Which state was the last to be Readmitted to the Union

When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature perceived a threat. Calling a state convention, the delegates voted to remove the state of South Carolina from the union known as the United States of America. The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas–and the threat of secession by four more—Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America.
At a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the seven seceding states created the Confederate Constitution, a document similar to the United States Constitution, but with greater stress on the autonomy of each state. Jefferson Davis was named provisional president of the Confederacy until elections could be held.
When President Buchanan—Lincoln's predecessor—refused to surrender southern federal forts to the seceding states, southern state troops seized them. At Fort Sumter, South Carolina troops repulsed a supply ship trying to reach federal forces based in the fort. The ship was forced to return to New York, its supplies undelivered.
At Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, the new president said he had no plans to end slavery in those states where it already existed, but he also said he would not accept secession. He hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare.
When President Lincoln planned to send supplies to Fort Sumter, he alerted the state in advance, in an attempt to avoid hostilities. South Carolina, however, feared a trick; the commander of the fort, Robert Anderson, was asked to surrender immediately. Anderson offered to surrender, but only after he had exhausted his supplies. His offer was rejected, and on April 12, the Civil War began with shots fired on the fort. Fort Sumter eventually was surrendered to South Carolina.
The attack on Fort Sumter prompted four more states to join the Confederacy. With Virginia's secession, Richmond was named the Confederate capitol.
Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863.
Despite their acceptance of slavery, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. Although divided in their loyalties, a combination of political maneuvering and Union military pressure kept these states from seceding.

View of the battlefield, First Bull Run, Virginia, July 1861
Public demand pushed General-in-Chief Winfield Scott to advance on the South before adequately training his untried troops. Scott ordered General Irvin McDowell to advance on Confederate troops stationed at Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell attacked on July 21, and was initially successful, but the introduction of Confederate reinforcements resulted in a Southern victory and a chaotic retreat toward Washington by federal troops.
None of the included photographs of First Bull Run were made at the time of battle (July 21); the photographers had to wait until the Confederate Army evacuated Centreville and Manassas in March 1862. Their views of various landmarks of the previous summer are arranged according to the direction of the federal advance, a long flanking movement by Sudley's Ford.
Suddenly aware of the threat of a protracted war and the army's need for organization and training, Lincoln replaced McDowell with General George B. McClellan.
To blockade the coast of the Confederacy effectively, the federal navy had to be improved. By July, the effort at improvement had made a difference and an effective blockade had begun. The South responded by building small, fast ships that could outmaneuver Union vessels.
Port Royal, South Carolina—1861-1862
On November 7, 1861, Captain Samuel F. Dupont's warships silenced Confederate guns in Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. This victory enabled General Thomas W. Sherman's troops to occupy first Port Royal and then all the famous Sea Islands of South Carolina, where Timothy H. O'Sullivan recorded them making themselves at home.
Confederate Winter Quarters—1861-1862
These photographs show Confederate winter quarters at Manassas, Centreville, Fairfax Court House, and Falls Church, Virginia.

This time line was compiled by Joanne Freeman and owes a special debt to the Encyclopedia of American History by Richard B. Morris.

One hundred and forty five years ago today, on July 15, 1870, Georgia was readmitted to the Union. It was the last of the Confederate states to be readmitted after being the fifth to secede from the Union. While the Confederate States of America was comprised of 13 former Union States, only 11 of those states actually seceded from the Union. Those 11 confederate states were; Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Virginia.

The 11 confederate states did not participate in the 1864 presidential election. Those states had not yet been readmitted when Andrew Johnson took office after the assassination of President Lincoln. All of the former Confederate states except Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia were readmitted to Congress in June 1868.

These former confederate states (not yet readmitted by 1868) did not participate in that election. In 1870 Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia were readmitted. Neither Kentucky nor Missouri actually seceded from the Union but were recognized by the Confederacy as being part of their association. Missouri is a study in itself, operating a government in exile with its capital in Marshall, Texas.

But, was Georgia really readmitted to the Union? The United States Congress had originally readmitted Georgia to the Union in July 1868 after a newly elected General Assembly had ratified the 14th Amendment and Rufus Bullock, a New York native, had been inaugurated as the state's Republican governor. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in America and the 14th Amendment made all persons born in the United States citizens of this country. The 15th Amendment gave voting rights to all legal citizens regardless of race.

Several Georgia Democrats subsequently denounced post-Civil War Reconstruction policies at a rally in Atlanta. That rally was contemporaneously described as the largest ever held in that state's history. Joseph Brown, Georgia's governor during the Confederacy, stated that Georgia's constitution did not allow blacks to hold office. Brown had become a Republican and served as a delegate to the Chicago convention that nominated Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1868.

In September, white Republicans joined with Democrats to expel the three black senators and 25 black representatives from the general assembly. A week later, in Camilla, Georgia, white inhabitants attacked a black Republican rally. Twelve people died. Then in March 1869, the United States Congress again barred Georgia's representatives from holding office. In December of 1869, federal military rule was again imposed.

The terms of the bargain that had brought Georgia into the Union for a second time in 1870 soon fell apart. Bullock fled the state in order to avoid impeachment. With the voting restrictions against former Confederates lifted, James Smith, a Democrat and former Confederate officer, was elected to complete Bullock's term.

The United States government has never recognized the right of states to secede, and considers the states to never have left the union during the American Civil War. Yet, the states were required to agree to Reconstruction before being permitted to send representatives to Congress again.

In 1851, the United States Congress authorized the transfer of $10 million worth of United States bonds to the state of Texas. The bonds were payable to the state or bearer and were to be redeemable in 1864. In 1862, during the Civil War, an insurgent Texas legislature authorized the use of the bonds to purchase war supplies. Four years later, the reconstruction government tried to reclaim the bonds.

In a lawsuit that was argued before the Supreme Court on Feb. 5, 1869, the question then became: Was Texas a state in the union eligible to seek redress in the Supreme Court? Could Texas constitutionally reclaim the bonds? On April 12, 1869, the Supreme Court decided the case of Texas vs. White.

In a 5-to-3 decision, the court held that Texas did indeed have the right to bring suit and that individuals such as White had no claim to the bonds in question. The Court held that individual states could not unilaterally secede from the Union and that the acts of the insurgent Texas legislature - even if ratified by a majority of Texans - were "absolutely null." Even during the period of rebellion, however, the court found that Texas continued to be a state.

So now my question is how can Georgia (or any of the other states) be readmitted (either once or twice) when SCOTUS (the Supreme Court of the United States) has ruled that these states have never left the Union?

Justice Robert Grier wrote a dissenting opinion "…..The original jurisdiction of this court can be invoked only by one of the United States. ... Is Texas one of these United States? ... This is to be decided as a political fact, not as a legal fiction. This court is bound to know and notice the public history of the nation. If I regard the truth of history for the last eight years, I cannot discover the State of Texas as one of these United States. …"

Is Texas a state, now represented by members chosen by the people of that State and received on the floor of Congress? Has she two senators to represent her as a state in the Senate of the United States? Has her voice been heard in the late election of president? Is she not now held and governed as a conquered province by military force?

The act of Congress of March 2, 1867, declares Texas to be a "rebel state," and provides for its government until a legal and republican State government could be legally established. It constituted Louisiana and Texas the fifth military district, and made it subject, not to the civil authority, but to the "military authorities of the United States."

Justices Noah Swayne and Samuel F. Miller concurred with Justice Grier.

Doc Halliday is an author, columnist and consultant who resides in Marshall, Texas. He may be contacted by mail at: P. O. Box 1551, Marshall, TX 75671; or by email at: