1861 Abraham Lincoln - Fort Sumter

On December 20th, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union. Fearing for their life, a force of 85 Union soldiers took refuge at Fort Sumter, but were running short of supplies and food. Shortly after Lincoln's inauguration, the Confederates under General Beauregard demanded the surrender of Fort Surrender, but the Union army refused. The next morning, Confederate batteries opened fire for 34 hours on Fort Sumter. The Civil War had begun. Abraham Lincoln, in his first address to congress lamented that the "last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter.".

"The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter, and a general review of what has occurred since may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is much better defined and more distinct now, and the progress of events is plainly in the right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support from north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the friends of the Union were not free from apprehension on the point. This, however, was soon settled definitely, and on the right side. South of the line noble little Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland was made to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within her limits, and we were many days at one time without the ability to bring a single regiment over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and open to the Government; she already gives seven regiments to the cause of the Union, and none to the enemy; and her people, at a regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any candidate or any question."

Abraham Lincoln abhorred slavery, but in his own words his main objective was to preserve the Union.

"The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for suppressing the insurrection I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have therefore in every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the Legislature."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29502
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fort-sumter.html?tab=facts
 

Further actions by Lincoln

One of the first more deliberate actions taken by the legislature, was "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes". This act passed by congress permitted the courts to confiscate any property being used by the Confederate including slaves. One of the concerns that Abraham Lincoln mused over was what to do with the confiscated slaves. Lincoln suggested that "[confiscated slaves] be at once deemed free, and that in any event steps be taken for colonizing .. at some place or places in a climate congenial to them." Lincoln went further and suggested that congress consider including "free colored people already in the United States".

This may sound very harsh, but keep in mind the "freed colored people" were not only in the North, but many were in border slave states like Maryland. In fact, the city of Baltimore had the country's largest population (25,000) of free African Americans. Lincoln must have wondered what would become of them as the war progressed, and how would the Northern states accommodate them (or would they)?

Nicholas Biddle

In digging deeper into Baltimore and the riots of 1861, I learned of Nicholas Biddle, perhaps the first "defender" of the union to shed blood. His story is one that should be remembered.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/.../nick-biddle.../...