Timeline

Mason continued to push against the Union will helping the Confederacy. He voted against proposals to increase the size of the military and use appropriations for "seven steamers of small draught and heavy armament." Anythign that might help the Union in the coming war was resisted. 

“After trying again to obtain useful military information, Mason prepared to leave the capital. He spoke for the last time in the U.S. Senate on March 19, giving an inconsequential commentary on the postal service. He departed for Selma on March 21, before the special session of Congress called to consider peace proposals. By the end of the month, James Murray Mason had irreversibly cast his lot with the Confederate States of America. His decision would become official when Virginia seceded from the Union.” [1] On April 15, 1861, Mason, now in Selma, reads Lincoln’s letter requesting 75,000 militia and states “this ends the question; Virginia will at once secede.” [1]