Hey everyone, thanks for downloading Episode 85 of our Civil War podcast. I'm Rich.

I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Welcome to the podcast. With the last show and our discussion of the Trent

Affair, Rich and I reached the end of 1861 on the podcast timeline. So as promised, we're

devoting this episode and also the next to a look back at the first year of the war.

Way back around Episode 23 or 24, we rolled over from 1860 to 1861 and then we hit Fort

Sumpter at Episode 30 and between then and now, Tracy and I have covered a lot of material.

And in the process, jumped around quite a bit, looking at a number of different issues,

discussing a wide variety of topics, taking the time to explore the people and events that made

the first year of the Civil War so dramatic and significant. And so, since we did cover a lot

of material and jump around quite a bit in the last 50 or so episodes, we thought it would

be a good idea if we devoted a show or two to a review, a look back at 1861, really just focusing

on the chronological flow of events so that you guys can get a feel for the timeline, a feel for

how events unfolded during the first year of the war. So that's what we're going to do with this

show in the next. We'll go month by month and give y'all an overview of what all happened in 1861.

We won't spend very much time on any one event. We'll just focus on painting the big picture for y'all.

Tuesday, January 1st, 1861. There was the usual New Year's Day reception taking place at the

White House, but it was an overcast in dismal day in Washington, and it wasn't just the weather that

dampened people's spirits. By January 1861, the United States of America was beginning to tear apart.

The 1860 presidential election had had four candidates, all from parties that had either fractured

or coalesced around questions relating to the expansion of slavery and new territories.

The Republicans, having just organized six years before, were running their second presidential

campaign, and their candidate, Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election. Since that day in early

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