In our last post, we chronicled the mass exodus of the Southern States from the Union in December and January, 1861. At that point, each state had become it's own little kingdom. Of course, a dozen or so fiefdoms had no chance of becoming independent against the Union. In February, 1861 they all got together, and they organized...
For two weeks, it was an interesting dichotomy, where the Confederate State of America set up it's Constitution, leaders, Congress, and even resolutions to avoid war with the Union, as arsenals in San Antonio and the paymaster's office in New Orleans were taken over. On February 9, 1861, word was given to Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis that he would be the first President of the Confederacy. Davis' wife would later write that Davis took the news 'as though a member of his family had passed.' Nine days later, Davis was sworn in as the South's first and only President...
Meanwhile, 100 miles up the road in Washington DC, Abraham Lincoln completed his fifteen days tour of the country from Springfield, Ill. to the White House. Faced with numerous death threats, Lincoln was rushed into the capital in the middle of the night. On March 4, 1861 Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th US President. His inauguration speech was laden with conciliation to avoid war, but by then, war was inevitable.....
After the first week of March 1861, the lines were rawn, the players set. All that was left was when and where - and the biggest probablility was a small armory in the middle of Charleston Harbor...
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