I asked about causes and reasons of secession, not the war. The war began after a group of seven Southern states had already seceded (and thereafter attacked the United States). I ask again: can anyone suggest a reason why the seven original Confederate states seceded which is not founded in slavery? "Most soldiers didn't own slaves" is not an answer.
free dixie,sw
Why then, did Delaware not join the secession? Surely they would have if slavery was the reason. My point still stands.
"...Still forbearing, still hoping, still striving for peace and union, we waited until a section President [Lincoln], nominated by a sectional convention, elected by a sectional vote--and that the vote of a minority of the people--was about to be inducted into office, under the warning of his own distinct announcement that the Union could not permanently endure "half slave and half free"; meaning thereby that it could not continue to exist in the condition in which it was formed and its Constitution adopted. The leader of his party (William H. Seward) [of the Republican party], who was to be the chief of his Cabinet, was the man who had first proclaimed an "irrepressible conflict" between the North and the South, and who had declared that abolitionism, having triumphed in the Territories, would proceed to the invasion of the States. Even then the Southern people did not finally despair until the temper of the triumphant party had been tested in Congress and found adverse to any terms of reconciliation consistent with the honor and safety of all parties."
"No alternative remained except to seek the security out of the Union which they had vainly tried to obtain within it. The hope of our people may be stated in a sentence. It was to escape from injury and strife in the Union, to find prosperity and peace out of it."
--Jefferson Davis, "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government" (1881)
The violation of the armistice was, "an Executive act, unknown at the time to any but those engaged therein, including General Scott, the Secretary of State, and the President."
- General Montgomery Meigs
360
OPERATIONS IN FLORIDA.
[CHAP. IV.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, March 12, 1861.Captain VOGDES, U. S. Army,
On board U. S. sloop-of-war Brooklyn, lying off Port Pickens:SIR: At the first favorable moment you will land with your company, re-enforce Fort Pickens, and hold the same till further orders. Report frequently, if opportunities present themselves, on the condition of the fort and the circumstances around you.
I write by command of Lieutenant-General Scott.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
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On the evening of the 12th I received this communication:
HEADQUARTERS TROOPS OF CONFEDERATE STATES,
Near Pensacola, Fla., March 13, 1861.
To the U. S. OFFICER commanding Fort Pickens, Fla.:
SIR: The bearer of this communication, Capt. R. C. Wood, Army of the Confederate States, waits upon you in my behalf with the purpose of obtaining information necessary to enable me to understand our relative positions. He will communicate to you my views, and receive such reply as you may be pleased to make.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
BRAXTON BRAGG,
Brigadier-General, Commanding
As I was absent at Pensacola delivering up the negroes, I did not see Captain Wood. I made the following answer, accompanying it with copies of the agreement entered into by Colonel Chase and the War Department, with copies of such other papers as would enable the general to understand our positions:
FORT PICKENS, FLA., March 13, 1861.
General BRAXTON BRAGG, Comdg. the forces, &c., near Pensacola, Fla.:
SIR: Your communication of this date reached this post during my absence. I have the honor to send you a copy of the agreement entered into between Colonel Chase, Senator Mallory, and the War and Navy Departments, with such other communications as may enable you to understand our relative positions. Please let me know as soon as convenient whether you will consider the agreement binding on your part or not.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A.J. SLEMMER,
First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.
To which I received the following reply:
HEADQUARTERS TROOPS OF CONFEDERATE STATES,
Near Pensacola, Pla., March 13, 1861.
Lient. A. J. SLEMMER, Commanding Fort Pickens:
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your communication of this date with its inclosures. In announcing to you my intention to conform strictly to the spirit of the agreement entered into by Colonel Chase, I beg to suggest to you that the erection of a battery on Santa Rosa Island bearing directly on our navy-yard is, in my view, directly in conflict with the spirit of the agreement. The erection of the works on this side bearing on the channel cannot, I conceive, be taken as a menace against Fort Pickens, and the act seems to me fully justified as a means of defense, and especially so under the threats of the new administration.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
BRAXTON BRAGG,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.
The battery which the general mentions has no reality, and I so requested his aid, Lieutenant Gaines, to inform him.
On the 15th I made the following answer:
FORT PICKENS, FLA., March 15, 1861.
Brig. Gen. BRAXTON BRAGG, Comdg. Forces C. S., near Pensacola, Fla.:
Sir: I placed yesterday your communication of the 13th instant before the commander of the squadron off the harbor. This will account for the delay in announcing
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to you that the assurances given are perfectly satisfactory. Of the erection of the batteries on either side, I have only to say that our views on that point are directly opposite.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
A.J. SLEMMER,
First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.
I sent yesterday by mail (via New Orleans) my monthly returns and master rolls for February. I hope they will arrive safely. I was then not aware that Commander Adams would send a special messenger.
I would most respectfully call the attention of the commanding general to the fact that there is mention of a notification being given as to the termination of the agreement on either side.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A.J. SLEMMER,
First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.
U.S. STEAMER BROOKLYN, March 21, 1861.
[General SCOTT:]
GENERAL: I wrote to you a few days since asking you to decide the subject of command on this station. Since then Lieutenant Gilman has arrived. I hope, however, that you will give my communication a careful consideration, and will see the necessity of establishing a unity of command on the station. As I mentioned in my communication, it is indispensable that there should be a perfect understanding between the troops and the naval forces, and the positions to be occupied beforehand be fully determined upon. How this can be done when the troops will have to land only when the fort is attacked I am unable to see. It cannot be done unless Lieutenant Slemmer is to be allowed to give me orders and to assign me a position, and to that I never will submit. I will endeavor to perform my duty, I trust, on all occasions, but I never will submit to be commanded, directly or indirectly, by my junior. Moreover, when I enter the fort I become its commander, and will be held responsible for its defense. This will be, probably, when the enemy is already before its walls, and when I must, of course, be ignorant of the disposition which Lieutenant Slemmer has made for its defense. How am I to be held accountable for its defense when I have not the command until the last moment? I trust, general, that you will see at once the false position in which I am placed, and at once relieve me from it. If not, I enter my protest against being in any way held accountable for what may take place.
Until within a few days the naval and military forces have been supplied with fresh provisions from Warrington and Pensacola, but General Bragg has issued an order prohibiting any supplies being furnished to us, and prohibits the citizens communicating with us, except by special permission.
The conditions of the agreement entered into by the late Government and Major Chase and Senator Mallory give every advantage to the seceders, yet some of them deny the right of those two gentlemen to make it.
They are not required to give any notice of its abrogation, and may attack the fort without a moment’s notice, and under the most favorable circumstances it will be impossible to send any assistance to the fort from the ships in less time than three hours. Should there be the least panic among the troops within the fort it would probably be taken.
There are about forty guns mounted, and the garrison is about one man
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to a gun. They could only make a single discharge, and would not probably be able to reload the guns. Should those on any of the fronts be discharged too soon, that front would be left without any defense. Moreover, the garrison is kept constantly harassed, and is almost every night obliged to be under arms, from fear of attack. With the present garrison, my company, and one hundred marines, which we could obtain from the fleet, I think it would be perfectly secure from assault.
Our means of communication with the Government are very uncertain. We do not feel certain that our communications have reached the Department, nor do we know whether the Department’s messenger to us may not have been intercepted. Of course, we do not know how we are expected to act. I would suggest that a small steamer should ply between here and Havana, so as to communicate with the mail steamer from New York at that port. The supplies at the fort are getting low, and those of the naval forces are still lower. These last have not ten days’ supply.
The Brooklyn leaves to-morrow for Key West or Havana in order to obtain a supply. Should she not succeed, the naval forces will have to be withdrawn. The Brooklyn has by far the most efficient battery of any of the ships on the station, and is besides probably the only vessel that could take up a position to effectively cover our landing. It is much to be regretted that she should be withdrawn at this juncture. My company is to be transferred to the frigate Sabine.
Major Tower, of the Engineers, arrived on the 19th, but under the existing arrangement cannot reside within the fort. Even was he there, not having any force to labor, he could not do much. I have endeavored to lay before you a true statement of the disadvantageous position in which we are placed, and I trust that so far as it can be done it will be remedied. Whatever may be done, I trust that we will be soldiers enough to do all that lies in our power to uphold the honor of our country’s flag, and prevent its forts from being seized by those in rebellion against its authority.
Yours, truly,
I. VOGDES,
Captain, First Artillery.