The Day of the Confederacy By Nathaniel W. Stephenson A Chronicle of the Embattled South Volume 30 of the Chronicles of America Series ? Allen Johnson, Editor Assistant Editors Gerhard R. Lomer Charles W. Jefferys Abraham Lincoln Edition New Haven: Yale University Press Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press 1919 Copyright, 1919 by Yale University Press CONTENTS The Day of the Confederacy Chapter Chapter Title Page I. The Secession Movement 1 II. The Davis Government 24 III. The Fall of King Cotton 45 IV. Reaction Against Richmond 58 V. The Critical Year 87 VI. Life in the Confederacy 99 VII. The Turning of the Tide 112 VIII. A Game of Chance 130 IX. Desperate Remedies 145 X. Disintegration 165 XI. An Attempted Revolution 183 XII. The Last Word 200 Bibliographical Note 205 Index 209 THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY ? CHAPTER I. The Secession Movement The secession movement had three distinct stages. The first, beginning with the news that Lincoln was elected, closed with the news, sent broadcast over the South from Charleston, that Federal troops had taken possession of Fort Sumter on the night of the 26th of December. During this period the likelihood of secession was the topic of discussion in the lower South. What to do in case the lower South seceded was the question which perplexed the upper South. In this period no State north of South Carolina contemplated taking the initiative. In the Southeastern and Gulf States immediate action of some sort was expected. Whether it would be secession or some other new course was not certain on the day of Lincoln's election.