SECESSION AND FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. The hope was general that the South would not carry out her threat of seceding from the Union, and, but for South Carolina, she would not have done so; but that pugnacious State soon gave proof of her terrible earnestness. Her Convention assembled in Charleston, and passed an ordinance of secession, December 20, 1860, declaring "That the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America is dissolved." The other Southern States, although reluctant to give up the Union, felt it their duty to stand by the pioneer in the movement against it, and passed ordinances of secession, as follows: Mississippi, January 9, 1861; Florida, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia, January 19th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 23d. In the hope of averting civil war numerous peace meetings were held in the North, and Virginia called for a "peace conference," which assembled in Washington, February 4th. The States represented included most of those in the North, and Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. Ex-President Tyler, of Virginia, was made president of the conference. The proposed terms of settlement were rejected by the Virginia and North Carolina delegates and refused by Congress, which, since the withdrawal of the Southern members, was controlled by the Republicans. The next step of the Southern conventions was to send delegates to Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed "The Confederate States of America," with Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. A constitution and flag, both resembling those of the United States, were adopted and all departments of the government organized. As the various States adopted ordinances of secession they seized the government property within their limits. In most cases, the Southern United States officers resigned and accepted commissions in the service of the Confederacy. The only forts saved were those near Key West, Fort Pickens at Pensacola, and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The South Carolina authorities began preparations to attack Sumter, and when the steamer _Star of the West_ attempted to deliver supplies to the fort, it was fired upon, January 9th, and driven off. Thus matters stood at the close of Buchanan's administration, March 4, 1861. [Illustration: THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.] CHAPTER XV. ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN, 1861-1865. THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861.