[Doug64]

February 22, Friday

“I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence,” Mr. Lincoln says in the Washington’s Birthday celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. “It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all men should have an equal chance.” He observes that there “is no need of bloodshed and war,” and there will be none unless they are forced upon the government. From Philadelphia Mr. Lincoln journeys to Harrisburg, where he speaks again, this time on preserving peace if it can be done “consistently with the maintenance of the institutions of the country.”

The President-elect has now made his speeches, many of them unimportant and some that appeared downright astonishing when he spoke of nothing going wrong. Southern papers were quick to jump on his words about an “artificial crisis.” After all, the Confederacy is not a phantom.

At the Jones House in Harrisburg, Lincoln learns that as no delegation from Baltimore has arrived, plans for the trip to Washington have been revised to attempt to avoid any possible difficulty in that pro-Southern city. Leaving the hotel, Lincoln wearing an overcoat and with a soft wool hat stuffed into his pocket, joins Ward Hill Lamon, old-time friend and unofficial bodyguard, aboard a special train, leaving the remainder of the party to come on as planned.

In Charleston the people celebrate Washington’s Birthday just as they do in Philadelphia. Governor Pickens speaks and there are parades of military companies.

Far out in San Francisco a mass meeting declares itself in support of the Union.

[Doug64]

February 23, Saturday

President-elect Lincoln, with Ward Hill Lamon (carrying four pistols and two large knives) and detective Allan Pinkerton, leaves Philadelphia in the morning; all telegraph wires out of Harrisburg are cut. They travel from Harrisburg through Philadelphia and Baltimore and arrive in Washington at 6 am. There is no trouble; the revised travel plans have been kept secret.

Mr. Lincoln arrives in Washington to be greeted by Illinois representative Elihu Washburne. After conferring with William H. Seward at Willard’s Hotel, Mr. Lincoln calls upon President Buchanan and the Cabinet at the White House. Visitors begin to flock into the hotel, including an Illinois group led by Senator Stephen A. Douglas. In the evening the Peace Convention delegates call, among others. It has been an exhausting trip from Springfield and the President-elect now faces an even more trying time.

The voters of Texas approve secession 34,794 to 11,235 in the referendum ordered by the legislature and the secession convention.

[Doug64]

February 25, Monday

President-elect Lincoln attends a reception in both the House and Senate at the Capitol and visits the Supreme Court.

In Montgomery, President Davis is attempting to take in the situation at Charleston, sending out messengers and making inquiries.

[Doug64]

February 26, Tuesday

The Peace Convention still meeting in Washington begins voting on the resolutions or amendments it will advocate.

Mr. Lincoln is embroiled in conferences over Cabinet posts and with political leaders.

Camp Colorado, Texas, is abandoned by Federal authorities.

[Potemkin]

February 26, Tuesday

The Peace Convention still meeting in Washington begins voting on the resolutions or amendments it will advocate.

Mr. Lincoln is embroiled in conferences over Cabinet posts and with political leaders.

Camp Colorado, Texas, is abandoned by Federal authorities.

The President-elect is in denial of the gravity of the situation, the Federal authorities are being kicked out of almost every one of their strongholds in the South, and the Confederacy has constituted itself and chosen a leader. It must have seemed very much as though the Civil War was over before it had even begun. How could the North come back from this?

[Doug64]

The President-elect is in denial of the gravity of the situation, the Federal authorities are being kicked out of almost every one of their strongholds in the South, and the Confederacy has constituted itself and chosen a leader. It must have seemed very much as though the Civil War was over before it had even begun. How could the North come back from this?

I don’t think Lincoln was so much in denial as trying to keep his options open, however unlikely those options might have been. Mind, that attempt led him to say some seriously stupid things on that trip to Washington that had to have his listeners scratching their heads and wondering what kind of man they’d elected.

[Potemkin]

I don’t think Lincoln was so much in denial as trying to keep his options open, however unlikely those options might have been. Mind, that attempt led him to say some seriously stupid things on that trip to Washington that had to have his listeners scratching their heads and wondering what kind of man they’d elected.

If Lincoln hadn't got his shit together once he took office, or if events had played themselves out slightly differently than they did, Lincoln might have easily ended up with the same sort of reputation which Buchanan now has. The dividing line between historical immortality and ignominy can be an exceedingly fine one....

[Doug64]

If Lincoln hadn't got his shit together once he took office, or if events had played themselves out slightly differently than they did, Lincoln might have easily ended up with the same sort of reputation which Buchanan now has. The dividing line between historical immortality and ignominy can be an exceedingly fine one....

Unlike Buchanan, Likncoln had four years to fix his initial stumbles.

[Potemkin]

Unlike Buchanan, Likncoln had four years to fix his initial stumbles.

I'm sure that helped. But I still suspect that if their roles had been reversed, Buchanan would still have messed up - he was, when all is said and done, still a doughface.

[Doug64]

I'm sure that helped. But I still suspect that if their roles had been reversed, Buchanan would still have messed up - he was, when all is said and done, still a doughface.

Perhaps, though not because he was a doughface. In the end, he rejected secession (though not all of the South had seceded yet). But yeah, I tend to agree that he wouldn't have had the intestinal fortitude to wage a war to prevent the breakup of the Union. But we can't really know, as I've pointed out he found himself in a nearly impossible situation as lame duck president, maybe he would have acted differently if instead he'd been the just-elected president. Though of course if he had been the just-elected president there would have been no secession....

[Doug64]

February 27, Wednesday

President Davis in Montgomery names three Confederate commissioners to Washington to attempt negotiations with the Federals. He chooses Martin J. Crawford, John Forsyth, and A.B. Roman.

In Washington, the Peace Convention sends the results of its deliberations to Congress. Six constitutional amendments are proposed. First amendment—that involuntary servitude be prohibited north of 36˚30’; that in land south of that line slavery can exist while such an area is a territory and Congress cannot hinder it; that upon admittance as a state it can come in with or without slavery as its state constitution provides. Second amendment—no further territory will be acquired except through treaty and by consent of four fifths of the Senate. Third amendment—that Congress cannot regulate, abolish, or control slavery in the states or territories. Fourth amendment—fugitive slave provisions of the Constitution will be enforced and Congress will not interfere. Fifth amendment—that the foreign slave trade be prohibited. Sixth amendment—there will be compensation for loss of fugitives from labor in certain cases. There is much dissatisfaction with the results and they do not stand a chance in Congress. The Peace Commission has not even been too peaceful, with much bickering and dissatisfaction among its members.

From Charleston Governor Pickens writes President Davis, “We feel that our honor and safety require that Fort Sumter should be in our possession at the very earliest moment.”

In Washington Lincoln is listening not only to politicians about appointments, but to others, such as Senator Douglas and border-state men, pleading for conciliation or compromise.

In the House proposal after proposal is voted down. A plan for a constitutional convention loses; the Crittenden proposal finally loses; an amendment not to interfere with slavery loses, but will be reconsidered the next day.

[Doug64]

February 28, Thursday

The Missouri State Convention meets at Jefferson City to consider secession.

In Montgomery the Confederate Congress authorizes a domestic loan of $15,000,000.

The United States territory of Colorado is formed.

At Charleston Major Robert Anderson, commanding the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, is in almost daily telegraphic communication with Washington.

Congress, nearing the end of its session, is crammed with last-minute business. The House passes and sends to the Senate the amendment of Thomas Corwin of Ohio as devised by the Committee of Thirty-three and approved by President-elect Lincoln, that slavery cannot be interfered with by the Federal government in states where it already exists. This move is described by some as a “harbinger of peace.”

North Carolina voters turn down a state convention on secession by 651 votes, showing strong pro-Union sentiment.

[Doug64]

March 1, Friday

The Confederate States of America assume control of military affairs at Charleston, South Carolina, where the problem of Fort Sumter remains very much unsolved. President Davis names P.G.T. Beauregard to command the area. Major Robert Anderson, commanding the small Federal garrison, at Fort Sumter, tells Washington that events are arriving at a point where further delay on the decision to evacuate or reinforce will be impossible. At the moment the Federals have friendly relations with the South Carolinians and provisions are allowed. At the same time extensive Confederate works are being built at various points around the harbor and troops are training and drilling.

Secretary of War Joseph Holt orders Brigadier General David E. Twiggs dismissed from the US Army “for his treachery to the flag of his country” in having surrendered military posts and Federal property in Texas to state authorities.

In Washington President-elect Lincoln confers with various political leaders and offers the War Department secretaryship to Simon Cameron, longtime Pennsylvania politician. Cameron accepts.

There is mounting concern in the capital over possible military attack, rioting, or even assassination during the forthcoming inauguration.

[Doug64]

March 2, Saturday

The Provisional Confederate Congress meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, provides for the admission of Texas to the Confederacy.

As the Thirty-sixth US Congress winds up its work, a number of measures are approved by President Buchanan. Two new territories, Nevada and Dakota, are set up. Dakota includes what will later become North and South Dakota and much of Wyoming and Montana. A $10,000,000 loan is authorized and the Morrill Tariff Act approved, which substitutes specific for ad valorem duties and also increases some duties from 5 to 10 percent, especially on wool and iron. Also receiving approval is a joint resolution to amend the Constitution. This provides that “no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by said State.” This proposed amendment will never be approved by the states. The Senate rejects a proposal by John J. Crittenden of Kentucky to adopt the constitutional amendment submitted by the Peace Convention of February 27. Thus the Senate declares itself against the Peace Convention resolutions. It is Crittenden’s last major effort in Congress to bring about peace; from now on he devotes his efforts to controlling, as he sees it, the purposes of the war.

The Federal Revenue Cutter Henry Dodge is seized by Texas state authorities at Galveston.

In Washington President-elect Lincoln is having problems with Cabinet appointments. There is opposition to Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury and William H. Seward writes Lincoln asking permission to withdraw from his Cabinet position.

In a message to Congress, President Buchanan says troops have been ordered to Washington for the purpose of preserving peace and order and defends his action.

[Doug64]

March 3, Sunday

President-elect Lincoln has a full day in Washington, giving a dinner for his new Cabinet, visiting the Senate, and conferring on appointments.

Army commander General Winfield Scott writes William H. Seward that he believes it impracticable to relieve Fort Sumter. Meanwhile, the Army goes ahead with preparations to protect the inaugural ceremonies set for March 4.

At Charleston Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard assumes command of Confederate troops around Charleston Harbor.

[Doug64]

March 4, Monday

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois is inaugurated sixteenth President of the United States. Never before or after will a President be ushered into office facing the crisis of the nation split asunder.

In the morning President Buchanan and his Cabinet meet at the Capitol to examine final bills. Secretary of War Holt informs the President that he had word from Maj. Anderson that without twenty thousand reinforcements Fort Sumter cannot be held or supplied. Holt indicates he will inform the President-elect.

Mr. Lincoln, at Willard’s Hotel, asks William H. Seward to remain in the prospective Cabinet, receives notables, and goes over the inaugural address.

President Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln leave the hotel shortly after noon in partly cloudy weather with temperatures in the fifties and drive on an open carriage to the Capitol. Troops line the streets, and windows along Pennsylvania Avenue are watched by riflemen. Artillery is posted on the grounds of the Capitol, where some thirty thousand persons have gathered.

The Senate is called to order and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine sworn in as Vice-President by outgoing Vice-President John C. Breckinridge while President Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln watch. The weather clears as the President comes out on the special platform on the portico of the Capitol about 1 p.m. According to a story later considered true, when the President-elect arises to speak, he cannot find a place for his hat and Sen. Douglas reaches out and holds Mr. Lincoln’s hat during the ceremonies. The address that follows was prepared some weeks before in Springfield, although there have been some recent changes.

There is no need for apprehension on the part of the Southern people, the new President says, because of the ascension of a Republican administration. He reiterates he has no intention of interfering with the institution of slavery where it exists. He has no objection to the proposed amendment forbidding Federal interference with slavery and adds that each state has the right to control its domestic institutions. Somehow the President’s words seem a little late, what with secession an accomplished fact. He says a disruption of the Federal Union “is now formidably attempted” but “the Union of these States is perpetual.” He argues that the Union cannot be dissolved and that any secession resolves and ordinances are void, and further, that acts of violence against the authority of the United States are “insurrectionary or revolutionary. I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.” He adds that there need be no bloodshed or violence and there will not be any “unless it is forced upon the national authority.... In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.... Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, streching [sic] from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Much of the address follows the policy of the previous Buchanan administration and no special compromise, concession, or plan is proposed to deal with secession.

After the half-hour speech Chief Justice Roger B. Taney administers the oath of office, the Marine band plays, and the procession moves off to the White House. In the evening the President attends the inaugural ball at the Patent Office, returning to the White House about one in the morning.

Reaction to the inaugural address is about as expected. Justice John A. Campbell of the Supreme Court, soon to join the Confederacy, calls it a “stump speech not an inaugural message” and “incendiary.” The Arkansas True Democrat proclaims, “If declaring the Union perpetual means coercion, then LINCOLN’S INAUGURAL MEANS WAR!” The Montgomery Weekly Advertiser proclaims that the address meant “War. War, and nothing less than war, will satisfy the Abolition chief.” The Charleston Mercury: “A more lamentable display of feeble inability to grasp the circumstances of this momentous emergency, could scarcely have been exhibited.” While many in the North applaud, there was dissatisfaction also. The New York Herald says the country is “no Wiser than it was Before.” But the New York Tribune says, “Every word of it has the ring of true metal.”

At any rate, the thing has been done, and safely. There is also the colorful procession of former Presidents, judges, clergy, foreign ministers, members of Congress, Republican leaders, governors and former governors, legislators, military officers, veterans of the Revolution and of 1812, young ladies, representing the thirty-four states of the Union riding in a float—and over it all the unrelenting and yet somehow unapproachable fact that the new President presides over only part of a nation.

The new Cabinet has been decided on—Secretary of State, William H. Seward of New York; Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio; Secretary of War, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania; Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles of Connecticut; Secretary of the Interior, Caleb Blood Smith of Indiana; Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair of Maryland; and Attorney General, Edward Bates of Missouri. Three members, Seward, Chase, and Bates, had been leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, and even Cameron and Smith had been vaguely mentioned. The Cabinet represents diverse factions of the new Republican party and diverse opinions on the issues of the day. Political deals have entered into the appointment of Cameron and Smith.

In Montgomery the Committee of the Confederate Flag reports to Congress and the first Stars and Bars flies over the Alabama state Capitol, serving now as the Confederate Capitol.

Moving to St. Louis the Missouri State Convention, aiming at secession, gathers.

The Confederate Congress confirms the appointment of Stephen Mallory of Florida as Secretary of the Navy, but only after some discussion.

[Doug64]

March 5, Tuesday

Major Anderson’s message of February 28, which arrived at the War Department in Washington on March 4, has presented the Lincoln administration with an immediate crisis. Anderson says that reinforcements probably cannot be thrown into Fort Sumter before limited supplies run out, and that it will take at least twenty thousand men to do the job. The President confers with Lieutenant General Scott, who concurs with Major Anderson. The issue will have to be faced, probably within six weeks.

Meanwhile,President Lincoln has other problems, including the host of delegations and individuals crying for posts and favors. He does hold his first Cabinet meeting and the Senate in special session confirms the Cabinet nominations.

[Doug64]

March 6, Wednesday

While the immediate excitement of the inauguration in Washington is over, the crowds of office seekers and political hangers-on remain, interfering seriously with the more pressing affairs of state facing President Lincoln.

In Montgomery, the Confederate Congress is engrossed with such issues as postage, rail transportation, light ships, the lighthouse bureau, liquor control, registration of vessels, Indian agents, and the like. They also confirm nomination of John Reagan of Texas as Postmaster General. Congress is working hard and putting in long hours with a reported minimum of lengthy debate, but most of the sessions are secret.

At a meeting of military and naval officials in Washington, General Scott says the Army can do no more about the relief of Fort Sumter, and that it is now a naval problem.

Also in Washington, the three commissioners of the Confederacy are attempting to open relations with the new administration.

[Doug64]

March 7, Thursday

Two more points in Texas, Ringgold Barracks and Camp Verde, are abandoned by Federal forces.

In Washington President Lincoln confers with Cabinet members on supplying Fort Sumter.

In St. Louis the Missouri Convention is showing strong pro-Union sentiment: among the subjects discussed are a national convention, the Crittenden Compromise as a basis of action, and the proposition that the Southern states had no excuse for seceding.

[Doug64]

March 8, Friday

While the Lincolns are holding a large public reception in the White House, the three Confederate commissioners in Washington are presenting their terms on which hostilities may be avoided. Martin J. Crawford, John Forsyth, and A.B. Roman are trying to reach Secretary of State Seward through Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell. They also are in contact with pro-Southern and peace-minded figures of importance in Washington.