The US Civil War was started by attack on Federal Fort Sumter in the Charleston harbor in South Carolina. Sumter had to surrender & President Lincoln took his first steps to aid Fort Sumter & to prepare to defend Federal forts and other Federal property located in the "South".
He wasn't reluctant to defend Sumter, but the attack was a surprise and began the war so he needed troops.
The north set up a military garrison at Ft. Sumter, SC, and southern forces had to defend its property.
It was a US Army garrison located on a tiny island fortress in Charleston harbour. The Confederates had declared it to be Southern territory, and Lincoln announced that he would defend it and keep it supplied.
It was a challenge to Lincoln's claim that the Union would defend its tiny garrison in Charleston Harbour. When the garrison was evacuated, Lincoln had to make a robust response, and he appealed for 75,000 volunteers for the Union Army. Four states of the Upper South, whose loyalties had been undecided, now declared for the Confederacy, and the two sides in the struggle were fully lined-up against each other. The war was on.
The US Civil War was started by attack on Federal Fort Sumter in the Charleston harbor in South Carolina. Sumter had to surrender & President Lincoln took his first steps to aid Fort Sumter & to prepare to defend Federal forts and other Federal property located in the "South".
The Confederates had declared that the island of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbour was Southern territory. Lincoln countered that it was a US Army garrison, and that he would defend it and keep it supplied. Confederate artillery fired on the fort - the opening shots of the war.
No. The "Republican" party didn't exist until 1860. Jefferson was for self government.
Because the South wanted to assert that this island-fort in Charleston harbour was part of the Confederacy. The Union did not recognise the Confederacy, and tried to defend the fort as one of its own garrisons.
He wasn't reluctant to defend Sumter, but the attack was a surprise and began the war so he needed troops.
The north set up a military garrison at Ft. Sumter, SC, and southern forces had to defend its property.
It was a US Army garrison located on a tiny island fortress in Charleston harbour. The Confederates had declared it to be Southern territory, and Lincoln announced that he would defend it and keep it supplied.
The succession of the Upper South states
The president promise to defend the Constitution.
The president promise to defend the Constitution.
The commander of the garrison was not a General - only a Major. His General-in-Chief in Washington was Winfield Scott, though the decision to defend Fort Sumter was made by Lincoln.
After seceding, he would have been quite happy without a war, if Lincoln had granted official recognition to the Confederacy. But when Lincoln declared that he would defend Fort Sumter (which the Confederacy considered its own), and then called for new volunteer troops, Davis felt he had to mobilise.