Montgomery in Montgomery County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Secession & Confederacy
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Civil War
After Lincoln won the election, secessionists clamored for slaveholding states to leave the Union. Delegates to an Alabama convention met in the State Capitol in January 1861 and, by a vote of 61 to 39, decided to secede.
Alabama invited other seceding states to Montgomery, where delegates adopted a constitution for the new Confederate States of America. On February 18, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated president at the Alabama Capitol.
Montgomery was the seat of the Confederate government for three months. From the Winter Building at Court Square, officials telegraphed authorization for the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, the opening salvo to four years of devastating war.
On the home front, white women, their families, and the enslaved kept plantations and farms in operation. Residents struggled under repeated shifts of control by Federal and Confederate forces in north Alabama, where much of the land was devastated. Thousands of slaves leased to the government built Confederate defenses and armaments. Alabama's young ironmaking industry produced essential munitions for the Confederacy and became the target of Federal campaigns late in the war.
On August 5, 1864, Confederate troops at Fort Morgan mounted a fierce but unsuccessful defense of Mobile Bay against a Federal fleet intent on capturing the last major port under Confederate control.
Erected 2019 by the Alabama Bicentennial Commission.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. A significant historical month for this entry is January 1861.
Location. 32° 22.684′ N, 86° 18.115′ W. Marker is in Montgomery, Alabama, in Montgomery County. It can be reached from the intersection of Dexter Avenue and North Bainbridge Street, on the right when traveling west. Located in Alabama Bicentennial Park in front of the Lurleen B. Wallace Office Building. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 500 Dexter Ave, Montgomery AL 36130, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Alabama’s Tri-Counties River Region. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Black Belt. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Emancipation / Reconstruction (a few steps from this marker); Cotton State / Slavery (a few steps from this marker); Alabama Territory / Path to Statehood (a few steps from this marker); Alabama Bicentennial Park (a few steps from this marker); Industrialization / Iron Boom (within shouting distance of this marker); Resistance and War / Alabama Fever (within shouting distance of this marker); George Washington (within shouting distance of this marker); Alabama's First Peoples / Creek Country (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Montgomery.
Credits. This page was last revised on September 26, 2021. It was originally submitted on September 26, 2021, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 438 times since then and 43 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 26, 2021, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.




