Textbook
Edward A. Pollard, The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates (New York: E. B. Treat & Co., 1867), 86-87.
It was impossible for any checks of authority or arts of the demagogue to restrain the popular sentiment in the Cotton States that clamored to follow the example of South Carolina. On the 7th day of January, 1861, the State of Florida seceded from the Union. Mississippi followed on the 9th day of the same month; Alabama on the 11th; Georgia on the 20th; Louisiana on the 26th; and Texas on the 1st of February. Thus, in less than three months after the announcement of Mr. Lincoln's election, all the Cotton States had seceded from the Union.
They had done more than this. They had secured all the forts, arsenals, and government places lying within their territory, with the exception of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, and Fort Pickens near Pensacola. At this latter place was to occur a history somewhat similar to that of Sumter.
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