165 YEARS AGO: President Abraham Lincoln calls for increased military enrollment, which results in Federal troops pouring into Washington, D.C. By mid-May, talk turns from defense to offensive operations including an invasion of the South.
Tag: Abraham Lincoln
Keep Your Rowdies in Baltimore
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Maryland legislators reject secession as President Lincoln controversially suspends the writ of habeas corpus in areas surrounding the state.
Washington in Isolation
President Lincoln’s call for volunteers is enthusiastically answered but getting them to Washington is another matter. This leads to chaos in the capital, where fears of a Confederate attack heighten.
President Lincoln’s Blockade Proclamation
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: President Abraham Lincoln issues an order imposing a naval blockade on ports in the Confederate states. This is intended to prevent supplies from reaching the Confederacy, despite lacking legal basis since he did not recognize the Confederacy as a foreign nation.
The Streets Became a Battleground
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: The first blood of the war is drawn when Federal troops traveling through Baltimore fire on a jeering mob, sparking mass unrest.
The Virginia Secession
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Virginians react to President Lincoln’s militia proclamation by voting to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.