On November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16^th President of the United States, and on December 20, South Carolina seceded from the Union. The Palmetto State was followed in quick succession (January-February) by six states of the Lower South: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The seceding states, in convention at Montgomery, AL (February), framed a constitution, established a provisional government, and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi provisional President of the Confederacy. Four states of the Upper South - Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas - did not secede at this time; however, they strongly warned against Federal intervention in the affairs of the seceded states. By early March, the Confederacy had called for 100,000 volunteers for one year's military service and had seized numerous Federal military installations within its borders. When President Lincoln notified South Carolina (April 6) that the U.S. intended to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, war was imminent.

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