January 3, 1861

Gov. A.B. Moore ordered Alabama troops to seize three federal installations in the state — the arsenal at Mount Vernon, and Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines — in preparation for secession. The order came eight days before the Alabama Secession Convention passed an Ordinance of Secession, and Moore was both praised and condemned for taking control of federal property while Alabama was still technically in the Union. The order was one of many Moore gave to prepare the state for conflict in the months before the Civil War, including asking banks to hold reserves, sending representatives to other Southern states to consult on secession, and dispatching agents to the North to purchase arms and ammunition.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Andrew Barry Moore (1807-1873) was Alabama’s governor from 1857 to 1861. Although he opposed secession, he was elected governor as the secession crisis began to gain momentum. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Andrew B. Moore, “War governor of Ala.” (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Governor Andrew Barry Moore’s House in Marion, Perry County, AL. (Photograph by W.N. Manning, HABS, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Mount Vernon Arsenal, Administration Building, 1935. (Photograph by E.W. Russell, HABS, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Mount Vernon Arsenal, Old Barracks Building, 1935. (Photograph by E.W. Russell, HABS, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Ruins of Fort Morgan, c. 1861-1869. (Photograph by McPherson & Oliver, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Fort Morgan, named for Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan, was constructed in 1834. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

View of the barracks inside the fort entrance at Fort Gaines, 1934. (Photograph by W.N. Manning, HABS, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Print shows a crowd gathered in front of the capitol building at Montgomery, at the time of the announcement of Jefferson Davis as the first President of the Confederate States of America, c. 1888. (Lithograph by A. Hoen & Co., Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.