The Civil War Months

JANUARY 1861

Anxiety was spreading throughout North and South. South Carolina had already seceded from the Union, and although President James Buchanan opposed the action, he declared that he had no right under the Constitution to stop it. In South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, the Federal garrison had been forced to abandon Fort Moultrie, withdrawing to the more secure Fort Sumter.

Buchanan sent a naval convoy to resupply the Federals at Sumter. State militia began mobilizing in Charleston as more southern states seceded. Congress scrambled to devise yet another compromise to preserve the Union. New York City threatened to secede, while “Bleeding” Kansas finally gained statehood. Most northerners still believed that the southern states would eventually return to the Union without bloodshed.

The Star of the West Mission

After weeks of deliberation, President Buchanan decided to dispatch the civilian merchant vessel Star of the West to reinforce and resupply Major Robert Anderson’s Federal troops at Fort Sumter. By this time, Anderson’s men were isolated in the harbor by South Carolina state militia. The Federals would eventually need supplies to remain in the fort, but the government of South Carolina had barred any assistance to them.

Star of the West was an unarmed steamer whose mission was intended to be secret. However, her departure from New York City on January 5 was printed in city newspapers that were forwarded by southern sympathizers to South Carolina. The two hundred soldiers of the 9th U.S. Infantry aboard Star of the West were ordered to hide below decks, but by the time the ship reached Charleston on January 9, the South Carolinians were expecting her.

Cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy, or The Citadel, fired on Star of the West from Morris Island. These were the first shots of the war, and artillerists on Fort Moultrie joined in the firing. The Federals at Fort Sumter, unaware of the ship’s presence or mission, did not assist Star of the West. After sustaining two minor hits, the ship withdrew and returned to New York.

Upon learning about the mission, Anderson threatened to fire on Charleston in retaliation. South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens responded that such an act would mean war. Anderson relented, but the incident galvanized extremists on both sides. Charleston Mercury editor Robert B. Rhett wrote that South Carolina “has not hesitated to strike the first blow, full in the face of her insulter. We would not exchange or recall that blow for millions! It has wiped out a half century of scorn and outrage.”

An editorial in the Atlas and Argus of Albany, New York stated, “The authority and dignity of the Government must be vindicated at every hazard. The issue thus having been made, it must be met and sustained, if necessary, by the whole power of the navy and army.”

New York Threatens Secession

Mayor Fernando Wood proposed that New York City secede from the Union and declare itself a free city so that it could continue trading with the South. Two-thirds of U.S. imports and one-third of U.S. exports came in and out of New York. This included southern cotton, which was traded more in New York than in any other Atlantic port.

Despite widespread fear that the lack of southern trade would devastate the New York economy, city officials rejected Wood’s proposal. In time, the loss of southern markets in New York ports was replaced by troop transport, Midwestern grain, and Pennsylvania petroleum.

The Crittenden Compromise

President Buchanan submitted a message to Congress stating that the southern secession was beyond his executive powers under the Constitution. He wrote that Americans should “pause at this momentous point and afford the people, both North and South, an opportunity for reflection…”

Buchanan urged Congress to quickly adopt a measure under debate in the Senate that had been introduced by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. The bill was known as the “Crittenden Compromise,” and it contained four provisions intended to reconcile North and South:

• The original Missouri Compromise line (thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes) would be extended to the Pacific Ocean and slavery would be prohibited north of the line.

• Slavery would be permitted on Federal property in the South.

• Masters of fugitive slaves would be compensated with Federal funds.

• “Personal liberty” laws in northern states that nullified controversial Federal fugitive slave laws would be repealed.

A Senate committee approved the Crittenden Compromise bill, but it failed in the House of Representatives. In response, the Senate adopted a resolution declaring that the Constitution “needs to be obeyed rather than amended.” The bill failed largely because too many politicians in both North and South believed that it offered too little, too late.

More Southern Secession

Five southern states joined South Carolina in seceding from the Union: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Several members of Congress resigned after delivering emotional farewell speeches. Among them was Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, who declared, “It is known to senators who have served with me here, that I have for many years advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, the right of a state to secede from the Union…”

Davis noted that southerners “tread but in the paths of our fathers when we proclaim our independence… not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn motive of defending the rights we inherited, and which it is our duty to transmit unshorn to our children.” He concluded, “I am sure I feel no hostility to you, Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well.”

Meanwhile, southern state militias seized Federal property within their states:

• Georgia troops seized the Federal arsenal at Augusta and Fort Pulaski near the Savannah River.

• Florida troops seized Fort Marion at St. Augustine and garrisons along the Gulf Coast.

• Alabama troops seized the Federal arsenal at Mount Vernon and forts protecting the vital naval port of Mobile Bay.

• Louisiana troops seized the U.S. Mint and Customs House in New Orleans.

Texas Governor Sam Houston was removed from office for opposing secession. Houston warned, “… Your fathers and husbands, your sons and brothers, will be herded at the point of a bayonet… while I believe with you in the doctrine of States Rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union.”

In Florida, Federal troops stationed at Fort Barrancas withdrew to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island at the mouth of Pensacola Bay. The governors of both Florida and Alabama demanded the fort’s surrender, but the Federals refused. Federal forces also garrisoned Fort Taylor in Key West, which became an important base of Federal operations.