Standing Firm: Maine’s Delegation to Congress during The Secession Crisis of 1860-1861

Abstract

In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Americans in both the North and the South considered it inevitable that a war between the sections would occur. Historians have debated this idea ever since. Could the war have been avoided? Was a compromise between the sections of the country possible? In this article, the author examines the role played by Maine’s congressional delegation in resisting compromise during the Great Secession Winter of 1860-1861. The author is a graduate of the University of Maine, with master’s degrees in education (1979) and Arts (History-1991). He served as the lead consulting curator during the planning and development of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books and articles about the Civil War, including the forthcoming Mantled in Smoke and Fire: Maine Regiments at Gettysburg (Spring 2014). He is currently the executive director of the Birmingham History Center in Birmingham, Alabama.