Page 1

(Fort Sumter)

Fort Sumter

On December 20,1860, after decades of sectional conflict, the people of South Carolina responded to the election of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, by voting unanimously in convention to secede from the Union. Within six weeks five other States- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana-followed South Carolina's example and left the Union. Early in February 1861 they met in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution, set up a provisional government-the Confederate States of America-and elected Jefferson Davis their president. By March 2, when Texas officially joined the Confederacy, the new government had seized nearly all of the Federal forts and navy yards in the seven States. FORT SUMTER was one of the few that remained in Federal hands.

Page 1

(Fort Sumter)