CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. The number
of engagements entered in the government's
‘Chronological List of Battles’ exceeds 2,200. An alphabetical list of battles compiled at the bureau of pensions, including such minor actions and skirmishes as seemed worthy of incorporation, contains over 6,800 separate affairs. It is therefore clear that, even in a comprehensive narrative of the War, a large number of the lesser engagements must be ignored, Merely to state strength and losses for the battles mentioned would form a lengthy statistical article. For these figures the student is referred to the separate accounts in this work of the various battles herein treated.
The Civil War of 1861-65 was inaugurated
by the determination of seven Southern States
to withdraw from the Union. (See
; ). South Carolina led by passing an ordinance of secession 20 Dec. 1860 followed by Mississippi, 9 Jan. 1861; Florida, 10 January; Alabama, 11 January; Georgia, 19 January; Louisiana, 26 January; and Texas, 1 February. On 7 February the Choctaw Nation declared its adherence to the Confederacy. See ; .
During the autumn of 1860 and the early
spring of 1861 the forts, arsenals, custom-houses
and other government property in those
States, with few exceptions, had been seized by
State troops, and large sums were voted for
arming the States, Georgia leading in November
1861 by appropriating $1,000,000. Maj. Robert Anderson, a Federal officer, who held Fort Moultrie on the inner line of Charleston harbor, becoming aware of active preparations for capturing that work, withdrew, on the night of 26 December to ../Fort Sumter/ (q.v.) in the centre of the harbor. This move hastened results. Immediate preparations were made for bombarding the fort. The first firing upon the flag was 9 January by the batteries erected against Fort Sumter, the inciting cause being the appearance of the ../Star of the West/ (q.v) off the harbor. This vessel had been sent from New York with provisions for Sumter, and with the accompanying fleet withdrew without replying to the fire.
Delegates from the seceded States met at
Montgomery, Ala., 4 February, and 8 February
adopted a provisional government, “The Confederate States of America” (q.v.) and the next day elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice-President of the Confederacy. See ; .
On 1 March Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, appointed by the Confederate government was sent to Charleston and took charge of the preparations for reducing Fort Sumter. On 4 March Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States. On 10 April Beauregard was instructed to demand the surrender of the fort, and, in case of refusal, to reduce it. The next day Anderson received and promptly declined a demand to evacuate and at daylight 12 April, the Confederate batteries opened upon Fort Sumter, compelling its surrender on the 14th. The expectation of a relieving fleet probably hastened this attack. See .
With the news of the attack and surrender
the country received President Lincoln's
proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers, and
summoning Congress to meet on 4 July. In an
instant discussion over the power to coerce
States, the discussion of peace conventions and
movements and all similar perplexing questions
were brushed aside, and the North responded
with intense enthusiasm, the predominating
sentiment being the preservation of the Union. The South was equally aflame, rallying under the banner of State rights.
On 8 April President Davis had called for
20,000 volunteers, and the day following President
Lincoln's proclamation he asked for 34,000. Two days later the Confederate Congress authorized the raising of 100,000 men. Three days after the surrender of Sumter Virginia seceded, followed 6 May by Arkansas and Tennessee, and 20 May by North Carolina, the belief being then general that a policy of coercion had been decided upon. The border States of Kentucky and Missouri were held to the Union by their loyal element, and Maryland was held at first by the direct power of the national government, and later by its own loyalty. The first two were represented in the Confederate Congress throughout the War. The movement to take Missouri into the Confederacy was