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dev-6923-22
The secession ordinances of the remaining two states, Florida and Louisiana, simply declared their severing of ties with the federal Union, without stating any causes.[38][39] Afterward, the Florida secession convention formed a committee to draft a declaration of causes, but the committee was discharged before complet...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
22
16,903
17,288
dev-6923-23
Four of the Upper South states initially rejected secession until after the clash at Ft. Sumter (Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina).[20][42][43][44][45] Virginia's ordinance stated a kinship with the slave-holding states of the Lower South, but did not name the institution itself as a primary reason for...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
23
17,289
17,624
dev-6923-24
Arkansas's secession ordinance primarily revolved around strong objection to the use of military force to maintain the Union as its motivating factor.[47] Prior to the outbreak of war, the Arkansas Convention had on March 20 given as their first resolution: "The people of the Northern States have organized a political ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
24
17,625
18,301
dev-6923-25
North Carolina and Tennessee limited their ordinances to simply withdrawing, although Tennessee went so far as to make clear they wished to make no comment at all on the "abstract doctrine of secession".[49][50]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
25
18,302
18,513
dev-6923-26
In a message to the Confederate Congress on April 29, 1861 Jefferson Davis cited both the tariff and slavery for the South's secession.[51]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
26
18,514
18,653
dev-6923-27
The Fire-Eaters, calling for immediate secession, were opposed by two factions. "Cooperationists" in the Deep South would delay secession until several states went together, maybe in a Southern Convention. Under the influence of men such as Texas Governor Sam Houston, delay would have had the effect of sustaining the U...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
27
18,654
19,243
dev-6923-28
William L. Yancey, Alabama Fire-Eater, "The Orator of Secession".
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
28
19,244
19,309
dev-6923-29
William Henry Gist, Governor of South Carolina, called the Secessionist Convention.
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
29
19,310
19,393
dev-6923-30
Many secessionists were active politically. Governor William Henry Gist of South Carolina corresponded secretly with other Deep South governors, and most southern governors exchanged clandestine commissioners.[53] Charleston's secessionist "1860 Association" published over 200,000 pamphlets to persuade the youth of the...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
30
19,394
19,945
dev-6923-31
Developments in South Carolina started a chain of events. The foreman of a jury refused the legitimacy of federal courts, so Federal Judge Andrew Magrath ruled that U.S. judicial authority in South Carolina was vacated. A mass meeting in Charleston celebrating the Charleston and Savannah railroad and state cooperation ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
31
19,946
20,421
dev-6923-32
Elections for Secessionist conventions were heated to "an almost raving pitch, no one dared dissent", said Freehling. Even once–respected voices, including the Chief Justice of South Carolina, John Belton O'Neall, lost election to the Secession Convention on a Cooperationist ticket. Across the South mobs expelled Yan...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
32
20,422
21,166
dev-6923-33
In the antebellum months, the Corwin Amendment, was an unsuccessful attempt by the Congress to bring back the seceding states to the Union and to prevent the border slave states to remain.[58] It was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution by Ohio Congressman Thomas Corwin that would shield "domestic ins...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
33
21,167
21,642
dev-6923-34
It was passed by the 36th Congress on March 2, 1861. The House approved it by a vote of 133 to 65 & the United States Senate adopted it, with no changes, on a vote of 24 to 12. It was then submitted to the state legislatures for ratification.[61]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
34
21,643
21,889
dev-6923-35
The text was as follows:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
35
21,890
21,914
dev-6923-36
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
36
21,915
22,173
dev-6923-37
Had it been ratified by the required number of states prior to 1865, it would have made institutionalized slavery immune to the constitutional amendment procedures and to interference by Congress.[62][63]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
37
22,174
22,378
dev-6923-38
The first secession state conventions from the Deep South sent representatives to meet at the Montgomery Convention in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861. There the fundamental documents of government were promulgated, a provisional government was established, and a representative Congress met for the Confederate...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
38
22,379
22,722
dev-6923-39
The new 'provisional' Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a call for 100,000 men from the various states' militias to defend the newly formed Confederacy.[64] All Federal property was seized, along with gold bullion and coining dies at the U.S. mints in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dahlonega, Georgia; and New Or...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
39
22,723
23,226
dev-6923-40
The newly inaugurated Confederate administration pursued a policy of national territorial integrity, continuing earlier state efforts in 1860 and early 1861 to remove U.S. government presence from within their boundaries. These efforts included taking possession of U.S. courts, custom houses, post offices, and most not...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
40
23,227
24,307
dev-6923-41
Secessionists argued that the United States Constitution was a contract among sovereign states that could be abandoned at any time without consultation and that each state had a right to secede. After intense debates and statewide votes, seven Deep South cotton states passed secession ordinances by February 1861 (befor...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
41
24,308
24,932
dev-6923-42
Initially, some secessionists may have hoped for a peaceful departure.[67] Moderates in the Confederate Constitutional Convention included a provision against importation of slaves from Africa to appeal to the Upper South. Non-slave states might join, but the radicals secured a two-thirds hurdle for them.[68]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
42
24,933
25,243
dev-6923-43
Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, and Lincoln's subsequent call for troops on April 15, four more states declared their secession:[69]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
43
25,244
25,510
dev-6923-44
Kentucky declared neutrality but after Confederate troops moved in, the state government asked for Union troops to drive them out. The splinter Confederate state government relocated to accompany western Confederate armies and never controlled the state population. By the end of the war, 90,000 Kentuckians had fought o...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
44
25,511
25,906
dev-6923-45
In Missouri, a constitutional convention was approved and delegates elected by voters. The convention rejected secession 89–1 on March 19, 1861.[71] The governor maneuvered to take control of the St. Louis Arsenal and restrict Federal movements. This led to confrontation, and in June Federal forces drove him and the Ge...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
45
25,907
26,967
dev-6923-46
Neither Kentucky nor Missouri was declared in rebellion in Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The Confederacy recognized the pro-Confederate claimants in both Kentucky (December 10, 1861) and Missouri (November 28, 1861) and laid claim to those states, granting them Congressional representation and adding two stars t...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
46
26,968
27,414
dev-6923-47
The order of secession resolutions and dates are:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
47
27,415
27,464
dev-6923-48
Ft. Sumter (April 12) and Lincoln's call up (April 15)[84]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
48
27,465
27,523
dev-6923-49
In Virginia, the populous counties along the Ohio and Pennsylvania borders rejected the Confederacy. Unionists held a Convention in Wheeling in June 1861, establishing a "restored government" with a rump legislature, but sentiment in the region remained deeply divided. In the 50 counties that would make up the state of...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
49
27,524
28,470
dev-6923-50
Attempts to secede from the Confederacy by some counties in East Tennessee were checked by martial law.[94] Although slave-holding Delaware and Maryland did not secede, citizens from those states exhibited divided loyalties. Regiments of Marylanders fought in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.[95] But overall, 24,000 men...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
50
28,471
28,890
dev-6923-51
Delaware never produced a full regiment for the Confederacy, but neither did it emancipate slaves as did Missouri and West Virginia. District of Columbia citizens made no attempts to secede and through the war years, referendums sponsored by President Lincoln approved systems of compensated emancipation and slave confi...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
51
28,891
29,248
dev-6923-52
Citizens at Mesilla and Tucson in the southern part of New Mexico Territory formed a secession convention, which voted to join the Confederacy on March 16, 1861, and appointed Lewis Owings as the new territorial governor. They won the Battle of Mesilla and established a territorial government with Mesilla serving as it...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
52
29,249
29,963
dev-6923-53
Confederate supporters in the trans-Mississippi west also claimed portions of United States Indian Territory after the United States evacuated the federal forts and installations. Over half of the American Indian troops participating in the Civil War from the Indian Territory supported the Confederacy; troops and one g...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
53
29,964
30,504
dev-6923-54
Indian Territory was never formally ceded into the Confederacy by American Indian councils, but like Missouri and Kentucky, the Five Civilized Nations received representation in the Confederate Congress and their citizens were integrated into regular Confederate Army units. After 1863 the tribal governments sent repres...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
54
30,505
31,260
dev-6923-55
Montgomery, Alabama served as the capital of the Confederate States of America from February 4 until May 29, 1861, in the Alabama State Capitol. Six states created the Confederate States of America there on February 8, 1861. The Texas delegation was seated at the time, so it is counted in the "original seven" states of...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
55
31,261
31,842
dev-6923-56
The permanent capital provided for in the Confederate Constitution called for a state cession of a ten-miles square (100 square mile) district to the central government. Atlanta, which had not yet supplanted Milledgeville, Georgia as its state capital, put in a bid noting its central location and rail connections, as d...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
56
31,843
32,288
dev-6923-57
Richmond, Virginia was chosen for the interim capital at the Virginia State Capitol. The move was used by Vice President Stephens and others to encourage other border states to follow Virginia into the Confederacy. In the political moment it was a show of "defiance and strength". The war for southern independence was s...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
57
32,289
32,863
dev-6923-58
The naming of Richmond as the new capital took place on May 30, 1861, and the last two sessions of the Provisional Congress were held in the new capital. The Permanent Confederate Congress and President were elected in the states and army camps on November 6, 1861. The First Congress met in four sessions in Richmond fr...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
58
32,864
33,316
dev-6923-59
As war dragged on, Richmond became crowded with training and transfers, logistics and hospitals. Prices rose dramatically despite government efforts at price regulation. A movement in Congress led by Henry S. Foote of Tennessee argued for moving the capital from Richmond. At the approach of Federal armies in mid-1862, ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
59
33,317
34,192
dev-6923-60
Unionism was widespread in the Confederacy, especially in the mountain regions of Appalachia and the Ozarks.[108] Unionists, led by Parson Brownlow and Senator Andrew Johnson, took control of eastern Tennessee in 1863.[109] Unionists also attempted control over western Virginia but never effectively held more than half...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
60
34,193
34,585
dev-6923-61
Union forces captured parts of coastal North Carolina, and at first were welcomed by local unionists. That changed as the occupiers became perceived as oppressive, callous, radical and favorable to the Freedmen. Occupiers engaged in pillaging, freeing of slaves, and eviction of those refusing to take or reneging on the...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
61
34,586
34,982
dev-6923-62
Support for the Confederacy was perhaps weakest in Texas; Claude Elliott estimates that only a third of the population actively supported the Confederacy. Many unionists supported the Confederacy after the war began, but many others clung to their unionism throughout the war, especially in the northern counties, the Ge...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
62
34,983
36,203
dev-6923-63
In Texas local officials harassed unionists and engaged in large-scale massacres against unionists and Germans. In Cooke County 150 suspected unionists were arrested; 25 were lynched without trial and 40 more were hanged after a summary trial. Draft resistance was widespread especially among Texans of German or Mexican...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
63
36,204
36,670
dev-6923-64
Civil liberties were of small concern in North and South. Lincoln and Davis both took a hard line against dissent. Neely explores how the Confederacy became a virtual police state with guards and patrols all about, and a domestic passport system whereby everyone needed official permission each time they wanted to trave...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
64
36,671
37,060
dev-6923-65
During the four years of its existence under trial by war, the Confederate States of America asserted its independence and appointed dozens of diplomatic agents abroad. None were ever officially recognized by a foreign government. The United States government regarded the southern states in rebellion and so refused any...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
65
37,061
37,417
dev-6923-66
Even before Fort Sumter, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward issued formal instructions to the American minister to Britain, Charles Francis Adams:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
66
37,418
37,571
dev-6923-67
Seward instructed Adams that if the British government seemed inclined to recognize the Confederacy, or even waver in that regard, it was to receive a sharp warning, with a strong hint of war:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
67
37,572
37,764
dev-6923-68
The United States government never declared war on those "kindred and countrymen" in the Confederacy, but conducted its military efforts beginning with a presidential proclamation issued April 15, 1861.[120] It called for troops to recapture forts and suppress what Lincoln later called an "insurrection and rebellion".[...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
68
37,765
38,089
dev-6923-69
Mid-war parleys between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the laws of war predominantly governed military relationships on both sides of uniformed conflict.[122]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
69
38,090
38,285
dev-6923-70
On the part of the Confederacy, immediately following Fort Sumter the Confederate Congress proclaimed "... war exists between the Confederate States and the Government of the United States, and the States and Territories thereof ..." A state of war was not to formally exist between the Confederacy and those states and ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
70
38,286
38,767
dev-6923-71
Concerning the international status and nationhood of the Confederate States of America, in 1869 the United States Supreme Court in Texas v. White ruled Texas' declaration of secession was legally null and void.[124] Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederacy, and Alexander H. Stephens, its former Vice-Presid...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
71
38,768
39,312
dev-6923-72
Once the war with the United States began, the Confederacy pinned its hopes for survival on military intervention by Great Britain and France. The Confederates who had believed that "cotton is king" – that is, Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton – proved mistaken. The British had stocks to last over...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
72
39,313
40,174
dev-6923-73
In late 1861 the seizure of a British ship by the U.S. navy outraged Britain and led to a war scare in the Trent Affair. Recognition of the Confederacy seemed at hand, but Lincoln released the two detained Confederate diplomats, tensions cooled, and the Confederacy gained no advantage.[citation needed]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
73
40,175
40,478
dev-6923-74
Throughout the early years of the war, British foreign secretary Lord John Russell, Emperor Napoleon III of France, and, to a lesser extent, British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least mediation of the war. William Ewart Gladstone, the British finance minister w...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
74
40,479
41,927
dev-6923-75
John Slidell, emissary to France, did succeed in negotiating a loan of $15,000,000 from Erlanger and other French capitalists. The money was used to buy ironclad warships, as well as military supplies that came in by blockade runners.[131] The British government did allow blockade runners to be built in Britain; they w...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
75
41,928
42,425
dev-6923-76
Several European nations maintained diplomats in place who had been appointed to the U.S., but no country appointed any diplomat to the Confederacy. Those nations recognized the Union and Confederate sides as belligerents. In 1863, the Confederacy expelled the European diplomatic missions for advising their resident su...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
76
42,426
43,346
dev-6923-77
Nevertheless, the Confederacy was seen internationally as a serious attempt at nationhood, and European governments sent military observers, both official and unofficial, to assess whether there had been a de facto establishment of independence. These included Arthur Lyon Fremantle of the British Coldstream Guards, Fit...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
77
43,347
45,613
dev-6923-78
By December 1864, Davis considered sacrificing slavery in order to enlist recognition and aid from Paris and London; he secretly sent Duncan F. Kenner to Europe with a message that the war was fought solely for "the vindication of our rights to self-government and independence" and that "no sacrifice is too great, save...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
78
45,614
46,387
dev-6923-79
The great majority of young white men voluntarily joined Confederate national or state military units. Perman (2010) says historians are of two minds on why millions of men seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
79
46,388
46,618
dev-6923-80
Civil War historian E. Merton Coulter noted that for those who would secure its independence, "The Confederacy was unfortunate in its failure to work out a general strategy for the whole war". Aggressive strategy called for offensive force concentration. Defensive strategy sought dispersal to meet demands of locally mi...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
80
46,619
47,367
dev-6923-81
As the Confederate government lost control of territory in campaign after campaign, it was said that "the vast size of the Confederacy would make its conquest impossible". The enemy would be struck down by the same elements which so often debilitated or destroyed visitors and transplants in the South. Heat exhaustion, ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
81
47,368
47,847
dev-6923-82
Early in the war both sides believed that one great battle would decide the conflict; the Confederate won a great victory at the First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas (the name used by Confederate forces). It drove the Confederate people "insane with joy"; the public demanded a forward movement to capt...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
82
47,848
48,877
dev-6923-83
The eleven states of the Confederacy were outnumbered by the North about four to one in white men of military age. It was overmatched far more in military equipment, industrial facilities, railroads for transport, and wagons supplying the front.
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
83
48,878
49,123
dev-6923-84
Confederate military policy innovated to slow the invaders, but at heavy cost to the Southern infrastructure. The Confederates burned bridges, laid land mines in the roads, and made harbors inlets and inland waterways unusable with sunken mines (called "torpedos" at the time). Coulter reports:
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
84
49,124
49,418
dev-6923-85
The Confederacy relied on external sources for war materials. The first came from trade with the enemy. "Vast amounts of war supplies" came through Kentucky, and thereafter, western armies were "to a very considerable extent" provisioned with illicit trade via Federal agents and northern private traders.[154] But that ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
85
49,419
50,275
dev-6923-86
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to success in the 19th century warfare of mass armies was the Confederacy's lack of manpower, and sufficient numbers of disciplined, equipped troops in the field at the point of contact with the enemy. During the winter of 1862–63, Lee observed that none of his famous victories had resul...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
86
50,276
51,051
dev-6923-87
The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised three branches: Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
87
51,052
51,151
dev-6923-88
The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the United States Army and United States Navy who had resigned their Federal commissions and had won appointment to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. Many had served in the Mexican–American War (including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis),...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
88
51,152
51,594
dev-6923-89
Navy Jack – light blue cross also square canton, white fly
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
89
51,595
51,655
dev-6923-90
Battle Flag – square also without center star
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
90
51,656
51,703
dev-6923-91
The Confederate officer corps consisted of men from both slave-owning and non-slave-owning families. The Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, some colleges (such as The Citadel and Virginia Milita...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
91
51,704
52,238
dev-6923-92
The soldiers of the Confederate armed forces consisted mainly of white males aged between 16 and 28. The median year of birth was 1838, so half the soldiers were 23 or older by 1861.[161] In early 1862, the Confederate Army was allowed to disintegrate for two months following expiration of short-term enlistments. A maj...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
92
52,239
53,658
dev-6923-93
Many thousands of slaves served as laborers, cooks, and pioneers. Some freed blacks and men of color served in local state militia units of the Confederacy, primarily in Louisiana and South Carolina, but their officers deployed them for "local defense, not combat".[164] Depleted by casualties and desertions, the milita...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
93
53,659
54,342
dev-6923-94
The immediate onset of war meant that it was fought by the "Provisional" or "Volunteer Army". State governors resisted concentrating a national effort. Several wanted a strong state army for self-defense. Others feared large "Provisional" armies answering only to Davis.[166] When filling the Confederate government's ca...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
94
54,343
54,837
dev-6923-95
It was important to raise troops; it was just as important to provide capable officers to command them. With few exceptions the Confederacy secured excellent general officers. Efficiency in the lower officers was "greater than could have been reasonably expected". As with the Federals, political appointees could be ind...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
95
54,838
55,374
dev-6923-96
Anticipating the need for more "duration" men, in January 1862 Congress provided for company level recruiters to return home for two months, but their efforts met little success on the heels of Confederate battlefield defeats in February.[169] Congress allowed for Davis to require numbers of recruits from each governor...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
96
55,375
55,785
dev-6923-97
The veteran Confederate army of early 1862 was mostly twelve-month volunteers with terms about to expire. Enlisted reorganization elections disintegrated the army for two months. Officers pleaded with the ranks to re-enlist, but a majority did not. Those remaining elected majors and colonels whose performance led to of...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
97
55,786
56,283
dev-6923-98
In early 1862, the popular press suggested the Confederacy required a million men under arms. But veteran soldiers were not re-enlisting, and earlier secessionist volunteers did not reappear to serve in war. One Macon, Georgia, newspaper asked how two million brave fighting men of the South were about to be overcome by...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
98
56,284
56,663
dev-6923-99
The Confederacy passed the first American law of national conscription on April 16, 1862. The white males of the Confederate States from 18 to 35 were declared members of the Confederate army for three years, and all men then enlisted were extended to a three-year term. They would serve only in units and under officers...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
99
56,664
57,440
dev-6923-100
Confederate conscription was not universal; it was a selective service. The First Conscription Act of April 1862 exempted occupations related to transportation, communication, industry, ministers, teaching and physical fitness. The Second Conscription Act of October 1862 expanded exemptions in industry, agriculture and...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
100
57,441
57,909
dev-6923-101
Rich men's sons were appointed to the socially outcast "overseer" occupation, but the measure was received in the country with "universal odium". The legislative vehicle was the controversial Twenty Negro Law that specifically exempted one white overseer or owner for every plantation with at least 20 slaves. Backpedall...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
101
57,910
58,720
dev-6923-102
Gen. Gabriel J. Rains Conscription Bureau chief April 1862 – May 1863
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
102
58,721
58,792
dev-6923-103
Gen. Gideon J. Pillow military recruiter under Bragg, then J.E. Johnston[179]
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
103
58,793
58,870
dev-6923-104
The Conscription Act of February 1864 "radically changed the whole system" of selection. It abolished industrial exemptions, placing detail authority in President Davis. As the shame of conscription was greater than a felony conviction, the system brought in "about as many volunteers as it did conscripts." Many men in ...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
104
58,871
60,317
dev-6923-105
The survival of the Confederacy depended on a strong base of civilians and soldiers devoted to victory. The soldiers performed well, though increasing numbers deserted in the last year of fighting, and the Confederacy never succeeded in replacing casualties as the Union could. The civilians, although enthusiastic in 18...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
105
60,318
60,961
dev-6923-106
The American Civil War broke out in April 1861 with a Confederate victory at the Battle of Fort Sumter in Charleston.
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
106
60,962
61,079
dev-6923-107
In January, President James Buchanan had attempted to resupply the garrison with the steamship, Star of the West, but Confederate artillery drove it away. In March, President Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor Pickens that without Confederate resistance to the resupply there would be no military reinforcement wit...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
107
61,080
61,655
dev-6923-108
Following Sumter, Lincoln directed states to provide 75,000 troops for three months to recapture the Charleston Harbor forts and all other federal property.[185] This emboldened secessionists in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina to secede rather than provide troops to march into neighboring Southern stat...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
108
61,656
63,040
dev-6923-109
Meanwhile, the Union Navy seized control of much of the Confederate coastline from Virginia to South Carolina. It took over plantations and the abandoned slaves. Federals there began a war-long policy of burning grain supplies up rivers into the interior wherever they could not occupy.[189] The Union Navy began a block...
dev-6923
Confederate States of America
109
63,041
63,468
dev-6923-110
The victories of 1861 were followed by a series of defeats east and west in early 1862. To restore the Union by military force, the Federal strategy was to (1) secure the Mississippi River, (2) seize or close Confederate ports, and (3) march on Richmond. To secure independence, the Confederate intent was to (1) repel t...
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Confederate States of America
110
63,469
63,943
dev-6923-111
Much of northwestern Virginia was under Federal control.[191] In February and March, most of Missouri and Kentucky were Union "occupied, consolidated, and used as staging areas for advances further South". Following the repulse of Confederate counter-attack at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, permanent Federal occupati...
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Confederate States of America
111
63,944
64,809
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Although Confederates had suffered major reverses everywhere, as of the end of April the Confederacy still controlled territory holding 72% of its population.[194] Federal forces disrupted Missouri and Arkansas; they had broken through in western Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Louisiana. Along the Confederacy's shor...
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Confederate States of America
112
64,810
65,730
dev-6923-113
During the Civil War fleets of armored warships were deployed for the first time in sustained blockades at sea. After some success against the Union blockade, in March the ironclad CSS Virginia was forced into port and burned by Confederates at their retreat. Despite several attempts mounted from their port cities, CSA...
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Confederate States of America
113
65,731
66,576
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In the east, Union forces could not close on Richmond. General McClellan landed his army on the Lower Peninsula of Virginia. Lee subsequently ended that threat from the east, then Union General John Pope attacked overland from the north only to be repulsed at Second Bull Run (Second Manassas). Lee's strike north was tu...
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Confederate States of America
114
66,577
67,125
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In an attempt to seize the initiative, reprovision, protect farms in mid-growing season and influence U.S. Congressional elections, two major Confederate incursions into Union territory had been launched in August and September 1862. Both Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky and Lee's invasion of Maryland were decisive...
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Confederate States of America
115
67,126
68,131
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The failed Middle Tennessee campaign was ended January 2, 1863, at the inconclusive Battle of Stones River, (Murfreesboro), both sides losing the largest percentage of casualties suffered during the war. It was followed by another strategic withdrawal by Confederate forces.[205] The Confederacy won a significant victor...
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Confederate States of America
116
68,132
68,614
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Without an effective answer to Federal gunboats, river transport and supply, the Confederacy lost the Mississippi River following the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Port Hudson in July, ending Southern access to the trans-Mississippi West. July brought short-lived counters, Morgan's Raid into Ohio and the New Y...
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Confederate States of America
117
68,615
69,206
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September and November left Confederates yielding Chattanooga, Tennessee, the gateway to the lower south.[206] For the remainder of the war fighting was restricted inside the South, resulting in a slow but continuous loss of territory. In early 1864, the Confederacy still controlled 53% of its population, but it withdr...
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Confederate States of America
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69,207
69,745
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In April 1863, the C.S. Congress authorized a uniformed Volunteer Navy, many of whom were British.[208] Wilmington and Charleston had more shipping while "blockaded" than before the beginning of hostilities.[209] The Confederacy had altogether eighteen commerce destroying cruisers, which seriously disrupted Federal com...
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Confederate States of America
119
69,746
70,652
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Large numbers of families relocated to safer places, usually remote rural areas, bringing along household slaves if they had any. Mary Massey argues these elite exiles introduced an element of defeatism into the southern outlook.[213]
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Confederate States of America
120
70,653
70,887
dev-6923-121
The first three months of 1865 saw the Federal Carolinas Campaign, devastating a wide swath of the remaining Confederate heartland. The "breadbasket of the Confederacy" in the Great Valley of Virginia was occupied by Philip Sheridan. The Union Blockade captured Fort Fisher NC, and Sherman finally took Charleston SC by ...
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Confederate States of America
121
70,888
71,225