Edward Alfred Pollard, The lost cause; a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates ... Drawn from official sources and approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders.

Chapter 5:

• Preparations of South Carolina to withdraw from the Union.
-- passage of her ordinance of Secession. -- the Federal force in Charleston Harbour evacuates Fort Moultrie, and occupies Sumter. -- description of Fort Sumter. -- how the Secession of South Carolina was entertained in the North. -- the levity and inconsistency of the North with respect to this event. -- doctrine of Secession, and Northern precedents. -- record of Massachusetts. -- Mr. Quincy's declaration in Congress. -- a double justification of the withdrawal of the Southern States from the Union. -- the right of self-government. -- opinion of Mr. Lincoln. -- opinion of the New York Tribune. -- opinion of Mr. Seward. -- the Secession question in the cotton States. -- hesitation of Georgia. -- project of Alexander H. Stephens. -- Secession of all the cotton States. -- seizure of Federal forts and arsenals. -- Fort Pickens. -- Senator Yulee's letter. -- the scenes of Secession transferred to Washington. -- resignation of Southern Senators. -- Jefferson Davis' farewell speech to the Federal Senate. -- Senator Clay's bill of indictment against the Republican party. -- the Convention at Montgomery. -- Constitution of the Confederate States. -- Jefferson Davis chosen President. -- his personal history. -- his character. -- why the public opinion about him was so divided and contradictory. -- measures looking to pacification. -- three avenues through which it was expected. -- Early prospects of pacification in Congress. -- the Republican “ultimatum.” -- “the Crittenden compromise.” -- measures of compromise and peace in Congress exclusively proposed by the South, and deliberately defeated by the North. -- the peace conference. -- its failure. -- disposition of the Border Slave States. -- how mistaken by the North. -- the Virginia Convention. -- how the Secession party gained in it. -- the record of Virginia on the subject of State Rights. -- President Buchanan on the Secession question. -- his weak character and undecided policy. -- how over-censured by the North. -- Gen. Scott's intermeddling. -- his impracticable advice. -- President Buchanan's perfidy in the Moultrie -- Sumter affair. -- his interview with the South Carolina delegation. -- a second deception. -- the “star of the West” affair. -- the situation. At the close of Buchanan's administration. -- the country waiting for the signal of combat