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195 ChAPter 16 the Birneys in Battle When the President of the United States, on the 15th day of April, 1861, issued his proclamation calling out seventy-five thousand of the militia of the different states, [David Bell] Birney determined to act. —oliVeR WilsoN DAVis the “solid south,” which William Birney later observed had been emerging since 1824, exploded with the election of Abraham lincoln in November 1860. lincoln’s election was the signal bell for southern states to declare outrage over the antislavery platform of the Republican party, secede from the union, and form the Confederate states of America. the decision had been shaping for over several decades, but it was reinforced by “Apostles of Disunion” who fanned out across the south, according to the author of a book by that name, Charles B. Dew. professor Dew, of Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, takes pains to note he is a native of florida who attended high school in Virginia and whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy. He describes the “apostles of disunion” as the antithesis of James G. Birney’s “apostles of equality,” who had campaigned for the abolition of slavery in the 1830s. the “disunionists” were southern secession commissioners who were specifically assigned by their state governments to whip up opposition to what the rebels called “Black Republican rule.” Mississippi was first to appoint commissioners to travel to every slave state in action taken by the state legislature before the end of November 1860. other states, galvanized by fears that the Republican party was intent on “the destruction of the institution of slavery,” sent out their own commissioners. A secession convention was called in Columbia, south Carolina, a parade of rebel resignations from the u.s. senate and 196| Chapter 16 House began, and mobilization of men and arms was started. there was no retreat now from the intransigent position that slavery must be preserved. “‘the tea has been thrown overboard, the revolution of 1860 has been initiated ,’” the Charleston Mercury declared.1 James Buchanan’s vice president, John Cabell Breckenridge, son of Birney’s old princeton roommate Joseph, was the highest-ranking government official to defect to the Confederacy. Actually, Breckenridge’s term was up in early 1861, and his candidacy on the newly formed southern Democratic ticket took more than eight hundred thousand votes that might otherwise have helped elect “little Giant” Democrat stephen A. Douglas of illinois instead of lincoln. the Civil War exploded into history when Confederate cannons directed by Gen. p. G. t. Beauregard opened on the federal fort sumter in the harbor of Charleston, south Carolina, on 12 April 1861. some national spirit still prevailed, for Beauregard offered assistance to the commander, Maj. Robert Anderson, when the fort’s barracks burned, and some rebels cheered the gallantry of Anderson’s men even as they continued to load and fire the cannons during the intense bombardment. the author of a Confederate military history, wrote in 1899: “the spirit and language of General Beauregard in communicating with Major Anderson, and the replies of the latter, were alike honorable to those distinguished soldiers. the writer, who was on duty on sullivan’s island, as major of pettigrew’s regiment of rifles, recalls vividly the sense of admiration felt for Major Anderson and his faithful little command throughout the attack, and at the surrender of the fort.”2 the offspring of James G. Birney were eager to join the union cause at the outset of the war in 1861. oldest son James iii, forty-three, initially was involved in recruiting troops as lieutenant governor of Michigan, but was soon to resign and take a circuit judgeship in mid-Michigan. two sons who would become major generals were William, forty-two, who was practicing law in Cincinnati, and David, thirty-six, a lawyer in philadelphia and a member of a local militia unit. two others who would soon enlist were Robert Dion, thirty-eight, a druggist in saginaw, Michigan, and fitzhugh, nineteen, who was studying at Harvard university. Grandson James G. iV, son of James iii, was a brash youth of seventeen in Bay City, soon to enlist in the seventh Michigan Cavalry. the enlistment of four sons and a grandson of James G. Birney represented perhaps the greatest contribution of any abolitionist family to the war effort. William Birney and David Bell Birney were among the many “political” generals in the union Army whose military qualifications were suspect. others included Benjamin f. Butler, former governor of Massachusetts...

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