Trying to Avoid a War

From the March 11th New York Times Opinionater "John Gilmer's Last Stand" by Daniel W. Crofts.

In March 1861, Representative John H. Gilmer of North Carolina sent four letters to William H. Seward warning him that secessionists believed war was the only thing that would keep their movement going.

He suggested the government surrender Fort Pickens in Pensacola and Fort Sumter in Charleston. Continued occupation of these two places would drive the country into war.

In his first letter, he stated that the Lower South, which had already seceded, would not succeed if the Upper South (which hadn't) didn't join them. The Upper South contained 2/3s of the white population.

Gilmer believed that a year or two without war would allow pro-Union leadership to take over the Upper South.

It Might Have Worked. --Old B-R'er