383.  More Seceders.—­The Southerners flocked to the standards of the Confederacy, and four more states joined the ranks of secession.  These were Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.  In Virginia the people were sharply divided on the question of secession.  Finally Virginia seceded, but the western Virginians, in their turn, seceded from Virginia and two years later were admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia.  Four “border states” had seceded; but four other “border states” were still within the Union.  These were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.

[Sidenote:  Kentucky and Maryland saved to the Union.]

[Sidenote:  Missouri saved to the Union. Eggleston, 310.]

384.  The Border States.—­The people of Maryland and of Kentucky were evenly divided on the question of secession.  They even tried to set up as neutral states.  But their neutrality would have been so greatly to the advantage of the seceders that this could not be allowed.  Lincoln’s firm moderation and the patriotism of many wise leaders in Kentucky saved that state to the Union.  But Maryland was so important to the defense of Washington that more energetic means had to be used.  In Missouri, a large and active party wished to join the Confederacy.  But two Union men, Frank P. Blair and Nathaniel Lyon, held the most important portions of the state for the Union.  It was not until a year later, however, that Missouri was safe on the Northern side.

[Sidenote:  Southern sentiment in Washington.]

[Sidenote:  Southern Unionists.]

[Sidenote:  First bloodshed, April 19, 1861.]

385.  To the Defense of Washington.—­The national capital was really a Southern town, for most of the permanent residents were Southerners, and the offices were filled with Southern men.  In the army and navy, too, were very many Southerners.  Most of them, as Robert E. Lee, felt that their duty to their state was greater than their duty to their flag.  But many Southern officers felt differently.  Among these were two men whose names should be held in grateful remembrance, Captain David G. Farragut and Colonel George H. Thomas.  The first soldiers to arrive in Washington were from Pennsylvania; but they came unarmed.  Soon they were followed by the Sixth Massachusetts.  In passing through Baltimore this regiment was attacked.  Several men were killed, others were wounded.  This was on April 19, 1861,—­the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord.  It was the first bloodshed of the war.

CHAPTER 38

BULL RUN TO MURFREESBORO’, 1861-1862

[Illustration:  RAILROADS AND RIVERS OF THE SOUTH.]

[Sidenote:  The field of war.]