On this Sunday, the first Confederate flag is raised in Georgia, on the courthouse lawn in the town of Preston. According to a historical marker in Preston: Judge David B. Harrell of Webster County, Capt. James Pickett of Red Hill, Dr. Harvis Pickett of Weston, with their companies of soldiers, trained in Preston. Voting for…
Today a career United States military officer accepts U.S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron’s offer of a commission as colonel of the First Cavalry. The officer’s name is Robert E. Lee. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had submitted the commission to the Senate on March 21, and the offer was formalized four days later. Even as…
Today U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, over the objection of some advisors, decides to attempt to resupply Fort Sumter on April 6. The die is cast. Lincoln knows that Confederate forces in Charleston will resist the resupply efforts, which in turn could well lead to the formal beginnings of the war that is inevitable. Meanwhile, Mississippi…