The tag "Secessionists" refer to those Americans who supported leaving the Union and establishing an independent Confederate nation. States both North and South had threatened to secede from the United States throughout the nation's history, particularly in New England in 1814 and South Carolina in 1832. However, building tensions between abolitionists and enslavers in the North and South saw an increase in the frequency and fervor of secession threats emanating from southern states in the 1850s. The election of Republican Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in November 1860 provided the impetus many states needed to justify secession. Citing perceived threats to the institution of chattel slavery, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina left the Union, followed by six more lower-South states (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana) over the next four months.

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