TabsNote Cards Confederate States of America (Boyer, 2008) TextbookSome Southerners had threatened secession at the prospect of Lincoln's election. Now the moment of decision had arrived. On December 20, 1860, a South Carolina convention voted unanimously for secession; in short order Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. On February 4, delegates from these seven states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and established the Confederate States of America. Paul S. Boyer, et al., eds., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, 6th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 420. Events Date Event 02/04/1861 The Convention of Seceding States opens at the State House in Montgomery, Alabama 02/08/1861 The Convention of Seceding States passes the provisional constitution of the Confederate States 02/09/1861 Jefferson Davis selected as Provisional President of the Confederate States 02/09/1861 to 03/15/1861 The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States is sitting in Montgomery, Alabama 02/18/1861 Jefferson Davis sworn in as Provisional President of the Confederate States 02/28/1861 First Confederate government bond authorized 03/11/1861 Confederate States Constitution adopted in Montgomery, Alabama 03/21/1861 In Georgia, Vice-President A.H. Stephens pronounces slavery the foundation of the new Confederacy 04/17/1861 Confederate president invites applications for "letters of Marque and Reprisal" 04/29/1861 The Congress of the Confederate States opens a special session session in Montgomery, Alabama 04/30/1861 to 05/20/1861 The Congress of the Confederate States is sitting in special session session in Montgomery, Alabama 05/06/1861 In Parliament, the British foreign secretary declares the Confederacy at war with the Union 05/10/1861 Robert E. Lee appointed commander of all Confederate troops in Virginia 05/21/1861 In Montgomery, Alabama, the special session session of the Confederate States Congress ends 10/16/1861 The Confederate Post Office issues its first postage stamps, bearing the likeness of Jefferson Davis 11/15/1861 Jefferson Davis declares a day of "fasting, humiliation, and prayer" across the Confederacy 11/21/1861 Judah P. Benjamin is named as Confederate Secretary of War and Thomas Bragg as Attorney General 11/28/1861 In Richmond, the Confederate Congress votes to admit Missouri as the Confederacy's eleventh state 02/18/1862 to 04/21/1862 In Richmond, Virginia, the First Confederate Congress is meeting in its first session 02/22/1862 In a rainy Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated to a full term as Confederate president 02/23/1862 In Tennessee, Confederate forces evacuate Nashville, the state capital 02/25/1862 In Tennessee, Nashville becomes the first Confederate capital to fall to the Union 03/01/1862 Jefferson Davis declares martial law in the Richmond area and also bans the production of spirits 04/16/1862 Confederate president Jefferson Davis signs the first Conscription Act in American history 04/22/1862 In Richmond, Virginia, the First Confederate Congress is now adjourned till August 06/02/1862 Robert E. Lee is appointed field commander of the Army of Northern Virginia 08/18/1862 to 10/13/1862 In Richmond, Virginia, the First Confederate Congress is meeting in its second session 01/12/1863 to 05/01/1863 In Richmond, Virginia, the First Confederate Congress is sitting in its third session 05/13/1863 The new Confederate National Flag flies for the first time over the Confederate Capitol in Richmond 11/18/1863 to 02/21/1864 In Richmond, Virginia, the First Confederate Congress is sitting in its fourth and final session 06/11/1866 The House of Representatives passes a non-binding resolution that Jefferson Davis be tried for treason People Benjamin, Judah Philip Bragg, Thomas Breckinridge, John Cabell Clark, John Bullock, Sr. Davis, Jefferson Finis Hunter, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Mallory, Stephen Russell Memminger, Christopher Gustavus Randolph, George Wythe Reagan, John Henninger Reid, John William Seddon, James Alexander Stephens, Alexander Hamilton Toombs, Robert Augustus Trenholm, George Alfred Walker, Leroy Pope Watts, Thomas Hill PlacesMontgomery, ALRichmond, VA Documents Date Title 02/12/1861 Chicago (IL) Tribune, “A. H. Stephens,” February 12, 1861 05/01/1861 New York Times, “Arms for the Rebels,” May 1, 1861 05/16/1861 New York Times, “The Reward of Treason,” May 16, 1861 05/25/1861 Chicago (IL) Tribune, “A New Trouble in Georgia,” May 25, 1861 05/29/1861 Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Military Policy of the North,” May 29, 1861 06/04/1861 Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Virginia Playing the Foot,” June 4, 1861 06/05/1861 San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The Lack of “Improved” Firearms in the South,” June 5, 1861 06/10/1861 New York Times, “The Bitter Fruits,” June 10, 1861 06/20/1861 New York Times, “Famine Among the Confederates,” June 20, 1861 06/23/1861 New York Times, “Are They Pirates?,” June 23, 1861 06/27/1861 Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Anniversaries of Independence,” June 27, 1861 07/02/1861 Chillicothe (OH) Scioto Gazette, “Davis’ Subjects Dumpish and Disgusted,” July 2, 1861 07/05/1861 Newark (OH) Advocate, “The Impending Danger,” July 5, 1861 07/06/1861 (Concord) New Hampshire Statesman, “Andrew Johnson,” July 6, 1861 08/05/1861 Gideon Welles to Abraham Lincoln, August 5, 1861 08/06/1861 Andrew Johnson and William B. Carter to Abraham Lincoln, August 6, 1861 08/14/1861 Raleigh (NC) Register, “Arrest of a Traitor,” August 14, 1861 08/16/1861 Chicago (IL) Tribune, “East Tennessee,” August 16, 1861 08/25/1861 New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “Confederate Treasury Notes,” August 25, 1861 08/27/1861 Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Union Feeling in North Carolina,” August 27, 1861 11/17/1861 New York Herald, “Mason and Slidell,” November 17, 1861 11/18/1861 President Jefferson Davis, Message to the Confederate Congress, November 18, 1861 02/03/1862 Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Beautiful Weapon,” February 3, 1862 Images C.S.A. President Davis' inauguration, Montgomery, Alabama, February 18,1861, artist's impression, zoomable image "The Devil to Pay on the steamboat 'Confederate States' - Last Boat up Salt River," cartoon, June 7, 1862 "The Wreck of the Ship 'Confederacy'," cartoon, December 5, 1863 Confederate Capitol, Richmond, Virginia, 1865, zoomable image Bibliography
Confederate States of America (Boyer, 2008) TextbookSome Southerners had threatened secession at the prospect of Lincoln's election. Now the moment of decision had arrived. On December 20, 1860, a South Carolina convention voted unanimously for secession; in short order Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. On February 4, delegates from these seven states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and established the Confederate States of America. Paul S. Boyer, et al., eds., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, 6th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 420.
C.S.A. President Davis' inauguration, Montgomery, Alabama, February 18,1861, artist's impression, zoomable image
"The Devil to Pay on the steamboat 'Confederate States' - Last Boat up Salt River," cartoon, June 7, 1862