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Nothing. There was no declaration of war.

The South were able to claim that they didn't want a war, unless Lincoln chose to declare one.

Lincoln could not declare war on the Confederacy, because this would have meant recognising them as a sovereign nation.

After the Confederate artillery attack on the US Army garrison at Fort Sumter, all he could do was to appeal for volunteer troops to put down a rebellion of certain states.

But this was taken as the equivalent of a declaration of war, and the two sides were firmly lined-up from that moment.

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12y ago

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