The Civil War Months: A Month-By-Month Compendium of the War Between the States

By Walter Coffey

The Civil War obliterated Americas past, along with many of the founders visions of what America should be. Replacing those visions was the America that we have today. Any true understanding of America, both past and present, must include a specific understanding of this conflict.

This work, with a thought-provoking introduction exploring the true causes of the war, traces the entire story of the conflict in a concise monthly summary. In addition to all the major events that shaped the war, key facts that have disappeared from most mainstream texts are also included, such as:

Both Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis lost young sons during the war The legendary Robert E. Lee faced intense southern criticism for military failures in the wars first year

U.S. forces battled the Sioux Indians during the war, leading to the largest mass execution in American history

A former Ohio congressman was banished to the South by Lincoln for opposing the war

Facts are explored and myths are exposed as the conflict is put in its proper chronological perspective. For anyone seeking a general resource guide to the seminal event in American history, this is required reading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468580204

Walter Coffey

Walter Coffey was born in Joliet, Illinois and graduated from both Joliet Junior College and Loyola University of Chicago. He has written several works of historical fiction and non-fiction, and his work has earned critical praise from the Quincy Writer’s Guild, ForeWord Reviews, Indie Excellence, and ReadersFavorite.com. Walter is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans who has also been recognized for his work with the Sons of Confederate Veterans. For over 20 years, Walter has studied works exploring various events in American history by Larry Schweikart, Thomas Woods, Jr., Howard Zinn, Jay Winik, David McCulloch, and Arthur Schlesinger. Civil War writers that have influenced Walter include Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton, and Ulysses S. Grant (memoirs). Fiction writers include John Jakes, Michael Shaara, and Owen Parry. Walter’s website at WalterCoffey.com explores the history of American liberty by featuring articles about the American history from the perspective of less government and more liberty. Walter currently resides in Texas with his wife Gianna.

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January 1861

Anxiety was spreading throughout North and South. South Carolina had already seceded from the Union, and although President James Buchanan opposed the action, he declared that he had no right under the Constitution to stop it. In South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, the Federal garrison had been forced to abandon Fort Moultrie, withdrawing to the more secure Fort Sumter.

Buchanan sent a naval convoy to resupply the Federals at Sumter. State militia began mobilizing in Charleston as more southern states seceded. Congress scrambled to devise yet another compromise to preserve the Union. New York City threatened to secede, while Bleeding Kansas finally gained statehood. Most northerners still believed that the southern states would eventually return to the Union without bloodshed.

The Star of the West Mission

After weeks of deliberation, President Buchanan decided to dispatch the civilian merchant vessel Star of the West to reinforce and resupply Major Robert Anderson’s Federal troops at Fort Sumter. By this time, Anderson’s men were isolated in the harbor by South Carolina state militia. The Federals would eventually need supplies to remain in the fort, but the government of South Carolina had barred any assistance to them.

Star of the West was an unarmed steamer whose mission was intended to be secret. However, her departure from New York City on January 5 was printed in city newspapers that were forwarded by southern sympathizers to South Carolina. The two hundred soldiers of the 9th U.S. Infantry aboard Star of the West were ordered to hide below decks, but by the time the ship reached Charleston on January 9, the South Carolinians were expecting her.

Cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy, or The Citadel, fired on Star of the West from Morris Island. These were the first shots of the war, and artillerists on Fort Moultrie joined in the firing. The Federals at Fort Sumter, unaware of the ship’s presence or mission, did not assist Star of the West. After sustaining two minor hits, the ship withdrew and returned to New York.

Upon learning about the mission, Anderson threatened to fire on Charleston in retaliation. South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens responded that such an act would mean war. Anderson relented, but the incident galvanized extremists on both sides. Charleston Mercury editor Robert B. Rhett wrote that South Carolina has not hesitated to strike the first blow, full in the face of her insulter. We would not exchange or recall that blow for millions! It has wiped out a half century of scorn and outrage.

An editorial in the Atlas and Argus of Albany, New York stated, The authority and dignity of the Government must be vindicated at every hazard. The issue thus having been made, it must be met and sustained, if necessary, by the whole power of the navy and army.

New York Threatens Secession

Mayor Fernando Wood proposed that New York City secede from the Union and declare itself a free city so that it could continue trading with the South. Two-thirds of U.S. imports and one-third of U.S. exports came in and out of New York. This included southern cotton, which was traded more in New York than in any other Atlantic port.

Despite widespread fear that the lack of southern trade would devastate the New York economy, city officials rejected Wood’s proposal. In time, the loss of southern markets in New York ports was replaced by troop transport, Midwestern grain, and Pennsylvania petroleum.

The Crittenden Compromise

President Buchanan submitted a message to Congress stating that the southern secession was beyond his executive powers under the Constitution. He wrote that Americans should pause at this momentous point and afford the people, both North and South, an opportunity for reflection…

Buchanan urged Congress to quickly adopt a measure under debate in the Senate that had been introduced by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. The bill was known as the Crittenden Compromise, and it contained four provisions intended to reconcile North and South:

• The original Missouri Compromise line (thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes) would be extended to the Pacific Ocean and slavery would be prohibited north of the line.

• Slavery would be permitted on Federal property in the South.

• Masters of fugitive slaves would be compensated with Federal funds.

• Personal liberty laws in northern states that nullified controversial Federal fugitive slave laws would be repealed.

A Senate committee approved the Crittenden Compromise bill, but it failed in the House of Representatives. In response, the Senate adopted a resolution declaring that the Constitution needs to be obeyed rather than amended. The bill failed largely because too many politicians in both North and South believed that it offered too little, too late.

More Southern Secession

Five southern states joined South Carolina in seceding from the Union: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Several members of Congress resigned after delivering emotional farewell speeches. Among them was Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, who declared, It is known to senators who have served with me here, that I have for many years advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, the right of a state to secede from the Union…

Davis noted that southerners tread but in the paths of our fathers when we proclaim our independence… not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn motive of defending the rights we inherited, and which it is our duty to transmit unshorn to our children. He concluded, I am sure I feel no hostility to you, Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well.

Meanwhile, southern state militias seized Federal property within their states:

• Georgia troops seized the Federal arsenal at Augusta and Fort Pulaski near the Savannah River.

• Florida troops seized Fort Marion at St. Augustine and garrisons along the Gulf Coast.

• Alabama troops seized the Federal arsenal at Mount Vernon and forts protecting the vital naval port of Mobile Bay.

• Louisiana troops seized the U.S. Mint and Customs House in New Orleans.

Texas Governor Sam Houston was removed from office for opposing secession. Houston warned, … Your fathers and husbands, your sons and brothers, will be herded at the point of a bayonet… while I believe with you in the doctrine of States Rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union.

In Florida, Federal troops stationed at Fort Barrancas withdrew to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island at the mouth of Pensacola Bay. The governors of both Florida and Alabama demanded the fort’s surrender, but the Federals refused. Federal forces also garrisoned Fort Taylor in Key West, which became an important base of Federal operations.

Kansas Statehood

Kansas became the thirty-fourth state admitted to the Union. In 1854, the people of Kansas had been authorized to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. This sparked a rush of pro-slavery and anti-slavery partisans into the region to influence elections.

At one time, Kansas had competing pro-slavery and anti-slavery governments in Lecompton and Topeka respectively. Elections were corrupted by fraud, intimidation, and violence. Radical abolitionist John Brown had become notorious for murdering pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie Creek, and the warring factions terrorized various towns. This earned the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas.

President Buchanan had offered Kansans twenty-three million acres of Federal land to accept the pro-slavery Lecompton government, but voters rejected this offer by a margin of nearly seven-to-one. In the vote for statehood this month, Kansans voted overwhelmingly in favor of making Kansas a non-slave state.

February 1861

The sectional rift between North and South had escalated from uncertainty to crisis, as six states had left the Union and began seizing Federal arsenals and forts. Desperate attempts to compromise had failed in Congress. Northerners were growing frustrated by the Buchanan administration’s reluctance to stop the secession, while southerners were citing their Tenth Amendment rights under the Constitution to justify leaving the Union.

The seceded states formed a new government that was joined by a seventh state. A provisional president, vice president, and Congress were elected, while the U.S. president-elect began his journey to Washington. A high-ranking U.S. military commander was accused of treason. A last attempt at compromise was attempted, and a law that southerners had long opposed was enacted in the North.

The Confederate States of America

Delegates from seven states assembled at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama to form a new southern constitution and government. The delegates represented the six seceded states (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) as well as Texas, which had not yet officially seceded. These states formed the Confederate States of America.

A provisional constitution was adopted that sought to preserve the original intent of the U.S. Constitution as envisioned by the founders. Since America’s founding, many northerners had gradually adopted the opinion that the Union was indivisible and superior to the states. The southerners favored the founders’ approach, in which government power was to be balanced between the Federal and state governments.

The Confederate Constitution prohibited protectionist tariffs, as southerners had long believed that high tariffs were used to benefit northern industry at the expense of southern agriculture. Tariffs were only to be used for necessities such as navigation, harbor development, and interstate commerce. Also prohibited were government subsidies for favored businesses, because southerners generally believed that these fomented corruption and waste at taxpayers’ expense.

The document upheld the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) that protected slavery from Federal regulation. However, the foreign importation of slaves was prohibited. The Bill of Rights was incorporated into the Constitution’s basic structure rather than added on later as in the U.S. Constitution.

The Provisional Confederate Congress

Under the Confederate Constitution, a provisional Congress was created, which issued $1 million in Treasury notes to finance defense and called for 100,000 volunteers to serve in the military for twelve months. Congress also created a navy, a post office, and a court system, and it authorized the Executive branch to send commissioners to Europe to negotiate treaties of commerce and/or alliance.

The states delivered the property they had seized from the U.S. government to the new Confederate government. Congress approved a special vote of gratitude to Louisiana for providing over $500,000 in coin that had been seized from the U.S. Mint and Customs House in New Orleans.

The provisional Congress also selected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi to serve as provisional president and Alexander Stephens of Georgia to serve as provisional vice president of the Confederacy. Under the Confederate Constitution, the president and vice president would serve a single six-year term. The president was authorized to use line-item vetoes to prevent potentially irresponsible provisions from being placed in otherwise acceptable bills. Davis and Stephens were to serve until February 22, 1862, when the permanent government was scheduled to begin operation.

The Inauguration of Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis was notified that he had been selected president at his home in Brierfield, Mississippi. Davis had resigned from the U.S. Senate the previous month, and he had served as U.S. secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857). He and his wife Varina traveled to Montgomery; Davis delivered several speeches on the six-day journey hoping for a peaceful separation with the North but acknowledging that war could ensue.

A large crowd witnessed Davis’s inauguration as the first provisional president of the Confederacy on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on February 18. In his inaugural address, Davis asserted that southerners had not revolted. They had merely formed a new alliance, but within each State its government has remained, and the rights of person and property have not been disturbed. The agent, through whom they communicated with foreign nations, is changed; but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations.

Davis added: Our present political position has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the American idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established…

Vice President Stephens declared: Our new government is founded on the opposite idea of the equality of the races… Its corner stone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man. This… government is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physical and moral truth.

Large crowds celebrated the inauguration and the birth of the new Confederacy. Bands played songs such as Farewell to the Star-Spangled Banner and Dixie’s Land, a minstrel song composed by northerner Dan Emmett.

Excepting his home state of Mississippi, Davis appointed a man from each of the other six Confederate states (Texas had recently voted to secede) to serve in his six cabinet positions: Robert Toombs of South Carolina as secretary of state, Leroy Walker of Alabama as secretary of war, Christopher G. Memminger of Georgia as secretary of the treasury, Stephen Mallory of Florida as secretary of the navy, Judah Benjamin of Louisiana as attorney general, and John Reagan of Texas as postmaster general.

Davis’s first cabinet meeting took place in a Montgomery hotel room. Paper labels were stuck on room doors to designate the different departments and the president’s office. Lacking an effective printing press, the Treasury hired a New York company to print Confederate currency.

Abraham Lincoln Leaves Springfield

U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln left his home town of Springfield, Illinois en route to his March inauguration in Washington, DC. Lincoln delivered a farewell address to over 1,000 people at Springfield’s Great Western Depot:

Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man… I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail… To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

Ahead of his arrival, Lincoln sent Republican advisors to Washington to try negotiating a compromise. He also wrote to New York Senator William H. Seward, the secretary of state-designate: … I am for no compromise which assists or permits the extension of the institution (of slavery) on soil owned by the nation. And any trick by which the nation is to acquire territory, and then allow some local authority to spread slavery over it, is as obnoxious as any other.

Lincoln’s train made several stops on its eastward journey, during which he delivered speeches that downplayed the crisis and avoided specifics. At Indianapolis, Lincoln was greeted by a thirty-four-gun salute and over 20,000 people.

Addressing the crowd from the balcony of the Bates House in Indianapolis, Lincoln rhetorically asked if it was wrong if the Government… simply insists upon holding its own forts (in the South), or retaking those forts which belong to it? If it was wrong, then Lincoln argued that the Union, as a family relation, would not be anything like a regular marriage at all, but only as a sort of free-love arrangement.

Lincoln announced support for a bill under debate in Congress that would raise tariffs on imports. This conformed to the Republican Party platform, which advocated higher tariffs to protect northern industry from foreign competition. Southerners had adamantly opposed higher tariffs for generations because the South heavily relied on imports, but the bill was likely to pass now that southern members of Congress had resigned.

At Columbus, Lincoln was notified that his election had been confirmed by the Electoral College. Lincoln supporters fearing that secessionists would sabotage the electoral process were relieved. Attending a grand reception and military ball, Lincoln said, I think that there is no occasion for any excitement regarding secession. In Pittsburgh, Lincoln declared, There is really no crisis except for an artificial one!

Lincoln was greeted by nearly a quarter million people in New York City. At the Astor House, Lincoln pledged that he would never consent to the destruction of the Union… unless it were to be that thing for which the Union itself was made. In New Jersey, the state general assembly solidly approved Lincoln’s proclamation: … The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am… But it may be necessary to put the foot down firmly. And if I do my duty, and do right, you will sustain me, will you not?

On Washington’s Birthday, Lincoln raised a flag in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the public. He told a crowd that he had never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration, which provided hope to the world for all future time. If the Union could be saved upon that basis, he would be among the happiest men in the world, but if it cannot be saved without giving up that principle… (I) would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it.

Lincoln Sneaks into Washington

President-elect Lincoln was scheduled to travel from Philadelphia to Baltimore, where a parade was to be held that would lead to a massive welcome celebration in Washington. However, Detective Allan Pinkerton, who had been hired to provide security for the Lincoln journey, learned of a potential plot to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore. Since Baltimore was largely a pro-secession city, Lincoln was urged to cancel the parade.

Lincoln rejected Pinkerton’s warning until it was corroborated by another advisor. Thus, Lincoln reluctantly agreed to pass through Baltimore overnight and arrive in Washington in the early morning. The train moved through the city peacefully, and when Lincoln arrived in the capital at 6 a.m., he was hurried to Willard’s Hotel, where he resided until his inauguration.

The press bitterly criticized Lincoln for his undignified arrival in Washington. A cartoonist sketched Lincoln skulking into town disguised in a cape and a cap pulled down over his eyes. Rumors also circulated that Lincoln had been disguised as a woman. Many viewed Lincoln’s arrival as a troubling indication of how his presidency would be conducted.

Twiggs Accused of Treason

When Texas seceded from the Union, about 1,000 Texans under Colonel Ben McCulloch surrounded the one hundred sixty-man Federal garrison at San Antonio. The fort was commanded by Brevet Major General David E. Twiggs, the fourth ranking officer in the U.S. Army. Twiggs had previously requested to be relieved of duty because he was a southerner, and he planned to join his home state when it seceded. However, Twiggs’s commander, General Winfield Scott, had ordered Twiggs to remain on duty to protect Federal property and avoid aggressive action.

Twiggs surrendered his outnumbered garrison to McCulloch without a fight. Twiggs also surrendered several other Federal military posts to the Texans, declaring, If an old woman with a broomstick should come with full authority from the state of Texas to demand the public property, I would give it up to her.

Twiggs was immediately relieved of duty on suspicion of treason for having surrendered so many Federal posts without resisting. He was so outraged by the charge that he wrote to President Buchanan threatening to visit him for the sole purpose of a personal interview, which meant a challenge to a duel. Instead, Twiggs joined the Confederacy in one of many defections from the Federal military by southern commanders.

The Peace Convention

In Washington, former President John Tyler chaired a peace convention of one hundred thirty-one delegates from twenty-one states. Although no delegates from the seceded states attended, southerners from states that had not yet seceded, including Tyler, represented southern interests. The delegates discussed potential compromises that could preserve the Union.

The convention adjourned after submitting a proposal to Congress calling for six constitutional amendments protecting slavery in the South and prohibiting it in the North. The plan did not satisfy either side, and it was not acted upon by Congress. When Tyler learned that his convention’s proposals would not be adopted, he urged the secession of his home state of Virginia.

The Morrill Tariff Act

President Buchanan signed a new tariff bill into law sponsored by Congressman Justin Morrill of Vermont. This doubled the average tax rate on foreign imports and raised taxes on some imports as high as two hundred fifty percent. The law aimed to protect industrial manufacturing, based mostly in the North, from foreign competition. However, this prompted foreign trading partners to raise the price of their goods to make up the difference, and since the South relied mostly on imports, the tariff disproportionately raised southern costs.

The Republican Party had championed protective tariffs in its 1860 election campaign. Emboldened by Lincoln’s victory the previous November, Republicans pushed these tariff increases through Congress. And although Buchanan was a Democrat who opposed protectionism, he approved this bill after assurances that it would help the booming iron industry in his home state of Pennsylvania. The bill was co-sponsored by Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, himself a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer.

With the absence of southern opposition in Congress, this tariff increase was a radical departure from previous U.S. tariff policy. Tariffs had been steadily decreasing over the last twenty years, and the U.S. and Europe had been moving toward free trade. The Morrill tariff reversed that trend and angered many European trading partners. This began a long period of trade protection under the Republican-led Federal government.

March 1861

Southerners were gaining confidence after forming a provisional government in Montgomery, Alabama. Northerners were anxiously awaiting the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln to see how the first Republican administration in history would handle the southern secession. Tension and anxiety pervaded America.

The Confederate government began seeking foreign recognition and aid. Abraham Lincoln began his presidency, and with the failure of all compromise efforts, his new administration sought more stringent measures to preserve the Union. This included addressing the standoff between state militia and Federal troops at Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor.

The Corwin Amendment

In another attempt at compromise, Congress passed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibited any Federal attempt to abolish or interfere with the domestic institutions of the states, including persons held to labor or service (i.e., slavery). This amendment had been secretly introduced by President-elect Lincoln through congressional allies, including its sponsor, Republican Congressman Thomas Corwin of Ohio.

The amendment was not intended to appeal to the seceded states, but rather to prevent slave states still loyal to the Union from seceding. Although the amendment was endorsed by both Lincoln and outgoing President James Buchanan, it was ignored in the new Confederacy and was not ratified by northern states. This was the last major attempt at compromise.

The Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the sixteenth U.S. president in Washington on March 4. At 12 p.m., outgoing President Buchanan accompanied Lincoln from Willard’s Hotel to the U.S. Capitol for the ceremony as the Marine Band played Hail to the Chief. Due to the strong southern sentiment in Washington, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott employed sharpshooters and artillerists to prevent assassination attempts.

Prior to Lincoln’s inauguration, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was inaugurated as the new vice president in the Senate Chamber. Officials then proceeded to the outdoor platform at the East Portico of the Capitol, where about 10,000 people had gathered. Close friend Edward Baker introduced Lincoln, who stepped forward to deliver his inaugural address. Political rival Stephen A. Douglas held Lincoln’s stovepipe hat while the new president spoke.

Lincoln’s speech offered conciliation with the South but no details. Regarding slavery, he said, I have no purpose… to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so… However, Lincoln also asserted his right to enforce Federal laws in the states and declared, No state, on its own mere action, can get out of the Union.

Lincoln pledged to use force to collect the duties and imposts, or tariffs, in the South. This angered southerners because they had regularly opposed tariffs, especially the recently enacted Morrill Tariff Act which had doubled the average rate. Southerners resented Lincoln’s promise to enforce the tax increases considering that they had left the Union and had not voted on them.

Addressing southerners, Lincoln said: In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war… We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies… The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

This address aimed to ease southern fears of a Republican administration. However, it did little to induce southern states to return to the Union. Most spectators were moved by Lincoln’s eloquence but noted that the address contained few specifics on how he would handle the southern secession. Upon assuming office, Lincoln was confronted by thousands of job seekers hoping to benefit from the first Republican administration in history.

Confederate Peace Overtures

By this time, the Confederate states had seized all Federal property within their boundaries except for five military forts: Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Fort Pickens in Pensacola Bay, Fort Taylor at Key West, Fort Monroe at Hampton Roads, and Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

In accordance with a Confederate congressional resolution, President Jefferson Davis appointed a commission to go to Washington and negotiate a peaceful separation between North and South. The commissioners were authorized to offer payment for any Federal property on southern soil, as well payment for the southern portion of the Federal debt. They were not authorized to discuss any possibility for reunion.

When the commissioners arrived in Washington, President Lincoln instructed Secretary of State William H. Seward to refuse to see them because negotiating with them would, in effect, recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation. And if the Confederacy was a sovereign nation, then secession would be valid, something Lincoln had rejected in his inaugural address.

Lincoln Administration Dissension

Lincoln’s cabinet included Secretary of State Seward of New York, Secretary of War Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair of Maryland, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles of Connecticut, and Attorney General Edward Bates of Missouri.

Seward, Cameron, Chase, and Bates had sought the presidential nomination that Lincoln won. Most cabinet members had more executive experience than Lincoln, and several privately believed that they could do a better job than Lincoln. Among these was Seward, who resented Lincoln’s order not to negotiate with the Confederate peace commissioners.

Seward had been secretly negotiating with the Confederates through Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell, who was preparing to resign and join the Confederacy. From Seward, Campbell assured Confederate officials that the Federals would abandon Fort Sumter. Seward believed that surrendering Sumter would entice the southern states to return to the Union. However, Lincoln objected when he learned of Seward’s plan.

In an effort to change Lincoln’s mind, Seward drafted a memo titled, Some Thoughts for the President’s Consideration. In this, Seward offered to make all administration policy decisions while allowing Lincoln to become the administration’s chief spokesman. Seward also suggested declaring war on a foreign nation, such as Spain or France, to reunite North and South in a common cause.

Although this blatant challenge to Lincoln’s authority was potential grounds for dismissal, Lincoln simply ignored the memo out of respect for Seward’s talents and prior accomplishments. Lincoln then asserted that he would make all policy decisions concerning his administration.

The Fort Sumter Situation

Major Robert Anderson’s Federal garrison within Fort Sumter was isolated and surrounded by Confederate batteries in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor. Shortly after his inauguration, President Lincoln was notified by Anderson that 20,000 additional Federal troops were needed to maintain a presence there. Anderson also stated that his small force had only thirty days’ rations left, and after that, they would have to surrender.

Lincoln faced a critical dilemma. If he reinforced Sumter, the Confederacy would deem it an act of war, making Lincoln the aggressor. If he surrendered Sumter, he would be deemed a coward in the North, possibly leading to his impeachment. If he did nothing, the Federals at Sumter would be starved into surrendering.

Several possible solutions were discussed among Lincoln, his cabinet, and General-in-Chief Winfield Scott. Scott warned that granting Anderson’s request of 20,000 troops would require dozens of warships and transports, which would certainly provoke war. Moreover, the U.S. Army did not have that many troops. Most of the cabinet agreed with Scott and urged Lincoln to surrender the fort.

However, Lincoln viewed Sumter as one of the last remaining symbols of Federal presence in the South, and abandoning the fort would symbolize dissolving the Union. In addition, northern Republicans urged Lincoln to hold firm. Gradually, most of Lincoln’s cabinet members changed their positions and supported holding the fort. Only Seward remained convinced that Fort Sumter should be surrendered.

Based on reports from agents in Charleston, Lincoln decided to send basic supplies to Anderson’s Federals in the fort but no additional troops or war equipment. This was essentially the same decision that former President Buchanan had made in dispatching Star of the West to Fort Sumter in January.

Lincoln hoped that if sending only provisions would be considered a hostile act, it would prompt the Confederacy to fire the first shot. This could encourage other states considering secession (i.e., North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware) to side with the Union against the Confederate aggressors.

Conversely, many Confederate officials believed that firing the first shot would galvanize the South in its struggle for independence, and this galvanization would encourage the states considering secession to join the Confederacy. The Confederates viewed the Federals in Fort Sumter as a foreign entity occupying Confederate property in Confederate territory, and as such, the fort had to be evacuated.

The Federal supply convoy prepared to leave for South Carolina, and northerners anxiously awaited the southern reaction to the convoy’s mission.

April 1861

With the U.S. split into two nations, many feared that war was imminent. The newly inaugurated Lincoln administration was working to resolve the crisis; the focal point had become the isolated Federal troops at Fort Pickens in Florida and Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter, and both sides mobilized for war. A vital state seceded from the Union along with one of the most promising military commanders. Civil unrest occurred in various cities as the Lincoln administration exceeded its constitutional limits in an effort to restore order. The war had begun.

Confederates Capture Fort Sumter

Following his decision to provision the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, President Abraham Lincoln sent a message to South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only; and that, if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition, will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the Fort.

Pickens forwarded Lincoln’s message to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama, where Davis and his cabinet discussed their options. They noted Sumter’s symbolic importance: southerners had chosen to break from Federal authority, but Federal authorities still occupied southern territory. A consensus was reached that if the Confederacy was to be truly independent, Federal troops could not be tolerated on southern soil.

However, opinions were divided on whether or not the Confederacy should fire the first shot. Secretary of State Robert Toombs argued against firing on the Federals: Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal.

Conversely, secessionist J.G. Gilchrist told Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker that unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than ten days. After intense discussion, Davis ordered General P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of Charleston defenses, to demand Fort Sumter’s evacuation and fire on the fort if the demand was refused.

Beauregard forwarded the demand to Federal Major Robert Anderson in Fort Sumter. Anderson refused, noting that he would most likely have to evacuate anyway due to lack of supplies. At 3:30 a.m. on April 12, Beauregard notified Anderson that because the major’s response was unacceptable, the Confederates would open fire in one hour. The first mortar was fired at 4:30. This signaled the other forty-three Confederate guns surrounding Fort Sumter to open fire as well.

The small Federal force isolated in the fort had just fifteen cannon and could only offer a token response. Moreover, the fort’s strongest embrasures faced the sea rather than the land where the firing came. The supply ships sent by Lincoln were driven off by Confederate artillery, and Anderson knew that further resistance was futile.

The next day, hot shells set the fort on fire, and Anderson reluctantly raised the white flag. After a thirty-four-hour bombardment, Fort Sumter was surrendered to Beauregard and the Confederacy. Beauregard allowed Anderson to perform a fifty-gun salute to the U.S. flag before lowering it. During the salute, a private was killed by an exploding magazine; this was the only fatality of the fight. The evacuating Federals were shipped north aboard Federal supply ships outside the harbor.

News of the Federal surrender at Fort Sumter swept across the country. Many northerners who had originally supported the southern secession changed their minds now that Federal troops had been fired upon. Northern opinion quickly turned against the southern aggressors.

In Washington, Democrats united with Republicans in the effort to preserve the Union. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s Democratic rival, declared, The capital of our country is in danger, and must be protected at all hazards, at any expense of men and money.

By successfully provoking the South into firing the first shot, Lincoln sparked a wave of enraged resolve throughout the North to restore the Union. Lincoln now had tremendous popular support to put down what he perceived to be an illegal rebellion.

Lincoln Calls for Volunteers

Two days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that a state of insurrection existed. According to Lincoln, the seceded states had constituted combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings vested in Marshals by law.

Invoking the Militia Act of 1792 (amended in 1795), which allowed the president to mobilize troops without congressional consent in case of rebellion, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve three months to suppress said combinations and cause the laws to be duly executed.

Lincoln also declared martial law throughout the country and asked loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid in this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. Confederate military forces were given twenty days to disband and disperse.

Although the Militia Act provided a legal basis for Lincoln to wage war, he still needed Congress to approve funding for his actions. Thus, Lincoln called for a special session of Congress to assemble on July 4. This gave him three months to establish a war policy and garner public support. In the interim, Lincoln relied on Congress’s patriotism to sanction the war measures taken prior to that time by the Executive.

The Anaconda Plan

As northerners began volunteering for war, U.S. General-in-Chief Winfield Scott devised a military strategy to defeat the Confederacy. To topple the provisional Confederate government with minimal bloodshed, Scott proposed strangling the southern economy by stopping foreign trade in southern seaports, seizing control of the Mississippi River, and sending a Federal army down the Atlantic Coast.

Most northerners favored a quick victory, and since Scott’s strategy would take considerable time to implement, they derisively nicknamed it the Anaconda Plan.

Meanwhile, a more immediate strategy was needed to defend Washington. Teeming with southerners, the capital was surrounded by Virginia and Maryland, two states considering secession. As President Lincoln anxiously awaited the arrival of Federal volunteers from the northern states, Scott devised a plan to withdraw the president and his cabinet to the Treasury building basement if necessary.

The Confederacy Mobilizes for War

Confederate President Jefferson Davis denounced Lincoln’s call for volunteers. Davis argued that since the sovereign states had voluntarily created the Union, they also had a right to secede from that Union. Thus, Lincoln’s proclamation was an unconstitutional declaration of war. This sparked a massive wave of southerners rushing to defend their homeland from a potential Federal invasion.

Moreover, Lincoln’s proclamation infuriated several governors of states considering secession. Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin stated, I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states. Both Lincoln and Davis coveted Kentucky because of its proximity to Ohio industry and access to the vital Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The North Carolina governor responded to Lincoln, You can get no troops from North Carolina. The Tennessee governor refused to furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but 50,000, if necessary, for the defense of our right and those of our southern brethren.

The Confederacy Authorizes Piracy

The Confederate government authorized shippers to obtain letters of marquee and reprisal. These enabled shippers to engage in piracy against Federal shipping on the high seas and sell captured goods for their own profit. The government also offered to pay privateers up to twenty percent of the value of any Federal warship they destroyed.

Federal officials denounced piracy as illegal according to the Declaration of Paris of 1856. However, Jefferson Davis countered that the U.S. had not signed that declaration and thus could be subject to privateering from belligerent nations. Abraham Lincoln declared that Confederate pirates would be hanged if caught, arguing that the Confederacy was not a legitimate nation.

The Secession of Virginia

President Lincoln’s call for volunteers infuriated most Virginians. Governor John Letcher responded: "The militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington… Your object is to subjugate the Southern States… You have chosen to inaugurate civil war."

A state convention assembled in Richmond and approved an ordinance of secession. The act would not be official until a popular vote was conducted, but secession was a foregone conclusion. Virginia became the richest and most populous state of the Confederacy, and many believed that North Carolina and Tennessee would follow her out of the Union. Virginia’s secession sparked celebrations throughout the South.

Robert E. Lee Resigns

In accordance with General-in-Chief Scott’s recommendation, President Lincoln offered command of all Federal armies to Colonel Robert E. Lee, a twenty-five-year U.S. Army veteran, former superintendent at West Point, and son of legendary War for Independence hero Light-Horse Harry Lee. Scott, who commanded Lee during the Mexican War, called him the very best soldier I ever saw in the field.

Lee requested time to consider the offer, but when his home state of Virginia seceded, Lee decided to remain loyal to his state. In his letter of resignation from the U.S. Army, Lee explained that his resignation would have been presented at once, but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted all the best years of my life & all the ability I possessed… Lee was soon given command of the Virginia state militia and a general’s commission in the Confederate Army.

The Federal Blockade

President Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Blockade on the seaports of southern states until they were returned to the Union. The blockade initially covered the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Florida, and along the Gulf Coast to the Mexican border. It was later extended north to the Potomac River to cover North Carolina and Virginia. The blockade was intended to harm the southern economy by limiting the importation of war supplies.

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles had argued against imposing a blockade because it would confer international legitimacy upon the Confederacy, something that Lincoln had denied. Welles instead proposed issuing an executive order simply closing the southern ports.

Secretary of State William H. Seward countered that foreign nations, especially Great Britain, would not respect an executive order and would only back Lincoln’s war policy if he imposed a blockade. Moreover, proclaiming a blockade would allow