lentulusgracchus posting link to: http://www.onlinebiographies.info/gov/buckingham-william.html
"Note the dates of 'Lincoln's pre-inaugural visit to Connecticut', and of the NYT article about war preparations in Connecticut." lentulusgracchus' link seems broken.
Here is the correct link.
We're seeing some new data here, not all of it accurately labeled.
For example, the Connecticut election which occasioned what lentulusgracchus calls "Lincoln's pre-inaugural visit to Connecticut" actually happened a year earlier, in early 1860, before Lincoln was even nominated, indeed even before the Democrat Convention first met on April 23, 1860, in Charleston, SC and Southern Fire-Eaters walked out.
So Lincoln's visit to Connecticut had nothing to do with secession or war.
Quoting from the lentulusgracchus' link:
"Abraham Lincoln was sent to this state, and he made six speeches throughout Connecticut.
Governor Buckingham traveled with Lincoln and usually presented him to his audience.
A warm friendship sprung up between the two men... and which lasted until the two were parted by death.
"On April 2, 1860, the election took place. "
But the larger questions here refer to degrees of readiness of various state militias in years before the Civil War.
What we know is:
- The 1792 and 1795 Militia Acts required all free able-bodied white male citizens to arm themselves and join their local militias.
The President was authorized to call up these militias for national service:
"whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act."
This Militia Act was first used by President Washington in 1794 to defeat the Whiskey Rebellion, and was referred to by President Lincoln in his April 15, 1861 call up of state militias, following the Confederacy's assault on Fort Sumter.
- State militias were typically organized into 100 man companies in 1,000 man regiments under larger brigades and divisions.
So the number of units per state was a function of its population of white male citizens.
For examples, if a state the size of South Carolina had two active militia regiments, then Connecticut would have three, Massachusetts six and states like New York or Pennsylvania 15 & more each.
- Most reports we have say these state militias were not well equipped or trained during long years of peace, except in the South, where militias were used to capture runaway slaves.
But the simple fact is: we have no real data on any pre-war state militias, their sizes, readiness, leadership, etc.
- It's important to note here that political hyperbole was common in those days, whenever the question of secession or "disunion" came up.
For example, Bubba Ho-Tep quoted this Virginia newpaper's response to Northern talk of secession in 1814:
"The majority of States which form the Union must consent to the withdrawal of any one branch of it.
Until that consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve the Union, or obstruct the efficiency of its constitutional laws, is treason-treason to all intents and purposes."
At the same time, President Madison moved troops from the border with Canada to Albany, NY, just in case they were needed against Northern secessionists.
And we've seen President Jackson's response to South Carolinians during the nullification crisis of 1830:
"...please give my compliments to my friends in your State and say to them, that if a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand on engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach"
So the subject of secession was always occasion for strong language, and strong actions.
- We know in 1853 that Massachusetts legislator Nathaniel Banks supported a state militia in the Massachusetts constitutional convention, and that as governor he reviewed a parade of state militia sometime before leaving office at the end of 1860.
We don't know more details.
- We also know from Sherman Logan's post #261 that South Carolina's Governor Gist threatened in December 1859 to send a regiment of his militia to Washington DC to enforce his will:
"If you ... upon consultation decide to make the issue of force in Washington, write or telegraph me, and I will have a regiment in or near Washington in the shortest possible time."
This same Governor Gist in 1860 first approved raising SC's active militia to 10,000 men, called for a secession convention, seized Federal property, sent emissaries to Washington and signed SC's declaration of secession, all before his term expired in December 1860.
My point is: everything we know still shows that in every step of the way from peace in 1860 to war in 1861, secessionists pushed and lead toward war, while Union officials slowly followed.
BroJo said:
We're seeing some new data here...Why haven't you seen it before? I mean, what with a little historical perspective and all that.
BroJo said re: Governor Banks: We don't know more details.
You might if ya started reading. Just sayin'.