January 3, 1861

[struggle4progress]

Just two weeks after South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, the state of Delaware rejects a similar proposal. There had been little doubt that Delaware would remain with the North. Delaware was technically a slave state, but the institution was rare by 1861. There were 20,000 blacks living there, but only 1,800 of them were slaves--Delaware was industrializing, and most of the commercial ties were with Pennsylvania. In 1790, 15 percent of Delaware's population was enslaved, but by 1850 that figure had dropped to less than three percent. In the state's largest city, Wilmington, there were only four bondsmen. Most of the slaves were concentrated in Sussex, the southernmost of the state's three counties ...
Delaware rejects secession
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/delaware-rejects-secession

[struggle4progress]

1. Letter from the Secretary of War to Hon. A Clopton

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 3, 1861.
Hon. DAVID CLOPTON, House of Representatives:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th ultimo, asking for the plat and plan of the magazines at Mount Vernon Arsenal, Alabama. In reply, I have to say that I would cheerfully comply with your request did not the interests of the service in the present condition of affairs forbid the publication of information of that description.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. HOLT, Secretary of War ad interim

http://www.simmonsgames.com/research/authors/USWarDept/ORA/OR-S1-V01-C003.html

[struggle4progress]

2. Fort Pulaski

Under an order from Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown, 134 volunteer militiamen from Savannah under the command of Colonel A.R. Lawton (who would ultimately become a brigadier general in the Confederate Army), took control of Fort Pulaski. The fort was located on Cockspur Island, about a mile upstream from the Savannah River. It was not a major military operation; the fort was "defended" only by a sergeant and caretaker, and was taken without any gunfire. Still, the state of Georgia taking action against a federal fort within its borders received considerable attention around the South.

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/CivilWar/dec60jan61.htm#jan031861

[struggle4progress]

3. Florida Secession Convention Meets in Tallahassee

Date: 1861-01-03

Delegates to the Florida Secession Convention meet in Tallahassee to take up the question of secession ...

http://www.myfloridahistory.org/node/465

[struggle4progress]

4. Speech of Hon. S. A. Douglas, of Illinois, on the state of the Union

The Senate having under consideration the following resolution reported by the select committee of thirteen, appointed to consider the agitated and distracted condition of the country —

Resolved, That the committee have not been able to agree upon any general plan of adjustment, and report that fact to the Senate, together with the journal of the committee.

Mr. DOUGLAS said:

Mr. President: No act of my public life has ever caused me so much regret as the necessity of voting in the special committee of thirteen for the resolution reporting to the Senate our inability to agree upon any general plan of adjustment, which would restore peace to the country and insure the integrity of the Union. If we wish to understand the real causes which have produced such wide-spread and deep-seated discontent in the slaveholding States, we must go back beyond the recent presidential election, and trace the origin and history of the slavery agitation from the period when it first became an active element in Federal politics. Without fatiguing the Senate with tedious details, I may be permitted to assume, without the fear of successful contradiction, that whenever the Federal Grovernment has attempted to decide and control the slavery question in the newly acquired Territories, regardless of the wishes of the inhabitant, alienation of feeling, sectional strife, and discord have ensued; and whenever Congress has refrained from such interference, harmony and fraternal feeling have been restored ...

http://www.archive.org/stream/speechofhonsadou00douga/speechofhonsadou00douga_djvu.txt

[struggle4progress]

5. Reports of and correspondence with Ordnance Storekeeper F. C. Humphreys, U. S. Army,

in reference to seizure of Charleston Arsenal

CHARLESTON ARSENAL, S.C.,
January 3, 1861.

Capt. WM. MAYNADIER,
In charge of Ordnance Bureau, Washington, D.C.

SIR: I received your dispatch last night and sent a reply by telegraph. I will now proceed to make a detailed report of the facts relative to the surrender of this arsenal, which I should have done before but that my time has been fully occupied in getting proper vouchers for the property recently in my charge.

On Sunday morning last Colonel Cunningham marched a strong detachment of armed men into this arsenal (having several days before entirely surrounded it outside of the inclosure) and demanded the surrender in the name of South Carolina and by order of Governor Pickens. Having no force to make a defense, I surrendered under a protest, and demanded the privilege of saluting my flag before lowering it and of taking it with me, and that the command should occupy the quarters until instructions could be received from the War Department, which was granted.

Soon after, the arsenal and magazine were both opened, and the property has been constantly issued since--arms, ammunition, accouterments, &c.

Myself and men and our families are very unpleasantly situated. There are some 200 men here constantly, and we are in actual danger from accident when so many inexperienced persons are at every turn with loaded arms. Our movements are watched and restricted, and I would earnestly request that we may be moved elsewhere. The times are so unsettled that I have not issued to my command this month either subsistence or fuel--in fact, we have no conveniences for anything, and all is confusion and turmoil.

I understand that all communication with Fort Sumter is cut off, and that a barge with its men from that post has been captured at the city wharf and are held in durance.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
F. C. HUMPHREYS,
Military Storekeeper Ordnance, U. S. Army.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/humphreysftsumter.htm

[jberryhill]

6. Most of our slave owners still live in Sussex county /nt

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[struggle4progress]

8. The Virginian

“His excellency, James Buchanan, President of the United State, has designated and recommended Friday, the fourth day of January, 1861, as a day to be set apart for humiliation, fasting and prayer throught the Union, in view of the present distracted and dangerous condition of our country.”

Excerpt from The Virginian of Jan. 3, 1861
http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/jan/03/civil-war-150th-excerpt-virginian-jan-3-1861-ar-745805/