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Interesting US History
A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

 

 
 

 

ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

February 4, 1861

The Confederate States of America is Established

On this day in 1861, the Confederate States or America was formed in Montgomery Alabama. The CSA began as seven Southern states (eventually increasing to eleven) that had seceded from the Union.

Shortly after establishing a government, the CSA seized control of federal forts and other properties within their borders. President James Buchanan did little to stop them but when Abraham Lincoln took office on March 4, hostilities increased.

The American Civil War officially began on April 12 when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina (although Confederate forces had actually fired on the supply ship Star of the West on January 9 while it was trying to resupply the fort).