How Far North Did They Secede

The mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood proposed on January 6^th 1861 that the city should secede from the United States.

Just previous to the start of the Civil War; as southern states began to secede, the Democratic Mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood proposed that the city secede.  Wood who was consider to be the most unethical mayor in the city’s history, suggested the city become a sovereign city state called Free City of Tri-Insula.  It would have included Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island.  Wood addressed the Common Council on January 6^th 1861 in which he articulated a commiseration with the seceded southern states, stating that the city would find a great profit in maintaining cotton shipping.

The idea of seceding from the United States was to extreme for the Council, and after the south bombed Fort Sumter in April 1861 it fell apart.  As a side note though the upstate New York town of Town Line did vote to secede from the Union, and did not officially rejoin until 1946.

Burning New York

Eight Confederate operatives tried to burn New York City on November 25th 1864.

It was near the end of the war when the “Confederate Army of Manhattan” hatched a plan to make their way from Canada into New York City, with the plan to overwhelm the city’s fire fighting force. November 25th was a Friday night, and the eight southerns tried to start fires at PT Barnum’s Museum, nineteen hotels and a theater. The fires were quickly put out, or failed to start all together. Seven of the eight escaped, except for Robert Cobb Kennedy who was caught in January of 1865 in Detroit while trying to get into Richmond,VA from Canada. He was tried, found guilty and executed March 25th 1865 at Fort Lafayette in New York