War for Southern Independence (Dixie Forever)

The War for Southern Independence, or the "Civil War" (so-called by US President Lincoln), also called "Lincoln's War," "The War of the Rebellion" (The official US name for the war), "The War between the States," "The War to Prevent Southern Independence," or "The War of Northern Aggression," is the name of the war fought between 1861 and 1865 between the United States and the Confederate States over the question of whether states could secede from the Union. During the course of the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, attempting to turn a political battle into a moral one, but the proclamation fell flat amongst foreign nations, especially when the Confederates officially began enlisting blacks into their armies. While it still looked like the Union would win in October and November 1864, helping Lincoln to be re-elected, a series of stunning defeats immediately afterward turned the tide and ended the war by 1865.

Origins of the War
There are a number of causes of the war between the states, though many historians would see the beginnings in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when Congress agreed to limit slavery to a line extending westward at the 36°30' N latitude, except for Missouri, which would become a slave state. Southerners were angered as they had acquired property in slaves, and would not be able to take them north into the vast farm lands; northerners, however, were very interested in limiting the expansion of blacks into those lands. A number of state constitutions, including Ohio, Illinois, and even Oregon would practically ban the immigration of blacks into their states.

Soon, Texas declared itself independent of Mexico, and it helped both Rio Grande and Yucatan become independent in exchange for Rio Grand settling its border at the river, and both recognizing the right of Texans to settle with their slaves, making both slave States. The increased settlement of southerners and foreigners, namely Germans from the German Confederation and Austrian Empire (which included Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Romanians) would also settle and assimilate into Texan culture.

Around this time, the southern states all had 4/5 of all abolition societies in the United States. Virginia in 1831 was very near abolishing slavery and committing to compensated emancipation. At the same time, however, William Lloyd Garrison in the north began calling slavery a 'sin' and helped provoke the Nat Turner rebellion, causing 60 whites to be killed by a gang of black racists. This caused the close vote to fail in the Virginia House of Delegates (by 5 votes). Virginia instead strengthened its laws on slavery to attempt to prevent another slave rebellion.

The United States annexed Texas in 1846, instigating the Mexican-American War, which raged for two years. At the same time, President Polk negotiated with the British for Oregon Country, where the Americans were clamoring for "54° 40' or fight!" in public, but had barely gotten to the 51st parallel. Negotiators played their hand and secured a new border along the continental divide, and then across to the sea at 52° N. This mollified northerners somewhat, who clamored for balancing the southern 'slave power.'

The next step towards war was the Compromise of 1850, which divided California into two states, at the 37° N line, where the Indian Territory's northern border would carry across the continent. South California was admitted as a slave state, and North California as a free state. The balance became 18 free to 17 slave states, then Minnesota and Oregon joined, making it 20-17.

The creation of the Republican Party worried southerners, as the party included abolitionist elements, and would not make almost any inroads into the south. When Abraham Lincoln was selected as the candidate for 1860, several individuals attempted to prevent what they saw as a possible coming war.

Northern judge Jeremiah S. Black asked the incoming Lincoln administration to promise the South that it would "govern according to the Constitution." This request was met with a violent 'no.' Lincoln's promising to govern by a 'higher law' than the Constitution was met with worry and concern across the south.

After South Carolina's secession, six more states left the Union as well, and sent a peace commission to Washington to attempt to secure recognition and to avoid a war. They met at Willard's Hotel, but the president-elect refused to meet with them, and kept leading them on. At the same time, he prepared a secret mission to resupply both Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and Fort Pickens in Florida, which the Confederate representatives told Lincoln would be taken as an act of war.

At the same time, the Confederates heard rumors of a possible blockade, which would be another act of war against them. Instead of the cotton producers' first thought to voluntarily halt shipping, which would let others take their place, given reports of surpluses having built up in France and the United Kingdom, they instead rushed their cotton out as fast as they could, and at the request of President Davis, took military supplies or gold and silver in payment.

Secession
South Carolina seceeded in December 1860, soon followed by Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in early 1861. On February 22, the seven states formed the Confederate States of America, and attempted to send peace commissioners to meet with the President to avoid war, but Lincoln refused to meet with them, not recognizing them as legitimate.

Fort Sumter
On December 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson abandoned the indefensible Fort Moultrie, spiking its large guns, burning its gun carriages, and taking its smaller cannon with him to be trained on the city. He secretly relocated companies E and H (127 men, 13 of them musicians) of the 1st U.S. Artillery to Fort Sumter on his own initiative, without orders from his superiors. He thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The fort was not yet complete at the time and fewer than half of the cannons that should have been available were in place, due to military downsizing by President James Buchanan.

In a letter delivered January 31, 1861, South Carolina Governor Pickens demanded of President Buchanan that he surrender Fort Sumter because "I regard that possession is not consistent with the dignity or safety of the State of South Carolina." Over the next few months repeated calls for evacuation of Fort Sumter from the government of South Carolina and then from Confederate Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard were ignored. Union attempts to resupply and reinforce the garrison were repulsed on January 9, 1861 when the first shots of the war, fired by cadets from the Citadel, prevented the steamer Star of the West, hired to transport troops and supplies to Fort Sumter, from completing the task. After realizing that Anderson's command would run out of food by April 15, 1861, President Lincoln ordered a fleet of ships, under the command of Gustavus V. Fox, to attempt entry into Charleston Harbor and supply Fort Sumter. This despite the very obvious fact that the men in the fort had been buying food and provisions within Charleston the entire time, and had also been reported in various northern newspapers.

The ships assigned were the steam sloops-of-war USS Pawnee and USS Powhatan, transporting motorized launches and about 300 sailors (secretly removed from the Charleston fleet to join in the forced reinforcement of Fort Pickens, Pensacola, FL), armed screw steamer USS Pocahontas, Revenue Cutter USRC Harriet Lane, steamer Baltic transporting about 200 troops, composed of companies C and D of the 2nd U.S. Artillery, and three hired tugboats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter. By April 6, 1861, the first ships began to set sail for their rendezvous off the Charleston Bar. The first to arrive was Harriet Lane, the evening of April 11, 1861.

On Thursday, April 11, 1861, Beauregard sent three aides, Colonel James Chesnut, Jr., Captain Stephen D. Lee, and Lieutenant A. R. Chisolm to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the aides returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted the Confederate Secretary of War, Leroy Walker, he sent the aides back to the fort and authorized Chesnut to decide whether the fort should be taken by force. The aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. At about 3:00 a.m., when Anderson finally announced his conditions, Colonel Chesnut, after conferring with the other aides, decided that they were "manifestly futile and not within the scope of the instructions verbally given to us". The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearby Fort Johnson. There, Chesnut ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter.

On Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate batteries opened fire, firing for 34 straight hours, on the fort. Edmund Ruffin, noted Virginian agronomist and secessionist, claimed that he fired the first shot on Fort Sumter. His story has been widely believed, but Lieutenant Henry S. Farley, commanding a battery of two 10 inch siege mortars on James Island fired the first shot at 4:30 a.m.(Detzer 2001, pp. 269–71) No attempt was made to return the fire for more than two hours. The fort's supply of ammunition was not suited for the task; also, there were no fuses for their explosive shells, which means that they could not explode. Only solid iron balls could be used against the Rebel batteries. At about 7:00 a.m., Captain Abner Doubleday, the fort's second in command, was given the honor of firing the Union's first shot, in defense of the fort. He missed, in part because Major Anderson did not use the guns mounted on the highest tier, the barbette tier (where the guns could engage the Confederate batteries better), where the gunners would be more exposed to Confederate fire. The firing continued all day. The Union fired slowly to conserve ammunition. At night, the fire from the fort stopped, but the Confederates still lobbed an occasional shell into Sumter. On Saturday, April 13, the fort was surrendered and evacuated. During the attack, the Union colors fell. Lt. Norman J. Hall risked life and limb to put them back up, burning off his eyebrows permanently. A Confederate soldier bled to death having been wounded by a misfiring cannon. One Union soldier died and another was mortally wounded during the 47th shot of a 100 shot salute, allowed by the Confederacy. Afterward, the salute was shortened to 50 shots. Accounts, such as in the famous diary of Mary Chesnut, describe Charleston residents along what is now known as The Battery, sitting on balconies and drinking salutes to the start of the hostilities.

The Fort Sumter Flag became a popular patriotic symbol after Major Anderson returned North with it. The flag is still displayed in the fort's museum. A supply ship Star of the West took all the garrison members to New York City. There they were welcomed and honored with a parade on Broadway.

Further Secessions: 1861
After Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the 'rebellion,' Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina seceded. After the first shots were fired in the war, Cuba, Rio Grande, Yucatan, and South California seceded. By year's end, Kentucky's declared neutrality had been violated by the north's army, prompting them to declare secession, bringing the new Confederacy up to 16 states. Missouri had declared secession but a union government was also still in operation and the Confederates never seriously controlled the territory at any point during the war.