February 6, 1861 - Virginia and North Carolina represented in the Confederate capital

First Capitol of the Confederacy

February 6, 1861

Reports from Montgomery dated 150 years ago today indicate that Southern states that had not yet seceded were reaching out to the two-day old Confederate States of America.

The Confederacy had been formed on February 4, 1861, by delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. It was widely expected, however, that other Southern states would soon join the new nation and a telegram from Montgomery, Alabama - now the capital city of the Confederacy - indicated that representatives from both Virginia and North Carolina were present in the city:

MONTGOMERY, (Ala.), Feb. 6 – The Commissioners from North Carolina presented their credentials and were tendered seats in the convention during the open sessions.

The Commissioners from Virginia are also in the city.

The Committee appointed yesterday in secret session, stated through their chairman (MR. MEMMINGER) that they would probably report on Thursday a plan for the Provisional Government . - Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 1861, p. 1.

Virginia and North Carolina had not seceded from the Union, but their outreach to the forming government in Montgomery illustrated the natural ties that existed between the Southern states and their willingness to work together and communicate, regardless of their current status.

You can read more about the historic Alabama Capitol Building, the first capitol of the Confederacy, at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomerycapitol2.

February 5, 1861 - Evacuees from Pensacola reach New York Harbor

Pensacola Navy Yard, 1861, by an Officer.

February 5, 1861

Having left Pensacola Bay in January with the noncombatants, paroled prisoners and families of soldiers from the U.S. military installations there, the U.S.S. Supply reached New York. 

The men, women and children had been forced to evacuate the bay after Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer moved his small garrison of fewer than 100 U.S. soldiers and sailors across the bay to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island from Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola Navy Yard on the mainland. State troops had occupied the mainland positions and an undeclared state of war held over the bay as secessionist and Unionist forces eyed each other across the sparkling water.

The following account of the arrival of the evacuees appeared in Northern newspapers:

Fort Barrancas & Pensacola Bay

Return of Officers, Men and Women from Pensacola.

The U.S. storeship Supply, Henry Walke, commander, at New York from Pensacola, brings as passengers the officers and marines lately stationed at the Warrington navy-yard and the Marine Barracks at Penscaola, but who were expelled by the Florida troops when those posts were seized. The families of these men accompanied them to New York on board the Supply. The following is a list of the passengers:

Mrs. Lieut. Slimmer, U.S.A., servant and child, Mrs. J.H. Gilman, U.S.A., servant and child; John Irwin, Lieut. U.S.A., lady and two children; Mrs. Saint, Robert Dixon, U.S.N., lady and two children; James Cooper, U.S.N., lady and four children; Miss Cooper; Robert Hunter; Lewis Holmes, U.S.N.; John Milan, lady and child; Wm. C. Knowles; John Tyler; Spencer Clarge. Also, John Flarety, Daniel E. Jameson, John Gallagher, Wm. J. Lodge, J.W. Barker, T. Massey, employees at Warrington navy-yard; also 9 invalids from the naval hospital, Warrington; 27 ordinary men from do., and 31 marines from the Marine Barracks.

The hospital quarters and barracks were taken possession of and occupied by the State troops of Florida and Alabama. The persons above named were released on parole, and were brought off under a flag of truce.

The following is a list of officers attached to the United States storeship Supply: - Henry Walke, commander; Joseph A. Domees, Henry Erban, Wm. L. Bradford, lieutenants; W.N. Allen, master; E.W. Dunn, paymaster; Wm. W. Ring, assistant surgeon; John Van Dyke, com. Clerk; E.W. Bowie, paymaster’s clerk. - Pittsfield Sun, February 6, 1861, p. 1.

February 4, 1861 - The Confederate States of America is Formed

February 4, 1861

On this day 150 years ago, delegates from the seven seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and declared the formation of a provisional government for the Confederate States of America.

The meeting took place in the historic Alabama State Capitol, which still stands atop Goat Hill at the end of Dexter Avenue in Montgomery. Eyewitness accounts indicate that large crowds gathered outside the building to await the results of the meeting as militia companies paraded in the streets.

The delegates had come to Montgomery at the invitation of the Alabama Secession Convention, which offered the capital city as a centrally located meeting place for a discussion of measures to provide for the common defense of the newly independent Southern states. They voted to declare themselves as a provisional legislature and quickly moved to unify their states. A committee was appointed to draft a Constitution for the new Southern nation, work on which began immediately. It would take four days to complete.

The Confederate States of America, however, was born with the meeting of the delegates at Montgomery, Alabama, 150 years ago today. To learn more about the historic First Capitol of the Confederacy, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomerycapitol1.

February 3, 1861 - Raising Money for Mississippi Independence

Mississippi River at Grand Gulf

February 3, 1861

The following account of Mississippi's efforts to raise money to fund its existence as an independent republic appeared 150 years ago today on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

RAISING THE WIND IN MISSISSIPPI. – The ways and means for the new “republic” of Mississippi furnish a great deal of matter for discussion. Like all of the seceding States, Mississippi is deficient in ready money. Two propositions are before the Convention – one to issue Treasury-notes and Bonds in such sums as from time to time are needed, not to exceed in the aggregate $5,000,000, nor to run for a longer time than five years; the other to establish a great State Bank, with a capital of $10,000,000, at Jackson; the State to be a stockholder in the bank to the extent of $5,000,000; and for the subscription a special tax to be levied and collected of the people at the rate of $500,000 per annum for ten years. The bank is not to issue more than three dollars to one of the capital stock after the 1^st of March, 1862. The Legislature may compel the redemption of the notes in gold and silver.

February 1, 1862 - Texas Convention passes its Ordinance of Secession

San Jacinto Monument, Texas

February 1, 1862

Texas became the seventh Southern state to approve an Ordinance of Secession. The vote in Austin took place 150 years ago today.

The decision by the delegates to the Texas Secession Convention to revert to the status of the state to that of an independent republic, which it had been until it joined the United States in 1845, was made by a margin of 166-8 and over the objections of Texas hero, governor and former president, Sam Houston. Although Texas authorities moved immediately under the assumption that Texas would ally itself with the other seceding states, the document was not entirely definitive as it required a vote of the people for final approval. That vote would not take place until February 23, 1861 and would approve the decision to secede by a wide margin.

San Jacinto Monument

Texas was unique among the Southern states in that it had been an independent republic from 1836 until it was accepted into the Union in 1845. Its fourteen year status as an independent country gave Texas a stronger case for the right to leave the Union than any other state, although parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had been obtained by the United States thanks to the brief existence of the 1810 Republic of West Florida, which had seized land from Spain in a revolution and then turned the territory over to the U.S.

Although the vote of the state's residents was still to come, Texas moved forward with plans to send delegates to the meeting convened by the seceding states at Montgomery, Alabama. This session would lead to the organization of the Confederate States of America, of which Texas would become a part.

The right of Texas to secede remains a matter for debate even today, as became apparent when Governor Rick Perry noted that the state could do so as recently as last year.

The Republic of Texas came into existence as a result of the Texas Revolution of 1836, remembered today largely for the tragic fall of the Alamo in San Antonio. Although the courageous stand at the Alamo resulted in the death of the mission turned fort's defenders, General Sam Houston was able to rally his troops and with the battle cry of "Remember the Alamo!" defeated Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Captured following the battle, Santa Anna signed documents agreeing to give Texas its independence.

The Republic of Texas remained an independent entity until it became an American state in 1845, but by a wide margin Texans felt they had every right to return to that status if they so decided. And the process of making that decision began 150 years ago today with the approval of the Texas Ordinance of Secession.