The Confederate States of America boasted five capital cities in four years. The center of the Confederate government moved from one Southern city to another, including Montgomery, Richmond, Danville, Greensboro, and Charlotte. From the heady early days of the new country to the dismal last hours of a transient government, each city played a role in the Confederate story. While some of these sites are commemorated with impressive monuments and museums, others offer scant evidence of their importance in Civil War history. Join award-winning historian Michael C. Hardy as he recounts the harrowing history of the capitals of the Confederacy.
Includes photos!
The Confederate States of America boasted five capital cities in four years. The center of the Confederate government moved from one Southern city to another, including Montgomery, Richmond, Danville, Greensboro, and Charlotte. From the heady early days of the new country to the dismal last hours of a transient government, each city played a role in the Confederate story. While some of these sites are commemorated with impressive monuments and museums, others offer scant evidence of their importance in Civil War history. Join award-winning historian Michael C. Hardy as he recounts the harrowing history of the capitals of the Confederacy.
Includes photos!
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Overview
The Confederate States of America boasted five capital cities in four years. The center of the Confederate government moved from one Southern city to another, including Montgomery, Richmond, Danville, Greensboro, and Charlotte. From the heady early days of the new country to the dismal last hours of a transient government, each city played a role in the Confederate story. While some of these sites are commemorated with impressive monuments and museums, others offer scant evidence of their importance in Civil War history. Join award-winning historian Michael C. Hardy as he recounts the harrowing history of the capitals of the Confederacy.
Includes photos!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781625854322 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 01/23/2019 |
| Series: | Civil War Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 131 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Montgomery, Alabama
February 4 to May 21, 1861
For the second time in just over a month, the peals of the cannon and the cheers of the multitudes ripped through the air in Montgomery, Alabama. The first such celebration had erupted on January 11, 1861, when delegates to a state convention met in the capital to take Alabama out of the Union. Now, on February 18 on the steps of the statehouse in Montgomery, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of a new nation. Many observers felt that Montgomery should become the permanent capital of the Confederate States of America.
Montgomery was a relatively new city. Located on a bend in the Alabama River, the area was settled in 1814 and originally called New Philadelphia. There was a hope that New Philadelphia might become the capital of the new state of Alabama, but that honor went to Tuscaloosa instead. In 1819, New Philadelphia merged with the nearby communities of Alabama Town and East Alabama to form Montgomery, which was officially incorporated in 1837. The new town was named in honor of Revolutionary War brigadier general Richard Montgomery, killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec. The town of Montgomery was located in Montgomery County, which actually had a different namesake than the city. The county was created by the Mississippi Territory General Assembly on December 6, 1816, and named in honor of Major Lemuel Montgomery, who fell at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. In 1846, the capital of Alabama was moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery.
Cotton was truly king in Montgomery. At first, it was shipped from Montgomery to Mobile via steamboats on the Alabama River. In 1851, the Montgomery and West Point Railroad was completed, linking Alabama and Georgia. This line eventually ran to Atlanta, Columbus and the rest of the South. Three other lines out of Montgomery were under construction, including an almost-finished railroad connecting to both Mobile and Pensacola. The population of the city was 8,843, with 4,502 of those being slaves. Montgomery was the second-largest city in Alabama, following Mobile. Yet at the same time, thanks to the abundant cotton fields in the surrounding county, Montgomery was one of the richest cities in the South. One historian wrote that the land value in surrounding Montgomery County was estimated at $51 million.
To those delegates either coming to the state convention or participating in the formation of the provisional Confederate government, Montgomery had much to offer. There were three hotels, including the luxurious Exchange Hotel. Added to this were an unknown number of boardinghouses. Montgomery had two banks, four newspapers, two bookstores, fifteen clothiers, five confectioners, four restaurants, thirty-four grocers, a half dozen druggists, two dozen doctors, a dentist and separate hospitals for both whites and blacks. The city boasted a half dozen jewelers, four slave traders, a dozen or more seamstresses, a half dozen milliners, a gunsmith and places to have either a portrait painted or a photograph taken. There were several private militia groups, seven Masonic Lodges, three Odd Fellows Lodges, a gym, a theater and a half dozen churches, including a Jewish congregation that was in the process of building a new synagogue. "Montgomery in 1860 was a place of wealth, architectural taste, and commercial vigor," wrote William Rogers in his history of the city.
Perched atop Goat Hill was the state capitol. The original building had burned in December 1849, just two years after construction was completed. On October 1, 1851, the Alabama legislature met in the rebuilt Greek Revival–style building for the first time. Almost ten years later, secession convention delegates from across the state convened in the House chamber and, on January 11, 1861, voted to take Alabama out of the Union. Upon hearing the news, Montgomery citizens stormed the building, cheering the decision. A state flag made by local women was raised on the roof of the capitol, and a cannon on the capitol grounds was fired by Miss C.T. Raoul, joining the roar of other cannons and the bells ringing across the city.
While the major newspapers of the era reported the secession of Alabama, Montgomery was soon thrust onto the international stage. Longtime political differences between the sections of the United States came to a head with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Believing that the election of a member of the radical Republican Party to the presidency would lead to further oppression, South Carolina took the first step and passed an ordinance of secession on December 20, 1860. Other states in the Deep South quickly followed, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Taking the lead, South Carolina representatives recommended a meeting of Southern states take place in Montgomery prior to Lincoln's inauguration, which was scheduled for March 4. Secession convention delegates in South Carolina elected commissioners to go to the other Southern states on January 2 to encourage them to adopt their secession ordnances, and on January 5, they elected eight delegates to attend the convention in Montgomery. It was the proposal of the delegates in South Carolina that each state elect a number of delegates to the convention based on the number of senators and representatives in the United States Congress. When Alabama passed its ordinance of secession, there was a resolution officially inviting the other states to meet on February 4 in Montgomery.
And so the delegates converged on Montgomery. Alabama's Robert Hardy Smith was one of the first, arriving from Mobile on January 30 and staying with a local family. Portions of the South Carolina and Mississippi delegations arrived on February 2 on the morning train. This group included Robert Barnwell Rhett Sr., the "Father of Secession," along with his cousin Robert Barnwell. These delegates found rooms at the Exchange Hotel, and upon hearing of their arrival, some members of the Alabama delegation in town came to greet them. The evening train brought other South Carolina delegates, including Christopher Memminger, as well as Georgia's Howell Cobb. They likewise found rooms at the Exchange. Delayed because of a derailment, a train bearing James and Mary Chesnut of South Carolina and much of the Georgia delegation, including Robert Toombs, Thomas Cobb and Alexander Stephens, did not arrive until after midnight. Many of those aboard that train also lodged at the Exchange Hotel. The Chesnuts found rooms at the smaller Montgomery Hall, as did Louisiana's Alexander DeClouet. Stephens, looking for even quieter rooms, stayed at Mrs. Elizabeth Cleveland's boardinghouse, located a couple of blocks from the Exchange Hotel.
Located on the corners of Commerce and Montgomery Streets, the Exchange Hotel became the central meeting spot for attendees. An earlier building, the Madison House, occupied the site prior to 1846, when a group of businesses constructed the Exchange. The four-story brick building contained 124 sleeping rooms that could accommodate up to three hundred guests. There were billiard and barrooms described as "models of elegance and taste, with hardwood finish, in early English style, panelled with plate glass." The second floor boasted a gentlemen's reading room. There was also a ladies' parlor with a separate entrance. After the capitol had burned in 1849, the Exchange held the meetings of the state legislature until the building could be rebuilt. Now, its rooms were filled with some of the most learned and politically astute men from across the South.
Many who met in the cigar smoke–filled rooms of the Exchange had already developed some type of agenda. Robert Barnwell Rhett had a draft of a constitution, based on the old United State Constitution but with several amendments. He expected at least a cabinet post, if not the presidency itself. Fellow South Carolinian Christopher Memminger likewise came with a draft of a constitution, one that had been anonymously published in a newspaper a few weeks previously. Some, like James Chesnut, believed that former secretary of war and United States senator Jefferson Davis should be the first president. Many in Alabama felt it should be their own William L. Yancey. Alexander Stephens thought perhaps Robert Toombs. Before the impromptu meeting broke up on February 3, some of the delegates had agreed that Howell Cobb should preside over the proceedings, while Montgomery newspaper editor "Jonce" Hooper should serve as secretary of the convention. With that, the conversation ended, and the delegates returned to their rooms across town.
For several days, rain had fallen in torrents in the area. Bridges were out, and more than one delegate noted the swollen Alabama River. Yet as the delegates made their way up the hill to the statehouse, the sun broke through the clouds, providing some warmth to the cold winter morning. After climbing the steps leading to the portico, delegates passed into the entrance hall. Straight ahead were the doors that led to the state Supreme Court chambers. After ascending the stairs and entering the rotunda, the men could look up at the dome two floors above them. The House chamber was off to the right of the rotunda, and the Senate chamber entrance was to the left. Just a few days earlier, the Alabama Senate granted the convention delegates permission to the use the room. The walls, usually bare, had been decorated with paintings of George Washington, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and William L. Yancey, among others. Delegates and visitors were also provided with two tables of refreshments, including cold meats, bread and fruit.
Even though there were a few delegates yet to arrive, at noon on February 4, William P. Chilton, leader of the Alabama delegation, called the convention to order. Chilton next moved that South Carolina's Robert Barnwell be voted in as acting president, which was approved unanimously. After making a few remarks, Barnwell called upon Reverend Basil Manly to offer an invocation. After the delegates presented their credentials, Rhett called for the election of a permanent president and moved that Howell Cobb be accepted by acclamation, which carried. Howell was escorted to the chair and, after thanking his fellow delegates, moved toward electing a permanent secretary and appointing a doorkeeper and messenger. With the housekeeping finished, Alexander Stephens rose and moved that a committee of five be appointed to draft the rules of the convention. After the motion carried, Howell appointed a reluctant Stephens, against his wishes, to chair the committee, named four other committee members and then gaveled the first session closed. Barely an hour had passed, but without rules of conduct, no other business could take place.
Joining Stephens back at Mrs. Cleveland's boardinghouse that evening were Lawrence Keitt (South Carolina), James Harrison (Mississippi) and John Perkins (Louisiana). Thanks to the years Stephens had spent in the United States Congress, he was intimately familiar with the old House rules. A draft was soon written, and Stephens personally took it to the offices of the Advertiser and asked for fifty copies to be printed and delivered before noon the next day. The title chosen by Stephens was "Government of this Congress, Rules for the Government of this Congress." A few eyebrows would be raised on the morrow. Up until that point, they had simply been a convention. Stephens now considered them a congress.
Stephens placed a copy on each delegate's desk on February 5. At noon, Cobb called the meeting to order. The first item of business was the adoption of the rules, which passed with few alterations. After a few more housekeeping items, Memminger rose and offered a resolution authorizing Cobb to form a committee to frame a provisional government. This committee was to be composed of two delegates from each state. Several other resolutions were quickly offered, and one delegate quickly rose and asked the chamber to be cleared of visitors and to go into closed session. The crowded galleries emptied of disappointed spectators and reporters. One of the latter complained that the chamber became a "temple of mystery and birthplace of liberty." For the rest of the afternoon, the delegates haggled over details. Finally, the Memminger motion passed.
Twelve men headed back to Stephens's room and adjoining parlor at the Cleveland boardinghouse and commenced work that evening. Using the old United States Constitution as their framework, the committee of twelve spent the next day and a half hammering out a document to serve as a provisional constitution until a permanent constitution could be created. While they worked, their colleagues enjoyed some of the best hospitality that Montgomery could offer. Local elite — including John G. Winters, Thomas Watts, William Pollard, James Ware and others — put on scrumptious feasts and entertained the out-of-state guests at their opulent homes in Montgomery.
At 11:00 a.m. on February 7, Cobb gaveled the meeting in the Senate chamber to order. Since the proposed provisional constitution was still at the printers, a recess was called. After dispatching the food on the tables, the delegates reconvened, and once they had dispensed with some more mundane matters, Memminger moved that that they go into closed session. Still without the printed copies, Memminger read from a draft, and then the group recessed for the day. The next morning dawned warm, a contrast to the freezing temperatures of earlier in the week. Once again, the delegates made their way up Market Street to the statehouse. Copies arrived from the printer, and work soon commenced. Throughout the day and into the evening, the delegates wrangled over the text of the document. After nine hours of debate, the document was approved unanimously. The delegates adjourned, agreeing to be sworn in the following day with members of the public as witnesses and then to take up the election of a provisional president and vice-president in secret. Montgomery greeted the news once again with cannon fire, locomotive and steamboat whistles and crowds of exuberant people.
Behind closed doors and in the bar at the Exchange Hotel, quite a few names had been batted about as contenders for the presidency. Rhett, Stephens, Cobb and Howell were all front-runners. In the end, the new provisional congressmen chose Mississippi's Jefferson Davis, who was not even a delegate at the convention, as president. Davis was seen as a moderate, someone who might be able to coax the border states, like Virginia, into the new Confederate States of America. As vice-president was a man who had originally voted against secession, Georgia's Alexander Stephens, who had done more work than anyone else during the convention, authoring the governing rules and playing a large part in drafting the provisional constitution. While there were dissenters with the selections, everyone either voted in support or held his tongue.
Stephens was sworn in just after 1:00 p.m. in the statehouse on February 11, 1861. It was his forty-ninth birthday. Regular business took the rest of that day. That evening, a group of citizens, led by a brass band, serenaded the new vice-president with "Dixie" and "Marseilles." Stephens was asleep at the time but managed a brief speech upon waking. The throng then moved down the streets of Montgomery looking for other dignitaries to whom they could sing. At the same time, other citizens met at Estelle Hall and agreed to offer the upper floor of the Montgomery Insurance Building as office space for the Confederate government while beginning the hunt for a suitable executive mansion for the incoming Davis. There had already been talk of moving the Confederate capital to Atlanta. The people in Montgomery realized the importance, especially in an economic sense, of keeping the capital in Alabama. There was even talk of constructing a new Confederate capitol building in Montgomery, at a cost of $1 million. "I opine that no place can be better adapted for the permanent location of Congress than Montgomery, provided, nevertheless, that the City Council should take immediate steps toward paving the streets, or at least toward furnishing them with draw-bridges or passenger steamboats," quipped one newspaper reporter. This same reporter later added that all of this speculation had driven up the property prices in the city.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Capitals of the Confederacy"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Michael C. Hardy.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
1. Montgomery, Alabama: February 4 to May 21, 1861,
2. Richmond, Virginia: May 1861 to July 1863,
3. Richmond, Virginia: July 1863 to April 2, 1865,
4. Danville, Virginia: April 3 to April 10, 1865,
5. Greensboro, North Carolina: April 14 to April 15, 1865,
6. Charlotte, North Carolina: April 19 to April 26, 1865,
7. The Flight of Jefferson Davis: South Carolina to Georgia, April 26 to May 10, 1865,
8. Looking for the Capitals of the Confederacy,
Notes,
About the Author,