Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Secretary of State William H. Seward meets with an intermediary to Confederate envoys and submits an extraordinary memo to President Abraham Lincoln offering to head the administration behind the scenes.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: President Abraham Lincoln overrides General Winfield Scott’s recommendation by ordering the reinforcement of Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida. Lincoln sees this as essential to maintaining a Federal presence in the South.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: President Abraham Lincoln consults his cabinet regarding the fate of Forts Sumter and Pickens. With his ministers still divided as to what should be done, Lincoln comes to a fateful decision.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: General Winfield Scott writes a shocking letter to President Abraham Lincoln recommending the abandonment of not only Fort Sumter but Fort Pickens as well.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Missouri and Arkansas still remain cautious about secession, as voters elected mostly Unionist delegates for their respective secession conventions. The Arizona Territory, however, opts to join the Confederacy.
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: President Lincoln sends special agents to Charleston, South Carolina, to assess the situation at Fort Sumter and to see if any Unionist sentiment can be found in the state. Lincoln receives disappointing news.