On April 15, Pres­i­dent Lin­coln issued a procla­ma­tion urg­ing the states of the Union to muster mili­tias and sup­ply 75,000 troops to sup­press the seces­sion­ist activ­i­ties in the south­ern states. This call aimed to reaf­firm U.S. law and restore the Union’s hon­or and integri­ty, empha­siz­ing a com­mit­ment to pro­tect exist­ing slav­ery in hopes of retain­ing the bor­der states. In antic­i­pa­tion of this new army’s mis­sion, Lin­coln aimed to repos­sess seized fed­er­al prop­er­ties while ensur­ing no dis­tur­bance to cit­i­zens or destruc­tion of prop­er­ty.

The procla­ma­tion had an imme­di­ate, explo­sive impact. North­ern states respond­ed with wide­spread jubi­la­tion, while south­ern lead­ers react­ed with anger. Gov­er­nors like John Ellis of North Car­oli­na con­demned Lin­col­n’s call for troops as a vio­la­tion of peace and lib­er­ty, while Tennessee’s gov­er­nor pledged troops for defense against coer­cion. Vir­gini­a’s deci­sion to secede came just days lat­er, after a fer­vent debate, sym­bol­ized by even union­ist William Rives shift­ing his sup­port towards seces­sion.

Cel­e­bra­tions erupt­ed in Charleston, with local lead­ers exult­ing over Vir­gini­a’s deci­sion. The scene inten­si­fied with Arkansas, North Car­oli­na, and Ten­nessee vot­ed for seces­sion, con­trast­ing with the ambiva­lence of bor­der states that refused to pro­vide troops against their South­ern coun­ter­parts. The land­scape was divid­ed, demand­ing loy­al­ty dec­la­ra­tions as the nation teetered on the brink of civ­il war.

A piv­otal fig­ure in this tur­moil was Robert E. Lee, a respect­ed U.S. Army colonel. While con­sid­er­ing an offer from Lin­coln to com­mand Union forces, he grap­pled with Vir­gini­a’s seces­sion, ulti­mate­ly resign­ing due to his alle­giance to his state despite his views on slav­ery and seces­sion. His res­ig­na­tion marked a painful per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al turn­ing point.

Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, as con­flict brewed across the nation, British jour­nal­ist William Rus­sell observed the South’s fer­vor and jubi­la­tion dur­ing his trav­els. Arriv­ing in Charleston fol­low­ing the procla­ma­tion, he wit­nessed cel­e­bra­tions filled with armed crowds and a pal­pa­ble spir­it of vic­to­ry. Rus­sel­l’s obser­va­tions hint­ed at the depth of South­ern con­vic­tions, believ­ing that the Union could nev­er regain its for­mer strength and uni­ty.

Over­all, this chap­ter paints a vivid pic­ture of a nation in cri­sis, the fierce emo­tion­al divides between North and South, and the ini­tial respons­es to the esca­lat­ing con­flict lead­ing up to the Civ­il War.