What Has Happened Leading to May 15, 1862

On December 20th, 1860, in response to Abraham Lincoln being elected President of the United States, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.  On the 24th, the state adopted a declaration to explain and defend its choice, claiming that the states had rights to declare whether or not slavery could be legal, paradoxically adding that the northern states did not have the right to ignore their obligations to the federal government to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.  Seven other states followed the action of South Carolina, seceding before Abraham Lincoln could even take office.  On February 4, 1861, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas (the deep south and primary cotton growing country) formed the Confederate States of America, despite the fact that the federal government had not abolished slavery nor taken any definitive steps toward doing so.  Southern congressmen from these states resigned their seats and returned to their home states during this time.

Two months later, these states were joined by Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and a rather reluctant Virginia, where the sons and daughters of that state were not exactly eager to break from a venture that they had in many ways founded; some of the greatest founding fathers were Virginians, and Jamestown was indeed the first colony of the old 13.  Robert E. Lee, among other Virginians, had to make a very hard decision to resign his commission from the United States army.  Eventually, he, like others, could simply not fight against his home state.  As we can see, the sides were not exactly so staunchly divided against one another from the start, and as has been claimed that this was a war of brother against brother, well, it certainly was.  Many people, in both the Union and Confederacy, did not want to end the debate in bloodshed.  This is not to say that all was conflicted in other places.  South Carolina was adamantly opposed to the Union, and the border states were bloody messes as well.

Maryland featured anti-Union riots in Baltimore.  Tennessee's eastern mountain lands were hotbeds of anti-confederate sentiments.  Missouri featured some very bloody, ugly struggles between factions interested in taking one side or another, having already been the source of much of the violence which spread over into Kansas in the preceding years.   During this early time of hostilities, any concept of border was very, very contested in such areas.  On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was attacked by Confederate forces under General Beauregard, and the war truly began.  Armories and forts were seized, and battle plans were drawn up.  The Union response was heavy deployment of troops in Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, and a grand mustering of the navy.  The plan was to surround the Confederacy by eliminating Confederate holdings in the west, blockading Confederate ports, and dividing the place in half by taking the Mississippi river.

The light blue marks were the major ports of the Confederacy: Richmond, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans (I also included the lesser port of Houston).  The arrows were major early advances of Union forces, most notably to protect the capital by controlling northern Virginia, assaulting the Confederate capital at Richmond, and beginning the great western campaigns by controlling the Tennessee river valley in Kentucky, as well as moving along the Mississippi and making a march against Confederate forces in Missouri.  By this point in 1862, the Confederacy had successfully defended Virginia, but was really losing ground west of the Appalachians as the very capable Ulysses S. Grant was claiming hard earned victory upon hard earned victory in the march towards Vicksburg.  Despite his success, northern opinion was against him, distanced from the battles and unable to comprehend his tactical mindset.  Grant knew the war would not be won in one grand battle, and his opinions were confirmed on April 7, 1862, when he was able to turn an apparent upset of the previous day into a Confederate retreat, at the cost of nearly 4,000 lives.  Soon after, Memphis and New Orleans were captured.

Further west, in far more personal conflicts, Missouri and Arkansas saw the aftermath of "Bleeding Kansas" find deadly expression in the battles of Wilson's Creek (August 10, 1861) and Pea Ridge (March 6-8 1862).  Far more destruction and loss of life was happening beyond these battles, however, as small fights were breaking out almost everywhere a man could fire a rifle from behind a tree.  Though not nearly as great in scale as the carnage in the eastern killing fields, what happened in these states was far more savage and brutal.  What began as a fight between brother and brother became forgotten in the smoke, blood, and death.  A visit to any of the Civil War sites of Missouri is a sobering experience, to say the least.  Beyond this tragedy, the far west was being fought over in much smaller skirmishes, though the Battle of Glorietta Pass (March 26-28 1862) near Santa Fe did involve thousands of men.  

In all, the months to come would feature the worst battles of the war, but by May of 1862, the determination and strategy of the Union became very real to the Confederates.  What had started as a battle of politics was now beginning to be a bit more up close and personal.