January 31, 1861 - An offer to raise a free black company in Georgia

Surviving Walls of Fort Cusseta, Alabama

January 31, 1861

Newspapers across the South included a fascinating little item at the end of January, 1861. A free black barber in Columbus, Georgia, had extended an offer to raise a company of free blacks to fight in the service of his state:

Joe Clark, a colored barber of this city, has written a letter to Gov. Brown, offering to raise a company of free colored men, to be enlisted in the service of the State of Georgia in the present crisis. Whatever may be thought of the policy of enlisting soldiers of this cast, the offer is a patriotic one, and ought to show the "philanthropists" of the North that the free colored population of the South do not appreciate their efforts in behalf of the negro race. Joe served in the Indian war of 1836, and still limps occasionally from a wound received in that campaign. - Columbus Enquirer, January 1861.

Although the topic of black Confederate soldiers is quite controversial today, there was actually a long-standing tradition of military service by free blacks and slaves as well to their home states in the South during the years before the Civil War. Numerous Southern blacks had served in the American Revolution and Andrew Jackson had gladly accepted the services of Louisiana's free blacks at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. In fact, he had stood in their behalf and ordered that they be paid at the same rate as his white soldiers, something the Union did not do for its black troops for much of the Civil War.

While Clark's offer was not accepted by Governor Joseph E. Brown of Florida, the note of his service in the "Indian war of 1836" is quite interesting. The conflict in question was the Creek War of 1836, fought when the Yuchi branch of the Lower Creeks launched attacks on both whites and blacks in Alabama and Georgia in a desperate last stand against their forced removal to what is now Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.

Numerous white citizens and slaves were killed in attacks at locations across the region, most notably at the Roanoke Massacre in Stewart County, Georgia.  Both whites and blacks, including free blacks like Joe Clark, served in the fighting along with many of the Creeks themselves. This mixed race force eventually prevailed over the outnumbered Yuchi and Lower Creeks, most of whom were captured while those who were not were either killed or driven into the swamps and eventually across the line into Florida. 

Uniquely, a surviving log fort of the Creek War still stands in the small community of Cusseta, Alabama, not far from Clark's home city of Columbus, Georgia. To learn more about it, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortcusseta.

January 25, 1861 - An Account of the Seizure of the Augusta Arsenal in Georgia

January 25, 1861

Augusta Arsenal, Barracks in 1936.

The following report of the capture of the Augusta Arsenal by Georgia Militia forces began circulating in Southern newspapers 150 years ago today. The seizure had taken place on the 24th:

The seizure of the United States Arsenal at Augusta.,Ga., occupied by Capt. A. Elzey and 70 U. S. troops, has been noticed. The number of Georgia troops under arms was over 800, and large numbers of country people came in to see the expected difficulty. The arsenal was surrounded on the 23d, and the State troops were ordered out. The Governor however, would not order an assault until the next day. In the meantime, no answer was receive to the summons, and the next morning the troops were again assembled. The of 11 o'clock was first fixed for the assault but it was changed to 2 o'clock. Before that hour arrived, a note was received from Captain Elzey asking for an interview with Gov. Brown, of Georgia, and the Governor required to the arsenal, where terms of surrender were agreed on. - Widely reprinted newspaper account, January 25, 1861.

Augusta Arsenal, Armory in 1936

The arsenal would provide the South with the first part of what would become a massive military manufacturing center in Augusta. The city would emerge over the next four years as one of the Confederacy's key military supply points. Gunpowder from Augusta supplied Confederate armies throughout the war.

The surviving buildings of the complex are located on the campus of today's Augusta State University. They survived Sherman's March to the Sea, thanks to the decision of the Union general to pass just south of Augusta while on his way to Savannah, instead of aiming directly at Augusta.
 

January 24, 1861 - Mississippi mounts cannon at Vicksburg

Mississippi River at Vicksburg

January 24, 1861

Word spread across both North and South 150 years ago today that the newly independent republic of Mississippi had aimed cannon across the Mississippi River at Vicksburg and started intercepting river traffic.

The following report from the Memphis Appeal was carried in numerous newspapers on January 24, 1861:

The order of the Governor of Mississippi to place a battery of guns at Vicksburg for the purpose of hailing steamers and causing them to land, has been complied with, as we learn from one of the clerks of the Simonds, who informs us that four guns are placed at the foot of the bluff, a quarter of a mile above the wharf-boat; that while the Simonds lay there on her trip up the river, blank cartridges were fired to bring to and cause to land the Gladiator, the Imperial, and the A. O. Taylor, and that it was understood that if the summons were not attended to, the next gun fired would be shotted. The object of the surveillance has not been made known.- Memphis Appeal, January 1861.

The interdiction of river traffic on the Mississippi at Vicksburg followed numerous reports that abolitionist groups were sending weapons and other supplies south that would be used to arm slaves. There also were reports that troops would be sent to reinforce or recapture forts and other facilities on the Gulf Coast. You can learn more about Vicksburg and its history at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vicksburg5.

U.S.S. Brooklyn

Also on January 24, 1861, The U.S.S. Brooklyn steamed out from Hampton Roads, Virginia, with reinforcements for the beleaguered Union garrison of Fort Pickens in Florida. The soldiers, commanded by Captain Israel Vogdes were under orders from President James Buchanan to reinforce the fort, an action that could lead to an immediate start of war between the Union and the new Southern republics.

In Georgia, 150 years ago today, the U.S. soldiers at the Augusta Arsenal surrendered to a force of some 800 state militiamen led by Governor Joseph E. Brown in person. Brown was prepared to launch an assault on the arsenal at 2 p.m., but the soldiers surrendered just hours before the attack was to take place.

 

January 19, 1861 - Georgia Secedes from the Union

Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville

January 19, 1861

Over the stern warning of such delegates as former U.S. Congressman (and future Confederate Vice President) Alexander H. Stephens, the Georgia Secession Convention voted 150 years ago today to declare the state's independence from the United States.

One of the thirteen original states, Georgia became the fifth Southern state to leave the Union. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama had already passed ordinances of secession. By joining them, Georgia provided geographic continuity to the growing list of newly independent Southern republics. While the Confederate States of America would not be formed until February, there was already recognition among the states that they would need to unify in some way for the purpose of defense.

Georgia's Old Capitol Building

Milledgeville was then the capital city of Georgia and the vote took place in the beautiful Old Capitol Building, the oldest public building of the Gothic revival style in the country. The vote was taken at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and passed by a margin of 208-89. Convention President George W. Crawford proclaimed the ordinance passed and celebrations erupted throughout much of the state, even as many worried about the course Georgia would now follow.

Once the decision was made, most of the state's pro-Union leaders unified with the secessionists. As in much of the South, most felt that their loyalty was owed first to their state. Even though many disagreed with the direction that had been charted, they committed their all to Georgia's success.

To learn more about the historic Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville, Georgia, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gaoldcapitol.

January 17, 1861 - Alexander Stephens Warns of Coming Desolation

Alexander H. Stephens

January 17, 1861


As the delegates to the Georgia Secession Convention debated the future course of their state, they heard on this date from the man who would soon rise to prominence as the Vice President of the Confederacy.

A lawyer and former congressman, Alexander Hamilton Stephens was a powerful speaker despite the fact that he was ill throughout his life and weighed less than 100 pounds. Although he opposed anti-slavery measures and owned slaves, Stephens was a strong believer in the Union. Like most Southerners of his day, he put his loyalty to his state first, but 150 years ago today he rose to warn of what would come if the delegates continued on their path to passage of an Ordinance of Secession:

Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville

...When we and our posterity shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war which this act of yours will inevitably invite and call forth; when our green fields of waving harvests shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery and fiery car of war sweeping over our land; our temples of justice laid in ashes; all the horrors and desolations of war upon us - who but this Convention shall be held responsible for it? - Alexander Stephens, January 17, 1861.

 

 It was said by those who knew and heard him that Stephens was one of the most powerful speakers of his day, able to keep audiences spellbound with the thundering and emotional quality of his voice. Stories are told to this day of how word would pass through capitol halls in both Georgia and Washington, D.C., when the "Little Giant" rose to speak and spectators would crowd legislative chambers until they were overflowing with eager listeners.

 

Stephens' words were powerful on that January day and held the delegates and visitors to the historic Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville spellbound, but even he was unable to turn the course of his state away from the step it would take two days later.

 

January 3, 1861 - The Taking of Fort Pulaski, Georgia

Fort Pulaski (NPS Photo)

On January 3, 1861 (150 years ago today), Georgia militia troops took possession of Fort Pulaski, the primary defense of Savannah.

Begun in the 1820s and completed in 1847, Fort Pulaski was a massive five-sided brick fort that stood on Cockspur Island near the mouth of the Savannah River. The system of dikes and canals that drained the site to allow construction had been designed by Robert E. Lee, then a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Lee, among others, considered Pulaski to be one of the most impregnable positions in the South.

Aware that Pulaski was not garrisoned as his state moved rapidly forward with political maneuverings that would likely lead to its secession from the Union, Governor Joseph E. Brown of Georgia ordered militia troops to seize the fort on January 3, 1861. Georgia was then still part of the United States and although Fort Pulaski was not then garrisoned by U.S. troops, Brown knew that situation could change at any minute.

Fort Pulaski (NPS Photo)

A clerk from the Engineer Corps was stationed in Savannah at the time and immediately sent a telegram Captain W.H.C. Whiting, then at Fort Clinch in Florida, of the movement to take the fort. Whiting would later become a Confederate general, but was still serving in the U.S. Army when Fort Pulaski was seized. He proceeded to Savannah as soon as possible and made the following report to his superior officers in Washington on January 7, 1861:

...This morning I proceeded to Fort Pulaski, which I found occupied by Georgia troops, commanded by Colonel Lawton. I was received with great civility, and informed by him that he held possession of all the Government property for the present, by order of the governor of the State, and intended to preserve it from loss or damage. He requested a return of the public property, both Ordnance and Engineer., which I have given as existing January 1.... 

The Colonel Lawton mentioned by Captain Whiting was Colonel Alexander Lawton of the 1st Georgia Militia. Under orders from Governor Brown, who was at Savannah in person, he had led a force of 150 men from the Savannah Volunteer Guards, Oglethorpe Light Infantry and Savannah's famed Chatham Artillery aboard the steamboat Ida and steamed down to Fort Pulaski. As rain was falling, they moved into the fort without opposition from the ordnance sergeant and caretaker stationed there and raised the Georgia flag.

Fort Pulaski had fallen and it would take more than one year and a severe battle for the Union army to take it back.

Also on January 3, 1861, the Florida Secession Convention met for the first time in Tallahassee and agreed to meet again two days later on Saturday, January 5th.