The states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas all initially voted to stay in the Union. It was only after Lincoln invaded the south and wreaked havoc that they decided to secede. So, at least for those four states, slavery was NOT the major rationale.
10 comments:
In Feb 1861, the states of the Confederacy seized all US military assets. Beauregard opened fire on Ft. Sumter in April, and Virginia seceded.
Arkansas and NC left in May, followed by Tennessee (where
the eastern counties voted to
secede back into the Union and
were secured by the CSA military)
This occurred before "Lincoln invaded the south and wreaked havoc" it would seem.
Another fly in someone's ointment Will.
a) Lincoln broke the truce first by sending down that war ship (his goal was to get the South to fire first so he could then go in and bludgeon them). b) Not a single person was killed by that bombardment. c) Lincoln immediately sent down 75,000 troops into South Carolina and the four states that I mention only seceded after that.
I would also add that there were numerous overtures to arrive at a negotiated settlement (Napoleon the 3rd even volunteered to act as an arbiter) prior to the war and Lincoln rebuffed them all.
Napoleon III, the great peacemaker ?
Kind of like Putin with Syria.
"Lincoln immediately sent down 75,000 troops into South Carolina and the four states that I mention only seceded after that."
Seems anachronistic, considering it was not until Summer that the
blockade strategy began. It was not until several months later that Union forces dabbled with
SC:
"The first significant action in the state occurred in the fall of 1861 when the United States Navy, seeking a port that might serve as a base for its blockade of the southern coast, sent an expedition toward Port Royal and Beaufort. On November 7, 1861, Commander Samuel F. Du Pont’s fleet shelled the Confederate defenses guarding Port Royal Sound and quickly forced their garrisons to withdraw. Over the next few weeks Federal troops occupied Beaufort, Port Royal, Hilton Head, and the neighboring Sea Islands. Planters and other whites in the area fled their homes, leaving behind thousands of blacks whose status was somewhere between enslaved and free." So to say 'Lincoln immediately" is a premature
exclamation, IMO.
"...Napoleon the 3rd even volunteered to act as an arbiter..."
Prior to recording his novelty hit "They're Coming to Take Me Away"
Some much needed comic relief.
BB, the naval blockade started on April 19th and by April 27th it had enveloped Virginia and North Carolina and this is the sequence according to John A. Garraty, "This attack (on Fort Sumter) precipitated a great outburst of patriotic indignation in the North. Lincoln promptly issued a call for 75,000 volunteers which in turn caused Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee to secede."
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