Kevin Donovan has posted an excellent and meticulously researched article over at the Emerging Civil War blog on Virginia’s secession crisis and the “Spontaneous People’s Convention.” In those heated days in April 1861 before voting to secede, fire-eaters plotted and nearly executed a violent coup to force Virginia out of the Union. Click the link below to read all about this fascinating story.
April 1861: The country is in crisis. Seven states have left the Union. Others teeter on secession’s brink. Competing factions clash. Passions reach fever pitch. While some counsel patience, violence erupts. Shots are fired. A chief executive appeals for troops to put down an insurrection against his government. A new president heeds that call. Soon […]
The Secessionist Coup D’état Aimed at the 1861 Virginia State Convention & What Might Have Been
Spirit of '61 