Editing Confederate States of America (section)

===Victories: 1861===
The American Civil War broke out in April 1861 with a Confederate victory at the [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina in the American Civil War|Charleston]].

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|caption1=Bombardment of [[Battle of Fort Sumter|Fort Sumter]], Charleston, South Carolina
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|caption2=First Bull Run ([[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]]), the North's "Big Skedaddle"<ref>[[Margaret Leech]], ''Reveille in Washington'' (1942)</ref>
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In January, President [[James Buchanan]] had attempted to resupply the garrison with the steamship, ''[[Star of the West]]'', but Confederate artillery drove it away. In March, President Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor [[Francis W. Pickens|Pickens]] that without Confederate resistance to the resupply there would be no military reinforcement without further notice, but Lincoln prepared to force resupply if it were not allowed. Confederate President Davis, in cabinet, decided to seize Fort Sumter before the relief fleet arrived, and on April 12, 1861, General Beauregard forced its surrender.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Alexander H.|author-link=Alexander Stephens|title=A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States|url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalview02steprich|format=PDF|volume=2|year=1870|page=[https://archive.org/details/constitutionalview02steprich/page/36 36]|quote=I maintain that it was inaugurated and begun, though no blow had been struck, when the hostile fleet, styled the 'Relief Squadron', with eleven ships, carrying two hundred and eighty-five guns and two thousand four hundred men, was sent out from New York and Norfolk, with orders from the authorities at Washington, to reinforce Fort Sumter peaceably, if permitted 'but forcibly if they must'&nbsp;...|publisher=Philadelphia: National Pub. Co.; Chicago: Zeigler, McCurdy}} After the war, Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens maintained that Lincoln's attempt to resupply Sumter was a disguised reinforcement and had provoked the war.</ref>

Following Sumter, [[Proclamation 80|Lincoln directed states to provide 75,000 militiamen]] for three months to recapture the Charleston Harbor forts and all other federal property.<ref name=LincolnCallToArms>
[http://www.civilwarhome.com/lincolntroops.htm Lincoln's proclamation calling for troops from the remaining states] (bottom of page); Department of War details to States (top).</ref> This emboldened secessionists in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina to secede rather than provide troops to march into neighboring Southern states. In May, Federal troops crossed into Confederate territory along the entire border from the Chesapeake Bay to New Mexico. The first battles were Confederate victories at Big Bethel ([[Battle of Big Bethel|Bethel Church, Virginia]]), First Bull Run ([[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]]) in Virginia July and in August, Wilson's Creek ([[Battle of Wilson's Creek|Oak Hills]]) in Missouri. At all three, Confederate forces could not follow up their victory due to inadequate supply and shortages of fresh troops to exploit their successes. Following each battle, Federals maintained a military presence and occupied Washington, DC; Fort Monroe, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. Both North and South began training up armies for major fighting the next year.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 352–353.</ref> Union General [[George B. McClellan]]'s forces gained possession of much of northwestern Virginia in mid-1861, concentrating on towns and roads; the interior was too large to control and became the center of guerrilla activity.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;q1=red%20house;rgn=full%20text;idno=waro0005;didno=waro0005;view=image;seq=0580|title= The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Series 1|volume= 5|page=56}}4</ref><ref>Rice, Otis K. and Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia, A History'', University of Kentucky Press, 1993, 2nd ed., p. 130</ref> General [[Robert E. Lee]] was defeated at [[Cheat Mountain]] in September and no serious Confederate advance in western Virginia occurred until the next year.

Meanwhile, the Union Navy seized control of much of the Confederate coastline from Virginia to South Carolina. It took over plantations and the abandoned slaves. Federals there began a war-long policy of burning grain supplies up rivers into the interior wherever they could not occupy.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 353.</ref> The Union Navy began a blockade of the major southern ports and prepared an invasion of Louisiana to capture New Orleans in early 1862.