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To: stand watie
had DE been a southron state, she would have had a star for her on the dixie flag.

I think the technical term for this, for all you Latin scholars, would be an argumentum ad vexillum. Sorry, that doesn't cut it. I can't vouch for Southern mapmakers, but there were definitely powerful elements within the State of Delaware urging secession. Many members of the DuPont family, which then exercised effective control over the state, were secessionists. Governor Burton strongly supported the South, and pushed for a convention on secession.

Secessionist militias stole arms from armories and gun factories, and there is copious correspondence between the South and Rebel agents in the state.

690 posted on 11/17/2002 12:00:55 PM PST by andy_card
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To: andy_card
I think the technical term for this, for all you Latin scholars, would be an argumentum ad vexillum.

LOL - you are a card ;)

692 posted on 11/17/2002 12:22:29 PM PST by general_re
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To: andy_card
PLEASE post such evidence. i'd be DELIGHTED to see the data;you will make your name as a scholar of history if you are able to come up with REAL proof of this. i'm dead serious!.

i had no idea that the duPonts were on the RIGHT side.

free dixie,sw

758 posted on 11/18/2002 8:30:25 AM PST by stand watie
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To: andy_card
Secessionist militias stole arms from armories and gun factories, and there is copious correspondence between the South and Rebel agents in the state.

It was happening all over the place. See the following from the Pennsylvania Civil War Project.

Even before the outbreak of actual hostilities the spirit of the inhabitants, their high feeling for the integrity of the Union, and the willingness to sacrifice life and treasure for it, were manifested in the events which took place in the northland. This was especially true in Pennsylvania. The first overt act of the war occurred in Pittsburgh during the closing days of 1860, when the citizens refused to allow the guns which the Secretary of War ordered South to leave the city.

For months the columns of the newspapers teemed with expressions of ridicule at the outspoken threats of the Southern States, supplemented by a current of unbelief that affairs would take the serious form of open rebellion. All was characterized as a "scare," until the order came from John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War in President Buchanan's cabinet, on December 20, 1860, ordering forty columbiads and four thirty-two pounders to be sent from the United States Arsenal in Pittsburgh to an embryo fort in Galveston, Texas, which would not be ready for armament for five years. This order came soon after the news of South Carolina's secession, and the "scare" became an active, perilous, and imminent danger.

Secretary Floyd was deeply concerned in the conspiracy for the overthrow of the Republic and his act of stripping the northern arsenals of arms and ammunition was first detected by the patriotic citizens of Pittsburgh, when a call, signed by prominent men, was issued for a meeting in Mayor George Wilson's office on Christmas afternoon. It was an enthusiastic meeting. General William Robinson presided and several addresses were made on the situation, when it was determined that a demand be made on the President that the order "be countermanded without delay." Major John Symington, commandant of the arsenal, stated that the cannon would be shipped unless the order was revoked. It was also learned that for many days past the government wagons had been transporting munitions to the city for shipment South. The anger of the people could not be restrained. A second meeting was held on the 27th, when General Robinson counseled that nothing resembling an overt act of treason should be committed. Strong resolutions were adopted, among them one which called upon the President to purge his cabinet of every person known to have countenanced the revolt against the Constitution and the laws of the Union. The people awaited impatiently for answers to their telegrams and meetings were held daily.

In the meantime several guns had been hauled through the streets and loaded on the transport "Silver Wave," amid great excitement. Violence was narrowly averted. A cousin of the President, Dr. J. S. Spear, residing nearby in Lawrenceville, detailed the facts to the President, who commanded Secretary Floyd to countermand the order immediately. Floyd fled from Washington, when his successor, Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, on January 3, 1861, countermanded the order. The temper of the people was such that, without this order, the transport would have been sunk before it sailed from Pittsburgh.

Source: http://www.pa-roots.com/~pacw/comingstorm.html

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The slave powers were seriously preparing for war long before most in the North ever took them serious.
786 posted on 11/18/2002 10:45:58 AM PST by Ditto
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