The Background of the Civil War

Brown’s uprising was crushed by United States marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee. Brown was convicted of treason against Virginia and was hanged. But John Brown’s cause did not die with him. Abolitionists began to sing that although “John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave, His soul is marching on.” They hailed Brown as a hero, while Southerners regarded him as a villain. The nation was more divided than ever.

The Election of 1860

In 1860 the Republican Party picked as its candidate for president a lanky lawyer from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

Although he was not an abolitionist, Lincoln had spoken against the spread of slavery into the territories. Since it was known that Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery, Southerners looked upon Lincoln as an enemy.

But slavery supporters found no comfort in the Democratic candidate, Stephen Douglas, who also objected to the extension of slavery into the territories. As a result, Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for president. Leading Southerners announced that they would demand secession from the Union if Lincoln won the election. On November 6, 1860, the voters chose Abraham Lincoln to succeed James Buchanan in the White House.

Secession

Secessionists proved true to their threat. South Carolina seceded in December, 1860. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed South Carolina in leaving the Union. These states claimed to have a legal right to secede from the Union. They had voluntarily joined it, and the Constitution did not specifically prohibit withdrawing from the Union. They established a new nation, the Confederate States of America, with its capital at Montgomery, Alabama. (The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia, in May, 1861.)

On February 4, 1861, delegates met in Montgomery to draw up a Confederate constitution and appoint a president and a vice president. The convention chose Jefferson Davis for president and Alexander Stephens for vice president.

The original Confederate states were later joined by Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, while in the border states of Kentucky and Missouri, Unionists and Secessionists fought for control.

The Firing on Fort Sumter

As each state seceded, it seized all federal properties within its borders. Most United States military establishments surrendered without resistance. But in December, 1860, Major Robert Anderson, commanding Fort Moultrie at Charleston, South Carolina, refused to give in. Instead he moved his military post, which included only 68 fighting men, to nearby Fort Sumter, a more defensible position in Charleston’s harbor. After long negotiations, the War Department decided that Fort Sumter must hold out as long as possible.

Anderson held grimly to his post in the face of growing Confederate forces. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. Five weeks later he sent ships to supply Anderson with rations since the fort’s food supply was almost gone. The relief fleet was due to arrive at Charleston on April 12. Just before it reached the harbor mouth, the Confederates opened fire and forced Anderson’s surrender.

The Confederates had committed an act of war that Lincoln could not ignore. The President of the United States took immediate action. He called 75,000 men into service and ordered a blockade of Southern ports. If the South wanted war, it would have it.