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What do these events mean?
EVENT - Seven southern states secede from the Union
Dec.1860-Feb.1861
Supporting details:
1. Northerner Abraham Lincoln elected president of U.S. in Nov.1860.
2. South Carolina was the first state to secede in Dec. 1860.
3. Six more states seceded after South Carolina: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.
4. Southern delegates then met in February 1861, and set up the Confederate States
of America – CSA.
5. New government’s constitution based on the U.S. Constitution.
Result: The new rebellious states meant business and left the Union.
EVENT – Jefferson Davis is new CSA president.
Feb. 18, 1861
Supporting details:
1. Jefferson Davis, former U.S. senator from Mississippi, inaugurated CSA president
in Montgomery, Alabama.
2. In inaugural speech claimed Union twisted the intentions of the Constitution’s
purpose.
3. Reunion over the past two months, he stated, had been neither practicable nor
desirable.
4. To assist Davis, he chose an able and competent cabinet, including Vice President
Alexander Stephens.
Result: The CSA appeared to have a solid leadership in Davis.
EVENT – Lincoln inaugurated as the 16th president.
March 4, 1861
Supporting details:
1. Lincoln and Vice President Hannibal Hamlin watched a crisis evolve in four
months since election.
2. Secession of 7 Southern states made the new president’s job an ordeal, unique to
US history.
3. Lincoln’s inaugural ceremony was guarded closely, wary of assassination plots.
4. Not exactly conciliatory in his speech, Lincoln stated that the issue of conflict lies
with the South and that he had no intention of interfering with slavery.
Result: Lincoln took office in unique and dangerous times.
EVENT – Confederates shell Fort Sumter
April 13, 1861
Supporting details:
1. Lincoln’s attempt to provision Fort Sumter in South Carolina was seen as an act
of aggression by the Union.
2. At 4:30am on April 12, 1861, Confederate cannons opened fire on the fort
commanded by Major Anderson.
3. The bombardment lasted 34 hours, until Anderson surrendered to CSA General
Beauregard.
4. The Northern reaction: “Remember Fort Sumter,” “Save the Union.”
Result:
EVENT – President Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers
April 15, 1861
Supporting details:
1. As a result of the surrender of Ft. Sumter, President Lincoln called for the need
for 75,000 militia volunteers.
2. The immediate response from most Northern states was positive except in the socalled border states – Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware.
3. Lincoln’s request produced many newspaper editorials supporting and criticizing
the action.
Result:
EVENT – Robert E. Lee turns down Union command
April 18, 1861
Supporting details:
1. President Lincoln offered Virginia’s most famous soldier, Robert E. Lee,
command of the armies of the United States.
2. An emissary was sent to Lee’s estate just west of Washington to see if Lee would
accept.
3. With great difficulty, Lee refused Lincoln’s offer and chose to be loyal to his
native Virginia.
4. As he turned down the Union president’s offer, Lee made it clear that he opposed
slavery and secession: “Yet, how can I draw my sword upon Virginia.”
Result:
EVENT – First casualties of war are in Baltimore riots
April 19, 1861
Supporting details:
1. The first casualties of the war occurred not on a battlefield between two opposing
armies, but in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, between Union troops and
civilians with Southern sympathies.
2. Heeding President Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers, a Massachusetts’
regiment en route to Washington exchanged shots with a pro-secessionist crowd,
hoping to prevent the troops from reaching the capital.
3. In the incident, 11 civilians and four soldiers were killed.
Result: (hint – recruitment and border states)
EVENT – Richmond, Virginia, becomes new CSA capital
May 20, 1861
Supporting details:
1. The new capital city for the Confederate government is now Richmond, Virginia,
replacing the first capital at Montgomery Alabama.
2. The reason for the move: to get and maintain support of Virginia throughout the
war.
3. Another vital reason: to Richmond was only 105 miles from Washington and thus
closer to seize it and end the war.
4. Between the two capitals, many bloody battles will no doubt occur.
Result:
EVENT – A hero’s death helps Union to secure Alexandria, Virginia
May 25, 1861
Supporting details:
1. The Union had its first hero – but at a high cost.
2. In an attempt to cross the Potomac River and seize nearby Alexandria, three
regiments of Union soldiers led by Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, were successful in
capturing the city.
3. In doing so, Ellsworth was killed as tried to lower a Confederate flag from the
roof of The Marshall House Hotel. The hotel keeper shot him.
4. Private Francis Brownell avenged Ellsworth’s death.
Result:
EVENT – Confederates battle Union forces at Bull Run
July 21, 1861
Supporting details:
1. The Confederates and Union troops fought the Civil War’s first major pitched
battle and it produced a Rebel victory.
2. Ill prepared Union troops, marching to the cry, “On to Richmond,” seemed no
match for a spirited but small Confederate force.
3. Fought only 30 miles from Washington and thus accessible to picnicking
spectators, Bull Run was highlighted by a heroic stand by “Stonewall” Jackson’s
men and Union panic which caused Federal troops and spectators to swell the
road back to Washington.
Result:
EVENT – First income tax in U.S. history levied on the North.
Aug. 5, 1861
Supporting details:
1. In an attempt to help pay for an expensive and ever-widening war, Congress
levied the first income tax in the country’s history.
2. From the exact wording of this unique measure, the act would serve as the
mainstay of the treasury.
3. The law fixes a tax of 3% on incomes of $800 a year.
4. This was intended to last only to finance the war.
Result:
EVENT – Wilson Creek battle extends war in the west
Aug 10, 1861
Supporting details:
1. Concern over the loyalty of Missouri was a major factor in the Battle of Wilson’s
Creek, the first major battle in the so-called Western Theater of this war.
2. The battle produced another Confederate victory despite the heroics of Union
General Lyon, who rallied his men in a daring dawn attack. He took two bullets.
3. Lyon was eventually killed when shot in the heart, and his troops then fled.
Result:
EVENT – McClellan new army chief
Nov. 1, 1861
Supporting details:
1. With an already illustrative career behind him, General McClellan, 34 years of
age, was picked to replace General Scott as General in chief of Union Armies.
2. Known to his men as “Little Mac,” the new chief was also called “youthful. Selfcontained, and vigorous.”
3. Lincoln gave him the position because of his work in turning the Army of the
Potomac into a very good unit rivaling the Confederacy’s best.
Result: