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Montgomery, Alabama is where the Confederacy was born. Although there were no real battles here, there were plenty of political arguments regarding states rights and slavery. With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Alabama seceded from the USA and invited other southern states to meet in Montgomery. In January 1861, they organized the Confederate States of America (CSA) and established its own constitution (modified some from the United States Constitution). Montgomery became the capital of the new nation, Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi, was inaugerated as its president. In May, 1861, the Confederacy's government was moved to Richmond, closer to the battlefields. Montgomery then was a supplier of materials to the Confederacy.
In April 1865, Union forces approached the outskirts of town. With no means of defense, the Montgomery City Council ordered 90,000 bales of cotton stored in warehouses burned. As the fires blazed, the Mayor rode out to surrender the city. The Union troops moved in with order and respect for private property. Five steamboats, railroad machine shops, and a small gun factory were destroyed, but homes and other businesses had little, if any, damage.
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