“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”

This is the story of the last, bare thread holding the Union together snapping. This is the start of the Civil War. US President Lincoln is giving Confederate President Jefferson Davis a difficult choice: let a peaceful, unarmed boat deliver supplies to Fort Sumter (and be seen as weak); or attack the unarmed boat (and be seen as the aggressor). Jeff chooses the latter. More states secede. Regiments form by the thousands on both sides. Blood flows in Missouri and Baltimore. And amid all of this, US Colonel Robert E. Lee faces the most important and difficult decision of his life: does he raise his sword against his nation? Or his home state and family? The Civil War has begun.

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46: The Civil War Begins: Fort Sumter, Secession, & Raising Armies