Texas secedes from the Union

The secession convention of the state of Texas had gathered four days earlier in the hall of the House of Representatives at the the State House in Austin.  Though its detractors later claimed it as unrepresentative, with less than half of the state's counties represented, the gathering voted in an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 166 to 7 and Texas left the Union. The convention decided to submit the ordinance to a state vote, to take place on February 23, 1861, although secession went ahead in the meantime. (By John Osborne)