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.

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 20, 1861 - Mississippi Seizes the Fort on Ship Island

Fort Massachusetts (NPS Photo)

January 20, 1861

For several days, bodies of armed men had hovered around the construction crews that were working to build the still unnamed fort on Ship Island, Mississippi. Two groups of armed men had arrived on the island, raised a flag and left ten volunteers there, but otherwise had not interfered with the construction project. That changed on the January 20, 1861:

As no interference was attempted on their part, operations were continued, so as to close the works as  rapidly as possible. On the morning of the 20^th instant, a third armed body of men took forcible possession of the works and engineer property at Ship Island. From that moment I considered myself relieved from all connection with those works. - Lieutenant Frederick E. Prime, U.S. Army, January 30, 1861

Fort Massachusetts (NPS Photo)

Mississippi had been the second Southern state to secede from the Union, but had moved slowly to secure possession of the Federal military installations in the state.

The fort on Ship Island, later known as Fort Massachusetts, was a horseshoe-shaped masonry fort that was designed to guard the approaches to Biloxi and other points on the Mississippi coast. The fort was located at the western end of the wind swept island. When it was seized by local troops in 1861, it had been completed only to the level of the lower gun ports. 

The fort is now open to the public as part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Please click here to visit the National Park Service's website for more information.

January 9, 1861 - Star of the West, Fort Johnston Seized, Mississippi Secedes

Fort Sumter with Morris Island in Distance (NPS Photo)

January 9, 1861

Three major events (into an independent nation. In North Carolina, the citizens of Southport moved on and seized Fort Johnston, an older military post near the mouth of the Cape Fear River below Wilmington.

In South Carolina, Major Robert Anderson in Fort Sumter was stunned by the sound of state artillery opening fire on the steamer Star of the West, which had arrived off Charleston Harbor with supplies, provisions and 200 reinforcements for the U.S. Army garrison in the beleaguered fort.

The Star of the West was a 220 foot steamer chartered from Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt by the U.S. Government. On board were 200 picked recruits from Fort Columbus in New York Harbor, as well as a 3-month supply of provisions and other supplies that were desperately needed by the soldiers manning Fort Sumter. As she approached the entrance to Charleston Harbor, the ship was warned off by picket boats placed for that purpose by order of the Governor of South Carolina. Pursuant to her orders, however, the ship continued forward and fire was opened on her by cadets from The Citadel who manned a battery of artillery on Morris Island.

From Fort Sumter, Major Anderson immediately communicated with Governor F.W. Pickens of South Carolina:

Two of your batteries fired this morning upon an unarmed vessel bearing the flag of my Government. As I have not been notified that war has been declared by South Carolina against the Government of the United States, I cannot but think that this hostile act was committed without your sanction or authority. Under that hope, and that alone, did I refrain from opening fire on your batteries.- Major Robert Anderson, U.S. Army, January 9, 1861.

Anderson expressed to the governor his intent, if the act was not disavowed, to open his guns on any vessel that came within range. He also called the firing an "act of war."

Entrance of Charleston Harbor

In reply, Governor Pickens informed Major Anderson that the attempt of the Star of the West to enter the harbor was regarded as an act of war by that state. He also explained to Anderson that President Buchanan had been warned that any attempt to send troops or military supplies to Fort Sumter would be regarded as an intrusion upon the sovereignty of South Carolina:

In anticipation of the ordinance of secession, of which the President of the United States has received official notification, it was understood by him that sending any re-enforcement of the troops of the United States in the harbor of Charleston would be regarded by the constituted authorities of the State of South Carolina as an act of hostility, and at the same time it was understood by him that any change in the occupation of the forts in the harbor of Charleston would in like manner be regarded as an act of hostility. - Governor F.W. Pickens, January 9, 1861.

Pickens went on to explain the steps that had been taken by the state to warn off supply ships like the Star of the West and informed Anderson that the opening of fire on the vessel "is perfectly justified by me."

No one was injured in the firing on the Star of the West, which represented the second shots of the Civil War, as the cannon fire came on the heels of a volley from guard muskets at Fort Barrancas in Florida the previous day.  Please click here to learn more about the Fort Barrancas incident.