Civil War Comes to Delaware (1956)

Harold Hancock is chairman of the Social Studies Division at Otterbein College in Westervüle, Ohio. This article is based upon his thesis, which was written at Ohio State University. A native of Delaware, he has written many articles about the history of that state. Civil War Comes to Delaware HAROLD HANCOCK as a border state, Delaware faced a difficult period of adjustment in the months before the Civü War. Whüe there was never any real danger of the state seceding, there was abundant pro-Southern feeling and a possibility that armed conflict might break out between friends of the North and South. For many reasons it is interesting to examine the political tensions in Delaware during this disturbed period. Delaware contains three counties: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. New Castle County in 1860 was noted for its numerous industries, good farm land, and leadership in cultural activities. The aUen and free negro population was large, and slaves few. Wümington, the only city in the state, lay within its borders. In many ways it resembled adjacent sections of Pennsylvania. On the other hand, Kent and Sussex counties were unprogressive rural communities, steeped in tradition and isolated to a large extent from the outside world. A railroad the length of the state, which was completed in 1860, had done Uttle as yet to bring changes in Delaware life. Incomes were low, educational faculties poor, and aliens almost nonexistent. The people in lower Delaware had much in common with the inhabitants of the nearby Eastern Shore of Maryland.1 Breckinridge electors carried the state in 1860; trailing far behind were the Constitutional Unionists, Republicans, and Douglas nominees. The Republicans had attempted to make the tariff the principal issue, but the Democrats had convinced Dèlawareans that the Republicans were 1 This article is based largely upon the dissertation of Harold Hancock, "The Political History of Delaware during the Civil War," which was written at Ohio State University under the direction of Dr. H. H. Simms. The agricultural and industrial background of the state are analvzed in detail in Chap. I, "Delaware in 1860." 29 30 HAROLD HANCOCK Wiltn¡ri 7 New 3 Castle CASTLE cowry O Odessa ^V-.' Smyrna r Dover o¿ût//yry /Milford "SVSSfX" cowry Georgetown Laurel Civil War Comes to Delaware31 the enemies of slavery, the believers in negro equality, and the dissolvers of the Union, and so the result was never in doubt. The Republicans , Constitutional Unionists, and local People's Party, which had first appeared in opposition to the Democrats in 1858, successfully combined to elect Delaware's only national Representative and to win control of the state House of Representatives. The Democrats elected a majority of the Senate and won other state offices.2 In the winter of 1860 the Delaware press unanimously opposed secession and looked forward to a peaceful solution of the political crisis. The Republican, a People's Party organ, pointed out in an editorial that the best chance of redress for the South lay within the Union. The Democratic Gazette saw "the real cause of the secession movement" in the hatred of the South stirred up by the Republicans but pleaded with its Southern friends to wait and see what Lincoln did before acting. To stay the course of "madness," it suggested, "Let the Northern states repeal their nullification laws — let them dare to be just to the South and say to them, thou art my brother — the protection of my house shall be alike the care of our government." Editors of other Delaware newspapers for one reason or another expressed opposition to secession.3 Many persons looked to Delaware's senators for political guidance. Senator James A. Bayard wrote his son from Washington in December, 1860, that the cotton states would soon secede, that he favored the Crittenden resolutions, and that a convention of all the states might possibly save the Union. In a public letter he suggested that a national convention be called to adjust differences; if separation did unhappily occur, such a gathering might arrange for peaceful severance. He predicted that if war occurred, neither side would be able to defeat the other and that exhaustion would...