1861 State of the Union Address

The 1861 State of the Union Address was written by the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and delivered to the 37th United States Congress, on Tuesday, December 3, 1861, amid the American Civil War, which had begun earlier in the year. This was Lincoln's first State of the Union Address and the first since the start of the Civil War. In regard to that war, Lincoln stated that "[t]he last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter." He also announced the retirement of Winfield Scott as Commanding General of the United States Army and announced the appointment of George B. McClellan to the post about a month earlier.