America's Second Confederacy, 1861-1865

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THE SECOND AMERICAN CONFEDERACY: Some History & Event Dates/Times [.1.] The so-called American Civil War was not a civil war: [.2.] But precisely, the second American Revolutionary War, a war started on April 12, 1861; [.3.] The Fort Sumter event arrived just 67 days after the South as a Nation was born, on February 4, 1861; and 10 days before the South’s nation-State was born, on April 22, 1861. [.1.] SOME FACTS CONCEALED FROM AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS In early 1861, the southern American States organized themselves into a defensive posture to defend the South from expected invasion by northern Union forces. The southern States, one by one, continued to file their ordinances of secession, with no demonstrated threat of harm or violence to anyone in the United States. Neither did they announce any intent to organize an effort to attack the Federal government in the North, or to try to take over the government of the United States for their own purposes. To have done so would have been an act of civil war; and if this had been the South's intent. Instead, State after southern State peacefully resigned from the U.S.A., and set off to form a second American nation-State, the C.S.A., and its federal government, a nation-State that would be more equitable and sympathetic to the heritage of the citizenries of the American South. Still yet, the Confederacy had to organize military forces for national defense, for they the South, likely would be challenged, invaded and attacked by U.S. federal forces. And the reasons for the defensive posture, as but a few truthful historians have long recognized, illustrate that the U.S.A.’s federal government’s intentions were decidedly directed to subjugate the peoples of the South, and continue to exploit them for financial gain by protectionist tariff legislation benefiting only those northern interests, as previously adverted. [.2.] How Lincoln started war by stealth, and invaded a neighboring Nation The South was not the aggressor in bringing on the war; on the contrary, they did all that honorable men could do in the vain attempt to avert war. Northern financial interests with Mr. Francis Preston Blair of Silver Springs, Maryland, making the way on their behalf, gained control of the Republican Party and their elected President, Abraham Lincoln. [Francis Preston Blair, the least known, but most powerful man-behind-the-scenes in 19th century American politics. The Blair House located near the White House was built by this man. Blair secured Lincoln’s 1860 party nomination. This Blair’s son, Montgomery, was Lincoln’s Postmaster General.] The Republican Party of Lincoln, 1860 -1865, was not the Jeffersonian Republican Party of the years 1854 – 1859. The party cadre was hijacked. Wall Street [N.Y.] and Beacon Hill [boston] financial interests took it over, and re-directed the Republicans down the road to war. By Republican directed deception and stealth, the North provoked war with the South. Only a few of the salient events on this theme can be mentioned here. An armistice had been entered into between South Carolina's government and the United States government, on December 6, 1860. A similar armistice had been entered into between Florida and the United States government, on January 29, 1861. These armistices agreed that the forts, Sumter and Pickens, should neither be garrisoned nor provisioned, so long as these armistices continued in force. Papers to this effect are on file in the United States Army and Navy Departments. Abraham Lincoln knew very well of this armistice, as agreed to by his predecessor, President Buchanan, when on March 29, 1861, Lincoln began to issue a series of secret orders in flagrant disregard of the terms of these armistices. On March 29, Lincoln, without prior consent of his cabinet, ordered three ships with 300 men and provisions to be ready to go to Fort Sumter. All orders were marked private. An expedition was secretly sent to Pensacola, Florida, as well. On April 7th President Lincoln directed Secretary of State Seward to confer with the Confederate Peace Commissioners in Washington, and say "that they (the U.S. Government) had no design to reinforce Fort Sumter." The duplicitous trap was then set. Nevertheless, Major Robert Anderson, commander of the U.S. troops stationed at Charleston, South Carolina’s Fort Moultrie, followed Lincoln’s secret orders, in flagrant violation of the January 29th Armistice, and took his men out of Fort Moultrie and into the island fort, Fort Sumter, under the cloak of darkness. This in itself was the very provocation that assured the public perception of the South’s responsibility for the commencement of the conflict. At 04: 30 hrs on the morning of April 12th,

the Confederates opened fire on the fort; fire which was soon returned by the Feds. A staunch secessionist and renowned agriculturalist, Edmund Ruffin, fired the first shot on Fort Sumter, from Cummings Point across the harbor. The bombardment which followed for thirty-three hours was matched by return fire from the U.S. troops. At last, the fort made untenable, Major Anderson on April 14th surrendered the fort to the Confederacy, and on the 15th evacuated the position, with honors. The U.S. troops inside Fort Sumter came out, boarded ship and sailed out of Charleston Harbor. On their way out the Confederate troops along the shores removed their hats as the U.S. troops passed by on their way out to sea and home to the United States. The only casualty came after the entire exchange of fire, one U.S. soldier, who was killed by accidentally self-inflicted wounds, suffered during the retreat ceremony, again, after the battle. The Confederates only casualty was an unfortunate mule. [.3.] Birth of the South in 1861: first, the Nation, in February, and then after, the nation’s State, in April. The Montgomery Convention: the South first Convened as a Nation Just before noon on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama: 37 State delegates, representing six southern

States, mingled with reporters and spectators in a packed hall ringed with pictures of Washington, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. These State delegates represented six the original seven seceded States of what was to become this day America’s southern Nation: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and (absent) Texas (37 delegates of the total of 43, 6 others arrived by the time the proceedings opened by 12:30 p.m.) William Chilton, leader of the host delegation of Alabama, called the convention to order by 12:30 p.m., after which a Protestant minister blessed the gathering: “We are pursuing those rights which were guaranteed to us by the solemn covenants of our fathers, and which were cemented by their blood. . . . Let truth, and justice, and equal rights be decreed to our government.” [.3.a.] The American South’s national Convention, at Montgomery, Alabama: the American South as a Nation was born, est. @ 13:15 hrs, 4 February 1861 The body representing six States [Texas absent] elected a president, Howell Cobb of Georgia, by acclamation; he delivered a brief speech, announcing to thunderous applause that the separation from the Union “is perfect, complete and perpetual.” [Declaration completed, est. @ 13:15 hrs] The assembled delegates then chose a secretary, doorkeeper, messenger, and committee to write rules for the proceedings. Without rules, they could go no further, so after only an hour of official meeting, the convention adjourned for the day. [Adjournment was called, est. @ 13:30/35 hrs.] Seven States that already had passed ordinances of secession assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, to commence proceedings for establishing the Confederate States of America. The first task of the new nation was to

write a “provisional” constitution for the nation. The convention finished its work four days later, on the late afternoon of 8 February, the text was resolved adopted, est. @ 17:30 hrs. The next day the finished document was formally “enrolled”. During the February 1861 deliberations in Montgomery, Alabama, three men other than Jefferson Davis were actively seeking the Confederate presidency. Alexander Stephens, Howell Cobb, and Robert Toombs, all Georgians, were considered for the post. However, the presidency was decided for Davis, who in February 1861 had stayed at his plantation home in Mississippi rather than journey to Montgomery. Alexander Stephens became the Confederacy’s Vice-President, Howell Cobb led the Confederacy’s Congress, and Robert Toombs was appointed Secretary of State.

Jefferson Davis was elected president of the provisional government by the convention vote of the following day, at 12:00 noon, 9 February; and the president-elect was inaugurated on 18 February. Such speed was possible because of the "mania for unanimity" among the delegates. Davis was elected again to the permanent C.S.A. Constitution’s six-year presidential term, during the presidential and congressional elections in November 1861. Davis was re-inaugurated President, on February 22, 1862, the birth day of George Washington. [.3.b.] SEVEN STARS & SEVEN BARS: the national FLAG born On 4 March 1861, the

first national flag of the Confederacy was raised over the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, at 3:30 PM [Although originally scheduled for 12:00 noon, local templar Masons may have had a hand in delaying the ceremony as scheduled in the convention, until their preferred number “33” had arrived on the clock, at 3:30 p.m..] The honors of performing the flag raising were given to Ms. Letitia Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S. President John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole placed by the capitol’s clock, was not the more widely and readily recognized Confederate battle flag, but the "First National Pattern," also known as the SEVEN STARS & BARS. [.3.c.] Florida State Convention, at Tallahassee: the American South’s Confederacy was born the nation-State, @ 15:30 hrs, on 22 April 1861. Under this provisional constitution, by its own terms, this constitution was to last no more than a year, but it was in operation for only eighty days before the permanent C.S.A. Constitution was enacted. The preamble of the Provisional Constitution reflected the state

rights philosophy and Protestant culture of its framers: "We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God..." The State of Florida, on this day, became the SEVENTH STAR & BAR in the national flag, and the

seventh of the founding States to join, democratically-in-convention, the Confederacy. By April 22, 1861 the six other founding States had ratified already. So fate gave to Florida, among the founding southern States, the seventh and nation-State founding Star & Bar. Thus, the permanent C.S.A. Constitution, as ratified, properly marks this event as the birth of the Confederacy, on April 22, 1861, the birth of the nation-State of the American South, famously remembered as the Confederate States of America. [.4.] The ratified national constitution, in order “to form a permanent federal government”, for the “Confederate states of America, was signed by the delegates and the president of the Convention, Howell Cobb: national government for the South, born in Montgomery, Alabama, on 29 April 1861, @ 12:00 hrs. The document was signed by the national Convention’s president, and so duly enacted on April 30, 1861, the official start date of

government under the constitution. The Confederacy’s capital city was moved on May 24, 1861 from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. A delegate who faithfully kept a diary of the convention’s proceedings from February 4, 1861 until April 30, 1861, wrote on 30 April: “Yesterday: . . . we signed the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and have thus perfected my

"rebellion." I trust that my children hereafter may recur with pride to it, whether by others I am canonized as a saint or hung as a traitor.” [source: Thomas R. R. Cobb, NOTES ON THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION]. [.5.] The CONFEDERACY of the American South was duly DISSOLVED, on 5 May 1865, a Friday, est. @ 14:30, in

Washington, Georgia: On April 30, 1865, a day more than four years after the start date of the Confederacy’s constitutional government, the Generals Sherman-Johnson surrender agreement in Georgia, following just two weeks after the Generals Grant-Lee surrender agreement in Virginia, ended America’s second revolutionary war. By the end of the Civil War, what was left of the Confederate treasury in April, 1865, estimated at over half a million dollars in gold, left Richmond, Virginia under heavy guard. For more than a month the boxes and chests were moved from one southern town to another to protect it from seizure by the North. Twice

the treasure was taken to Washington-Wilkes before it came back for a final visit, as Washington was the last town to shelter the fortune. As the Confederacy fell apart, some of the fortune was captured with Davis in Irwinville, Georgia, and northern troops seized $100,000 of the original amount stored in a Washington bank. To this day, legend persists that the balance of the Confederate gold is buried somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia. President Jefferson Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate government was officially dissolved after 2:30 pm, at the Cooper-Sanders-Wickersham House. By the way, the town of Washington has more antebellum homes than any other city of its size in the State of Georgia. Records at the Courthouse and the Mary Willis Library provide extensive opportunities for historical and genealogical research. [.6.] The Confederacy’s Memorial Day observed in America’s southern States Women’s groups in several Deep South communities are credited with founding Memorial Day in April 1866. During the years after the war, the idea took hold throughout the regions; in the South different dates were observed in different states. The Deep South usually observed the holiday on April 26, the anniversary of General Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender in North Carolina; North and South Carolina usually chose May 10, the date of General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s death, and Jefferson Davis’ capture. After former president Davis’ death in 1889, some states observed the holiday on his birthday, June 3. Eight states still observe “Confederate Memorial Day”:

Florida and Georgia on April 26; South and North Carolina on May 10; Alabama and Mississippi on the fourth Monday in May; at last Kentucky and Louisiana, on June 3. P.S. [About

my home country, Maryland] On April 29, 1861 the Maryland Assembly voted against secession from the United States of America. Though Maryland was considered a Southern state, secession there was prevented by an immediate military occupation of U.S. troops, ordered by

President Lincoln. Many Marylanders went southward and joined other regiments while some did organize a few Maryland Confederate units.

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My dear John,

 

Thank you for another excellent piece of US history.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jorge

On 2/11/07, JohnTWB <blazingstar1776 wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SECOND AMERICAN CONFEDERACY: Some History & Event Dates/Times

 

 

[.1.] The so-called American Civil War was not a civil war: [.2.] But precisely, the second American Revolutionary War, a war started on April 12, 1861; [.3.] The Fort Sumter event arrived just 67 days after the South as a Nation was born, on February 4, 1861; and 10 days before the South's nation-State was born, on April 22, 1861.

 

 

 

 

[.1.] SOME FACTS CONCEALED FROM AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS

 

 

In early 1861, the southern American States organized themselves into a defensive posture to defend the South from expected invasion by northern Union forces. The southern States, one by one, continued to file their ordinances of secession, with no demonstrated threat of harm or violence to anyone in the United States. Neither did they announce any intent to organize an effort to attack the Federal government in the North, or to try to take over the government of the United States for their own purposes. To have done so would have been an act of civil war; and if this had been the South's intent.

 

Instead, State after southern State peacefully resigned from the U.S.A., and set off to form a second American nation-State, the C.S.A., and its federal government, a nation-State that would be more equitable and sympathetic to the heritage of the citizenries of the American South. Still yet, the Confederacy had to organize military forces for national defense, for they the South, likely would be challenged, invaded and attacked by U.S. federal forces.

 

 

And the reasons for the defensive posture, as but a few truthful historians have long recognized, illustrate that the U.S.A.'s federal government's intentions were decidedly directed to subjugate the peoples of the South, and continue to exploit them for financial gain by protectionist tariff legislation benefiting only those northern interests, as previously adverted.

 

 

 

[.2.] How Lincoln started war by stealth, and invaded a neighboring Nation

 

 

 

The South was not the aggressor in bringing on the war; on the contrary, they did all that honorable men could do in the vain attempt to avert war. Northern financial interests with Mr. Francis Preston Blair of Silver Springs, Maryland, making the way on their behalf, gained control of the Republican Party and their elected President, Abraham Lincoln. [Francis Preston Blair, the least known, but most powerful man-behind-the-scenes in 19th century American politics. The Blair House located near the White House was built by this man. Blair secured Lincoln's 1860 party nomination. This Blair's son, Montgomery, was Lincoln's Postmaster General.] The Republican Party of Lincoln, 1860 -1865, was not the Jeffersonian Republican Party of the years 1854 – 1859. The party cadre was hijacked. Wall Street [

N.Y.] and Beacon Hill [boston] financial interests took it over, and re-directed the Republicans down the road to war. By Republican directed deception and stealth, the North provoked war with the South. Only a few of the salient events on this theme can be mentioned here.

 

 

 

An armistice had been entered into between South Carolina's government and the United States

government, on December 6, 1860. A similar armistice had been entered into between Florida and the United States government, on January 29, 1861. These armistices agreed that the forts, Sumter and Pickens, should neither be garrisoned nor provisioned, so

long as these armistices continued in force. Papers to this effect are on file in the United States Army and Navy Departments

.. Abraham Lincoln knew very well of this armistice, as agreed to by his predecessor, President Buchanan, when on March 29, 1861, Lincoln began to issue a series of secret orders in flagrant disregard of the terms of these armistices.

 

On March 29, Lincoln, without prior consent of his cabinet, ordered three ships with 300 men and provisions to be ready to go to Fort Sumter. All orders were marked

private. An expedition was secretly sent to Pensacola, Florida, as well. On April 7th President Lincoln directed Secretary of State Seward to confer with the Confederate Peace Commissioners in Washington, and say "

that they (the U.S. Government) had no design to reinforce Fort Sumter. " The duplicitous trap was then set.

 

Nevertheless, Major Robert Anderson, commander of the U.S. troops stationed at Charleston,

South Carolina's Fort Moultrie, followed Lincoln's secret orders, in flagrant violation of the January 29th Armistice, and took his men out of Fort Moultrie and into the island fort, Fort Sumter, under the cloak of darkness. This in itself was the very provocation that assured the public perception of the South's responsibility for the commencement of the conflict.

 

At 04: 30 hrs on the morning of April 12th, the Confederates opened fire on the fort; fire which was soon returned by the Feds. A staunch secessionist and renowned agriculturalist, Edmund Ruffin, fired the first shot on Fort Sumter, from Cummings Point across the harbor. The bombardment which followed for thirty-three hours was matched by return fire from the U.S. troops. At last, the fort made untenable, Major Anderson on April 14th surrendered the fort to the Confederacy, and on the 15th evacuated the position, with honors. The U.S. troops inside Fort Sumter came out, boarded ship and sailed out of Charleston Harbor. On their way out the Confederate troops along the shores removed their hats as the

U.S. troops passed by on their way out to sea and home to the United States. The only casualty came after the entire exchange of fire, one U.S. soldier, who was killed by accidentally self-inflicted wounds, suffered during the retreat ceremony, again, after the battle. The Confederates only casualty was an unfortunate mule.

 

 

 

 

[.3.] Birth of the South in 1861: first, the Nation, in February, and then after, the nation's State, in April.

 

 

 

 

The Montgomery Convention: the South first Convened as a Nation

 

 

 

Just before noon on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama: 37 State delegates, representing six southern States, mingled with reporters and spectators in a packed hall ringed with pictures of Washington, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun.

 

These State delegates represented six the original seven seceded States of what was to become this day America's southern Nation: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and (absent) Texas (37 delegates of the total of 43, 6 others arrived by the time the proceedings opened by 12:30 p.m.)

 

William Chilton, leader of the host delegation of Alabama, called the convention to order by 12:30 p.m., after which a Protestant minister blessed the gathering: "We are pursuing those rights which were guaranteed to us by the solemn covenants of our fathers, and which were cemented by their blood. . . . Let truth, and justice, and equal rights be decreed to our government."

 

 

[.3.a.] The American South's national Convention, at Montgomery, Alabama: the American South as a Nation was born, est. @ 13:15 hrs, 4 February 1861

 

 

The body representing six States [Texas absent] elected a president, Howell Cobb of Georgia, by acclamation; he delivered a brief speech, announcing to thunderous applause that the separation from the Union "is perfect, complete and perpetual." [Declaration completed, est. @ 13:15 hrs]

 

The assembled delegates then chose a secretary, doorkeeper, messenger, and committee to write rules for the proceedings. Without rules, they could go no further, so after only an hour of official meeting, the convention adjourned for the day. [Adjournment was called, est. @ 13:30/35 hrs.]

 

 

Seven States that already had passed ordinances of secession assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, to commence proceedings for establishing the Confederate States of America. The first task of the new nation was to write a "provisional" constitution for the nation. The convention finished its work four days later, on the late afternoon of 8 February, the text was resolved adopted, est. @ 17:30 hrs. The next day the finished document was formally "enrolled".

 

During the February 1861 deliberations in Montgomery, Alabama, three men other than Jefferson Davis were actively seeking the Confederate presidency. Alexander Stephens, Howell Cobb, and Robert Toombs, all Georgians, were considered for the post. However, the presidency was decided for Davis, who in February 1861 had stayed at his plantation home in Mississippi rather than journey to Montgomery. Alexander Stephens became the Confederacy's Vice-President, Howell Cobb led the Confederacy's Congress, and Robert Toombs was appointed Secretary of State.

 

 

 

Jefferson Davis was elected president of the provisional government by the convention vote of the following day, at 12:00 noon, 9 February; and the president-elect was inaugurated on 18 February. Such speed was possible because of the " mania for unanimity " among the delegates. Davis was elected again to the permanent C.S.A. Constitution's six-year presidential term, during the presidential and congressional elections in November 1861. Davis was re-inaugurated President, on February 22, 1862, the birth day of George Washington.

 

 

 

[.3.b.] SEVEN STARS & SEVEN BARS: the national FLAG born

 

On 4 March 1861, the first national flag of the Confederacy was raised over the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, at 3:30 PM [Although originally scheduled for 12:00 noon, local templar Masons may have had a hand in delaying the ceremony as scheduled in the convention, until their preferred number "33" had arrived on the clock, at 3:30 p.m..] The honors of performing the flag raising were given to Ms. Letitia Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S. President John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole placed by the capitol's clock, was not the more widely and readily recognized Confederate battle flag, but the " First National Pattern, " also known as the SEVEN STARS & BARS.

 

 

[.3.c.] Florida State Convention, at Tallahassee: the American South's Confederacy was born the nation-State, @ 15:30 hrs, on 22 April 1861.

 

 

Under this provisional constitution, by its own terms, this constitution was to last no more than a year, but it was in operation for only eighty days before the permanent C.S.A. Constitution was enacted. The preamble of the Provisional Constitution reflected the state rights philosophy and Protestant culture of its framers: " We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God... "

 

The State of Florida, on this day, became the SEVENTH STAR & BAR in the national flag, and the seventh of the founding States to join, democratically-in-convention, the Confederacy. By April 22, 1861 the six other founding States had ratified already. So fate gave to Florida, among the founding southern States, the seventh and nation-State founding Star & Bar. Thus, the permanent C.S.A. Constitution, as ratified, properly marks this event as the birth of the Confederacy, on April 22, 1861, the birth of the nation-State of the American South, famously remembered as the Confederate States of America.

 

 

[.4.] The ratified national constitution, in order "to form a permanent federal government", for the "Confederate states of America, was signed by the delegates and the president of the Convention, Howell Cobb: national government for the South, born in Montgomery, Alabama, on 29 April 1861, @ 12:00 hrs.

 

 

The document was signed by the national Convention's president, and so duly enacted on April 30, 1861, the official start date of government under the constitution. The Confederacy's capital city was moved on May 24, 1861 from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia.

 

 

A delegate who faithfully kept a diary of the convention's proceedings from February 4, 1861 until April 30, 1861, wrote on 30 April: "Yesterday: . . . we signed the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and have thus perfected my " rebellion. " I trust that my children hereafter may recur with pride to it, whether by others I am canonized as a saint or hung as a traitor." [source: Thomas R. R. Cobb, NOTES ON THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION].

 

 

[.5.] The CONFEDERACY of the American South was duly DISSOLVED, on 5 May 1865, a Friday, est. @ 14:30, in Washington, Georgia:

 

 

On April 30, 1865, a day more than four years after the start date of the Confederacy's constitutional government, the Generals Sherman-Johnson surrender agreement in Georgia, following just two weeks after the Generals Grant-Lee surrender agreement in Virginia, ended America's second revolutionary war.

 

By the end of the Civil War, what was left of the Confederate treasury in April, 1865, estimated at over half a million dollars in gold, left Richmond, Virginia under heavy guard. For more than a month the boxes and chests were moved from one southern town to another to protect it from seizure by the North.

 

Twice the treasure was taken to Washington-Wilkes before it came back for a final visit, as Washington was the last town to shelter the fortune. As the Confederacy fell apart, some of the fortune was captured with Davis in Irwinville, Georgia, and northern troops seized $100,000 of the original amount stored in a Washington bank. To this day, legend persists that the balance of the Confederate gold is buried somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia.

 

President Jefferson Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate government was officially dissolved after 2:30 pm, at the Cooper-Sanders-Wickersham House. By the way, the town of Washington has more antebellum homes than any other city of its size in the State of Georgia. Records at the Courthouse and the Mary Willis Library provide extensive opportunities for historical and genealogical research.

 

 

[.6.] The Confederacy's Memorial Day observed in America's southern States

 

Women's groups in several Deep South communities are credited with founding Memorial Day in April 1866. During the years after the war, the idea took hold throughout the regions; in the South different dates were observed in different states. The Deep South usually observed the holiday on April 26, the anniversary of General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender in North Carolina; North and South Carolina usually chose May 10, the date of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's death, and Jefferson Davis' capture. After former president Davis' death in 1889, some states observed the holiday on his birthday, June 3. Eight states still observe "Confederate Memorial Day": Florida and Georgia on April 26; South and North Carolina on May 10; Alabama and Mississippi on the fourth Monday in May; at last Kentucky and Louisiana, on June 3.

 

 

P.S. [About my home country, Maryland]

 

 

On April 29, 1861 the Maryland Assembly voted against secession from the United States of America. Though Maryland was considered a Southern state, secession there was prevented by an immediate military occupation of U.S. troops, ordered by President Lincoln. Many Marylanders went southward and joined other regiments while some did organize a few Maryland Confederate units.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks Jorge, As everyone knows, or at least of those stalwart investigators who have dared to sort out the numerous SIGNIFICANT dates attendant to the start of the Confederate States of America, I long ago sorted the mundane astrological "wheat" from the unfocused historical "chaff". The events cited well down in the text are the critical ones to investigate, and to correct the estimated time moments, by proper application of SA rectification technique. I hope there's at least one other "Southerner" in SAMVA, who can benefit and improve upon this draft. As a Marylander, I'm a Southerner. The Mason-Dixon line is determinative on this point. Cheers, JohnJorge Angelino <jorge.angelino wrote: My dear John, Thank you for another excellent piece of US history. Best wishes, Jorge On 2/11/07, JohnTWB <blazingstar1776 > wrote: THE SECOND AMERICAN CONFEDERACY: Some History & Event Dates/Times [.1.] The so-called American Civil War was not a civil war: [.2.] But precisely, the second American Revolutionary War, a war started on April 12, 1861; [.3.] The Fort Sumter event arrived just 67 days after the South as a Nation was born, on February 4, 1861; and 10 days before the South's nation-State was born, on April 22, 1861. [.1.] SOME FACTS CONCEALED FROM AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS In early 1861, the southern American States organized themselves into a defensive posture to defend the South from expected invasion by northern Union forces. The southern States, one by one, continued to file their ordinances of secession, with no demonstrated threat of harm or violence to anyone in the United States. Neither did they announce any intent to organize an effort to attack the Federal government in the North, or to try to take over the government of the United States for

their own purposes. To have done so would have been an act of civil war; and if this had been the South's intent. Instead, State after southern State peacefully resigned from the U.S.A., and set off to form a second American nation-State, the C.S.A., and its federal government, a nation-State that would be more equitable and sympathetic to the heritage of the citizenries of the American South. Still yet, the

Confederacy had to organize military forces for national defense, for they the South, likely would be challenged, invaded and attacked by U.S. federal forces. And the reasons for the defensive posture, as but a few truthful historians have long recognized, illustrate that the U.S.A.'s federal government's intentions were decidedly directed to subjugate the peoples of the South, and continue to exploit them for financial gain by protectionist tariff legislation benefiting only those northern interests, as previously adverted. [.2.] How Lincoln started war by stealth, and invaded a neighboring Nation The South was not the aggressor in bringing on the war; on the contrary, they did all that honorable men could do in the vain attempt to avert war. Northern financial interests with Mr. Francis Preston Blair of Silver Springs, Maryland, making the way on their behalf, gained

control of the Republican Party and their elected President, Abraham Lincoln. [Francis Preston Blair, the least known, but most powerful man-behind-the-scenes in 19th century American politics. The Blair House located near the White House was built by this man. Blair secured Lincoln's 1860 party nomination. This Blair's son, Montgomery, was Lincoln's Postmaster General.] The Republican Party of Lincoln, 1860 -1865, was not the Jeffersonian Republican Party of the years 1854 – 1859. The party cadre was hijacked. Wall Street [ N.Y.] and Beacon Hill [boston] financial interests took it over, and re-directed the Republicans down the road to war. By Republican directed deception and stealth, the North provoked war with the South. Only a few of the salient events on this theme can be mentioned here.

An armistice had been entered into between South Carolina's government and the United States government, on December 6, 1860. A similar armistice had been entered into between Florida and the United States government, on January 29, 1861. These armistices agreed that the forts, Sumter and Pickens, should neither be garrisoned nor provisioned, so long as these armistices continued in force. Papers to this effect are on file in the United States Army and Navy Departments . Abraham Lincoln knew very well of this armistice, as agreed to by his predecessor, President Buchanan, when on March 29, 1861, Lincoln began to issue a series of secret orders

in flagrant disregard of the terms of these armistices. On March 29, Lincoln, without prior consent of his cabinet, ordered three ships with 300 men and provisions to be ready to go to Fort Sumter. All orders were marked private. An expedition was secretly sent to Pensacola, Florida, as well. On April 7th President Lincoln directed Secretary of State Seward to confer with the Confederate Peace

Commissioners in Washington, and say " that they (the U.S. Government) had no design to reinforce Fort Sumter." The duplicitous trap was then set. Nevertheless, Major Robert Anderson, commander of the U.S. troops stationed at Charleston, South Carolina's Fort Moultrie, followed Lincoln's secret orders, in flagrant violation of the January 29th Armistice, and took his men out of Fort Moultrie and into the island fort, Fort Sumter, under the cloak of darkness. This in itself was the very provocation that assured the public perception of the South's responsibility for the commencement of the conflict. At 04: 30 hrs on the morning of April 12th, the Confederates opened fire on the fort; fire which was soon returned by the Feds. A staunch secessionist and renowned agriculturalist, Edmund Ruffin, fired the first shot on Fort Sumter, from Cummings Point across the harbor. The bombardment which followed for thirty-three hours was matched by return fire from the U.S. troops. At last, the fort made untenable, Major Anderson on April 14th surrendered the fort to the Confederacy, and on the 15th evacuated the position, with honors. The U.S. troops inside Fort Sumter came out, boarded ship and sailed out of Charleston Harbor. On their way out the Confederate troops along the shores removed their hats as the U.S. troops passed by on their way out to sea and home to the United States. The only casualty came after the entire exchange

of fire, one U.S. soldier, who was killed by accidentally self-inflicted wounds, suffered during the retreat ceremony, again, after the battle. The Confederates only casualty was an unfortunate mule. [.3.] Birth of the South in 1861: first, the Nation, in February, and then after, the nation's State, in April. The Montgomery Convention: the South first Convened as a Nation Just before noon on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama: 37 State delegates, representing six southern States, mingled with reporters and spectators in a packed hall ringed with pictures of Washington, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun.

These State delegates represented six the original seven seceded States of what was to become this day America's southern Nation: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and (absent) Texas (37 delegates of the total of 43, 6 others arrived by the time the proceedings opened by 12:30 p.m.)

William Chilton, leader of the host delegation of Alabama, called the convention to order by 12:30 p.m., after which a

Protestant minister blessed the gathering: "We are pursuing those rights which were guaranteed to us by the solemn covenants of our fathers, and which were cemented by their blood. . . . Let truth, and justice, and equal rights be decreed to our government." [.3.a.] The American South's national Convention, at Montgomery, Alabama: the American South as a Nation was born, est. @ 13:15 hrs, 4 February 1861 The body representing six States [Texas absent] elected a president, Howell Cobb of Georgia, by acclamation; he delivered a brief speech, announcing to thunderous applause that the separation from the Union "is perfect, complete and perpetual." [Declaration completed, est. @ 13:15 hrs]

The assembled delegates then chose a secretary, doorkeeper, messenger, and committee to write rules for the proceedings. Without rules, they could go no further, so after only an hour of official meeting, the convention adjourned for the day. [Adjournment was called, est. @ 13:30/35 hrs.] Seven States that already had passed ordinances of secession assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, to commence proceedings for establishing the Confederate States of America. The first task of the new nation was to write a "provisional" constitution for the nation. The convention finished its work four days later, on the late afternoon of 8 February, the text was resolved adopted, est. @ 17:30 hrs. The next day the finished document was formally "enrolled". During the February 1861 deliberations in Montgomery, Alabama, three men other than Jefferson Davis were actively seeking the Confederate presidency. Alexander Stephens, Howell Cobb, and Robert Toombs, all Georgians, were considered for the post. However, the presidency was decided for Davis, who in February 1861 had stayed at his plantation home in Mississippi rather than journey to Montgomery. Alexander Stephens became the Confederacy's Vice-President, Howell Cobb led the Confederacy's Congress, and Robert Toombs was appointed Secretary of State. Jefferson Davis was elected president of the provisional government by the convention vote of the following day, at 12:00 noon, 9

February; and the president-elect was inaugurated on 18 February. Such speed was possible because of the "mania for unanimity" among the delegates. Davis was elected again to the permanent C.S.A. Constitution's six-year presidential term, during the presidential and congressional elections in November 1861. Davis was re-inaugurated President, on February 22, 1862, the birth day of George Washington. [.3.b.] SEVEN STARS & SEVEN BARS: the national FLAG born On 4 March 1861, the first

national flag of the Confederacy was raised over the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, at 3:30 PM [Although originally scheduled for 12:00 noon, local templar Masons may have had a hand in delaying the ceremony as scheduled in the convention, until their preferred number "33" had arrived on the clock, at 3:30 p.m..] The honors of performing the flag raising were given to Ms. Letitia Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S. President John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole placed by the capitol's clock, was not the more widely and readily recognized Confederate battle flag, but the "First National Pattern," also known as the SEVEN STARS & BARS. [.3.c.] Florida State Convention, at Tallahassee:

the American South's Confederacy was born the nation-State, @ 15:30 hrs, on 22 April 1861. Under this provisional constitution, by its own terms, this constitution was to last no more than a year, but it was in operation for only eighty days before the permanent C.S.A. Constitution was enacted. The preamble of the Provisional Constitution reflected the state rights philosophy and Protestant culture of its framers: "We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God..." The State of Florida, on this day, became the SEVENTH STAR & BAR in the national flag, and the seventh of the founding States to join, democratically-in-convention, the Confederacy. By April 22, 1861 the six other founding States had ratified already. So fate gave to Florida, among the founding southern States, the seventh and nation-State founding Star & Bar. Thus, the permanent C.S.A. Constitution, as ratified, properly marks this event as the birth of the Confederacy, on April 22, 1861, the birth of the nation-State of the American South, famously remembered as the Confederate States of America. [.4.] The ratified national constitution, in order "to form a permanent

federal government", for the "Confederate states of America, was signed by the delegates and the president of the Convention, Howell Cobb: national government for the South, born in Montgomery, Alabama, on 29 April 1861, @ 12:00 hrs. The document was signed by the national Convention's president, and so duly enacted on April 30, 1861, the official start date of government under the constitution. The Confederacy's capital city was moved on May 24, 1861 from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. A delegate who faithfully kept a diary of the convention's proceedings from February 4, 1861 until April 30, 1861, wrote on 30 April: "Yesterday:

.. . . we signed the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and have thus perfected my "rebellion." I trust that my children hereafter may recur with pride to it, whether by others I am canonized as a saint or hung as a traitor." [source: Thomas R. R. Cobb, NOTES ON THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION]. [.5.] The CONFEDERACY of the American South was duly DISSOLVED, on 5 May 1865, a Friday, est. @ 14:30, in Washington,

Georgia: On April 30, 1865, a day more than four years after the start date of the Confederacy's constitutional government, the Generals Sherman-Johnson surrender agreement in Georgia, following just two weeks after the Generals Grant-Lee surrender agreement in

Virginia, ended America's second revolutionary war. By the end of the Civil War, what was left of the Confederate treasury in April, 1865, estimated at over half a million dollars in gold, left Richmond, Virginia under heavy guard. For more than a month the boxes and chests were moved from one southern town to another to protect it from seizure by the North. Twice the treasure was taken to Washington-Wilkes before it came back for a final visit, as Washington was the last town to shelter the fortune. As the Confederacy fell apart, some of the fortune was captured with Davis in Irwinville, Georgia, and northern troops seized $100,000 of the

original amount stored in a Washington bank. To this day, legend persists that the balance of the Confederate gold is buried somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia. President Jefferson Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate government was officially dissolved after 2:30 pm, at the Cooper-Sanders-Wickersham House. By the way, the town of Washington has more antebellum homes than any other city of its size in the State of Georgia. Records at the Courthouse and the Mary Willis Library provide extensive opportunities for historical and genealogical research. [.6.] The Confederacy's Memorial Day observed in America's southern States Women's groups in several Deep South communities are credited with founding Memorial Day in April 1866. During the years after the war, the idea took hold throughout the regions; in the South different dates were observed in different states. The Deep South usually observed the holiday on April 26, the anniversary of General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender in North Carolina; North and South Carolina usually chose May 10, the date of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's death, and Jefferson Davis' capture. After former president Davis' death in 1889, some states observed the holiday on his birthday, June 3. Eight states still observe

"Confederate Memorial Day": Florida and Georgia on April 26; South and North Carolina on May 10; Alabama and Mississippi on the fourth Monday in May; at last Kentucky and Louisiana, on June 3. P.S. [About my home country, Maryland] On April 29, 1861 the Maryland Assembly voted against secession from the United States of America. Though Maryland was considered a Southern state, secession there

was prevented by an immediate military occupation of U.S. troops, ordered by President Lincoln. Many Marylanders went southward and joined other regiments while some did organize a few Maryland Confederate units. Never miss an email again! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. Check it out.

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[Guest guest]

My dear John,

 

your information will be very useful...as usual!

 

Thanks again.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jorge

On 2/11/07, JohnTWB <blazingstar1776 wrote:

 

 

Thanks Jorge,

 

As everyone knows, or at least of those stalwart investigators who have dared to sort out the numerous SIGNIFICANT dates attendant to the start of the Confederate States of America, I long ago sorted the mundane astrological " wheat " from the unfocused historical " chaff " . The events cited well down in the text are the critical ones to investigate, and to correct the estimated time moments, by proper application of SA rectification technique.

 

 

I hope there's at least one other " Southerner " in SAMVA, who can benefit and improve upon this draft.

 

As a Marylander, I'm a Southerner. The Mason-Dixon line is determinative on this point.

 

Cheers,

 

John Jorge Angelino <jorge.angelino

> wrote:

 

 

 

 

My dear John,

 

Thank you for another excellent piece of US history.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jorge

On 2/11/07, JohnTWB <blazingstar1776

> wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

THE SECOND AMERICAN CONFEDERACY: Some History & Event Dates/Times

 

 

[.1.] The so-called American Civil War was not a civil war: [.2.] But precisely, the second American Revolutionary War, a war started on April 12, 1861; [.3.] The Fort Sumter event arrived just 67 days after the South as a Nation was born, on February 4, 1861; and 10 days before the South's nation-State was born, on April 22, 1861.

 

 

 

[.1.] SOME FACTS CONCEALED FROM AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS

 

 

In early 1861, the southern American States organized themselves into a defensive posture to defend the South from expected invasion by northern Union forces. The southern States, one by one, continued to file their ordinances of secession, with no demonstrated threat of harm or violence to anyone in the United States. Neither did they announce any intent to organize an effort to attack the Federal government in the North, or to try to take over the government of the United States for their own purposes. To have done so would have been an act of civil war; and if this had been the South's intent.

 

Instead, State after southern State peacefully resigned from the U.S.A., and set off to form a second American nation-State, the C.S.A., and its federal government, a nation-State that would be more equitable and sympathetic to the heritage of the citizenries of the American South. Still yet, the Confederacy had to organize military forces for national defense, for they the South, likely would be challenged, invaded and attacked by U.S. federal forces.

 

 

And the reasons for the defensive posture, as but a few truthful historians have long recognized, illustrate that the U.S.A.'s federal government's intentions were decidedly directed to subjugate the peoples of the South, and continue to exploit them for financial gain by protectionist tariff legislation benefiting only those northern interests, as previously adverted.

 

 

 

[.2.] How Lincoln started war by stealth, and invaded a neighboring Nation

 

 

 

The South was not the aggressor in bringing on the war; on the contrary, they did all that honorable men could do in the vain attempt to avert war. Northern financial interests with Mr. Francis Preston Blair of Silver Springs, Maryland, making the way on their behalf, gained control of the Republican Party and their elected President, Abraham Lincoln. [Francis Preston Blair, the least known, but most powerful man-behind-the-scenes in 19th century American politics. The Blair House located near the White House was built by this man. Blair secured Lincoln's 1860 party nomination. This Blair's son, Montgomery, was Lincoln's Postmaster General.] The Republican Party of Lincoln, 1860 -1865, was not the Jeffersonian Republican Party of the years 1854 – 1859. The party cadre was hijacked. Wall Street [ N.Y.] and Beacon Hill [boston] financial interests took it over, and re-directed the Republicans down the road to war. By Republican directed deception and stealth, the North provoked war with the South. Only a few of the salient events on this theme can be mentioned here.

 

 

An armistice had been entered into between South Carolina's government and the United States government, on December 6, 1860. A similar armistice had been entered into

between Florida and the United States government, on January 29, 1861. These armistices agreed that the forts, Sumter and Pickens, should neither be garrisoned nor provisioned, so long as these armistices continued in force. Papers to this effect are on file in the United States Army and Navy Departments . Abraham Lincoln knew very well of this armistice, as agreed to by his predecessor, President Buchanan, when on March 29, 1861, Lincoln began to issue a series of secret orders in flagrant disregard of the terms of these armistices.

 

On March 29, Lincoln, without prior consent of his cabinet, ordered three ships with 300 men and provisions to be ready to go to Fort Sumter. All orders were marked private. An expedition was secretly sent to Pensacola, Florida, as well. On April 7th President Lincoln directed Secretary of State Seward to confer with the Confederate Peace Commissioners in Washington, and say " that they (the U.S. Government) had no design to reinforce Fort Sumter. " The duplicitous trap was then set.

 

Nevertheless, Major Robert Anderson, commander of the U.S. troops stationed at Charleston, South Carolina's Fort Moultrie, followed Lincoln's secret orders, in flagrant violation of the January 29th Armistice, and took his men out of Fort Moultrie and into the island fort,

Fort Sumter, under the cloak of darkness. This in itself was the very provocation that assured the public perception of the South's responsibility for the commencement of the conflict.

 

At 04: 30 hrs on the morning of April 12th, the Confederates opened fire on the fort; fire which was soon returned by the Feds. A staunch secessionist and renowned agriculturalist, Edmund Ruffin, fired the first shot on Fort Sumter, from Cummings Point across the harbor. The bombardment which followed for thirty-three hours was matched by return fire from the U.S. troops. At last, the fort made untenable, Major Anderson on April 14th surrendered the fort to the Confederacy, and on the 15th evacuated the position, with honors. The U.S. troops inside Fort Sumter came out, boarded ship and sailed out of Charleston Harbor. On their way out the Confederate troops along the shores removed their hats as the

U.S. troops passed by on their way out to sea and home to the United States. The only casualty came after the entire exchange of fire, one U.S. soldier, who was killed by accidentally self-inflicted wounds, suffered during the retreat ceremony, again, after the battle. The Confederates only casualty was an unfortunate mule.

 

 

 

[.3.] Birth of the South in 1861: first, the Nation, in February, and then after, the nation's State, in April.

 

 

 

 

The Montgomery Convention: the South first Convened as a Nation

 

 

Just before noon on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama: 37 State delegates, representing six southern States, mingled with reporters and spectators in a packed hall ringed with pictures of Washington, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun.

 

These State delegates represented six the original seven seceded States of what was to become this day America's southern Nation: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and (absent) Texas (37 delegates of the total of 43, 6 others arrived by the time the proceedings opened by 12:30 p.m.)

 

William Chilton, leader of the host delegation of Alabama, called the convention to order by 12:30 p.m., after which a Protestant minister blessed the gathering: " We are pursuing those rights which were guaranteed to us by the solemn covenants of our fathers, and which were cemented by their blood. . . . Let truth, and justice, and equal rights be decreed to our government. "

 

 

[.3.a.] The American South's national Convention, at Montgomery, Alabama: the American South as a Nation was born, est. @ 13:15 hrs, 4 February 1861

 

 

The body representing six States [Texas absent] elected a president, Howell Cobb of Georgia, by acclamation; he delivered a brief speech, announcing to thunderous applause that the separation from the Union " is perfect, complete and perpetual. " [Declaration completed, est. @ 13:15 hrs]

 

The assembled delegates then chose a secretary, doorkeeper, messenger, and committee to write rules for the proceedings. Without rules, they could go no further, so after only an hour of official meeting, the convention adjourned for the day. [Adjournment was called, est. @ 13:30/35 hrs.]

 

Seven States that already had passed ordinances of secession assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, to commence proceedings for establishing the Confederate States of America. The first task of the new nation was to write a " provisional " constitution for the nation. The convention finished its work four days later, on the late afternoon of 8 February, the text was resolved adopted, est. @ 17:30 hrs. The next day the finished document was formally " enrolled " .

 

During the February 1861 deliberations in Montgomery, Alabama, three men other than Jefferson Davis were actively seeking the Confederate presidency. Alexander Stephens, Howell Cobb, and Robert Toombs, all Georgians, were considered for the post. However, the presidency was decided for Davis, who in February 1861 had stayed at his plantation home in Mississippi rather than journey to Montgomery. Alexander Stephens became the Confederacy's Vice-President, Howell Cobb led the Confederacy's Congress, and Robert Toombs was appointed Secretary of State.

 

 

Jefferson Davis was elected president of the provisional government by the convention vote of the following day, at 12:00 noon, 9 February; and the president-elect was inaugurated on 18 February. Such speed was possible because of the " mania for unanimity " among the delegates. Davis was elected again to the permanent C.S.A. Constitution's six-year presidential term, during the presidential and congressional elections in November 1861. Davis was re-inaugurated President, on February 22, 1862, the birth day of George Washington.

 

 

[.3.b.] SEVEN STARS & SEVEN BARS: the national FLAG born

 

On 4 March 1861, the first national flag of the Confederacy was raised over the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, at 3:30 PM [Although originally scheduled for 12:00 noon, local templar Masons may have had a hand in delaying the ceremony as scheduled in the convention, until their preferred number " 33 " had arrived on the clock, at 3:30 p.m..] The honors of performing the flag raising were given to Ms. Letitia Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S. President John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole placed by the capitol's clock, was not the more widely and readily recognized Confederate battle flag, but the " First National Pattern, " also known as the SEVEN STARS & BARS.

 

 

[.3.c.] Florida State Convention, at Tallahassee: the American South's Confederacy was born the nation-State, @ 15:30 hrs, on 22 April 1861.

 

 

Under this provisional constitution, by its own terms, this constitution was to last no more than a year, but it was in operation for only eighty days before the permanent C.S.A. Constitution was enacted. The preamble of the Provisional Constitution reflected the state rights philosophy and Protestant culture of its framers: " We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God... "

 

The State of Florida, on this day, became the SEVENTH STAR & BAR in the national flag, and the seventh of the founding States to join, democratically-in-convention, the Confederacy. By April 22, 1861 the six other founding States had ratified already. So fate gave to Florida, among the founding southern States, the seventh and nation-State founding Star & Bar. Thus, the permanent C.S.A. Constitution, as ratified, properly marks this event as the birth of the Confederacy, on April 22, 1861, the birth of the nation-State of the American South, famously remembered as the Confederate States of America.

 

 

[.4.] The ratified national constitution, in order " to form a permanent federal government " , for the " Confederate states of America, was signed by the delegates and the president of the Convention, Howell Cobb: national government for the South, born in Montgomery, Alabama, on 29 April 1861, @ 12:00 hrs.

 

The document was signed by the national Convention's president, and so duly enacted on April 30, 1861, the official start date of government under the constitution. The Confederacy's capital city was moved on May 24, 1861 from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia.

 

A delegate who faithfully kept a diary of the convention's proceedings from February 4, 1861 until April 30, 1861, wrote on 30 April: " Yesterday: . . . we signed the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and have thus perfected my " rebellion. " I trust that my children hereafter may recur with pride to it, whether by others I am canonized as a saint or hung as a traitor. " [source: Thomas R. R. Cobb, NOTES ON THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION].

 

 

[.5.] The CONFEDERACY of the American South was duly DISSOLVED, on 5 May 1865, a Friday, est. @ 14:30, in Washington, Georgia:

 

 

On April 30, 1865, a day more than four years after the start date of the Confederacy's constitutional government, the Generals Sherman-Johnson surrender agreement in Georgia, following just two weeks after the Generals Grant-Lee surrender agreement in Virginia, ended America's second revolutionary war.

 

By the end of the Civil War, what was left of the Confederate treasury in April, 1865, estimated at over half a million dollars in gold, left Richmond, Virginia under heavy guard. For more than a month the boxes and chests were moved from one southern town to another to protect it from seizure by the North.

 

Twice the treasure was taken to Washington-Wilkes before it came back for a final visit, as Washington was the last town to shelter the fortune. As the Confederacy fell apart, some of the fortune was captured with Davis in Irwinville, Georgia, and northern troops seized $100,000 of the original amount stored in a Washington bank. To this day, legend persists that the balance of the Confederate gold is buried somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia.

 

President Jefferson Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate government was officially dissolved after 2:30 pm, at the Cooper-Sanders-Wickersham House. By the way, the town of Washington has more antebellum homes than any other city of its size in the State of Georgia. Records at the Courthouse and the Mary Willis Library provide extensive opportunities for historical and genealogical research.

 

 

[.6.] The Confederacy's Memorial Day observed in America's southern States

 

Women's groups in several Deep South communities are credited with founding Memorial Day in April 1866. During the years after the war, the idea took hold throughout the regions; in the South different dates were observed in different states. The Deep South usually observed the holiday on April 26, the anniversary of General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender in North Carolina; North and South Carolina usually chose May 10, the date of General Thomas J. " Stonewall " Jackson's death, and Jefferson Davis' capture. After former president Davis' death in 1889, some states observed the holiday on his birthday, June 3. Eight states still observe " Confederate Memorial Day " : Florida and Georgia on April 26; South and North Carolina on May 10; Alabama and Mississippi on the fourth Monday in May; at last Kentucky and Louisiana, on June 3.

 

 

P.S. [About my home country, Maryland]

 

 

On April 29, 1861 the Maryland Assembly voted against secession from the United States of America. Though Maryland was considered a Southern state, secession there was prevented by an immediate military occupation of U.S. troops, ordered by President Lincoln. Many Marylanders went southward and joined other regiments while some did organize a few Maryland Confederate units.

 

 

 

 

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