Chapter 3

In This Chapter

The two phases of secession

Two U.S. presidents deal with the same crisis

Creation of the Confederate States of America

A fter the election of 1860, only a few Southern states took the drastic step of secession. The actions of two leaders, James Buchanan, the outgoing president, and Abraham Lincoln, the incoming president, would determine whether other Southern states would follow. With very few options and time running out, both men sought to satisfy two conflicting conditions at the same time — to assert the rights of the United States and to avoid war.

On the other side, the seceded states created the Confederate States of America. Although wanting to leave the Union peacefully, the new president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, was not afraid of fighting for his new nation’s independence. For both the United States and Confederate States of America, Fort Sumter became the dominant symbol of each nation’s prideful determination to not back down.

Starting the Secession: South Carolina

On December 20, 1860, 169 delegates of the state of South Carolina met in Charleston to consider leaving the Union. The convention was organized to mimic the first state convention that assembled for voting to join the United States in 1788. The logic of secession went like this: Each state was sovereign after independence from Great Britain. In 1788, the states entered into a Federal union under the Constitution voluntarily, allowing the central government to have specific powers outlined in the Constitution. According to the Tenth Amendment, all other power resided with the states. Therefore, any state, if it so desired, could voluntarily leave the Union (secede) and could become a sovereign state again. This was not a rebellion, the South Carolina delegates insisted, but a legal act.

Given the climate after the election of 1860, and the growing fear of what the Republican Party would do to the South after taking control of the government in March, South Carolina took the first drastic step to dissolve its fraternal bonds with the United States. To the surprise of many Southerners, there was no reaction. After all of the emotionalism, the threats, and the sense of high purpose enmeshed in their world-shaking event, nothing happened. The people of South Carolina must have felt a bit sheepish and uneasy in the roaring silence coming from the Federal government. They also felt a bit lost, lacking any means whatsoever to run an independent nation. The new nation awaited help from her sister states in the lower South, or some indication from Washington. The ball was clearly in the Federal government’s court.

The crisis in Charleston: Fort Sumter

Major Robert Anderson was the US Army commander at Charleston, South Carolina. In late December he had abandoned his original location in Charleston, Fort Moultrie. Moultrie was too close to the city, now filling with pro-Southern rowdies (fortified by a few quarts of liquor) who bragged they would take care of the problem by waltzing into the fort and convincing the soldiers they weren’t welcome any longer. Fort Sumter, in the middle of Charleston harbor, was the most defensible place. Anderson secretly moved his entire command of 85 soldiers (along with 45 women and children) to the fort to prevent any confrontations. Begun in 1829, Sumter still was incomplete and only had a few operational cannons for defense. Nevertheless, with walls anywhere from 8 to 12 feet thick, it was the most formidable defensive position in the Western Hemisphere. In the coming days, Fort Sumter for the North would become far more than just a piece of military real estate. It was a symbol of national resolve to defend the flag and Union.

Walking the tightrope: President Buchanan

President Buchanan was waiting out the last few weeks of his term. His Southern sympathies and his unwillingness to stir the already troubled pot led him to pass assurances to South Carolina that he would take no aggressive action. Such passive assurances were not enough to satisfy anyone in the North — there was the problem of what to do with the forts and troops stationed in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor.

As much as Buchanan would have liked to wait, events set into motion by a number of individuals forced the president to take action. Several commissioners from South Carolina had arrived in Washington to meet the president and negotiate a peaceful settlement that would allow the new Confederate nation to go its own way. At the top of their list was the removal of the U.S. garrison from Fort Sumter. Buchanan would have gladly acceded to such a request, but faced with threats from his cabinet to resign en masse and the possibility of certain impeachment proceedings from Congress if he showed such weakness, he had to walk a political tightrope. So he took another course. Here is what he did:

To satisfy the North, he had to show that the U.S. government would maintain its possessions in the South.

To avoid antagonizing the South, he had to assure them that his intentions were nonthreatening.

This would be a tough call for any political leader, let alone a lame duck president with only a month left in office. Nevertheless, he put a plan together to meet both requirements. Buchanan ordered that Sumter be resupplied and reinforced. But rather than use a warship, which could be seen as a provocation, the Star of the West , a merchant ship, was dispatched with supplies and troops from New York. The plan was supposed to be a secret, but then as now, nothing is a secret long in Washington. Pro-Southern spies had the information to Charleston in a flash. While useful, it was unnecessary. The War Department, as it had done for years, sent all of its orders and information to Major Anderson through the U.S. mail, having forgotten that the U.S. Post Office no longer existed in the sovereign nation of South Carolina. All mail addressed to Fort Sumter had been intercepted and read. It seemed that everyone knew about the resupply effort except Anderson. Sitting in a fort surrounded by water and cut off from all information, Anderson knew nothing about what the government had planned.

On the ninth of January, as expected, the Star of the West arrived outside Charleston harbor. Everyone was waiting. Most expectant of all were cadets from the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, who were standing by heavy cannons on the shore. A cadet fired a cannon aimed at theStar of the West — a miss. This could have been the first shot of the war, with all honor and glory going to the Citadel, but Citadel was denied such an important historical footnote because there was no response from the cannons at Fort Sumter. Other cannons around the harbor joined in, causing no damage to the Star of the West . Enough lead was flying, however, to convince the ship’s captain to turn away. Anderson watched this display from Sumter and almost returned fire to respond to the Southern batteries, but not knowing what the ship was doing in the harbor or why it was being fired upon, decided to wait. The Civil War would have to come on another day.

The Confederate States of America

As South Carolina celebrated its “victory,” news of Mississippi voting to secede raised morale higher. Two more days passed with two more states, Florida and Alabama, leaving the Union. By the first of February, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had joined their sister states. These newly independent states decided to unite together in another compact, one more to their liking. A new Constitution was adopted, very much like the original (except for ironclad guarantees of slavery, a six-year term for the president, and increased power to the states). On February 18, a new nation, the Confederate States of America, was established in Montgomery, Alabama. See Figure 3-1.

Jefferson Davis, former Mississippi senator, onetime secretary of war, and strong supporter of Southern rights, became the first president (see Figure 3-2). One of Davis’s first acts as president was to call for 100,000 volunteers to serve the new nation as soldiers for a period of 12 months. Davis didn’t anticipate trouble, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

” CORBIS

As a matter of course, the new Confederacy began taking control of all Federal property within its territory. Military installations, post offices, and customs houses came routinely under control of the Confederate government. All but the two most important pieces of Federal property, Fort Pickens at Pensacola and Fort Sumter at Charleston, fell under Confederate control. A few days earlier, the delegates who had formed the new government met in session as the first Confederate Congress and authorized the use of force, if necessary, to remove U.S. troops from Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens. To the new Confederacy, Sumter was a bone in its throat. As long as Sumter remained in the hands of the United States, the new government had little claim to legitimacy as an independent nation. Fort Pickens, less visible (and after the Star of the West incident, certainly less symbolic) than Sumter, would be nearly forgotten in the days ahead.

Jefferson Davis: Early career, 1808–1860

Davis, born in Kentucky, moved to Mississippi where his father made his fortune in cotton. Davis attended West Point, graduating in 1828. As a Lieutenant, he participated in the Black Hawk War and commanded a regiment of volunteers in the Mexican War. He served as U.S. secretary of war under Franklin Pierce, and served Mississippi as a U.S. senator. Davis was one of the leading advocates of the Southern way of life, defending slavery and the right of secession. His role as strong Southern spokesman, combined with his reputation for courage and his strong background in military affairs, made him the logical choice to become the president of the Confederate States of America. Davis, it seemed, was the man destiny had selected to lead the new nation.

Waiting for a sign and heavily armed

In the wake of the Star of the West incident, the new Confederacy waited for the U.S. government to respond. Nothing happened . As the days went by, Charleston harbor became one of the most heavily armed places in the world. Cannons surrounded Fort Sumter on three sides, including a floating battery (a group of cannons, varying in number, under one commander) protected by armor plate. Both confidence and contempt rose among the population of Charleston. Some thought the North’s silence meant that the Federal government wouldn’t interfere with Southern independence. To others the lack of response meant that the Yankees were cowards and afraid to fight. (“Yankee ” was a term of disparagement for Northerners. Originally a term used for generations throughout America to describe business-minded New Englanders, Southerners applied it to all Northerners.)

Fort Pickens

The commander of the garrison at Fort Pickens was a First Lieutenant, who defiantly refused to turn the fort over to the state of Florida. Unlike Sumter, Pickens’s position at the mouth of Pensacola Bay kept it out of the reach of any Confederate cannon. Thus, it could be resupplied and reinforced easily. Ironically, Fort Pickens was named after Thomas Pickens, a famous Revolu-tionary War leader and the father of the 1860 governor of South Carolina, who was now leading his own revolution. Fort Pickens remained in Federal hands throughout the war.

Sitting quietly: The president beats the clock

Although certainly justified to retaliate for the attack on the Star of the West, Buchanan discovered two things. First, public support in the North for direct military action was weak, with many differing opinions on what to do next. No politician goes to war without the strong backing of the public. Buchanan, even if he wanted to take action (and he didn’t), had no clear support to do so. Second, with the exception of a few warships, the U.S. government had no armed forces to speak of available to do anything. Total military strength of the U.S. Army in 1860 was about 16,000 officers and enlisted men, who were scattered over the continent in small groups. In fact, Anderson’s garrison of almost 90 men represented 10 percent of the entire U.S. Army strength east of the Mississippi River! These conditions allowed Buchanan to sit quietly until the new president was sworn in.

Taking Office: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

On the 4th of March 1861, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office to become the 16th president of the United States. As all presidents have done before and since, he swore an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Ironically, the Constitution no longer existed in seven Southern states. Lincoln used his oath as the basis for his message to the nation and to those seven states. He made four points:

Secession was illegal and unjustified.

The seceded states were still in the Union.

No Federal troops would be sent against the states, nor would the Federal government interfere with slavery where it already existed.

The government would “hold, occupy, and possess” all Federal property in the seceded states.

In essence, Lincoln told the Confederacy that the U.S. government would take no aggressive action against it. But if the Confederacy attacked Federal property (obviously referring to Sumter and Pickens), the government would take action. The ball was now in the Confederacy’s court.

The Sumter crisis renewed

The situation wasn’t as simple as Lincoln made it appear in his inaugural address. Almost as soon as he arrived at the White House for his first day of work, Lincoln received an urgent message from Fort Sumter’s army commander, Major Anderson. Anderson reported his food supplies would last about 40 more days. After that, he would have to give up the fort. The strength of Confederate batteries now covering the fort and the approaches to the harbor would make any attempt to reinforce or resupply impossible. This was an awkward moment; the new president had just committed the government to “hold, occupy, and possess” Sumter. And now it looked as though the fort would have to be given up anyway. Politically, such a scenario was unthinkable. Now, instead of waiting the Confederacy out, something would have to be done. The danger was that a misstep would lead to war, with the North standing before the world as the aggressor.

To make matters worse, the new Secretary of State William Seward, the man who thought he should have been elected president, began leaking information to the press and to pro-Southern acquaintances that Lincoln would not hold on to Sumter after supplies ran out. History shows that some things in Washington never change. The information, of course, reached its intended audience, but Confederate President Davis decided to wait and see. If anything, time was on his side at this point. Nevertheless, he knew that his military situation was even more precarious than Lincoln’s was. Davis needed as much time as possible to establish some sort of credible military force in the coming days.

The decisions that led to war

Over the next month, Lincoln and his advisors wrangled over what to do. General Winfield Scott, now 75 and a relic of another time, saw no chance to gather enough men, ships, and ammunition to relieve the fort before Anderson’s food ran out. He therefore recommended that the fort be given up.

Close to despair, Lincoln granted a request from his postmaster general for a special meeting. Montgomery Blair proposed a plan to Lincoln: Resupply the fort secretly, with Blair’s brother-in-law as the leader of the expedition. The plan called for several support ships to arrive outside Charleston harbor. Tugs working under cover of darkness would secretly ferry the men and supplies to the fort. Lincoln liked the idea and gave instructions to the War Department to carry out the plan.

Almost immediately, nothing went right, and Lincoln began to have second thoughts about a secret resupply mission. Lincoln then notified the governor of South Carolina that he intended to resupply the fort. He had two conditions — if the relief ships were not fired on, they would only offload food. If fired upon, the ships would offload food, ammunition, and troops. At the same time Lincoln sent a message to Anderson, informing him of the resupply plan and instructing him to hold out as long as possible. In the same message, the president gave Anderson the authority to surrender the fort if the situation made it necessary. Anderson must have found those instructions confusing. On one hand, he was to hold out as long as possible; on the other hand, he could surrender the fort. Essentially, Lincoln had placed the decision for peace or war in the hands of an army Major.

Now it was Davis’s turn to sweat. Davis could not allow the Federal government to resupply Sumter without a fight. The Confederacy had to demonstrate to the world that its independence was legitimate. He ordered the commander of the Confederate forces in Charleston, General P.G.T. Beauregard to resist any efforts to resupply Sumter. A few days later, Davis instructed Beauregard to demand the fort’s immediate surrender and to fire on the fort if the demand was refused. On April 11, three Confederate officers, one a former senator with the new rank of Colonel, made a visit to Fort Sumter. With proper military courtesy, the group presented Major Anderson with the formal surrender demand. Anderson refused to surrender, but made it clear that by April 15, there would be no more food, and he would give up the fort. Yet they both knew that some of the ships of the relief expedition had arrived that night, but without the tugs necessary to transfer supplies. The Confederate officers returned to Sumter at 12:45 a.m. for Anderson’s final answer. Again he refused to surrender until his food ran out. Given this reply, the Confederate officers responded that the fort would be fired on in one hour.

Starting the War: The First Shot

At 4:30 a.m. the signal gun fired, its shell exploding 100 feet squarely above the fort. A furious artillery barrage began and lasted for 34 hours. Although exploding shells caused widespread fires within the fort, neither side did any serious damage nor was anyone killed or injured. On the 14th of April, with no food and little gunpowder left to fire his cannons, Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter. His garrison fired a salute to the flag (in the process killing one soldier and wounding five accidentally) and was picked up by the ineffectual relief expedition.

Doubleday up to bat

Captain Abner Doubleday, second in command at Fort Sumter, aimed and gave the command to fire the first Union cannon shot of the Civil War. Although he became a Major General, commanding a division, Doubleday’s name is now associated with baseball rather than the Civil War.

Calling for 75,000 men

The day following the bombardment of Sumter, April 15, Lincoln declared the seven states of the Confederacy in rebellion and issued an order for 75,000 volunteers to serve 90 days. This call went to every state still in the Union. Upon receipt of this order, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded and began efforts to join the Confederacy. During the post-election crisis, most of these states had opened conventions like the other Southern states, but refused to make any decision on secession. The delegates to these conventions held long and rancorous debates over whether or not secession was justified. Many placed all hope on a last-minute compromise or any indication that the Republicans would ease their position on slavery.

But Lincoln’s call for the 75,000 troops changed minds quickly and dramatically. It was one thing to debate, but it was quite another thing for the Federal government to use force against the states. None of these states would allow their troops to be sent against fellow Southerners. To top it off, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, all slave-holding states, threatened to leave the Union as well. A large and powerful group of angry people confronted the U.S. government. Lincoln suddenly found himself with double the problem that he had before the fall of Fort Sumter.

The bloodless battle that opened the war unleashed the torrent of long-held pent-up emotions. In both the North and the South, people laughed, cried, danced, sang, and prayed for joy at finally reaching a resolution to the tensions. Young men from all over America ran eagerly to join volunteer units forming up to fight. The excitement of freedom and the sense of adventure were almost overwhelming. The North responded to Lincoln’s call for 75,000 men with over 100,000 volunteers.

The hardest choice: Robert E. Lee takes his stand

While the rookies jumped at the chance to play soldier, the professional soldiers were far less enthusiastic. For many of them, the army had been all they had known. They had served where the nation had sent them, often to desolate places with poor pay and little to do. But for many, the secession of their states forced them to make a choice they never had thought would be necessary. The following facts help to tell the story of painful decisions made in the crush of events no one ever dreamed would happen:

Of the 1,098 officers in the U.S. Army in 1860, 286 resigned to join the Confederacy.

Of the 824 West Point graduates serving, 184 joined the Confederacy.

Of the 900 West Point graduates who were civilians in 1860, 99 joined the Confederacy.

One of these officers who faced this terrible decision was Colonel Robert E. Lee. He had served his country all his life. Lee was a graduate of West Point and served as its superintendent. He was an officer, on General Winfield Scott’s staff in the Mexican War, whose intrepid gallantry led to major U.S. victories. He had commanded a cavalry regiment and in 1860 was in charge of the military department of Texas just before the state seceded. He was in Washington when Fort Sumter surrendered.

Lee opposed secession and mistrusted the motives of the cotton states. But when Virginia left the Union, he saw that his duty lay with his native state. He did not make his decision lightly; he knew it would cost him greatly. General Scott, who knew Lee well and admired his skills, offered him the opportunity that any professional soldier with talent covets — wartime command of the nation’s armies. Scott knew Lee’s sympathies, but hoped the offer of command would change his mind. Lee’s answer was firm and eloquent: “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.” He offered his resignation from the army and sadly abandoned his wife’s family estate, Arlington, overlooking Washington. He never saw it again. The property was later confiscated and today is the site of Arlington National Cemetery. His decision made, Lee traveled to Richmond and offered his services to Virginia.