Did all of the confederate states secede before Lincolns inauguration in1861?
No. Only the seven states of the deep south seceded before Lincoln was inaugurated. There were South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Georgia. After the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter Lincoln called on the states for volunteer soldiers “to suppress the rebellion”. This put the other southern states to the choice of helping Lincoln subdue their neighbors and relatives, or of joining with their relatives and neighbors in fighting the north. Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia and North Carolina seceded in the next few weeks. Missouri would have seceded but was foiled by quick-acting Union military personnel. Maryland would have seceded but Lincoln had the governor and members of the legislature imprisoned. After what happened to Maryland, tiny Delaware did not try. Kentucky declared “neutrality” and tried to stay out of it, but sooner or later one side or the other would anger the Kentuckians. This turned out to be the Confederates, so Kentucky did not secede, t
