Chapter 59: But the Time for Peace Has Passed and War Breaks Out at Fort Sumter

April 12, 1861

The Southern response to the speech is outright rejection, as four more states – Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee – join the Confederacy.

Together they petition to be left alone, a path sure to lead to their unilateral decision to take slavery into the new territories. While some of Lincoln’s men are willing to consider this as a compromise, the now fully aware President rejects it out of hand. He asks: “what was the election about if it was not to ban slavery in the west?”

The Confederates then demand the surrender of the U.S. forts in Charleston Harbor and other federal property, and Lincoln stiffens his resolve by ordering a fleet carrying reinforcements to defend Ft. Sumter.

But they arrive too late, and at 4:30am on February 12, General P.G.T. Beauregard begins a bombardment of the fort. This continues for 34 hours until Union General Robert Anderson waves a surrender flag.

One day later, President Lincoln orders the call-up of 75,000 volunteers to serve three months only – another sign of miscalculating the depth of the threat facing the North.