Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: HandyDandy

Which “top men” advised Davis to seize the fort to draw Virginia into the Confederacy. Davis’s Secretary of State told him that if he attacked Sumter, the South would lose every friend they had in the North and stir up a hornets nest to boot. Lincoln’s efforts to resupply the fort forced Davis’s hand. Davis was not going to allow Sumter to be resupplied under any circumstance. To do so would have only kicked the problem down the road.


882 posted on 08/21/2021 7:29:38 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 880 | View Replies ]


To: Bull Snipe
If ever there were a single individual utterly unsuited to so much as be a dog catcher Jefferson Finis Davis was that individual.

In short the man was a complete , obstinate moron who almost single handily rent this nation in two and caused the deaths of 600,000 Americans.

884 posted on 08/21/2021 9:54:21 AM PDT by jmacusa (America. Founded by geniuses . Now governed by idiots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 882 | View Replies ]

To: Bull Snipe
“Virginia was on record as saying she would join the confederacy if and when a war started.”

“Davis had advisors who were urging him in that direction as well. L.Q. Washington wrote, "I fear the present Virginia Convention will not pass an ordinance of secession unless a collision or war ensues; then public feeling will force them to it. There is a majority of old Federal submissionists, who got in by pretending to be resistance men." [OR Series I, Vol I, pp. 263-264]

"One Alabamian had warned Davis, 'Unless you sprinkle blood on the face of the Southern people they will be back in the old Union in less than ten days.' A sprinkle of blood, too, should bring the fencesitters--Virginia and the other border states--into the Confederate fold." [W. A. Swanberg, _First Blood: The Story of Fort Sumter,_ p. 286]

There are the words of Virginian Roger Pryor, who, speaking to a Charleston audience on April 10, 1861, said, "But I assure you that just as certain as tomorrow's sun will rise upon us, just so certain will Virginia be a member of the Southern Confederacy; and I will tell your Governor what will put her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by Shrewsbury clock. Strike a blow!" [Ibid.,_ p. 289]

That same day, Davis received a telegram from Louis T. Wigfall, urging, "General Beauregard will not act without your order. Let me suggest to you to send the order to him to begin the attack as soon as he is ready. Virginia is excited by the preparations, and a bold stroke on our side will complete her purposes. Policy and prudence are urgent upon us to begin at once." [Wigfall to Davis, 10 Apr 1861, quoted in Richard N. Current, _Lincoln and the First Shot,_ p. 151]]”

https://soc.history.war.us-civil-war.narkive.com/lblKICU7/jefferson-davis-and-fort-sumter

885 posted on 08/21/2021 5:57:09 PM PDT by HandyDandy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 882 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson