Last Best Hope of Earth
A Blog Exploring American History and Politics
The Civil War: Abner Doubleday: from Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-’61
There had been talk that, if a civil war began, it would begin at Fort Sumter. Sat in the harbor near Charleston, South Carolina, it was a fort that the United States held. Indeed, it was here that the first shots of the war would be fired. It was one thing to read about the […]
MoreThe Civil War: Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams Jr.
January 8, 1861 A few weeks after Henry Adams wrote to his brother Charles Francis Adams Jr. about the scenes playing out post-election in Washington, D.C., he wrote again—this time about the potential for warfare to soon begin.
MoreThe Civil War: Jefferson Davis: Farewell Address in the U.S. Senate
January 21, 1861 United States Senator Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, rose on the floor of that august chamber the morning of January 21, 1861 to make an announcement. It would not be one pertaining to some Senate bill, or a resolution, but instead an announcement that he was leaving the Senate.
MoreThe Civil War: Catherine Edmondston: Diary, December 27, 1860
December 27, 1860 Catherine Edmondston lived with her husband in North Carolina, and they operated a plantation there. During a visit to Aiken, South Carolina, to see her parents, she became a witness to the action surrounding South Carolina’s secession from the Union.
MoreThe Civil War: South Carolina Declaration of the Causes of Secession
December 24, 1860 On Christmas Eve, 1860, South Carolina announced that it would, indeed, be seceding from the Union and declared the many causes for taking this drastic step. On its face, this declaration would appear to articulate the reasons for secession and presumably would serve as part of the historical record—as an explanation of […]
MoreThe Civil War: Memorandum Regarding Abraham Lincoln
December 22, 1860 Two days prior, South Carolina had decided to secede from the Union with a 169-0 vote. The day after that vote, the New York Times reported that President James Buchanan had ordered Major Robert Anderson to surrender Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor, if attacked. The report was not entirely correct, however: Buchanan’s […]
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