To: Those Whose Freedoms Are Being Taken
bcc: The Takers Who Live Off of The Taken
"If it ever came to a fight, the American army had scarcely any artillery, and almost no gunpowder, yet to Greene the greater weakness and worry was the continuing disorderly state of the army itself. As he wrote to his friend Samuel Ward at the Continental Congress, the prospect was deeply disturbing, "when you consider them raw and undisciplined the troops are in general, and what war like preparations are going on in England.."
"To the British and those Loyalists who had taken refuge in Boston, they were simply "the rebels," or "the country people," undeserving the words 'American" or "army". General John Burgoyne disdainfully dubbed them "a preposterous parade, a rabble in arms."
In April (1776) when the call for help first went out after Lexington and Concord, militia and volunteer troops from the other New England colonies had come by the thousands to join forces with the Massachusetts regiments - 1500 Rhode Islanders led by Nathaniel Greene, 5000 from Connecticut under the command of Israel Putnam. John Stark's New Hampshire regiment of 1000 had marched in snow and rain, "wet and sloppy," through mud and mire," without food or tents, event five miles in three and a half days. The Massachusetts regiments, by far the strongest of the provincial troops, possibly numbered more than 10,000.
By June a sprawling, spontaneous, high spirited New England army such as had never been seen was gathered about Boston. Washington arriving in the first week of July was told he had 20,000 men but no one knew for certain. No count had been taken until he made it a first order of business. in fact there were 16,000 of which fewer that 14,000 were fit for duty. More than 1500 were sick and another 1500 absent.
...Beyond that Washington found them to be men of a decidedly different sort than he had expected and he was not all pleased.
...The enemy's total strength was believed to be 11,000. In reality there were perhaps 7,000 of the King's men in Boston or roughly half the number under Washington's command."
"1776" David McCullough pg. 24-25.
1. The Once and Future Republic of Vermont
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033002076.html
2. List of U.S. state secession proposals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_secession_proposals
3. Los Angeles voters will decide on Nov. 5, 2002 whether to let 1.35 million residents of the San Fernando Valley split off to form a new city.
http://www.americassuburb.com/secede.html
4. Secession, Anyone?
http://www.sobran.com/columns/2004/041007.shtml
5. Secession and Liberty
http://wwwlewrockwell.com/orig/dilorenzo2.html
6.SECESSION AND THE MODERN STATE
http://www.lrainc.com/swtaboo/taboos/dwliv01.html
Jack Venrick
Enumclaw, WA
Chronology of the Secession Crisis
Most of the items here can be found in E.B. Long's Civil War Day by Day (Doubleday, 1971),
a standard and very valuable reference work.
Copyright 1996 James F. Epperson
February 27, 1860: Abraham Lincoln addresses gathering at the Cooper Union in New York City.
March 6, 1860: Lincoln gives speech in New Haven, Connecticut.
April 23, 1860: Democratic Convention opens in Charleston, SC.
May 3, 1860: Democratic Convention adjourns after Deep South delegations withdraw over the slavery plank in the platform
May 9, 1860: Constitutional Union Party nominates John Bell of Tennessee for the Presidency.
May 18, 1860: Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency.
June 18, 1860: Democrats reconvene in Baltimore, MD.
June 22, 1860: Deep South delegates again withdraw from the Democratic Convention.
June 23, 1860: "Regular" Democrats nominate Stephen A. Douglas; the "Southern" wing of the party nominates John C. Breckinridge.
November 6, 1860: Lincoln defeats Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell for the Presidency.
November 14, 1860: Alexander Stephens addresses the Georiga legislature on secession.
November 30, 1860: Mississippi legislature passes resolutions in favor of secession.
December 18, 1860: Crittenden Compromise introduced in Congress.
December 20, 1860: South Carolina convention passes ordinance of seccession.
December 26, 1860: Major Anderson moves Federal garrison in Charleston, SC, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter.
January 3, 1861: Georgia seizes Fort Pulaski.
January 4, 1861: Alabama seizes U.S. arsenal at Mount Vernon.
January 5, 1861: Alabama seizes Forts Morgan and Gaines.
January 6, 1861: Florida seizes Apalachicola arsenal.
January 7, 1861: Florida seizes Fort Marion.
January 8, 1861: Floridians try to seize Fort Barrancas but are chased off.
January 9, 1861: Mississippi secedes. - Star of the West fired on in Charleston Harbor
January 10, 1861: Florida secedes. - Louisiana seizes U.S. arsenal at Baton Rouge, as well as Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
January 11, 1861: Alabama secedes. - Louisiana seizes U.S. Marine Hospital.
January 14, 1861: Louisiana seizes Fort Pike.
January 19, 1861: Georgia secedes.
January 26, 1861: Louisiana secedes.
January 28, 1861: Tennessee Resolutions in favor of Crittenden Compromise offered in Congress.
February 1, 1861: Texas secedes.
February 8, 1861: Provisional Constitution of the Confederacy adopted in Montgomery, AL. - Arkansas seizes U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock.
February 12, 1861: Arkansas seizes U.S. ordnance stores at Napoleon.
February 18, 1861: Jefferson Davis inaugurated as President of the Confederacy.
March 4, 1861: Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as 16th President of the United States.
March 21, 1861: "Cornerstone speech" delivered by Alexander Stephens.
April 12, 1861: Fort Sumter fired upon by Confederates.