On Feb. 4, 1861, delegates from the seven then seceded states met at Montgomery, Ala., and formed a provisional government, undo' the title of the Confederate States of America. A constitution was adopted similar to that of the United States, and the gov ernment fully organized, Feb. 18, 1861; president, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi; vice president, Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia; and May 24, established at Richmond, Virginia. The secession movement appears to have been nearly unanimous in the more southern states, and to have been carried in all by decided majorities. As state after state withdrew from the union, its senators and representatives in congress at Washing ton resigned their seats; and nearly all the officers of the army and navy, of southern birth, believing that their first and final allegiance was due to their states, and that the action of each state carried with it all its citizens, also resigned their commissions, and tended their swords to their respective states, and to the confederacy they had formed.
President Buchanan, doubting his constitutional power to compel the seceding states to return to the union, made a feeble and ineffectual attempt to relieve the garrison of fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, closely besieged by the forces of South Carolina. Commissioners were sent to Washington to negotiate for the settlement of the claims of the federal government, and great efforts were made to effect compromises of the diffi culties, but without result.
On the 4th of Mar., 1861, president Lincoln was inaugurated at Washington. In his address, he said: " I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the insti tution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." On the 7th of April, a naval expedition set sail from New York for the relief of fort Sumter: and its arrival off Charleston harbor was the signal for the commencement of a bombardment of the fort by the confederate batteries of gen. Beauregard. The surrender of the fort, April 11, was followed by s sudden outburst of excited feeling in the north. The government called out 75,000 vitt unteers, large numbers of whom were in a few days marching to the defense of Wash ington. April 18, the confederates seized the U. S. arsenal at Harper's ferry, and took or destroyed a large quantity of arms and machinery. On the 20th, the navy-yard, near Norfolk, Va., was destroyed by the U. S. officers, and five large men-of-war burned or sunk, to prevent their falling into the hands of the confederates. Opposed to the fed eral volunteers assembled at Washington, the confederates took up a position at Bull Run, a few miles distant from the Potomac, under gen. Beauregard, where they were attacked by gen. M'Dowell. A severe action resulted in the repulse and complete panic of the federals, who hastily retreated to Washington. Congress saw that it must act in in earnest, and that the rebellion was not to be put down in 90 days by 75,000 volun teers. It voted to call out 500,000 men. The confederates states had a pop. of 5,582, 122 free inhabitants, and 3,519,902 slaves; total, 9,102,024; and though the negroes were not called into the field except as laborers, they were not less useful in supplying the armies, by carrying on the agricultural labor of the country. The confederates had also the strong sympathy and aid of the four slaveholding border states, prevented by their position from seceding—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Holding their position in Virginia, the confederates erected fortifications on the Ten 2essee and Cumberland rivers, and on important points of the Mississippi, from Col umbus, in Kentucky, to its mouth. They,also made a strong effort to secure the state of Missouri, as well as to defend the sea-ports through which they must receive their most important supplies from abroad. The federal government, on its side, blockaded the whole line of coast from Virginia to Texas, and sent large forces to secure the dcubt ful states. Gun-boats were rapidly built for the rivers of the west, and vessels pur
chased and constructed for the navy. In Dec., 1861, the federals had 640,000 men in the field; and the confederates had 210,000, and had called for 400,000 volunteers.
The first important operation of 1862 was the taking the defenses of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers (Feb. 6), which led to the occupation of Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, henceforth held by the federals—Andrew Johnson, formerly governor and senator, having been appointed military governor. Roanoke island was also captured, on the coast of North Carolina. In March, gen. 1PClellan, who had succeeded the aged lieut.gen. Scott as commander-in-chief, commenced a movement on Richmond, the seat of the confederate government, now defended by gen. Lee. On the 8th of Mar., the confederate iron-clad Virginia, constructed from the U. S. steamer _Merrimac, which had been sunk at Norfolk, and raised by the confederates, attacked the federal fleet in Hampton roads, and in 40 minutes sunk the Cumberland, and set on fire and captured the Congress (frigates); while the other vessels took refuge in shoal water or in flight. The next day, the Monitor, a war-vessel of entirely novel construction, low and fiat, with a revolving turret, invented by capt. Ericsson, engaged the Virginia. The battle lasted two hours without result. On the 6th of April, a sanguinary but indecisive bat tle was fought near Corinth, Ala., the federals being protected by gun-boats. Soon after, admiral Farragut, with a fleet of 45 vessels, carried the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi river, and took New Orleans; while the armies and gun-boats captured the fortifications on the upper part of the river as low as Memphis, Tenn. In the mean time, gen. M'Clellan had besieged and taken Yorktown, and fought his way up the peninsula of the James river, until within five m. of Richmond, when he was beaten in a series of sanguinary battles, and driven, with a loss, in six days, of 15,000 men, to the shelter of his gun-boats; while gens. Banks and Pope, sent to co-operate with him in the Shenan doah valley, were defeated and driven back by gen. " Stonewall " Jackson. On the 1st of July, the president called for 300,000, and Aug. 4,300,000 more men for the federal army. Congress abolished slavery in the district of Columbia, prohibited it in the ter ritories, and passed a resolution to compensate the masters in any state that would abol WI slavery. They also authorized,the president to employ negroes in the army, and to confiscate the slaves of rebels. In August, the federals were a second time defeated at. Bull Run, and gen. Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland, creating great alarm in Washington, and even in Philadelphia. Gen. M'Clellau made a rapid march, and met him at liarpsburg or Antietam. A drawn battle resulted in the retreat of gen. Lee, covering an immense train of provisions, horses, cattle, etc., which was probably the object of his expedition. A confederate invasion of Kentucky, about the same time was attended with similar results. Another advance on Richmond was led by gen. Burnside, who had superseded gen. M'Clellan; but he was confronted by gen. Lee at Fredericksburg, and defeated in one of the most sanguinary battles of the war. Presi dent Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the freedom of all the slaves in the rebel states, which it was expected might cause them to rise against their masters; but it was without result. While the army of the Potomac was vainly endeavoring to advance on Richmond, the army of Tennessee, under gen. Rosencranz, with its base at Nashville, was trying to sever the Atlantic from the gulf states, and cut off the railways that sup plied the confederate armies in Virginia. At Murfreesborough, Tenn., the confederate gen. Bragg attacked gen. Rosencranz with the usual result of heavy losses on both sides, but no decided victory.