Edenton [N. C], Mar. 6/61. Dear Sir: Acquainted with no one in the Capital of the South ern] R[epublic], and my State unfortunately having no representative there, I beg you to furnish me with [a] little information if the numerous demands upon your time will permit. I am satisfied your ardent nature induces you to [...]

John A. Cobb to Howell Cobb. E. Macon [Ga.], March 4th, 1861. Dear Father, … A package came by express today from Washington containing two presents from Col. Colt (the revolver man) one [for] Mother and one for you. Yours is a large horseman’s pistol (revolver) in a fine case. Mother’s is a book. On [...]

Richmond, Va., Feb. 28th, 1861. Dear Governor, I was dispatched from Montgomery under orders from the President so suddenly that I had not the opportunity of calling on my friends, yourself among the number, as I intended to do; so you must excuse me for my seeming remissness. As I shall not return for some [...]

This ruse by Lincoln Washington [D. C], Feby. 25th, ’61. My Dear Sir: I enclose you a slip from the Sun of this morning communicating facts you may not otherwise get as to the extraordinary movements of Mountebank Lincoln. Some incidents in Balto. the papers discreetly omit. At the Calvert station there were not less [...]

Democrat Office, Winona, Min., Feb. 22d, 1861. Hon. Howell Cobb: The action of the Southern States in seceding from a Union which refused to recognize and protect their constitutional rights, meeting my most cordial approbation, and the absolute proscription of every Journal in the North which defends this action, has induced me to sell my [...]

Bank of the Republic, New York, Feby. 22d, 1861. My Dear Sir: If the S. Confederacy are going to make a tariff, how will they adjust the navigation of the Mississippi? It is greatly better to put a ten pr. ct. duty on exports; but best of all to go free trade in full. That [...]

Howell Cobb to His Wife. Montgomery [Ala.], 20 Feby., 1861. Mv Dear Wife, . . . President Davis, as you have seen, has arrived and been inaugurated. His inaugural was highly satisfactory and the occasion was one of the most impressive scenes I ever witnessed. The crowd was large and decidedly the finest audience of [...]

From the following brief article the reader can form some idea of the persecution to which Union men had to submit in the town of Fredericksburg as early as the 14th of February, 1861, the date of its publication:– “Why is it that secessionists talk of compromise with derision? Why is it that they wish [...]

Milledgeville [Ga.], Feby. 12th, 1861. Dear Sir: I have appointed Lewis F. Kenan Captain and young Mr. Barrow 2d Lieut, as you and others of the Georgia delegation requested. Col. Kenan’s course, while a political opponent, has been towards me high toned and honorable, and it affords me much pleasure to appoint his son who [...]

R. K. Hudgins to Howell Cobb. New Orleans, February 11th, 1861. Sir: The revenue cutter Washington, authorised by you while Secretary of the Treasury to be repaired at this place under my superintendence, doubtless you are aware, has been taken possession of by the authorities of Louisiana with the view of ultimately constituting her a [...]

T. Allan[i] to Howell Cobb. Washington D. C., February 11, 1861. Dear Governor, The glorious news of a Southern Confederacy was received here on yesterday and has created a profound sensation. Whilst the tinkers from  the border States are here in secret conclave saving the Union (as if it were not dissolved as far back [...]

Bank of the Republic, New York, Feby. 9, 1861. My Dear Sir: Notwithstanding I have no reply to any of my late letters to you, knowing your constant engagements I still write you. The arms seized here have been put at the command of their owners—the question in dispute being the expenses, some 3 or [...]

Junius Hillyer to Howell Cobb. Washington [D. C.], Saturday night, Feb. 9th, 1861. Dear Sir: I recd, your letter tonight. I will resign on Monday and leave for home on Tuesday morning. I did not know of there being any feeling in Geo. on the subject, though my place here was becoming daily more and [...]

Howell Cobb to His Wife. Montgomery [Ala.], 6 Feby., 1861. My Dear Wife, Since my election as President of the Congress I have been engaged all the time and had no chance to write. We have gone into secret session, and on pain of expulsion not permitted to divulge anything that is going on. The [...]

Howell Cobb to His Wife. Montgomery [Ala.], 3 Feby., 1861. My Dear Wife, I have been here for more than a day. . . . Most of the delegates have arrived, but there has been not much consultation. From all I hear there is a general disposition to make me president of the convention. It [...]

Augustus K. Wright[i] to Howell Cobb. Augusta, Ga., Feby. 1st, 1861. Dear Sir: Suffer me to presume upon a casual acquaintance many years ago and the intimacy that for many years existed between our fathers to ask for letters to such gentlemen of your acquaintance in the State of Maryland and at Washington as may [...]

The people are misled, and will see their course I fear when it is too late. Alexander H. Stephens to J. Henly Smith. Crawfordville [Ga.], Dec. 31st, 1860. Dear Smith, Yours of the 26th inst. was received last night. I do not think anything can be made of any of the propositions I have seen [...]

Crawfordville, Georgia, 30th December, 1860. Dear Sir,—Yours of the 22d instant was received two days ago. I hold it and appreciate it as you intended. Personally, I am not your enemy,—far from it; and however widely we may differ politically, yet I trust we both have an earnest desire to preserve and maintain the Union [...]

Charles F. M. Garnett to Howell Cobb. Lynchburg, Va., Dec. 28th, 1860. Dear Sir: I have thought much of the subject of defence in view of the present position of the South. Everybody knows the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Unfortunately the Southern States are entirely unprovided. Now I think Virginia can supply cannon, [...]

The Charleston Daily Courier, December 28, 1860 In order to ascertain truthful statements of the actual damage done to the forts, of the causes of the movement, and of the state of affairs generally, reporters were despatched to the scene during the forenoon. On the way across the harbor, the hoisting of the American flag [...]

This is an artist’s imagined rendering of an actual event that wasn’t much of an event. From the c1875 engraved print: United States Arsenal at Charleston, S.C. Seized by the State Authorities, December 28th, 1860 “At the time this picture was drawn the handsome arsenal of the government at Charleston was an object of great [...]

Robert Toombs to the People of Georgia (telegram).[i] [Washington, D. C, Dec. 23, 1860.] Fellow Citizens of Georgia: I came here to secure your constitutional rights or to demonstrate to you that you can get no guarantees for these rights from your Northern confederates. The whole subject was referred to a committee of thirteen in [...]

Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War, October 1861 Top: Representative Lawrence M. Keitt, Representative John McQueen, Representative Milledge Luke Bonham Middle: Senator James Chesnut, Senator James Henry Hammond Bottom: Representative William Waters Boyce,  Representative John D. Ashmore, and Representative William Porcer Miles Note: Even though this was published late in 1861, the Harper’s Weekly [...]

To Alexander H. Stephens For your own eye only.            Springfield, Ills. Dec. 22, 1860 Hon. A. H. Stephens            My dear Sir                                  Your obliging answer to my short note is just received, and for which please accept my thanks. I fully appreciate the present peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on [...]