Editing Confederate States of America (section)

==Secession==
[[File:1861 Davis Inaugural.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|The inauguration of [[Jefferson Davis]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama]]]]

The first secession state conventions from the Deep South sent representatives to the [[Montgomery Convention]] in Alabama on February 4, 1861. A provisional government was established.<ref name="Freehling">Freehling, p. 503</ref> The new provisional Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]] issued a call for 100,000 men from the states' militias to defend the newly formed Confederacy.<ref name="Freehling" /> All Federal property was seized, including gold bullion and coining dies at the U.S. mints.<ref name="Freehling" /> The Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia, in May 1861. On February 22, 1862, Davis was inaugurated as president with a term of six years.<ref>{{cite book|author=John D. Wright|title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Civil War Era Biographies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_wpKWzSmvUC&pg=PA150|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=150|isbn=978-0415878036}}</ref>

The Confederate administration pursued a policy of national territorial integrity, continuing earlier state efforts in 1860–1861 to remove U.S. government presence. This included taking possession of U.S. courts, custom houses, post offices, and most notably, arsenals and forts. After the Confederate attack and capture of [[Fort Sumter]] in April 1861, Lincoln called up [[75,000 volunteers|75,000 of the states' militia]] to muster under his command. The stated purpose was to re-occupy U.S. properties throughout the South, as the U.S. Congress had not authorized their abandonment. The resistance at Fort Sumter signaled his change of policy from that of the Buchanan Administration. Lincoln's response ignited a firestorm of emotion. The people of both North and South demanded war, with soldiers rushing to their colors in the hundreds of thousands.<ref name="Freehling" />

[[File:US map 1864 Civil War divisions.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Blue indicates the Union states and light blue Union-supporting slave states ([[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]]) that primarily stayed in Union control, though [[Kentucky]] and [[Missouri]] had dual competing Confederate and Unionist governments. Red represents seceded states in rebellion, also known as the Confederate States of America. Uncolored areas were territories, with the exception of the [[Indian Territory]], which is present-day [[Oklahoma]].]]
[[File:CSA states evolution.gif|thumb|upright=1.5|Evolution of the Confederate States between December 1860 and July 1870]]
Secessionists argued that the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] was a contract among sovereign states that could be abandoned without consultation and each state had a right to secede. After intense debates and statewide votes, seven Deep South states passed secession ordinances by February 1861, while secession efforts failed in the other eight slave states.

The Confederacy expanded in May–July 1861 (with [[Virginia in the Civil War|Virginia]], [[Arkansas in the Civil War|Arkansas]], [[Tennessee in the Civil War|Tennessee]], [[North Carolina in the Civil War|North Carolina]]), and disintegrated in April–May 1865. It was formed by delegations from seven slave states of the [[Lower South]] that had proclaimed their secession. After the fighting began in April, four additional slave states seceded and were admitted. Later, two slave states ([[Missouri]] and [[Kentucky]]) and two territories were given seats in the Confederate Congress.<ref>David M. Potter, ''The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861'' (1976) pp. 484–514.</ref>

Its establishment flowed from and deepened Southern nationalism,<ref>Potter, pp. 448–484.</ref> which prepared men to fight for "The Southern Cause".<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 3–4</ref> This "Cause" included support for [[states' rights]], [[Tariff|tariff policy]], and internal improvements, but above all, cultural and financial dependence on the South's slavery-based economy. The convergence of race and slavery, politics, and economics raised South-related policy questions to the status of moral questions over, way of life, merging love of things Southern and hatred of things Northern. As the war approached, political parties split, and national churches and interstate families divided along sectional lines.<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 4–5</ref> According to historian John M. Coski:
{{blockquote|The statesmen who led the secession movement were unashamed to explicitly cite the defense of [[slavery]] as their prime motive&nbsp;... Acknowledging the centrality of slavery to the Confederacy is essential for understanding the Confederate.<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&q=%22men+carrying+the+battle+flag+preserved+and+perpetuated+the+Confederate+cause+and+their+flag+became+the+symbol+of+Confederate+nationalism%22&pg=PA20 |title= The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem |pages=23–27 |first=John M. |last=Coski |date=2005 |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 978-0674029866}}</ref>}}

Following South Carolina's unanimous 1860 secession vote, no other Southern states considered the question until 1861; when they did, none had a unanimous vote. All had residents who cast significant numbers of Unionist votes. Voting to remain in the Union did not necessarily mean individuals were sympathizers with the North. Once fighting began, many who voted to remain in the Union accepted the majority decision, and supported the Confederacy.<ref name="personal.tcu.edu">{{cite web |url= http://personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Crofts.htm |title=Reluctant Confederates |publisher= Personal.tcu.edu |access-date= April 19, 2014}}</ref> Many writers have evaluated the War as an American tragedy—a "Brothers' War", pitting "brother against brother, father against son, kin against kin of every degree".<ref>{{cite book |last= Coulter |first=E. Merton |title= The Confederate States of America 1861–1865 |date= 1950 |page=61}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first= Avery O. |last=Craven |title= The Growth of Southern Nationalism 1848–1861 |page=390 }}</ref>

===States===
Initially, some secessionists hoped for a peaceful departure. Moderates in the Confederate Constitutional Convention included a provision against importation of slaves from Africa to appeal to the Upper South. Non-slave states might join, but the radicals secured a two-thirds requirement in both houses of Congress to accept them.<ref>"Thomas1979" pp. 59, 81</ref>

Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, and Lincoln's subsequent call for troops, four more states declared their secession.

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[[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky]] declared neutrality, but after Confederate troops moved in, the state legislature asked for Union troops to drive them out. Delegates from 68 Kentucky counties were sent to the Russellville Convention that signed an Ordinance of Secession. Kentucky was admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861, with Bowling Green as its first capital. Early in the war, the Confederacy controlled more than half of Kentucky but largely lost control in 1862. The splinter [[Confederate government of Kentucky]] relocated to accompany western Confederate armies and never controlled the state population after 1862. By the end of the war, 90,000 Kentuckians had fought for the Union, compared to 35,000 for the Confederacy.<ref name="Why?">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/01/why-do-people-believe-myths-about-the-confederacy-because-our-textbooks-and-monuments-are-wrong/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=July 1, 2015 |author=James W. Loewen |title=Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong.}}</ref>

In [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]], a [[Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861–63)|constitutional convention]] was approved and delegates elected. The convention rejected secession 89–1 on March 19, 1861.<ref>''Journal and Proceedings of the Missouri State Convention Held at Jefferson City and St. Louis, March 1861'', George Knapp & Co., 1861, p. 47</ref> The governor maneuvered to take control of the [[St. Louis Arsenal]] and restrict Federal movements. This led to a confrontation, and in June federal forces drove him and the [[Missouri General Assembly|General Assembly]] from Jefferson City. The executive committee of the convention called the members together in July, and declared the state offices vacant and appointed a Unionist interim state government.<ref>Eugene Morrow Violette, ''A History of Missouri'' (1918), pp. 393–395</ref> The exiled governor called a rump session of the former General Assembly together in [[Neosho, Missouri|Neosho]] and, on October 31, 1861, it passed an [[Missouri secession|ordinance of secession]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/secessionacts.html|title=Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States|access-date=September 30, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308171406/http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/secessionacts.html|archive-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>Weigley (2000) p. 43 See also, [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/misouord.htm Missouri's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190940/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/misouord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref> The Confederate state government was unable to control substantial parts of Missouri territory, effectively only controlling southern Missouri early in the war. It had its capital at Neosho, then [[Cassville, Missouri|Cassville]], before being driven out of the state. For the remainder of the war, it operated as a government in exile at [[Marshall, Texas]].<ref>{{cite book|author=A. C. Greene|title=Sketches from the Five States of Texas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeSi31_W8H4C&pg=PA27|year=1998|publisher=Texas A&M UP|pages=27–28|isbn=978-0890968536}}</ref>

Not having seceded, neither Kentucky nor Missouri was declared in rebellion in Lincoln's [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. The Confederacy recognized the pro-Confederate claimants in Kentucky (December 10, 1861) and Missouri (November 28, 1861) and laid claim to those states, granting them Congressional representation and adding two stars to the Confederate flag. Voting for the representatives was mostly done by Confederate soldiers from Kentucky and Missouri.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilfred Buck Yearns|title=The Confederate Congress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rV-XNj4eJ3wC&pg=PA43|year=2010|publisher=University of Georgia Press|pages=42–43|isbn=978-0820334769}}</ref>

Some southern unionists blamed Lincoln's call for troops as the precipitating event for the second wave of secessions. Historian James McPherson argues such claims have "a self-serving quality" and regards them as misleading:

{{Blockquote|As the telegraph chattered reports of the attack on Sumter April 12 and its surrender next day, huge crowds poured into the streets of Richmond, Raleigh, Nashville, and other upper South cities to celebrate this victory over the Yankees. These crowds waved Confederate flags and cheered the glorious cause of southern independence. They demanded that their own states join the cause. Scores of demonstrations took place from April 12 to 14, before Lincoln issued his call for troops. Many conditional unionists were swept along by this powerful tide of southern nationalism; others were cowed into silence.<ref>McPherson p. 278</ref>}}

Historian Daniel W. Crofts disagrees with McPherson:

{{Blockquote|The bombardment of Fort Sumter, by itself, did not destroy Unionist majorities in the upper South. Because only three days elapsed before Lincoln issued the proclamation, the two events viewed retrospectively, appear almost simultaneous. Nevertheless, close examination of contemporary evidence&nbsp;... shows that the proclamation had a far more decisive impact.<ref>Crofts p. 336</ref>... Many concluded&nbsp;... that Lincoln had deliberately chosen "to drive off all the Slave states, in order to make war on them and annihilate slavery".<ref>Crofts pp. 337–338, quoting the North Carolina politician [[Jonathan Worth (Governor)|Jonathan Worth]] (1802–1869).</ref>}}

The order of secession resolutions and dates are:
:1. [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]] (December 20, 1860)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/scord.htm South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190955/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/scord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. Also, {{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/southcar/south.html|title=South Carolina documents including signatories|publisher=Docsouth.unc.edu|access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref>
:2. [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]] (January 9, 1861)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/msord.htm Mississippi's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190945/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/msord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:3. [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]] (January 10)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/flord.htm Florida's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190920/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/flord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:4. [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]] (January 11)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/alord.htm Alabama's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190910/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/alord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:5. [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]] (January 19)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/gaord.htm Georgia's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190928/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/gaord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:6. [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]] (January 26)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/laord.htm Louisiana's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190935/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/laord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:7. [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]] (February 1; referendum February 23)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/txordnan.htm Texas' Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191030/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/txordnan.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:* [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|Inauguration of President Lincoln]], March 4
:* [[Battle of Fort Sumter|Bombardment of Fort Sumter]] (April 12) and [[Proclamation 80|President Lincoln's call-up]] (April 15)<ref>The text of [http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/lincoln-declares-war/ Lincoln's calling-up of the militia of the several States]</ref>

:8. [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] (April 17; referendum May 23, 1861)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/vaord.htm Virginia's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191039/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/vaord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. Virginia took two steps toward secession, first by secession convention vote on April 17, 1861, and then by ratification of this by a popular vote conducted on May 23, 1861. A Unionist [[Restored government of Virginia]] also operated. Virginia did not turn over its military to the Confederate States until June 8, 1861. The Commonwealth of Virginia ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States on June 19, 1861.</ref>
:9. [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]] (May 6)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/arord.htm Arkansas' Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190914/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/arord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>
:10. [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]] (May 7; referendum June 8)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/tnord.htm Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012191004/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/tnord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}. The Tennessee legislature ratified an agreement to enter a military league with the Confederate States on May 7, 1861. Tennessee voters approved the agreement on June 8, 1861.</ref>
:11. [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] (May 20)<ref>The text of [http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/ncord.htm North Carolina's Ordinance of Secession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190953/http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/ncord.htm |date=October 12, 2007 }}.</ref>

In Virginia, the populous counties along the Ohio and Pennsylvania borders rejected the Confederacy. Unionists held a [[Wheeling Convention|Convention]] in [[Wheeling, West Virginia#Industrialization and anti-secession sentiment|Wheeling]] in June 1861, establishing a "restored government" with a [[Restored government of Virginia|rump legislature]], but sentiment in the region remained deeply divided. In the 50 counties that would make up the state of [[West Virginia in the American Civil War|West Virginia]], voters from 24 counties had voted for disunion in Virginia's May 23 referendum on the ordinance of secession.<ref>Curry, Richard Orr, ''A House Divided, A Study of Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia'', Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1964, p. 49</ref> In the 1860 election "Constitutional Democrat" Breckenridge had outpolled "Constitutional Unionist" Bell in the 50 counties by 1,900 votes, 44% to 42%.<ref>Rice, Otis K. and Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia, A History'', Univ. of Kentucky Press, 1993, second edition, p. 112. Another way of looking at the results would note the pro-union candidates winning 56% with Bell 20,997, Douglas 5,742, and Lincoln 1,402 versus Breckenridge 21,908. But the "deeply divided sentiment" point remains.</ref> The counties simultaneously supplied over 20,000 soldiers to each side of the conflict.<ref>[http://www.wvculture.org/HISTORY/wvcivilwar.html The Civil War in West Virginia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015135703/http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvcivilwar.html |date=October 15, 2004 }} "No other state serves as a better example of this than West Virginia, where there was relatively equal support for the northern and southern causes."</ref><ref>Snell, Mark A., ''West Virginia and the Civil War, Mountaineers Are Always Free'', History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 2011, p. 28</ref> Representatives for most counties were seated in both state legislatures at Wheeling and at Richmond for the duration of the war.<ref>Leonard, Cynthia Miller, ''The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619 – January 11, 1978: A Bicentennial Register of Members'', Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia, 1978, pp. 478–493</ref>

Attempts to secede from the Confederacy by counties in [[East Tennessee]] were checked by martial law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aotc.net/Marxen.htm |title=Marx and Engels on the American Civil War |publisher=Army of the Cumberland and George H. Thomas}} and {{cite web |url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/csaconstitutionbackground.htm |title=Background of the Confederate States Constitution |publisher= Civilwarhome.com}}</ref> Although slaveholding [[Delaware in the American Civil War#State of Delaware|Delaware]] and [[Maryland in the American Civil War|Maryland]] did not secede, citizens exhibited divided loyalties. Regiments of Marylanders fought in Lee's [[Army of Northern Virginia]].<ref>Glatthaar, Joseph T., ''General Lee's Army: from victory to collapse'', 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82787-2}}</ref> Overall, 24,000 men from Maryland joined Confederate forces, compared to 63,000 who joined Union forces.<ref name="Why?"/> Delaware never produced a full regiment for the Confederacy, but neither did it emancipate slaves as did Missouri and West Virginia. District of Columbia citizens made no attempts to secede and through the war, referendums sponsored by Lincoln approved compensated emancipation and slave confiscation from "disloyal citizens".<ref>Freedmen & Southern Society Project, [http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011224131/http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm |date=October 11, 2007 }}, University of Maryland. Retrieved January 4, 2012.</ref>

===Territories===
{{Main|Confederate Arizona|New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Elias Boudinot2.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|[[Elias Cornelius Boudinot|Elias Boudinot]], a Cherokee secessionist and Confederate Representative in the [[Indian Territory]] of present-day [[Oklahoma]]]]

Citizens at [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]] and [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] in the southern part of [[New Mexico Territory]] formed a secession convention, which voted to join the Confederacy on March 16, 1861, and appointed Dr. [[Lewis S. Owings]] as the new territorial governor. They won the [[First Battle of Mesilla|Battle of Mesilla]] and established a territorial government with Mesilla serving as its capital.<ref>Bowman, p. 48.</ref> The Confederacy proclaimed the Confederate Arizona Territory on February 14, 1862, north to the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]]. [[Marcus H. MacWillie]] served in both Confederate Congresses as Arizona's delegate. In 1862, the Confederate [[New Mexico campaign]] to take the northern half of the U.S. territory failed and the Confederate territorial government in exile relocated to San Antonio, Texas.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Arizona |volume=2 |first=Thomas Edwin |last=Farish |year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HkUAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Act+to+organize+the+Territory+of+Arizona%22++Jefferson+Davis&pg=PA96}}</ref>

Confederate supporters in the trans-Mississippi west claimed portions of the [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] after the US evacuated the federal forts and installations. Over half of the American Indian troops participating in the War from the Indian Territory supported the Confederacy. On July 12, 1861, the Confederate government signed a treaty with both the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]] Indian nations. After several battles, Union armies took control of the territory.<ref>Troy Smith. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/civil_war_history/v059/59.3.smith.html "The Civil War Comes to Indian Territory"], ''Civil War History'' (2013) 59#3 pp. 279–319.</ref>

The [[Indian Territory]] never formally joined the Confederacy, but did receive representation in the Congress. Many Indians from the Territory were integrated into regular Confederate Army units. After 1863, the tribal governments sent representatives to the [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate Congress]]: [[Elias Cornelius Boudinot]] representing the [[Cherokee]] and [[Samuel Benton Callahan]] representing the [[Seminole]] and [[Muscogee|Creek]]. The [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]] aligned with the Confederacy. They practiced and supported slavery, opposed abolition, and feared their lands would be seized by the Union. After the war, the Indian territory was disestablished, their black slaves were freed, and the tribes lost some of their lands.<ref>Laurence M. Between Hauptman, ''Two Fires: American Indians in the Civil War'' (1996).</ref>

===Capitals===
{{multiple image
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[[File:William T Sutherlin Mansion Danville Virginia.JPG|thumb|[[William T. Sutherlin]]'s mansion in [[Danville, Virginia]] was the temporary residence of [[Jefferson Davis]] and dubbed the "last Capitol of the Confederacy".]]

[[History of Montgomery, Alabama#Montgomery in the Civil War|Montgomery, Alabama]], served as capital of the Confederate States from February 4 until May 29, 1861, in the [[Alabama State Capitol]]. Six states created the Confederacy there on February 8, 1861. The Texas delegation was seated at the time, so it is counted in the "original seven" states of the Confederacy; it had no roll call vote until after its referendum made secession "operative".<ref>The Texas delegation was seated with full voting rights after its statewide referendum of secession on March 2, 1861. It is generally counted as an "original state" of the Confederacy. Four upper south states declared secession following Lincoln's call for volunteers: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. "The founders of the Confederacy desired and ideally envisioned a peaceful creation of a new union of all slave-holding states, including the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri." Kentucky and Missouri were seated in December 1861. Kenneth C. Martis, ''The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America 1861–1865'' (1994) p. 8</ref><ref>The sessions of the Provisional Congress were in Montgomery, Alabama, (1) First Session February 4 – March 10, and (2) Second Session April 29 – May 21, 1861. The Capital was moved to Richmond May 30. The (3) Third Session was held July 20 – August 31. The (4) Fourth Session called for September 3 was never held. The (5) Fifth Session was held November 18, 1861 – February 17, 1862.</ref> The Permanent Constitution was adopted there on March 12, 1861.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', pp. 7–8.</ref>

The permanent capital provided for in the Confederate Constitution called for a state cession of a 100 square mile district to the central government. Atlanta, which had not yet supplanted [[Milledgeville, Georgia#Life in the antebellum capital|Milledgeville]], Georgia, as its state capital, put in a bid noting its central location and rail connections, as did [[Opelika, Alabama]], noting its strategically interior situation, rail connections and deposits of coal and iron.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 100</ref>

[[Richmond in the American Civil War|Richmond, Virginia]], was chosen for the interim capital at the [[Virginia State Capitol]]. The move was used by Vice President Stephens and others to encourage other border states to follow Virginia into the Confederacy. In the political moment it was a show of "defiance and strength". The war for Southern independence was surely to be fought in Virginia, but it also had the largest Southern military-aged white population, with infrastructure, resources, and supplies. The Davis Administration's policy was that "It must be held at all hazards."<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 101. Virginia was practically promised as a condition of secession by Vice President Stephens. It had rail connections south along the east coast and into the interior, and laterally west into Tennessee, parallel the U.S. border, a navigable river to the Hampton Roads to menace ocean approaches to Washington DC, trade via the Atlantic Ocean, an interior canal to North Carolina sounds. It was a great storehouse of supplies, food, feed, raw materials, and infrastructure of ports, drydocks, armories and the established Tredegar Iron Works. Nevertheless, Virginia never permanently ceded land for the capital district. A local homeowner donated his home to the City of Richmond for use as the Confederate White House, which was in turn rented to the Confederate government for the Jefferson Davis presidential home and administration offices.</ref>

The naming of Richmond as the new capital took place on May 30, 1861, and the last two sessions of the Provisional Congress were held there.<ref>Martis, ''Historical Atlas'', p. 2.</ref> As war dragged on, Richmond became crowded with training and transfers, logistics and hospitals. Prices rose dramatically despite government efforts at price regulation. A movement in Congress argued for moving the capital from Richmond. At the approach of Federal armies in mid-1862, the government's archives were readied for removal. As the [[Overland Campaign|Wilderness Campaign]] progressed, Congress authorized Davis to remove the executive department and call Congress to session elsewhere in 1864 and again in 1865. Shortly before the end of the war, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, planning to relocate further south. Little came of these plans before Lee's surrender.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 102.</ref> Davis and most of his cabinet fled to [[Danville, Virginia]], which served as their headquarters for eight days.