Immediately after Fort Sumter was fired upon, Lincoln called for a blockade of Southern ports. He hoped it would dissuade other states from joining the Confederacy, but, like his calling up of troops, it had the opposite effect. Southern women could no longer get the fine cloth and fashions they had enjoyed from Europe, and took up spinning to

Immediately after Fort Sumter was fired upon, Lincoln called for a blockade of Southern ports. He hoped it would dissuade other states from joining the Confederacy, but, like his calling up of troops, it had the opposite effect. Southern women could no longer get the fine cloth and fashions they had enjoyed from Europe, and took up spinning to support the war effort. Wearing homespun became a badge of honor.