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Secession Day

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On December 24, 1861, the first anniversary of South Carolina’s secession from the Union, the Palmetto State celebrated. And it’s not surprising because a year into their rebellion, things looked pretty good for the Confederacy.

One of the great things about reading the Times Disunion series is it allows you to get a sense of the time frame of the war. Day after day, very little happened. A year went by since secession, 8 months since Fort Sumter. And essentially nothing of consequence happened. Bull Run dashed Union hopes for a quick victory. The Anaconda Plan was just beginning to be felt. And that’s really about it.

In the days before a professional standing army, it took a solid year for the United States to muster and train enough troops for effective military action. This is basically true for the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. For smaller wars like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American War, it took somewhat less time, but the latter at least was a logistical nightmare for a nation totally unprepared for even a limited war.

Things will pick up by 1863 and 1864, but even then, this most magisterial event in American history will seem like it moves at a snail’s pace. Which is nothing overly perceptive on my part, but it’s also pretty easy to turn on the Ken Burns and find ourselves moving from exciting battle to exciting battle in relatively rapid succession.

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