The Civil War News & Views Open Discussion Forum

January 21, 1861

On this date 150 years ago, five senators representing the states of Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi withdraw from the chamber. All make farewell speeches, Jefferson Davis among them , who asserts "I concur in the action of the people of Mississippi believing it to be necessary and proper." Davis is severely downcast by this exigency, that night praying for peace, according to his wife.

In Boston, Massachusetts, the ardent abolitionist, Wendal Phillips, made an address. His message hails the secession of the slave states, for which he has little use or respect since they seem to be only a disruptive force in the Federal Union.