize the larger divi- sion that had taken place all across the Missouri and Kentucky United States. With each passing day, In Missouri, Federal military Kentuckians watched as long-time units managed to establish some mea- neighbors and friends marched off in sure of control over most of the state opposite directions, perhaps to face through the use of martial law. But de- one another again on some future bat- spite the sometimes ruthless measures tlefield. Even the grandsons of Henry employed by Union authorities to Clay (1777–1852), the Kentucky sena- maintain control over the state, vio- tor who had crafted both the Missouri lent raids by Confederate supporters Compromise and the Compromise of tormented Missouri throughout the 1850 in an effort to ward off civil war, war, and large numbers of Missouri were not immune to this sad phenom- natives served in the Confederate enon. As the American Civil War Army during the conflict. dragged on, three of Clay’s grandsons In Kentucky—the birth state would fight on behalf of the Union, of both Abraham Lincoln and Jeffer- while four others would march under son Davis—the struggle for control of the Confederate flag.

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