THE UNION IS DISSOLVEDresigned their commissions to go off
and fight for the Confederacy. In
contrast, officers from the upper South
found themselves as torn and conflicted
as their states.
General in Chief of the Army,
Winfield Scott—a grand old Virginian
who had fought with distinction as a
division commander in the War of 1812
with Britain, and had conquered
Mexico City in 1846—advocated a
cautious course of conciliation that
found de facto support in Buchanan’s
policy of inaction.
The problem of Fort Sumter
When Lincoln assumed office, Scott
advised the president to abandon the
Federal garrison stationed at Fort
Sumter in order to avoid a direct
military confrontation, but Lincoln’s
first loyalty remained with the Federal
government. Scott obeyed Lincoln’s
orders to resupply the fort with
provisions, despite Confederate threats
to respond with force. Lincoln hoped to
avoid bloodshed by initially using only
announced and unarmed vessels
carrying nonmilitary supplies, but
he would not relinquish the post.
From the Confederate perspective,
the very fact that Federal troops were
manning a military installation in
Charleston Harbor within the cradle of
secession mocked the idea of Southern
independence. The two sides were
on a collision course, and the most
important question would be how the
upper South would respond to an
outbreak of violence.
AFTER
The war began at Fort Sumter in Charleston
harbor, when Confederate forces fired on
the Union resupply vessel, galvanizing
public opinion in both sections.FORT SUMTER SURRENDERED
The secession crisis finally found a violent
resolution at Fort Sumter. The fort was
surrendered to the Confederacy on April 13
after a day of bombardment 52–53 ❯❯.CONFEDERATE CONSOLIDATION
The outbreak of war forced
the states of the upper
South to make a
decision. Four of
them—Arkansas,
North Carolina,
Tennessee, and
Virginia—decided
they must cast their
lot in with their
slaveholding brethren.PUBLIC OUTRAGE
IN THE NORTH
The powerful symbolism of a successful
Confederate attack on a U.S. military installation
had a transforming effect on Northern public
opinion, with the result that even most Northern
Democrats were now prepared to commit
themselves to war. Before the attack, staunchly
radical Republicans had been among those
happy to consider the idea of “letting them [the
Confederate states] go,” to use editor Horace
Greeley’s words in an editorial in the New York
Tribune. The assault on Fort Sumter galvanized
people’s patriotism and inspired a desire to
avenge the Confederacy’s insult to the flag.CONFEDERATE VICE PRESIDENT (1812–83)Alexander Stephens was a long-serving
Georgia Representative in the U.S. Congress
with Unionist instincts and a Whig
background, who found himself
elected as Confederate vice
president. He had supported
the Compromise of 1850,
and he argued that
Lincoln’s election was
not an immediate
threat to slavery.ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS
SEAL OF THE
CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICANevertheless, he seemed fatalistic in private
about the inevitability of secession, and he
helped write the Confederate constitution.
On March 21, 1861, Stephens gave his
famous “cornerstone” speech, declaring
slavery the bedrock of the Confederacy.
A true believer in states’ rights, he
quarreled with Jefferson Davis over
his use of emergency powers to
carry out the war and opposed
conscription. Stephens served on
various peace missions to the
North. He returned to politics
after the war, even aligned
himself with Republicans
for a time, and was
elected governor of
Georgia in 1882.The number of Confederate
states at the end of May 1861,
11 while 23 stayed in the Union.