The Confederacy's Fatal Mistake.

Your and @Copperhead-mi ´s post are extremely informative. Thank you very much. As far as I know I always thought a first convention rejected the idea of secession - if that's correct: do one of you know what motivations led to that first rejection?
You are correct that Virginia had originally voted not to secede from the Union in 1861. However, even before the secession convention met, the Virginia General Assembly had passed an ordinance that opposed any type of federal coercion against states that wanted to withdraw from the Union. The Virginia Anti-Coercion Resolution of Jan. 1861 stated : “Resolved, that when any one or more of the states has determined or shall determine, under existing circumstances, to withdraw from the Union, we are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the federal government to coerce the same into reunion or submission, and that we will resist the same by all the means in our power.”

The state of Virginia originally desired to remain a part of the Union. In fact, the Virginia Convention initially voted by a margin of 2 to 1 not to secede from the Union on April 4, 1861. However, after the attack on Ft. Sumter, certain events caused the Virginia Convention to reverse itself. They then voted to secede from the Union by a clear majority on April 17th. The reason for the change in the secession vote in such a brief period was Lincoln's Proclamation calling for troops on April 15th to suppress the other southern states. Virginia refused the request for troops because they considered it to be a violation of the Constitution and an abuse of power. Furthermore, the secession delegates reiterated that they were opposed to any type of federal coercion against the states. The sentiments of the citizens of Virginia were echoed in the response of Governor Letcher to Lincoln's Proclamation when he stated "Your object is to subjugate the Southern states....an object in my judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the act of 1795 - will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the administration has exhibited toward the south." Governor Letcher's response to Lincoln was presented to the Virginia Convention and the next day (April 17th) they voted to secede from the Union.

 
The Virginia Anti-Coercion Resolution of Jan. 1861 stated : “Resolved, that when any one or more of the states has determined or shall determine, under existing circumstances, to withdraw from the Union, we are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the federal government to coerce the same into reunion or submission, and that we will resist the same by all the means in our power.”


Well, that tells the end of the tale don't it.
 
Does anybody else hear echos of Yamamoto’s warning against starting a war with the US?
What? "There's a surplus rifle behind every blade of European grass?"

Neither side was prepared for war. The arsenals had worn out and obsolete weapons, but the North had the industrial capacity to produce the material for war. So- "There's a factory behind every blade of grass."
 
What? "There's a surplus rifle behind every blade of European grass?"

Neither side was prepared for war. The arsenals had worn out and obsolete weapons, but the North had the industrial capacity to produce the material for war. So- "There's a factory behind every blade of grass."
The story of the Tennessee Militia in the immediate prewar period is a sterling example of what kind of armament was available. The muskets were, by & large, holdovers from the War of 1812. There were even Tower of London muskets recovered from the Battle of New Orleans. There are numerous accounts of soldiers beating their worthless muskets against trees to bend the barrel before discarding them.

60% of CSA infantry at the Battle of Stones River were armed with smoothbore muskets. 40% of Rosecrans' troops had smoothbores.

Without importation of British & European muskets, both sides would have been reduced to throwing rocks early on.
 
Last edited:
What? "There's a surplus rifle behind every blade of European grass?"

Neither side was prepared for war. The arsenals had worn out and obsolete weapons, but the North had the industrial capacity to produce the material for war. So- "There's a factory behind every blade of grass."
You make a very good point in your post because neither side was prepared for war. However, industries in the north produced over 90% of the armaments in the entire U.S. The Union also produced 90% of the manufactured items in the country. The northern states also had over twice the population of the south. In terms of railroad mileage, 71% of the total track miles were in the northern states. The industrial capacity of the north was far superior compared to the south.
 
You make a very good point in your post because neither side was prepared for war. However, industries in the north produced over 90% of the armaments in the entire U.S. The Union also produced 90% of the manufactured items in the country. The northern states also had over twice the population of the south. In terms of railroad mileage, 71% of the total track miles were in the northern states. The industrial capacity of the north was far superior compared to the south.
Absolutely correct.
Do you know how fast they could/did purchase weapons?
They of course had some kind of luck that they waged war in the 19th century - for a quick start they needed mainly just muskets / rifled muskets some lead for the balls and gun powder.
Just a few years later it would have been very different (and much more difficult) - as they probably would have had to import also ammunition for repeating rifles....
 
Last edited:
I think you make a good point. Lincoln was a neophyte in national politics. In short order, of course, he became a master politician. His learning curve was almost vertical. Of course, Jackson made it explicitly understood that if the SC hotheads attempted to secede he would hang them... all of them. A mortal threat from Jackson must have focused the minds of the negotiators.
Jackson had hung an 18 year old soldier who left his picket post in the war of 1812. Also he hung 2 British diplomats as spies when they came to his camp in the War of 1812. The Sc hotheads knew Jackson’s threat was real and they had little doubt they would be hanged. That certainly tempered their behavior.
 
Jackson had hung an 18 year old soldier who left his picket post in the war of 1812. Also he hung 2 British diplomats as spies when they came to his camp in the War of 1812. The Sc hotheads knew Jackson’s threat was real and they had little doubt they would be hanged. That certainly tempered their behavior.

Actually, SC was ready to fight. John C. Calhoun had hurried back to South Carolina after the passage of the tariff compromise to talk them down, and was able to do so.

Congress adjourned March 3, 1833. That same day Calhoun started his seven-hundred-mile journey South. His haste was feverish. His one hope was to reach Columbia before the eleventh, when the Nullification Convention was to reassemble - before blood was shed.​
For South Carolina had gone beyond him. Force would be met by fire. South Carolina was in no mood to accept the crumbs from Henry Clay's table, certainly not under the very gun-barrels of Andrew Jackson! If the principle of protection was wrong, why recognize it at all? South Carolina was armed. South Carolina was ready. Mr. Clay's tariff could be nullified as easily as the Tariff of Abominations had been.​
-----​
He [Calhoun] was too tired to speak, but a seat was found for him on the floor. He had not come too soon. The mood of the convention was ugly. On the rostrum stood Robert Barnwell Rhett, voice taunting, nostrils flared in scorn. Openly he shouted for a Southern Confederacy. Openly he defied any delegate there to say that he loved the Union.​
------​
Through the hall Calhoun's tall figure moved restlessly from delegate to delegate. He pled for patience. He begged South Carolina not to assume the responsibility before history, before the world, for disrupting the dream of a united America. It was no easy task, preaching the gospel of peace to a people booted and spurred for war.... Amidst loud cries of 'peaceable secession' and pledges of allegiance to the state and obedience only to the national government, Calhoun won his way. By sheer personal persuasion the weary man convinced the delegates that South Carolina's practical objectives had been won. The State had nullified. The tariff had been repealed. To go farther would 'mean a war in the South.' And he 'did not wish it.'​
Overnight the mood of the convention changed. On the fourteenth the delegates repealed their nullification of the tariff of 1828. - John C. Calhoun, American Portrait by Margaret Coit pp. 256-258​
 
Actually, SC was ready to fight. John C. Calhoun had hurried back to South Carolina after the passage of the tariff compromise to talk them down, and was able to do so.

Congress adjourned March 3, 1833. That same day Calhoun started his seven-hundred-mile journey South. His haste was feverish. His one hope was to reach Columbia before the eleventh, when the Nullification Convention was to reassemble - before blood was shed.​
For South Carolina had gone beyond him. Force would be met by fire. South Carolina was in no mood to accept the crumbs from Henry Clay's table, certainly not under the very gun-barrels of Andrew Jackson! If the principle of protection was wrong, why recognize it at all? South Carolina was armed. South Carolina was ready. Mr. Clay's tariff could be nullified as easily as the Tariff of Abominations had been.​
-----​
He [Calhoun] was too tired to speak, but a seat was found for him on the floor. He had not come too soon. The mood of the convention was ugly. On the rostrum stood Robert Barnwell Rhett, voice taunting, nostrils flared in scorn. Openly he shouted for a Southern Confederacy. Openly he defied any delegate there to say that he loved the Union.​
------​
Through the hall Calhoun's tall figure moved restlessly from delegate to delegate. He pled for patience. He begged South Carolina not to assume the responsibility before history, before the world, for disrupting the dream of a united America. It was no easy task, preaching the gospel of peace to a people booted and spurred for war.... Amidst loud cries of 'peaceable secession' and pledges of allegiance to the state and obedience only to the national government, Calhoun won his way. By sheer personal persuasion the weary man convinced the delegates that South Carolina's practical objectives had been won. The State had nullified. The tariff had been repealed. To go farther would 'mean a war in the South.' And he 'did not wish it.'​
Overnight the mood of the convention changed. On the fourteenth the delegates repealed their nullification of the tariff of 1828. - John C. Calhoun, American Portrait by Margaret Coit pp. 256-258​
Jackson compromised. Lincoln was no Jackson. He had to win a majority of a Sectional political party, the Republicans. Latter tried to modify his stance and it was too late.

South didn’t Fear Lincoln either.
 
Actually, SC was ready to fight. John C. Calhoun had hurried back to South Carolina after the passage of the tariff compromise to talk them down, and was able to do so.

Congress adjourned March 3, 1833. That same day Calhoun started his seven-hundred-mile journey South. His haste was feverish. His one hope was to reach Columbia before the eleventh, when the Nullification Convention was to reassemble - before blood was shed.​
For South Carolina had gone beyond him. Force would be met by fire. South Carolina was in no mood to accept the crumbs from Henry Clay's table, certainly not under the very gun-barrels of Andrew Jackson! If the principle of protection was wrong, why recognize it at all? South Carolina was armed. South Carolina was ready. Mr. Clay's tariff could be nullified as easily as the Tariff of Abominations had been.​
-----​
He [Calhoun] was too tired to speak, but a seat was found for him on the floor. He had not come too soon. The mood of the convention was ugly. On the rostrum stood Robert Barnwell Rhett, voice taunting, nostrils flared in scorn. Openly he shouted for a Southern Confederacy. Openly he defied any delegate there to say that he loved the Union.​
------​
Through the hall Calhoun's tall figure moved restlessly from delegate to delegate. He pled for patience. He begged South Carolina not to assume the responsibility before history, before the world, for disrupting the dream of a united America. It was no easy task, preaching the gospel of peace to a people booted and spurred for war.... Amidst loud cries of 'peaceable secession' and pledges of allegiance to the state and obedience only to the national government, Calhoun won his way. By sheer personal persuasion the weary man convinced the delegates that South Carolina's practical objectives had been won. The State had nullified. The tariff had been repealed. To go farther would 'mean a war in the South.' And he 'did not wish it.'​
Overnight the mood of the convention changed. On the fourteenth the delegates repealed their nullification of the tariff of 1828. - John C. Calhoun, American Portrait by Margaret Coit pp. 256-258​
Thank you for the post. I was not aware that succession had been that close in 1833.
 
Thank you for the post. I was not aware that succession had been that close in 1833.
When Southern secessionists threatened secession again in 1850 (primarily South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama), Zachary Taylor told them anyone “taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang … with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico” They backed down.

John C. Calhoun had died in March, so we are talking about the likes of Robert Barnwell Rhett, Maxcy Gregg, James H. Adams, David F. Jamison, and Daniel Wallace in South Carolina. In December, the legislature made the secessionist John H. Means governor, sent Rhett to the U.S. Senate, and increased taxes to take military measures.
 
When Southern secessionists threatened secession again in 1850 (primarily South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama), Zachary Taylor told them anyone “taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang … with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico” They backed down.

John C. Calhoun had died in March, so we are talking about the likes of Robert Barnwell Rhett, Maxcy Gregg, James H. Adams, David F. Jamison, and Daniel Wallace in South Carolina. In December, the legislature made the secessionist John H. Means governor, sent Rhett to the U.S. Senate, and increased taxes to take military measures.
South Carolina got what they wanted. How come no one wants to talk about that?
 
Back
Top