January 2026

Southern Politicians

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 17, 1861, The Charleston Mercury If there is any one thing more than another disheartening and disgusting, in the present juncture of affairs, it is the course of Southern politicians at Washington. In the past, their weak vacillations, their vain submissions, their short sighted selfishness, have reduced us to our present condition. Not the [...]

The Decision of the President—Fort Sumter to be Retained

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 17, 1861, The New York Herald Our Washington despatches on Tuesday informed us of the arrival of the federal capital of Colonel Hayne – a special messenger from the Governor of South Carolina to the President of the United States. Col. Hayne’s errand was to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter to the authorities [...]

DNC Chairman August Belmont to W. H. Seward: “…nothing can prevent Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky, from joining the movement of the cotton States…,”

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Civil War Day-by-Day

To The Hon. W. H. SEWARD, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. New York, January 17, 1861 My Dear Sir,–I had intended for the last few days to express to you my sincere admiration of your patriotic and statesmanlike speech in the United States Senate, on Saturday last, but have been prevented by indisposition until [...]

Texas Convention will pass Secession Ordinance

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Miscellaneous document sources

George I. Durham[i] to Howell Cobb. Austin, Texas, Jan’y 17/61. Sir: I am directed by the Executive Committee to apprise you of the true condition of public sentiment in this State respecting our relations with the Federal Government. Our Executive is hostile to the present movement of the Gulf States and will use every means [...]

“The “Secession fever” seems to me to be rather subsiding.”—Horatio Nelson Taft

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1861. Another wet misty day. Splashy sidewalks and mudy crossings. Letter from Frank today through Chas dated Fort Kearney, N.T., attached to the U.S. Army acting as comdt clerk, well & healthy. The “Secession fever” seems to me to be rather subsiding. The “Secession” Clerks in the Census Bureau were notified today [...]

“These facts, if well founded, place the country in imminent risk of civil war…;”—Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, United States Minister to England

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Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, United States Minister to England 1856 to 1861

1861. January 16. – I have been kept for a week, and am still, in a state of great anxiety about the dangerous political excitements at home. The President has taken an attitude less friendly to the secessionists. This has been owing, it would seem, to the occupation of Fort Moultrie and the seizure of [...]

The Telegraph System—Its Value in Revolutionary Times

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald Since the secession movement has gained head the telegraph has been charged with giving it impetus by the circulation of false and exciting rumors. Those who make such accusations neither take the trouble of weighing the facts nor of contrasting the advantages of the present rapid mode of [...]

The News

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald The Cabinet had a meeting yesterday, and decided to send any reinforcements to major Anderson at present. The instructions to the Major have not yet been completed. Messrs. Hayne and Guardin, messengers from the Governor of South Carolina, and Lieut. Hall, bearer of despatches from Major Anderson, arrived [...]

New York Sentiment Upon the Crisis

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald It is certainly very gratifying to all of us dwellers in the commercial metropolis to know that the Empire City stands firm for Union, the constitution and the enforcement of the laws. The hard times have thrown at least fifteen thousand workingmen out of employment, but as yet [...]

The News

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald Our Washington despatches reveal the object of the mission of Colonel Hayne, the envoy of South Carolina to Washington. It is to demand of the federal government the surrender of Fort Sumter. The South Carolina authorities notified Major Anderson of their determination to capture the fort if it [...]

Central Park Skating Adjourned

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald Much disappointment was manifested yesterday morning by a number of persons when, on arriving at the Park, they found there was no skating, although the flags on the cars still stated that the ball was up. Such deception on the part of the avenue railroad managers may have [...]

Fostering Absurd Ideas

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The Charleston Mercury The Northern papers, just at present, are filled with an amazing quantity of trash. Even those whose antecedents would lead one to suppose that they contained some fair amount of discrimination and common sense, seem now groping about like children in the dark, with gaping mouths, uttering unutterably silly [...]

The Crisis in the States

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The Charleston Mercury Feeling in the North and in the South. OUR SPECIAL WASHINGTON DESPATCHES. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Washington, January 15. – It is currently rumored in reliable circles today, that the Administration will withdraw the troops from Forts Sumter and Pickens before the close of the present week. A despatch [...]

Is Secession to be Permitted or Shall There be Civil War?

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The New York Herald The policy which Mr. Seward’s speech of Saturday insinuates, rather than avows, foreshadowing, as it does, some germs of good, correctly indicates to what extent republicans fanaticism has begun to recoil before the avalanche of destruction which is tottering over the country. Louis XI bows low, in his [...]

A Bogus Extra

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 16, 1861, The Charleston Mercury The Gothamites were jubilant on Thursday evening, over the following refreshing intelligence, which was circulated in the streets in the form of an extra, and on which some of the enterprising newsboys made a fortune: EXTRA. Latest from Charleston. Lieut. Hall, who was despatched by Major Anderson with a [...]

“You rightly designate the firing into the Star of the West as ‘an act of war…,’”—Operations in Charleston Harbor

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

WAR DEPARTMENT, January 16, 1861. Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON, First Artillery, Commanding Fort Sumter: SIR: Your dispatch No. 17, covering your correspondence with the governor of South Carolina, has been received from the hand of Lieutenant Talbot. You rightly designate the firing into the Star of the West as “an act of war,” and one which [...]

“…there is a determination manifestly abroad that this Government shall not be broken up…”—Horatio Nelson Taft

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

TUESDAY 15 Slippery, misty, foggy day. Good skating for the boys this morning in the street. A general impression seems to prevail that that [sic] the troubles of the Country are going to be healed some way, nobody can tell how. But there is a determination manifestly abroad that this Government shall not be broken [...]

Texas—Our Galveston Correspondence

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 15, 1861, The New York Herald I do not know that I can find language sufficiently strong to express to you the unanimity and intensity of the feeling in this region in opposition to the perpetuation of the Union under the rule of President Lincoln and a black republican administration. That there are among [...]

The News

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 15, 1861, The New York Herald The Cabinet had a meeting yesterday, and decided to send any reinforcements to major Anderson at present. The instructions to the Major have not yet been completed. Messrs. Hayne and Guardin, messengers from the Governor of South Carolina, and Lieut. Hall, bearer of despatches from Major Anderson, arrived [...]