Anyone who tries to follow the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the American Civil War, and relate these questions to particular months, will never truly understand both of these questions until they fully study the first few months from Fort Sumter in April until December 1861. This would include the events, or non-events of October.
When this war began, and for the first couple of years on both sides, it was a confrontation between leadership who came from what may be considered “The Old Army.”