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Montgomery: First Capital of the Confederacy

February 4, 1861-May 21, 1861

At South Carolina's suggestion, Alabama invited the seceding states to meet in Montgomery to form the Confederate States of America.

Montgomery was selected because:

• it was a central location;
• it had good railroad and river connections to south and east (but not to the west);
• it was a center of Southern radical activity led by Alabama fire-eater William L. Yancey.

In February 1861, Montgomery had 8,843 people (4,443 whites and 4,400 blacks, slave and free). During the months Montgomery served as the capital of the Confederacy, the population of the city doubled.

The Confederate Congress convened February 4, with delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Texas delegates arrived March 2. The rest of the states that eventually made up the eleven Confederate States—Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee—seceded from the Union after the firing on Fort Sumter in April.

When Virginia seceded from the Union, the Confederate Congress met in secret session and resolved to move the capital to Richmond. The Congress adjourned in Montgomery on May 21 to reassemble in Richmond on July 20.

The reasons for removal to Richmond were:

• distinction of Virginia being the first colony and home of founding fathers, especially Washington;
• closer to the federal capitol at Washington;
• good accommodations and rail connections;
• manufacturing center, especially the Tredegar Iron Works.