January 19, 1861

Georgia became the fifth state to secede when its State Convention at Milledgeville voted 208 to 89 in favor of an ordinance of secession. A moderate group led by Alexander Stephens, Herschel Johnson, and Benjamin Hill opposed secession. Once again there was a trhrong outsid the hall and the thundering of cannon, the illumination at night, and cheers of joy. Despite the celebration, many from the uplands and interior doubted the wisdom of the decision.

While the Mississippi legislature called for a convention of representqtiv4s from the seceding states, the Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution inviting the states to send representatives to a peace convention in Washington February 4 and Tennessee invited slaveholding states to another convention.

In evening Congressman William Kellogg (Ill.), member of House Committee of Thirty-three, arrives in Springfield to confer with Lincoln. “His object is supposed to be in reference to a compromise of the national difficulties.”

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