that the minds of the
voters were upset.

On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the event
was made the occasion for great rejoicing by the secession element in
Georgia. Bonfires were kindled, guns were fired, and people seemed to
be wild with enthusiasm. Georgia did not secede until Jan. 19, 1861; but
Governor Brown did not wait for that event. He committed the first overt
act of the war. He seized Fort Pulaski, on the Savannah, Jan. 3, 1861.

On the 22d of January, ten cases of muskets belonging to a firm in Macon
were seized by the New York police after they had been placed on board a
vessel. Governor Brown sent a telegram to Governor Morgan, demanding
the release of these arms. Governor Morgan hesitated some time before he
made any response. Meanwhile, Governor Brown waited three days, and then
ordered the seizure of every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to
citizens of New York. Two brigs, two barks, and a schooner were seized
and held by the State troops. When this seizure was made known, Governor
Brown received official notification that the arms had been released. He
therefore ordered the release of the vessels. But when the agents of the
Macon firm made an effort to get the arms, they were refused. Promptly
Governor Brown seized other vessels, and caused them to be advertised
for sale.

This was merely the beginning of those greater events that cast a shadow
over the whole country. The farmer boy of Gaddistown was reelected
governor in 1861, and continued to hold the office until 1865.

GEORGIA IN THE WAR.

[Illustration: Georgia in the War 279]

When the Southern Confederacy was organized at Montgomery, Ala., there
was great enthusiasm all over the South, especially in Georgia; and this
feeling kept up until the State had given to the Confederate armies
a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, twenty thousand more than its
voting population. By reason of the fame and number of its public men,
Georgia had a controlling influence in the organization of the new
government. Howell Cobb was president of the convention of the seceded
States that met in Montgomery on the fourth day of February, 1861;
and it is well known that the convention itself was in favor of making
Robert Toombs president of the provisional government that was there
formed. Mr. Toombs, however, expressly forbade the use of his name.
The Georgia delegates then concluded to support Jefferson Davis of
Miss