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Lincoln's proclamation.
Two days after the fall of
Fort Sumter, April 15, 1861,
Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for troops to ‘repossess,’ as he this time had it, ‘the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the
Union.’
Of course this meant war and nothing else.
In the circular which accompanied the proclamation and fixed the quota of troops to be furnished by each State, States like
Virginia,
North Carolina,
Tennessee,
Arkansas and other Southern States which whilst they fully recognized the right of a State to secede at any time it saw fit to do so, had not yet seceded themselves, but had all of them refused to secede, were each called on to furnish their quotas of troops.
Now, of course, none of them could consistently furnish troops to
Mr. Lincoln to prosecute a war which had been brought on by the bad faith and duplicity of his own administration.
As a result, they all refused.
Governor Letcher, of
Virginia, though he had been an ardent Union man, answered
Mr. Lincoln: ‘You have chosen to inaugurate civil war,’ and that
Virginia could furnish no troops to carry it on.
