DK - The American Civil War

with its large population and a

northern border on the Ohio River

that could serve as a defensive barrier

against Union invasion. Slavery had a

weaker status in

the Bluegrass

state than in the

Old Dominion,

and the state did

not immediately

secede in response to Lincoln’s call

for many volunteers. Instead,

Kentucky acted in the tradition of

Henry Clay, the great sectional

compromiser, and hoped to adopt a

neutral stance toward both the U.S.

and Confederate governments.

The fate of Missouri, the origin of

so many of the troubles in “Bleeding

Kansas” also hung in the balance,

although the state did not have the

strategic significance of Kentucky.

the soldiers. This outpouring of popular

support vindicated Lincoln’s cautious

approach during the secession winter.

His attempts to placate Southern

opinion by

providing only

nonmilitary

supplies to

Anderson’s

command had

caused even Northern Democrats to

view the Confederacy as the

unprovoked aggressor at Fort Sumter.

The Confederacy expands

In the crucial Upper South states of

Arkansas, North Carolina,

Tennessee, and Virginia,

the calling out of a

large Federal army

meant war. When

forced to take

sides, these four

states chose the

Confederacy.

Southern views

were summed up

by the Staunton

Spectator, until now

a Unionist Virginia

newspaper. A day

after the president’s

call for volunteers it

declared that “After

all his declarations

in favor of peace,

President Lincoln has

taken a course calculated inevitably to

provoke a collision, and to unite the

whole South in armed resistance.”

While strategically important

Virginia seceded on April 17, along

with Arkansas, North Carolina, and

Tennessee in the following month,

Maryland remained with the Union.

Moreover, even in Virginia, the

poorest and mostly nonslaveholding

farmers of the state’s western counties

held out for the Union cause—leading

eventually to the founding of the state

of West Virginia.

Virginia and Tennessee made the

Confederacy a viable nation, but there

still remained the prize of Kentucky,

since South Carolina’s secession the

previous December, but the approach

of a Union naval squadron with fresh

supplies for the fort had provoked a

definitive confrontation.

Local Confederate commander

P. G. T. Beauregard had been given

orders to demand the immediate

evacuation of the fort. When

Anderson refused, hostilities began,

and were concluded without any

combat fatalities on either side. While

the Confederacy believed the attack to

be a necessary and reasonable defense

of its sovereignty, most Northerners

saw it as an immoral assault on

American troops.

The Republican Party had swept the

North in the presidential election of

1860, but the Democrats remained

a potent political force, with much

weaker anti-slavery instincts.

However, most Democrats remained

loyal Unionists, and the

Confederate attack on “Old

Glory” (the national flag)

at Sumter outraged

their nationalist

sensibilities, which

led to an outpouring

of public support for

a military campaign

to crush secession.

Lincoln’s response

On April 15, Lincoln

issued a proclamation

calling for 75,000 90-day

volunteers. The Northern

response overwhelmed the

capacity of both Federal

and state governments to

organize, train, and equip

A

t 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861,
Confederate batteries around
the harbor at Charleston, South
Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter,
a Federal fortification built on a small
island at the harbor’s mouth. The
fort’s commander, Major Robert
Anderson, began surrender
negotiations the next afternoon.
Anderson had staunchly maintained
the Union position at Fort Sumter

BEFORE

Lincoln’s election on a sectional basis and on
a party platform that aimed to limit slavery,
combined with the swift secession of the
Lower South, made war nearly inevitable.

SOWING THE SEEDS
The Republicans did not even try to contest
elections in ten Southern states, and the Lower
South saw any legal restriction on slavery by the
Federal government as paving the way for more
serious attacks on the institution.

THE LIMITS OF COMPROMISE
A native of Kentucky and admirer of Henry Clay,
Lincoln had conciliatory instincts, but he also
remained true to the Free-Soil principles of the
Republican Party ❮❮ 32–33. This, combined
with Confederate intransigence, made some kind
of violent clash all but unavoidable ❮❮ 38–39.

The first fatalities of the Civil War occurred

in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 19, a

week after the fall of Fort Sumter.

LEXINGTON OF 1861

Although Maryland stayed in the Union, sentiment

in Baltimore was strongly pro-Confederate. When

the Massachusetts 6th Regiment passed through on

its way to Washington, D.C., a riot erupted, leaving

four soldiers and 12 civilians killed in the ensuing

melee. The incident is often called the “Lexington of

1861”—after the first skirmish of the American

Revolution, at Lexington, Massachusetts.

AFTER

THE CALL TO ARMS

The Call to Arms

As the attack on Fort Sumter unified Northern public opinion, Lincoln issued a call for

volunteers. Crucial Upper South states, including Virginia, joined the Confederacy. The

Union held West Virginia and Maryland; Missouri and Kentucky teetered on the brink.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL (1818–93)

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, born on

a plantation in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana,

had a distinguished record in the prewar

army, including combat service in Mexico.

While he had significant talents, he likened

himself too much to Napoleon, and his fame

after the fall of Fort Sumter further inflated

his ego. Beauregard’s performance was

mixed at the battles of First Bull Run (First

Manassas) and Shiloh, but during the

summer of 1864, he served the Confederacy

well at Bermuda Hundred and Petersburg.

P. G. T. BEAUREGARD

Occupying Fort Sumter

On December 26, 1860,

Anderson’s command at

Fort Moultrie, Charleston,

moved secretly to the more

defensible Fort Sumter.

Charleston cannonball

Thousands of rounds of artillery fire

showered cannonballs like this on

Fort Sumter before Major Anderson

and his garrison surrendered.

THE BALTIMORE RIOT

Major Robert Anderson was a Kentuckian

and former slaveowner, with a stellar

record as a leading artillery reformer and

in combat in the War with Mexico.

A plea to the nation
The government lured new recruits into the army with
promises of bonuses and well-equipped units. Patriotic
posters, such as this 1861 example, demanded “a ready
response” from those men capable of bearing arms.