Missouri Compromise - Underground Railway - Wilmot Proviso
Compromise of 1850 - Omnibus Bill - Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Kansas-Nebraska Act - Dred Scott v. Sanford - Lecompton Constitution
Lincoln-Douglas Debates - John Brown's Raid
1860 - Lincoln Elected - Crittenden Compromise - South Carolina Secedes
1861 - Mississippi Secedes - Florida Secedes - Alabama Secedes - Georgia Secedes - Louisiana Secedes
Texas Secedes - Confederacy Formed - Davis Inaugurated - Lincoln Inaugurated
Fort Sumter Attacked - Virginia Secedes - Naval Blockade - Arkansas Secedes
North Carolina Secedes - Philippi - Tennessee Secedes - First Manassas - Wilson's Creek
Cheat Mountain - Lexington - Ball's Bluff - Belmont
1862 - Fort Henry - Fort Donelson - Pea Ridge - Monitor and Merrimac - Valley Campaign
Peninsular Campaign - Shiloh - New Orleans - Port Republic - Seven Days' Battles
Gaines's Mill - Malvern Hill - Cedar Mountain - Second Manassas - South Mountain
Antietam - Iuka - Corinth - Perryville - Fredericksburg - Stones River
1863 - Vicksburg Campaign - Charleston Harbor - Chancellorsville - Port Gibson - Champion's Hill
Vicksburg Siege - Port Hudson - Brandy Station - Gettysburg - Vicksburg Surrenders
Lawrence Massacre - Chickamauga - Chattanooga
1864 - Red River Campaign - Fort Pillow - Albemarle and Miami - Overland Campaign - Wilderness
Bermuda Hundred Campaign - Atlanta Campaign - Spotsylvania - Resaca - North Anna
New Hope Church - Cold Harbor - Petersburg Siege - Kearsarge and Alabama - Brice's Crossroads
Kennesaw Mountain - Monocacy - Valley Campaign - Mobile Bay - Atlanta Captured
Winchester - Allatoona - Cedar Creek - March to the Sea - Franklin II - Nashville
1865 - Fort Fisher - Carolinas Campaign - Bentonville - Peterburg Surrenders - Sayler's Creek
Five Forks - Appomattox - Lee Surrenders - Lincoln Assassinated
Johnson was President - John Wilkes Booth Killed - Lincoln Buried
Palmeto Ranch - Lincoln Conspirator's Trial - Slavery Abolished
Civil War Declared Over - President Johnson Impeached
Arkansas Readmitted To Union - Confederate Amnesty - Grant Inaugurated
First African-American U. S. Senator - First African-American U. S. Representative
Grant Suspends Habeas Corpus - Panic of 1873 - Election of 1876
Segregation Permissible - The Civil Rights Cases - Disfranchised Black Voters
Plessy v. Ferguson - Williams v. Mississippi - Cummings v. Georgia
Links Inside Parentheses () were To The
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report: Battle Summaries
National Park Service
-- Each CWSAC Battle Summary Will Open In Its Own Window --
1776 - America's Founding Fathers declared that "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence. This seminal document, however, did not remove the institution of slavery in America's future.
1784 - Thomas Jefferson's Land Ordinance, including a provision for the abolition of slavery, was defeated by a single vote in Congress.
December 7, 1787 - Delaware was admitted to the Union.
December 12, 1787 - Pennsylvania was admitted to the Union.
December 18, 1787 - New Jersey was admitted to the Union.
January 2, 1788 - Georgia was admitted to the Union.
January 9, 1788 - Connecticut was admitted to the Union.
February 6, 1788 - Massachusetts was admitted to the Union.
April 28, 1788 - Maryland was admitted to the Union.
May 23, 1788 - South Carolina was admitted to the Union.
June 21, 1788 - New Hampshire was admitted to the Union.
June 25, 1788 - Virginia was admitted to the Union.
July 26, 1788 - New York was admitted to the Union.
November 21, 1789 - North Carolina was admitted to the Union.
May 29, 1790 - Rhode Island was admitted to the Union.
March 4, 1791 - Vermont was admitted to the Union.
June 1, 1792 - Kentucky was admitted to the Union.
1793 - The invention of the Cotton Gin by Eli Whitney made the cotton growing in the Southern states a profitable operation, making slavery profitable.
June 1, 1796 - Tennessee was admitted to the Union.
1803 - The United States acquired a vast territory from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Northwest, known as the Louisiana Purchase. This acquisition started the rapid westward expansion of the 19th century.
March 1, 1803 - Ohio was admitted to the Union.
1807 - The African slave trade was abolished.
January, 1808 - The importation of slaves into the United States was declared illegal.
April 30, 1812 - Louisiana was admitted to the Union.
December 11, 1816 - Indiana was admitted to the Union.
December 10, 1817 - Mississippi was admitted to the Union.
December 3, 1818 - Illinois was admitted to the Union.
December 14, 1819 - Alabama was admitted to the Union.
1820 - The debate over whether the new territory of the Louisiana Purchase should be free or slave-holding was decided with the "Missouri Compromise" - slavery was forbidden in the territory ceded by France to the United States (Louisiana) lying north of latitude 36° 30', except for Missouri.
March 15, 1820 - Maine was admitted to the Union, as a free state in accord with the recently passed Congressional decree, the "Missouri Compromise".
1821 - Cotton overtook tobacco as America's most profitable trade commodity.
August 10, 1821 - Missouri was admitted to the Union, as a slave-holding state in accord with the recently passed Congressional decree, the "Missouri Compromise".
May, 1822 - An attempted slave revolt around Charleston, South Carolina, led by Denmark Vesey, a former slave, was betrayed and defeated. Thirty-five blacks, including Vesey, were hanged.
May, 1824 - Congress passed a protective Tariff Law, which caused feelings of discrimination in the Southern states.
1828 - A new Tarfiff Law, introducing even higher duties, was nicknamed the "tariff of abominations" by Southern politicians, leading to demands to separate from the Union. Leading the charge was the state of South Carolina, in the person of John C. Calhoun, and the state of Georgia.
1830 - The population of the free states now exceeded that of the Southern states by one million.
January, 1831 - Boston abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, began publishing his Liberator paper, eventually the most influential abolitionist newspaper, which advocated immediate and unconditional emancipation for all slaves.
August, 1831 - Nat Turner led a slave uprising in Southhampton County, Virginia. The military was used to put down the rebellion. Approximately 100 blacks and 37 whites were killed, Nat Turner and 12 of his accomplises were executed.
1833 - Britain abolished slavery throughtout its Empire.
1833 - A compromise on the tariff bills was reached in Congress, arranged by Henry Clay of Virginia. It called for a gradual cutback in tariffs to help avoid a Northern vs. Southern fight.
1833 - The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded by Arthur and Lewis Tappan.
May, 1835 - The term "gag" was applied to a House resolution introduced by Southern members to suppress further discussion of the slavery issue.
June 15, 1836 - Arkansas was admitted to the Union.
1837 - The Republic of Texas asked to be admitted to the Union, but the petition was denied by Northerners wanted to avoid adding another slave state.
January 26, 1837 - Michigan was admitted to the Union.
August, 1839 - The Spanish slave-ship Amistad was taken over in a mutiny by the slaves, led by Cinque, and taken to a Connecticut port. Spain demanded return of the slaves from the United States, but the U.S. supreme Court ruled that they were free men.
c. 1840 - The Underground Railway began transporting escaped slaves from the South to freedom in Canada.
January, 1842 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided in Prigg v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that a Pennsylvania law forbidding the seizure of fugitive slaves was unconstitutional, and that the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Laws was a federal responsibility.
June, 1844 - A treaty on the annexation of Texas, negotiated by U. S. Secretary of State John C. Calhoun, was rejected by the U. S. Senate because of the implications regarding the slavery issue.
March 3, 1845 - Florida was admitted to the Union.
1845 - After the election of President James K. Polk, the annexation of Texas was passed by the U.S. Congress. Immediately, a dispute with Mexico over the border broke out.
December 29, 1845 - Texas was admitted to the Union.
January 1846 - February 1848 - The War with Mexico.
August 8, 1846 - David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed a bill, the Wilmot Proviso, in the U.S. House of Representatives as a rider on the $2 million appropriations bill for the War with Mexico, forbidding any territory acquired in the Mexican War to be open to slavery. The bill passed.
December 28, 1846 - Iowa was admitted to the Union.
1847 - The Wilmot Proviso, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives the year before, was defeated in the U.S. Senate.
December 29, 1847 - Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed a doctrine that the decision on slavery should be left to the territorial government, the "popular sovereignty doctrine".
1848 - Gold was discovered at Sutter's Farm in California, initiating the great movement west starting with the California gold rush. By the end of the year California, Minnesota, and Oregon asked for admission to the Union as free states.
February, 1848 - In the Peace Treaty with Mexico, the United States acquired more than 500,000 square miles, including the future states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, also parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Texas was also ceded to the United States.
May 22, 1848 - The Democratic Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for U. S. President.
May 29, 1848 - Wisconsin was admitted to the Union.
June 7, 1848 - The Whig Party Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, nominated Mexican War hero Major General Zachary Taylor for President.
June 22, 1848 - Antislavery Democrats, meeting in Utica, New York, nominated Martin Van Buren for U. S. President.
August 9, 1848 - Supporters of the Liberty Party, Antislavery Democrats, and some members of the Whig Party met in Buffalo, New York, formed the new Free-Soil Party, and nominated Martin Van Buren for U. S. President. Additionally, the Wilmot Proviso was adopted by the Free-Soil Party in the 1848 election.
November 8, 1848 - Major General Zachary Taylor, the Whig Party nominee, won the 1848 U. S. presidential election.
1849 - California adopted a constitution forbidding slavery and asked for admission into the Union. Southerners objected and talked of secession. U. S. President Zachary Taylor threatened to crush any secession.
January 29, 1850 - Kentucky Senator Henry Clay introduced the "Compromise of 1850," a series of resolutions calling for a compromise on a number of issues concerning slavery.
February 5-6, 1850 - Senator Henry Clay spoke in favor of a compromise for Northern and Southern states.
March 4, 1850 - South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun spoke in favor of the Nonexclusion Doctrine and equal Southern rights in the territories.
March 7, 1850 - Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster spoke for no action on slavery in the territories because climate determined it would not last there.
March 11, 1850 - New York Senator William H. Seward spoke for a higher law that justified excluding slavery from the western United States and its territories.
May 8, 1850 - The U. S. Senate committee headed by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay introduced the Omnibus Bill covering slavery in the territories and a second bill prohibiting the slave trade in the District of Columbia, but both bills failed to pass a Senate vote.
June 10, 1850 - At a Southern convention held in Nashville, Tennessee, extremists were in the majority and proposed to stress the South's right to secede. Soon thereafter, however, a Georgia state convention expressed a majority view toward remaining in the Union if the North abidesd by the rules of the new compromise.
July 9, 1850 - Anti-compromise U. S. President Zachary Taylor died, allowing pro-compromise Vice-President Millard Fillmore to become U. S. President.
August 13 - September 7, 1850 - Led by Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the Compromise of 1850 was passed as a series of individual acts, the first of which was the admission of California as a Free State.
August 15 - September 6, 1850 - The Texas and New Mexico Territory Act was passed, whereby the Texas Republic debt was assumed by the United States and Texas surrendered all claim to Santa Fe, with no mention of slavery. The Utah Territory Act created a new territory, also with no mention of slavery.
August 23 - September 12, 1850 - The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 provided for the return of all fugitive slaves as an exclusive Federal prerogative.
September 16-17, 1850 - Abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia was finally passed in the U. S. Senate.
December 9, 1850 - California was admitted to the Union as a Free State.
December 13-14, 1850 - The Georgia state platform called for remaining in the Union until the North ignored any part of the Compromise of 1850.
June, 1851 - March 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's popular book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, began to appear in the National Era. It sold more than a million copies within a year, and had the immediate effect of hardening opinion on both sides of the slavery issue.
June 1, 1852 - The Democratic Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for U. S. President, who supported the Compromise of 1850 and allowing popular sovereignty to decide the issue of slavery in the territories.
June 16, 1852 - The Whig Convention at Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Lieutenant General Winfield Scott for U. S. President, supporting the Compromise of 1850 and an end to further antislavery agitation.
September 11, 1852 - The Free-Soil Party met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and nominated New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale for U. S. President, who condemned the Compromise of 1850.
November 2, 1852 - In the presidential election, Democrat Franklin Pierce defeated Mexican War hero General Winfield Scott after the South abandoned the Whig Party candidate. The successful Democratic platform supported the Compromise of 1850.
March 4, 1853 - Franklin Pierce was inaugurated U. S. President, calling for support of the Compromise of 1850 and the acquistion of more territory by peaceful means.
December 30, 1853 - The Gadsden Purchase annexed all of present-day Arizona and New Mexico below the Gila River.
1854 - Pro-slavery Southerners flocked into Kansas to win the territory for the South, starting fighting between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. Pro-slavery supporters were reinforced by "border-ruffians" crossing over the state line from Missouri.
January 23 - May 30, 1854 - Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed to organize the Great Plains region west of the Missouri River in the Kansas and Nebraska territories in which the slavery question would be decided by "popular sovereignty", the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This would repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 because both territories were above the latitude 36° 30'.
February 28 - July 13, 1854 - A new political party, the Republican Party, was organized in several states.
April, 1854 - In Massachusetts, the Emigrant Aid Society was founded to support anti-slavery settlers in Kansas.
May 30, 1854 - Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act was approved by the U.S. Congress, and signed by U. S. President Franklin Pierce. Northerners threaten to boycott the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
July, 1854 - In Michigan, anti-slavery supporters founded the Republican Party and demanded repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law.
October 16, 1854 - Abraham Lincoln gave his first public denunciation of slavery in the territories during a speech at Peoria, Illinois.
March 30, 1855 - The first election for a territorial legislature in Kansas was dominated by Missouri "border-ruffians."
June, 1855 - U. S. President Franklin Pierce appointed Andrew Reeder as the first governor of the Kansas Territory.
July, 1855 - The Kansas Legislature adopted extreme pro-slavery language and laws, expelling anti-slavery legislators.
July 31, 1855 - U. S. President Franklin Pierce appointed Wilson Shannon of Ohio to be governor of the Kansas Territory. Andrew Reeder was removed as governor because he was seen as too pro-slavery.
September 5, 1855 - An antislavery convention at Big Springs, Kansas Territory, repudiated the acts of the proslavery legislature.
October 23 - November 5, 1855 - An antislavery convention at Topeka, Kansas Territory, drew up an antislavery constitution, the Topeka Constitution, for the Kansas Territory.
December, 1855 - The Free-Soil supporters from the Kansas Territory adopted the Topeka Constitution, which outlawed slavery and banned all blacks from the territory.
January 24, 1856 - U. S. President Franklin Pierce condemned the Topeka Constitution as illegal.
February 11, 1856 - By this date, fighting between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Kansas had grown into a near civil war. U. S. President Franklin Pierce warned Free Staters and "border-ruffians" to disperse.
February 22, 1856 - The American (Know Nothing) Party met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and nominated Millard Fillmore for U. S. President.
May 19-20, 1856 - Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner delivered his "Crime against Kansas" speech in the U. S. Senate.
May 21, 1856 - Due to its having become a center of Kansas Free-Soil activity since its founding in 1854, the town of Lawrence, Kansas Territory, was sacked by pro-slavery "border-ruffians" from Missouri.
May 22, 1856 - Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, after an outspoken anti-slavery speech, was attacked at his U. S. Senate desk by South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks, and severely wounded.
May 24, 1856 - While on a retaliatory raid, an abolitionist group led by John Brown killed five pro-slavery men at Pottawotamie Creek, Kansas Territory.
June 2, 1856 - The Democratic Party Convention, meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, nominated James Buchanan for U. S. President on a platform of popular sovereignty and support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
June 4, 1856 - Governor Wilson Shannon ordered all armed men and units in the Kansas Territory to disperse.
June 17, 1856 - The Republican Party met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and nominate John C. Frémont for U. S. President on a platform opposing the both the evils of slavery and polygamy in the territories, and for a free state of Kansas.
July 3, 1856 - Kansas's pro-slavery Topeka Constitution was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, but was rejected by the U.S. Senate.
August 18, 1856 - Unable to stop the reoccurring guerrilla warfare within the Kansas territory, Governor Wilson Shannon resigned, to be replaced by John W. Geary of Pennsylvania.
September 15, 1856 - The newly appointed Kansas Territory Governor, John Geary, had U. S. Army troops intercept 1,500 "border-ruffians," bringing a temporary peace to the Kansas Territory.
September 17, 1856 - The Whig Party met in Baltimore, Maryland, and nominated Millard Fillmore of the American Party for U. S. president.
November 4, 1856 - Democrat James Buchanan defeated the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, for U. S. President.
March 4, 1857 - Kansas Territory Governor John Geary resigned, citing disagreements with U. S. President Franklin Pierce.
March 4, 1857 - The newly elected U. S. President, James Buchanan, was inaugurated, pledging Federal noninterference and popular sovereignty in the territories.
March 6, 1857 - In the Dred Scott vs. Sanford decision, the U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Roger Taney, declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional; that African Americans were not citizens; that a slave taken out of slave territory never ceased to be a slave; that Congress had no power to deprive a citizen of his property, such as slaves; and that the South was correct in its doctrine of Federal noninterference with slavery in the territories. Northerners protested this decision.
March 26, 1857 - U. S. President James Buchanan appointed Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, Governor of the Kansas Territory.
June 15, 1857 - Elections in the Kansas Territory returned a pro-slavery majority to the constitutional convention set to meet in October.
July 15, 1857 - Free Staters, who met in Topeka, Kansas Territory, at their own constitutional convention, agreed to wait and let Governor Robert J. Walker try for a fair election for the territorial legislature.
October 5, 1857 - Elections were held in the Kansas Territory, strictly supervised by Governor Robert J. Walker, yielding a Free State majority in the Territory's legislature.
October 19 - November 8, 1857 - Ignoring Governor Robert J. Walker and the recent Kansas Territory legislative elections, a pro-slavery Constitution was adopted at a state convention in Lecompton, Kansas Territory. It was known as the Lecompton Constitution.
December 7, 1857 - The Free State Kansas Territory legislature called for a new election in January, 1858, to vote on the Lecompton Constitution.
December 17, 1857 - Governor Robert J. Walker resigned when U. S. President James Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution.
January 4, 1858 - A second election in the Kansas Territory, with all parties participating for the first time, rejected the Lecompton Constitution with or without slavery.
February 2, 1858 - U. S. President James Buchanan submitted the Lecompton Constitution to the U. S. Congress, recommending the Kansas Territory be admitted to the Union as a slave state, according to its tenants.
February 3, 1858 - Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas rejected the Lecompton Constitution as a perversion of democracy and popular sovereignty, causing a split within the Democratic Party.
March 23, 1858 - The U. S. Senate approved the admission of the Kansas Territory as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution.
April 1, 1858 - The U. S. House of Representatives ordered that the Lecompton Constitution be resubmitted to the voters in the Kansas Territory.
April 30, 1858 - The U. S. House of Representatives passed the English Bill, requiring a new popular election over the Lecompton Constitution, accompanied by a large Federal land grant and a warning that to refuse to vote would delay Kansas statehood until its population reached 90,000.
May 4, 1858 - The U. S. Senate endorsed the English Bill over the opposition of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas.
May 11, 1858 - Minnesota was admitted to the Union.
June 16, 1858 - In Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln accepted the Republican Party nomination to run for the U. S. Senate with his "House Divided" speech. He will be challenged by Illinois Democrat Stephen A. Douglas.
August 2, 1858 - Voters in the Kansas Territory decisively rejected the Lecompton Constitution once again.
August 21 - September 15, 1858 - Illinois Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met seven times to debate the issues throughout the state. Douglas emphasized the right of Americans to vote their preference, while Lincoln condemned slavery on moral and political grounds, opposing any extension of it. Douglas won the election by a slim margin, while Lincoln emerged as a national figure on the political stage.
August 27, 1858 - At one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Abraham Lincoln asked Stephen A. Douglas the Freeport Question and Douglas stated the Freeport Doctrine, that slavery can be stopped in a territory before the vote on a state constitution. Douglas won the Illinois U. S. Senate race, defeating Lincoln. Douglas was the only Democrat to win in the North, except for some in Indiana. This same doctrine in 1860 would lose the South.
January 14, 1859 - Oregon was admitted to the Union.
March, 1859 - The U.S. Supeme Court ruled in Ableman v. Booth that state courts cannot free Federal prisoners, and confirmed the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The legislature of Wisconsin protested the decision, but Mr. Booth, who had freed a fugitive slave, was rearrested.
May 9-19, 1859 - The Annual Southern Commercial Convention, meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi, recommended reopening the African slave trade.
October 16-18, 1859 - Abolitionist John Brown led an armed group of 12 white and five black men to seize the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Within a day he and four survivors were taken prisoners by a U. S. Marine force led by Colonel Robert E. Lee.
December 2, 1859 - After a trial, the State of Virginia hung John Brown for committing treason against the state.
February, 1860 - Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis proposed resolutions affirming that the Federal government cannot prohibit slavery in the territories, but must protect the slaveowners already there. Davis was trying to unite the Democratic Party against Douglas's principle of "popular sovereignty."
February 27, 1860 - Abraham Lincoln made his first appearance in the East at Cooper Union, in New York City, New York.
April 23 - May 3, 1860 - The Democratic Presidential nominating convention was held in Charleston, South Carolina. A pro-slavery platform was rejected, the Cincinnati platform of 1856 was adopted.
May 3, 1860 - The Democratic convention adjourned without selecting a presidential ticket because eight "Deep South" states walk out over the slavery plank in the Cincinnati platform.
May 9, 1860 - The Constitutional Union party (formerly the Whig-American Party), meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, nominated John Bell, from Tennessee, and Edward Everett for President and Vice-President, respectively, condemning sectionalism and standing for the U. S. Constitution and Union.
May 16-18, 1860 - The Republican convention met in Chicago, Illinois. The favorite candidate, Senator William H. Seward, failed to get the nomination because of his extreme position on slavery.
May 18, 1860 - At the Republican convention in Chicago, Illinois, on the third ballot, the more moderate Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won the nomination for President and Vice-President, respectively, on a platform of economic improvement and the Wilmot Proviso.
June 18-23, 1860 - The Democratic convention reconvened in Baltimore, Maryland.
June 22, 1860 - Anti-Stephen Douglas delegates (the "Deep South" delegates) withdrew again from the Democratic convention.
June 23, 1860 - The remaining (regular or Northern) delegates at the Democratic Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson for President and Vice-President, repsectively.
June 28, 1860 - Meeting in Richmond, Virginia, since June 11, Southern Democrats (the Anti-Stephen Douglas delegates, the "Deep South" delegates) nominated John C. Breckinridge, from Kentucky, and Joseph Lane for President and Vice-President, respectively, on a platform of nonexclusion of slavery from the territories. This brought the total number of presidential candidates to four in the 1860 election.
November 6, 1860 - The South Carolina state legislature met to choose Presidential electors, and voted for John C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane for President and Vice-President, rspectively. Governor William H. Gist recommended in his message that in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency, a convention of the people of the state be immediately held to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress. He expressed the opinion that the only alternative left was the "secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union."
November 6, 1860 - Abraham Lincoln, who had declared "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." was elected 16th President of the United States, the first Republican, receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 39 percent of the popular vote. The Republican ticket received 1,866,452 votes and 180 elecoral votes in 17 of the 33 states. The Northern Democratic ticket of Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and Herscel V. Johnson, of Georgia, received 1,376,957 votes, and only 12 electoral votes. The Southern Democratic ticket of John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, received 849,781 votes and 72 electoral votes from 11 of the 15 slave states. The Constitutional Unionist's John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, received 588,879 votes and 39 electoral votes.
November 7, 1860 - United States officials resigned in Charleston, South Carolina.
November 8, 1860 - The Georgia state legislature met.
November 10, 1860 - South Carolina called a secession convention, to meet December 17th, with delegates to be elected December 6th.
November 10, 1860 - South Carolina's James Chesnut, a moderate, resigned from the U. S. Senate, to be followed by colleague James H. Hammond.
November 13, 1860 - Francis W. Pickens was elected Governor of South Carolina.
November 13, 1860 - The South Carolina state legislature voted to raise 10,000 volunteers to defend the state.
November 15, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson assumeed command of the U. S. garrison at Charleston, South Carolina.
November 17, 1860 - South Carolina unanimously adopted an Ordinance of Secession.
November 18, 1860 - The Georgia convention called, and the legislature appropriated $1,000,000 to arm the State.
November 20, 1860 - The North Carolina state legislature met. Governor John W. Ellis recommended that the legislature invite a conference of the southern states, or failing in that, to send one or more delegates to the neighboring states so as to secure concert of action. He recommended a thorough reorganization of the militia, and the enrollment of all persons between 18 and 45 years, and the organization of a corps of 10,000 men.
November 21, 1860 - South Carolina appointed Robert W. Barnwell and James L. Orr as Commissioners to proceed to Washington to negotiate for the possession of U. S. government property within the state's limits. Commissioners appointed to visit other slaveholding states. A Southern Congress was also proposed.
November 23, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson requested supplies and reinforcements for Charleston, South Carolina, defenses.
November 24, 1860 - South Carolina's Representatives in the U. S. Congress were withdrawn. Governor Pickens issued a proclamation "announcing the repeal, December 20th, 1860, by the good people of South Carolina," of the Ordinance of May 23rd, 1788, and "the dissolution of the union between the State of South Carolina and other States under the name of the United States of America," and proclaimed to the world "that the State of South Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a separate, sovereign, free and independent State, and, as such, has a right to levy war, or covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever that rightfully appertain to a free and independent State."
November 26, 1860 - The Mississippi state legislature met, adjourning November 30. They set December 20th as the date for elections for the Mississippi Convention, the convention to meet January 7, 1861. Mississippi Commissioners were appointed to other slaveholding states to secure "their co-operation in effecting measures for their common defence and safety."
November 26, 1860 - The Florida state legislature met. Florida Governor M. S. Perry recommended immediate secession.
November 27, 1860 - Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks declined to call a special session of the Maryland legislature, in response to a request for such a convening from Thomas G. Pratt, Sprigg Harwood, J. R. Franklin, N. H. Green, Llewellyn Boyle, and J. Pinkney.
November 28, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson, having received no reply, again requested reinforcements and supplies.
December 1, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson renewed his plea for the third time.
December 1, 1860 - The Florida state legislature met and passed a bill calling for a State Convention, in order to discuss the question of secession.
December 3, 1860 - The Georgia state legislature adopted resolutions proposing a Conference of the Southern States at Atlanta, to be held on February 20, 1861.
December 4, 1860 - In his annual State of the Union message to Congress, U. S. President James Buchanan declared secession unconstitutional, but he stated that the Federal government does nor have the power to force any state to remain in the Union. The U. S. House of Representatives named a special Committee of Thirty-three to discuss the issues of the day.
December 8, 1860 - U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, from Georgia, resigned because he felt that "Secession of my state was imminent."
December 9, 1860 - U. S. President James Buchanan assured the South Carolina congressmen that he would not attempt to reinforce Charleston forts without first consulting him.
December 9, 1860 - North Carolina's Joint Committee on Federal Relations agreed to report a Convention Bill.
December 10, 1860 - The Louisiana state legislature met.
December 11, 1860 - The Louisiana Convention was called to meet on January 23, 1861.
December 12, 1860 - The state of Louisiana received Commissioners from Mississippi. The Governor of Louisiana was instructed to communicate with Governors of other southern States.
December 12, 1860 - Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin declined offers of help from the Indiana State militia to quell servile insurrections in Kentucky.
December 12, 1860 - U. S. President James Buchanan appointed Philip F. Thomas, of Maryland, to the vacant post of U. S. Secretary of Treasury.
December 13, 1860 - Seven Southern U. S. Senators and twenty-three Representatives urged secession and the creation of a Southern Confederacy.
December 14, 1860 - U. S. Secretary of State Lewis Cass, from Michigan, resigned because of U. S. President James Buchanan's failure to reinforce Major Robert Anderson in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
Decmeber 14, 1860 - The Georgia state legislature asked South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida to appoint delegates to a convention to establish a Southern Confederacy.
December 17, 1860 - U. S. Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black resigned to become U. S. Secretary of State.
December 17, 1860 - The North Carolina state legislature debated a bill appropriating $300,000 to arm the state.
December 18, 1860 - Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden proposed the Crittenden Compromise on the floor of the U. S. Senate, six amendments to the United States Constitution which protected slavery.
December 18, 1860 - The North Carolina state senate passed the Appropriation Bill debated on December 17: yeas 41, neas 3.
December 19, 1860 - Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks replied to A. H. Handy, Commissioner from Mississippi, declining to accept the program for secession.
December 20, 1860 - The state of South Carolina seceded from the Union.
December 20, 1860 - North Carolina received Commissioners from Alabama and Mississippi - the latter, U. S. Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson, by letter.
December 20, 1860 - William H. Collins, Esq., of Baltimore, Maryland, issued an address to the people of Maryland in favor of the Union.
December 20, 1860 - U. S. President James Buchanan appointed Edwin M. Stanton to U. S. Attorney General.
December 20, 1860 - U. S. Vice-President John C. Breckinridge referred the Crittenden Compromise to the Committee of Thirteen.
December 22, 1860 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln's opposition to the Crittenden Compromise protecting slavery in the territories was made public.
December 22, 1860 - The North Carolina Senate Bill to arm the State failed to pass the North Carolina House.
December 24, 1860 - The U. S. Senate's Committee of Thirteen rejected the Crittenden Compromise.
December 26, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson withdrew all Federal forces from Fort Moultrie on the mainland to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, leaving the other Charleston Harbor forts to the South Carolina forces.
December 27, 1860 - Fort Moultrie and Fort Castle Pinckney, and the schooner William Aiken, all in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to South Carolina State troops.
December 29, 1860 - U. S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd, from Virginia, resigned because, after the transfer of Major Robert Anderson's command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, U. S. President James Buchanan declined "to withdraw the garrison from the harbor of Charleston altogether."
December 30, 1860 - The U. S. Arsenal, Post Office, and Custom's House at Charleston, South Carolina, were seized by South Carolina State troops. The Arsenal contained 70,000+ stand of arms, and other stores.
December 31, 1860 - The U. S. Senate's Committee of Thirteen reported its failure to reach an agreement on the Crittenden Compromise. U. S. President James Buchanan ordered reinforcements sent to Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter.
December 31, 1860 - Mississippi Commissioner A. H. Handy addressed the citizens of Baltimore, Maryland, in favor of disunion.
December 31, 1861 - U. S. Postmaster General Joseph Holt was temporarily put in charge of the U. S. War Department.
January 2, 1861 - Fort Pulaski and Fort Jackson, and the U. S. Arsenal, Savannah, Georgia, was seized by Georgia State troops, under advice from Georgia members of the U. S. Congress.
January 3, 1861 - South Carolina's Commissioners left Washington, D.C.
January 3, 1861 - The Florida state convention met.
January 3, 1861 - Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks issued an address to the people of Maryland against secession, and Henry Winter Davis addressed the citizens of Maryland in favor of the Union. Numerour pro-Union meetings took place throughout the state of Maryland.
January 4, 1861 - The South Carolina convention appointed T. J. Withers, L. M. Keitt, W. W. Boyce, J. Chesnut, Jr., R. B. Rhett, Jr., R. W. Barnwell, and C. G. Memminger, delegates to the Southern convention.
January 4, 1861 - The U. S. Arsenal at Mount Vernon, Alabama, was seized by Alabama State troops, on orders from Alabama Governor A. B. Moore. The Arsenal contained 20,000 arms, 1,500 barrels of gun powder (150,000 lbs.), several cannons, and a large amount of munitions.
January 5, 1861 - The steamship Star of the West sailed from New York City with men and supplies for Fort Sumter.
January 5, 1861 - Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, Mobile, Alabama, were seized by Alabama State troops.
January 6, 1861 - The Tennessee state legislature met.
January 6, 1861 - The Florida state militia took control of the U. S. Arsenal at Apalachicola, Florida.
January 7, 1861 - The Mississippi state convention met.
January 7, 1861 - The Florida state convention received Commissioners from South Carolina and Alabama.
January 7, 1861 - The Alabama state convention met.
January 7, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature met.
January 7, 1861 - The U. S. Arsenal and Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, were seized by Florida state troops. The U. S. Arsenal at Chattahoochee, Florida, was also seized, containing 500,000 rounds of musket cartridges, 300,000 rifle cartridges, and 50,000 pounds of gunpowder, but no arms.
January 8, 1861 - The Alabama state convention received Commissioner from South Carolina.
January 8, 1861 - North Carolina Senate bill arming the State passed the North Carolina House: yeas 73, neas 26.
January 8, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature passed anti-coercion resolution.
January 8, 1861 - U. S. Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson resigned because "additional troops, he had heard, have been ordered to Charleston" in the Star of the West.
January 9, 1861 - The state of Mississippi passed the Ordinance of Secession: yeas 84, neas 15; Mississippi seceded from the Union. In the ordinance the people of Mississippi expressed their consent to form a federal union with those States that have seceded or may secede from the United States of America.
January 9, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature passed a resolution asking that the status quo be maintained.
January 9, 1861 - The steamship Star of the West was fired upon by South Carolina State troops as it tried to land men and supplies at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
January 10, 1861 - The state of Florida passed the Ordinance of Secession: yeas 62, neas 7. Florida seceded from the Union.
January 10, 1861 - The state of Mississippi received Commissioners from other States, and adopted several resolutions, and recognized South Carolina as sovereign and independent.
January 10, 1861 - The Virginia Governor transmitted a despatch from the Mississippi Convention, announcing its unconditional secession from the Union, and desiring on the basis of the old Constitution to form a new union with the seceding States.
January 10, 1861 - The Virginia House adopted, yeas 77, neas 61, an amendment submitting to a vote of the people the question of referring for their decision any action of the convention dissolving Virginia's connection to the Union, or changing its organic law. The Richmond Enquirer denounced "the emasculation of the Convention Bill as imperilling all that Virginians hold most sacred and dear."
January 10, 1861 - U. S. guns and stores on board the steamship Texas were seized by Texas State troops in Galveston, Texas.
January 11, 1861 - The state of Alabama passed the Ordinance of Secession in secret session: yeas 61, neas 39. A proposition to submit ordinance to the people lost: yeas 47, neas 53. Alabama seceded from the Union.
January 11, 1861 - U. S. Secretary of the Treasury Philip F. Thomas, from Maryland, resigned, completing the Southern withdrawl from President Buchanan's cabinet. He did so because of differences with the President and a majority of the Cabinet, "in the measures which have been adopted in reference to the recent condition of things in South Carolina," especially "touching the authority, under existing laws, to enforce the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston."
January 11, 1861 - The Mississippi River was blockaded at Vicksburg, Mississippi, by a Confederate artillery battery.
January 11, 1861 - Fort Jackson and Fort St. Phillip, Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and Fort Pike, on Lake Ponchartrain, and the U. S. Arsenal at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were seized by Louisiana State troops. The Arsenal contained 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordinance, 2 batteries, and 300 barrels of gun powder.
January 11, 1861 - U. S. President James Buchanan appointed John A. Dix, of New York, to replace Philip F. Thomas as U. S. Secretary of the Treasury.
January 12, 1861 - The state of Mississippi withdrew its representatives from the U. S. Congress.
January 12, 1861 - The state of Tennessee passed the Convention Bill.
January 12, 1861 - The Navy Yard and Fort Barrancas and Fort McRee, Pensacola, Florida, were seized by Florida State troops.
January 14, 1861 - The Committee of Thirty-three and the Committee of Thirteen were unable to reach a compromise, but the U. S. House of Representatives agreed on the Corwin Amendment.
January 14, 1861 - The South Carolina state legislature declared that any attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter would be considered an open act of hostility and a declaration of war. The legislature also approved the Governor's action in firing on the Star of the West.
January 14, 1861 - James Carroll, former Democratic candidate for Maryland Governor, announced his intention to side with the seceding states.
January 15, 1861 - The Missouri Senate passed the Convention Bill: yeas 31, neas 2. The Missouri House also passed the Convention Bill.
January 16, 1861 - The Arkansas state legislature passed the Convention Bill. The vote for the Convention Bill was: yeas 27,412, neas 15,826.
January 16, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature received Alabama Commissioners A. F. Hopkins and Frank Gilmer.
January 16, 1861 - Marshal Kane, in a letter to Baltimore Mayor Berrett, denied that any organization existed to prevent the inauguration of U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, and said that the president elect would need no armed escort in passing through or sojourning within the limits of Baltimore and Maryland.
January 17, 1861 - The Georgia state convention met, and received Commissioners from South Carolina and Alabama.
January 17, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature passed resolutions proposing the Crittenden Resolutions as the basis for adjustment, and requesting the U. S. Government avoid a collision with the Southern states.
January 17, 1861 - Virginia Governor John Letcher communicated resolutions from the New York state legislature, expressing the utmost disdain, and saying that "the threat conveyed can inspire no terror in freemen." The resolutions were directed to be returned to the Governor of New York.
January 17, 1861 - The Kentucky state legislature met.
January 18, 1861 - The state of Georgia adopted resolutions declaring it the State's right and duty to secede: yeas 165, neas 130.
January 18, 1861 - The state of Florida appointed delegates to Southern Congress at Montgomery, Alabama.
January 18, 1861 - The Virginia state legistature appropriated $1,000,000 for the defence of the State.
January 18, 1861 - U. S. Postmaster General Joseph Holt resigned, and was appointed U. S. Secretary of War by U. S. President James Buchanan.
January 19, 1861 - The state of Georgia passed the Ordinance of Secession: yeas 208, neas 89. Georgia seceded from the Union.
January 19, 1861 - The Mississippi state legislature's committee on the Confederacy presented resolutions to provide for a Southern Confederacy, and to establish a provisional government for seceding states and states hereafter seceding.
January 19, 1861 - Alabama delegates were elected to the Southern Congress.
January 19, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature passed resolution that if all efforts to reconcile the differences of the country fail, every consideration of honor and interest demands that Virginia shall unite her destinies with her sister slaveholding States. Also that no reconstruction of the Union can be permanent or satisfactory which would not secure to each section self-protecting power against any invasion of the Federal Union upon the reserved rights of either.
January 20, 1861 - Fort Massachusetts, Ship Island, Mississippi, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, was seized by Mississippi state troops.
January 21, 1861 - Georgia's Senators and Representatives withdrew from the U.S. Congress.
January 21, 1861 - Mississippi's Senators, including Jefferson Davis, resigned from the U. S. Senate.
January 21, 1861 - Florida's Senators and Representatives withdrew from the U. S. Congress.
January 21, 1861 - Alabama's Senators and Representatives withdrew from the U. S. Congress.
January 21, 1861 - The Texas state legislature met.
January 21, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature replied to Alabama commissioners A. F. Hopkins and Frank Gilmer, expressing an inability to make a definite response until after the meeting of the Virginia state convention.
January 22, 1861 - Virginia Governor John Letcher transmitted the resolutions of the Ohio State Legislature, with unfavorable comment, to the Virginia state legislature. His message was tabled by a small majority.
January 22, 1861 - The Kentucky House, by a vote of 87 to 6, resolved to resist the invasion of the South at all hazards.
January 23, 1861 - The Louisiana state convention met, receiving commissioners from South Carolina and Alabama.
January 24, 1861 - U. S. Arsenal in Augusta, Georgia, was seized by 700 Georgia State troops. The Arsenal contained two 12-pound howitzers, two cannons, 22,000 muskets and rifles, and large stores of powder, cannon balls, grape shot, etc.
January 24, 1861 - The state of Georgia elected delegates to Southern Congress at Montgomery, Alabama.
January 26, 1861 - The state of Louisiana passed the Ordinance of Secession: yeas 113, neas 17. Louisiana seceded from the Union. The Louisiana Convention refused to submit the Ordinance to the people by a vote of 84 to 45.
January 26, 1861 - Alabama commissioners were appointed to negotiate with the U. S. government relative to the U. S. forts, arsenals, etc., within the state.
January 27, 1861 - The Kentucky state legislature adopted the Virginia resolutions requiring the Federal government to protect slavery in the Territories and to guarantee the right of transit of slaves through the free states.
January 28, 1861 - Georgia elected commissioners to other slave-holding states.
January 28, 1861 - Texas People's state convention met.
January 29, 1861 - Kansas was admitted to the Union as the thirty-fourth state, under the Free State Wyandotte Constitution.
January 29, 1861 - The Texas state legislature passed a resolution declaring that the Federal Government had no power to coerce a sovereign state after it has pronounced its separation from the Federal Union.
January 30, 1861 - The North Carolina state legislature passed the Convention Bill, the election to take place on February 28. The legislature concluded that no Secession Ordinance would be valid without being ratified by a majority of the qualified voters of the state.
January 30, 1861 - The state of Tennessee appointed commissioners to Washington, D. C.
January 30, 1861 - The Virginia House of Delegates tabled the resolutions of the Pennsylvania state legislature, but referred those of the Tennessee state legislature to the Committee on Federal Relations.
January 30, 1861 - The Maryland Senate President, John B. Brooke, and Maryland House Speaker, E. G. Kilbourn, asked Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks to convene the legislature in response to public meetings.
January 31, 1860 - The state of North Carolina elected Thomas L. Clingman U. S. Senator.
January 31, 1861 - The U. S. Mint and Customs House, New Orleans, Louisiana, were seized by Louisiana State troops, yielding $599,303 in gold and silver.
February 1, 1861 - The Texas state convention passed an Ordinance of Secession: yeas 166, neas 7. Texas seceded from the Union, with a referendum of the people to be held February 23, 1861.
February 2, 1861 - The Kentucky Senate passed, by a vote of 25 to 11, resolutions appealing to the Southern states to stop the revolution, protesting against Federal coercion, and providing that the legislature reassemble on April 24th to hear the responses from sister states. The Kentucky Senate also favored making an application to call a national convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States. And the Kentucky Senate, by a vote of 25 to 14, declared it expedient at this time to call a state convention.
February 4, 1861 - The Virginia State Peace Conference opened in Washington, D. C., but was not attended by any representatives from the seceded states. A pro-Union majority took control of the Virginia Secession Convention, raising hopes that Virginia would not leave the Union.
February 4, 1861 - The seceded states opened a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, to organize a new government.
February 5, 1861 - Louisiana Senators withdrew from the U. S. Congress. Its Representatives also withdrew, except for John E. Bouligny.
February 5, 1861 - The Kentucky House passed the Senate's resolutions of February 2: yeas 54, neas 40.
February 7, 1861 - Texas delegates to the Southern Congress were elected, and an act submitting the Ordinance of Secession to a vote of its citizens was passed.
February 7, 1861 - The Choctaw Indian Nation seceded from the Union.
February 8, 1861 - The Constitution for a provisional Confederate government was adopted at Montgomery, Alabama.
February 8, 1861 - The voters of Tennessee voted against holding a state convention: yeas 54,156, neas 67,360.
February 8, 1861 - Five New York ships were seized by order of the Georgia Governnor, and held until certain guns on board the vessel Monticello, seized by New York City police, were delivered to agents of Georgia. In addition, the Georgia Governor ordered the Collector of the Port of Savannah, Georgia, to retain all moneys from customs in his possession, and to make no payment on accounts of the Federal government.
February 8, 1861 - The U. S. Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, was seized by Arkansas state troops. It contained 9,000 small arms, 40 cannons, and large quantities of ammunition.
February 9, 1861 - The Confederate States of America was formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as President of the Confederacy, with Alexander H. Stephens, from Georgia, elected Vice-President.
February 9, 1861 - Tennessee state voters refused to call a secession convention.
February 11, 1861 - Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois for Washington, D. C. to assume the office of President of the United States.
February 12, 1861 - Horatio King was appointed U. S. Postmaster General by U. S. President James Buchanan.
February 13, 1861 - Abraham Lincoln's election was confirmed by the Electoral College, minus most of the Southern members.
February 13, 1861 - The North Carolina state legislature publicly received commissioners from Georgia.
February 13, 1861 - The Virginia state convention met.
February 14, 1861 - The Florida state legislature passed an Act declaring that after any actual collision between Federal troops and those in the employ of Florida, the act of holding office under the Federal government shall be declared treason, and any person convicted of such action shall suffer death. The state of Florida transfered control of captured U. S. government property to the Confederate government.
February 15, 1861 - The Montgomery Convention, acting as the provisional Confederate Congress, passed a resolution to take Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and Fort Pickens, Florida, by "whatever means necessary."
February 16, 1861 - The U. S. Arsenal and barracks at San Antonio, Texas, was seized by Texas State troops.
February 18, 1861 - Inauguration of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The Confederate Capital was established in Montgomery, Alabama.
February 18, 1861 - The state of Arkansas elected delegates to the state convention.
February 18, 1861 - The Maryland State Conference Convention met, and insisted upon a meeting of the Maryland legislature.
February 18, 1861 - At a meeting in Howard County, Maryland, addressed by Speaker of the House of delegates, E. G. Kilbourn, a resolution was adopted that "immediate steps ought to be taken for the establishment of a Southern Confederacy, by consultation and co-operation with such other Southern and Slave Sates as may be ready therefor."
February 18, 1861 - Brevet Major General David E. Twiggs surrendered all Federal troops and posts in Texas to Texas state militia commanders at San Antonio, Texas.
February 20, 1861 - The Virginia state legislature returned without comment resolutions from the Michigan state legislature.
February 21, 1861 - Three New York ships were seized at Savannah, Georgia, by order of the Georgia governor.
February 22, 1861 - Abraham Lincoln learned of the "Baltimore Plot" and agreed to be smuggled into Washington, D. C., via an overnight trip from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
February 23, 1861 - Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington, D. C.
February 23, 1861 - Voters in Texas passed the state's Ordinance of Secession: yeas 34,794, neas 11,235 (as the Legislature had done on February 1).
February 27, 1861 - The Virginia State Peace Conference sent its proposals for six constitutional amendments to the U. S. Congress.
February 28, 1861 - North Carolina elected delegates to a state convention. The majority of voters in the state, however, voted against a Convention: yeas 46,671, neas 47,333.
February 28, 1861 - Ex-President John Tyler (1841-1845) and James A. Seddon, commissioners to the Peace Congress, presented their report to the Virginia state legislature, and denounced the recommendations of that body as a delusion and a sham, and as an insult and an offense to the South.
February 28, 1861 - The Missouri state convention met, with a motion to go into secret session defeated. A resolution requiring members to take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Missouri was defeated: yeas 30, neas 65.
March 1, 1861 - The U. S. Congress refused to act upon Virginia's Peace Conference proposals.
March 2, 1861 - In the absence of opposition, the U. S. Congress passed the Morrill Tariff Act, a high protective tariff long opposed by Southern congressmen.
March 2, 1861 - U. S. revenue cutter Henry Dodge was seized in Galveston Bay, Texas, by Texas state troops.
March 3, 1861 - Confederate forces under Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard took over control in Charleston, South Carolina.
March 4, 1861 - Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, sworn in as the 16th President of the United States of America.
March 4, 1861 Major Richard Anderson reported that his supplies were running low, and may force him to evacuate Fort Sumter.
March 4, 1861 - The Alabama state convention re-assembled.
March 4, 1861 - The Arkansas state convention met.
March 4, 1861 - The Texas state convention declared the state out of the Union. Governor Samuel Houston issued a proclamation to that effect.
March 4, 1861 - The Missouri state convention passed a resolution (yeas 64, neas 35) appointing a committee to notify Georgia commissioner Luther J. Glenn that the Missouri state convention was ready to hear any communication from his state. Mr. Glenn read Georgia's Articles of Secession, and made a speech urging Missouri to join her.
March 5, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his cabinet: State-William H. Seward; Treasury-Salmon P. Chase; Navy-Gideon Welles; War-Simon Cameron; Interior-Caleb B. Smith; Attorney General-Edward Bates; Postmaster General-Montgomery Blair.
March 5, 1861 - The Missouri state convention resolved that the protest of St. Louis against coercion be reduced to writing, and a copy be sent to the President of the United States. Resolutions were also adopted informing Georgia commissioner Luther J. Glenn that Missouri dissented from the position taken by the state of Georgia, and that Missouri refused to join Georgia in secession from the Union.
March 6, 1861 - The Confederate Cabinet was completed: State-Robert Toombs; War-Leroy P. Walker; Navy-Stephen R. Mallory; Treasury-Christopher G. memminger; Attorney General-Judah P. Benjamin; Postmaster General-John H. Reagan. The Confederacy called for 100,000 volunteers.
March 6, 1861 - The Confederacy called for 100,000 volunteers.
March 6, 1861 - The Missouri state convention called for a convention of the Southern states which have not seceded, to meet at Nashville, Tennessee, April 15th., providing for such amendments to the Constitution of the United States as shall secure to all the states equal rights in the Union, declaring strongly against secession.
March 7, 1861 - The Georgia state convention reassmebled.
March 7, 1861 - The Louisiana state legislature adopted an ordinance in secret session transferring to the Confederate states $536,000, being the amount of bullion in the U. S. mint and customs seized by the State.
March 9, 1861 - The Missouri Committee on Federal Relations reported a series of resolutions, setting forth that at present there was no adequate cause to impel Missouri to leave the Union, but that on the contrary she will labor for such an adjustment of existing troubles as would secure peace and the rights and equality of all the States; that the people of Missouri regard the amendments to the Constitution proposed by Mr. Crittenden, with their extension to territory hereafter to be acquired, a basis of adjustment which would forever remove all difficulties; and that it was expedient for the Missouri state legislature to call a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution.
March 9, 1861 - The Missouri Senate passed resolutions that their Senators be instructed, and Missouri's Representatives requested, to oppose the passage of all acts granting supplies of men and money to coerce the seceding states into submission or subjugation; and that, should such acts be passed by the U. S. Congress, Missouri's Senators would be instructed, and Missouri's Representatives requested, to retire from the halls of Congress.
March 11, 1861 - The Confederacy Convention, acting as a provisional Congress, accepted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, and sent it out for ratification.
March 13, 1861 - The Alabama state convention ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 87, neas 6. They also transfered control of forts, arsenals, etc., to the Confederate Government.
March 14, 1861 - The Confederate Congress passed a resolution accepting the $536,000 given it by the state of Louisiana on March 7, with "a high sense of the patriotic liberality of the State of Louisiana."
March 15, 1861 - After being asked their opinions by U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, all of the cabinet members except Blair advised against the reinforcement of Fort Sumter. U. S. Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase and U. S. Secretary of State William H. Seward opposed the move unless Fort Pickens was also reinforced.
March 16, 1861 - The state of Georgia ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 96, neas 5.
March 16, 1861 - The Louisiana state legislature voted down an ordinance which would have submitted the Confederate Constitution to the people of the state: yeas 26, neas 74.
March 16, 1861 - The Texas state convention deposed Governor Samuel Houston by a vote of 127 to 4, declaring his seat vacant. Governor Houston issued a proclamation to the people of the state protesting against this action by the convention.
March 16, 1861 - An amendment to the fifth resolution of the majority report of Missouri's Committee on Federal Relations was voted down. This amendment asserted that Missouri would never countenance nor aid a seceding state in making war upon the United States government, nor provide men and money for the purpose of aiding the United States government to coerce a seceding state.
March 18, 1861 - The Arkansas convention defeated an Ordinance of Secession: yeas 35, neas 39. The convention effected a compromise by agreeing to submit the question of co-operation or secession to the people of the state on the first Monday in August, 1861.
March 18, 1861 - Sam Houston resigned as governor of Texas, refusing to take a loyalty oath to the Confederacy.
March 20, 1861 - The state of Georgia passed an ordinance authorizing the Confederate government to occupy, use and possess the forts, navy yards, arsenals, and custom houses within the limits of the state.
March 20, 1861 - The Texas state legislature confirmed the action of the Texas Convention in deposing Governor Houston by a vote of 53 to 11. The legislature also transfered forts, arsenals, etc., to the Confederate government.
March 21, 1861 - The state of Louisiana ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 101, neas 7. The Louisiana governor authorized transfer of arms and property captured from the United States to the Confederate government.
March 22, 1861 - The Kentucky State Rights Convention met. It adopted resolutions denouncing any attempt on the part of the government to collect revenue as coercion; and affirmed that, in case of any such attempt, the border states should make common cause with the Southern Confederacy. They also recommended a border state convention be convened.
March 23, 1861 - The state of Texas ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 68, neas 2.
March 26, 1861 - The South Carolina state convention met in Charleston, South Carolina.
March 27, 1861 - The Louisiana state convention adjourned, without setting a day for reassembling.
March 27, 1861 - The Missouri House passed (yeas 62, neas 42) a resolution that it was inexpedient for the Missouri General Assembly to take any steps calling a National Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, as recommended by the Missouri state convention.
March 29, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet took a stronger stand on holding all federal forts in the South.
March 30, 1861 - The state of Mississippi ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 78, neas 7.
April 2, 1861 - The Morrill Tariff Act was passed by the U. S. Congress.
April 3, 1861 - The state of South Carolina ratified the Confederate Constitution: yeas 114, nays 16.
April 4, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln ordered a relief expedition to Fort Sumter, but, because of U. S. Secretary of State William H. Seward's duplicity, the expedition sailed without armed escort.
April 4, 1861 - The Virginia state government refused to secede from the Union.
April 6, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln informed the South Carolina government that he intended to provide relief supplies to Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
April 8, 1861 - The relief expedition sailed from New York City, New York.
April 8, 1861 - The state of South Carolina transfered forts, etc. to the Confederate government.
April 10, 1861 - Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Garrison commander Major Robert Anderson refused. (SC001) (Operations in Charleston Harbor [April 1861]).
April 11, 1861 - The Confederate Government demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Major Robert Anderson refused.
April 12, 1861 - The Bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina. On April 10, 1861, Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused. On April 12, at 4:30 a.m., Confederates batteries under Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 p.m., April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Although there were no casualties during the bombardment, one Union artillerist was killed and three wounded (one mortally) when a cannon exploded prematurely when firing a salute during the evacuation.
April 12, 1861 - The Federal garrison at Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida, was reinforced without incident.
April 13, 1861 - At 2:30 p.m., Major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War.
April 14, 1861 - Federal forces evacuated Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
April 15, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation calling for 75,000 militiamen, and summoning a special session of the U. S. Congress for July 4.
April 17, 1861 - The Virginia state convention passed an Ordinance of Secession in secret session: yeas 88, neas 55, one excused and eight not voting. Virginia seceded from the Union, with a popular referendum to be held on May 23.
April 17, 1861 - Nicholas Biddle, a colored man from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, joined the Washington artillerists, and became the first Negro volunteer for the Union.
April 18, 1861 - Major Robert E. Lee, son of a Revolutionary War hero, and a distinguished 25 year veteran of the United States Army and former Superintendent of West Point, was offered command of the Federal Army. Lee declined, choosing to remain loyal to his home state of Virginia.
April 18, 1861 - The Federal garrison abandoned Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
April 18, 1861 - Nicholas Biddle was wounded in Baltimore, Maryland, by a mob, and became the first negro to shed blood during the Civil War.
April 19, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Blockade against Southern ports. For the duration of the war the blockade limited the ability of the rural South to stay well supplied in its war against the industrialized North.
April 19, 1861 - The 6th Massachusetts Regiment clashed with a mob in Baltimore, Maryland, and Clara Barton came to the fore as a nurse for the wounded.
April 20, 1861 - Major Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army. "I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children." Lee then went to Richmond, Virginia, was offered command of the military and forces of Virginia, and accepted this commission by the state of Virginia.
April 20, 1861 - Frederick Douglass proposed the use of African Zouave Regiments by the Union. His proposal was not considered.
April 20, 1861 - Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, was partially destroyed by Federal forces to prevent Yard facilities from falling into Confederate hands. Later it was abandoned by Federal forces, and seized by Confederate troops. This operation secured for the Confederacy the fine steam frigate Merrimack, and a great quantity of naval stores and armaments, including 52 modern 9-inch guns.
April 21, 1861 - Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks wrote to Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler advising that he not land his Federal troops at Annapolis, Maryland. Brigadier General Butler relied that he intended to land there and then march to Washington, D.C. Governor Hicks protested against this and also against Butler's having taken forcible possession of the Annapolis and Elkridge railroad.
April 22, 1861 - Major General Robert E. Lee was named to head all Virginia state troops.
April 24, 1861 - Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin called an extra session of the Kentucky state legislature.
April 24, 1861 - A special election of ten delegates to the Maryland state legislature took place in Baltimore, Maryland. The total vote cast in all the wards was 9,249. The total vote cast for the Presidential election in November, 1860, was 30,148.
April 26, 1861 - Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown issued a proclamation ordering the repudiation by the citizens of Georgia of all debts due Northern men.
April 26, 1861 - The Maryland state legislature reassembled at Frederick, Maryland.
April 26, 1861 - The town of Annapolis, Maryland, was occupied by Federal troops under Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler.
April 27, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus along the railroad running from Washington, D. C., to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
April 27, 1861 - The ports of North Carolina and Virginia were included in the Federal's naval blockade of the South.
April 29, 1861 - Maryland Governor Thomas H. Hicks sent a message to the Maryland state legislature communicating to them the correspondence between himself and Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler and the U. S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron relative to the landing of U. S. troops at Annapolis, Maryland.
April 29, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive proclamation creating martial law in the state of Maryland.
April 29, 1861 - The Maryland House of Delegates voted against secession: yeas 13, neas 53. The Maryland Senate votd unanimously against secession.
April 30, 1861 - Federal troops were removed from the Indian Nations land, leaving the Five Civilized (i.e. slaveholding) Tribes open to Confederate influence.
May 1, 1861 - An extra session of the North Carolina state legislature met at the request of Governor Ellis. The same day the legislature passed a Convention Bill, ordering an election of delegates on May 13, 1861.
May 1, 1861 - The Tennessee state legislature passed a joint resolution authorizing the Governor to appoint commissioners to enter into a military league with the authorities of the Confederate States.
May 2, 1861 - The Maryland Committee on Federal Relations, "in view of the seizure of the railroads by the General Government and the erection of fortifications," presented resolutions appointing commissioners to U. S. President Abraham Lincoln to ascertain whether any suitable arrangements with the U. S. government were practicable for the maintenance for the peace and honor of the state and the security of its inhabitants. Appointed commissioners were: Otho Scott, Robert M. McLane, William J. Ross.
May 3, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln called for 42,000 volunteers for three-years' service, also for eight new three-battalion regiments of regular infantry, one regiment of regular artillery, and 18,000 seaman.
May 3, 1861 - In Great Britain, Foreign Minister Lord John Russell informaly met with the Yancy-Rost-Mann delegation from the Confederacy, there to seek recognition for the Confederate government.
May 3, 1861 - U. S. Brevet General Winfield Scott issued the Anaconda Plan to subdue the South.
May 6, 1861 - The state of Arkansas passed an Ordinance of Secession: yeas 69, neas 1. Arkansas seceded from the Union. Arkansas authorized its delegates to the Provisional Congress to transfer the arsenal at Little Rock and the hospital at Napoleon to the Confederate government.
May 6, 1861 - Maryland Commissioners Otho Scott, Robert M. McLane, and William J. Ross reported the results of their interview with U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, expressing the opinion that some modifications of the course of the Federal government towards Maryland ought to be expected.
May 6, 1861 - Great Britain decided to recognize the Confederacy as a belligerent, but not as a nation.
May 7, 1861 - The state of Tennessee formed an alliance with the Confederacy, but does not actually secede on this date.
May 7, 1861 - The Tennessee state legislature ratified, in secret session, the league entered into by A. O. W. Totten, Gustavus A. Henry, Washington Barrow, the Commissioners for Tennessee, and Henry W. Hilliard, Commissioner for the Confederate States. Their pact stipulated that until Tennessee became a member of the Confederacy that it place the State's entire military force under the control of the Confederate States, and turned over to the Confederate States all the public property, naval stores, and munitions of war. This arrangement passed the the Senate: yeas 14, neas 6, absent and not voting 5. It passed the House: yeas 42, neas 15, absent and not voting 18. Also passed were a Declaration of Independence and an ordinance dissolving the Federal relations between Tennessee and the United States, and an ordinance adopting and ratifying the Confederate Constitution. These latter two issues were to be voted on by the people of Tennessee on June 8, 1861.
May 10, 1861 - The Battle of Camp Jackson, Missouri. Captain Nathaniel Lyons secured Federal control of St. Louis, Missouri, after putting down a riot between pro-Union and pro-slavery factions.
May 10, 1861 - The Maryland House of Delegates passed a series of resolutions reported by the Committee on Federal Relations: yeas 45, neas 12. The resolutions declared that Maryland should protest against the war, and implored U. S. President Abraham Lincoln to make peace with the Confederate States; also, that "the State of Maryland desires the peaceful and immediate recognition of the independence of the Confederate States."
May 12, 1861 - Troops under Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler restored Federal control in Baltimore, Maryland. George Scott, the first contraband slave at Fort Monroe, Virginia, became a scout in the Federal army. His information aided in the Battle of Big Bethel, the first major land conflict of the war (see June 10, 1861).
May 13, 1861 - Queen Victoria proclaimed British neutrality, thereby unofficailly recognizing the Confederacy as a belligerent.
May 13, 1861 - North Carolina elected delegates to a state convention, as ordered to do so by the state legislature on May 1.
May 13, 1861 - Both Houses of the Maryland state legislature adopted a resolution providing for a committee of eight members, four from each House, to visit the President of the United States and the President of the Southern Confederacy. The committee to visit Confederate President Jefferson Davis was instructed to convey the assurance that Maryland sympathized with the Confederate states, and that the people of Maryland were whole heartiedly on the side of reconciliation and peace.
May 16, 1861 - The Confederate Congress authorized the recruiting of 400,000 men.
May 16, 1861 - The state of Tennessee was officially admitted to the Confederacy, due in part to manipulations by Governor Isham Harris.
May 18, 1861 - The state of Arkansas was admitted to the Confederacy.
May 18-19, 1861 - The Battle of Sewell's Point, Virginia. (VA001) (Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay [May-June 1861]). Two Federal gunboats, including U.S.S. Monticello, dueled with Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point in an attempt to enforce the blockade of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The two sides did each other little harm.
May 20, 1861 - The North Carolina Convention met, ratified the Confederate Constitution, and passed an Ordinance of Secession. North Carolina seceded from the Union.
May 20, 1861 - Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin issued a neutrality proclamation.
May 20, 1861 - The Confederate Provisional Congress, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, voted to move the Capital of the Confederacy to Richmond, Virginia.
May 21, 1861 - The Price-Narney Agreement in Missouri restored equilbrium to the state.
May 22, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler was sent to command Fortress Monroe, Virginia.
May 23, 1861 - The state of Virginia voted overwhelmingly (by margin of 3 to 1) to join the Confederacy. The western part of the state, however, prepared to break away from the rest of Virginia, wanting to remain loyal to the Federal government.
May 24, 1861 - 10,000 Federal troops entered Virginia and occupied Alexandria. Major Ephriam Ellsworth was killed while removing a Confederate flag from the Marshall House hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, becoming the first (Federal) officer killed in the war.
May 24, 1861 - Federal Commander S. C. Rowan, U.S.S. Pawnee, demanded the surrender of Alexandria, Virginia. A Federal amphibious expedition departed Washington Navy Yard and occupied the town.
May 25, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler declared escaped slaves to be contraband of war.
May 26, 1861 - Federal General George B. McClellan, from the Department of the Army of the Ohio, was ordered to suppress all attempts of insurrection among Negroes.
May 26, 1861 - U.S.S. Brooklyn, under Commander Charles H. Poor, established a naval blockade of New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi River.
May 26, 1861 - U.S.S. Powhatan, commanded by Lieutenant D. D. Porter, established a blockade at Mobile, Alabama.
May 28, 1861 - U. S. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, in his exparte Merryman decision, issued his circuit court opinion challenging U. S. President Abraham Lincoln's arbitrary arrest policy toward suspected Confederate sympathizers.
May 28, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Irwin McDowell was appointed Federal commander of the Department of the Army of Northeastern Virginia.
May 28, 1861 - U.S.S. Union, under Commander John R. Goldsborough, initiated a naval blockade of Savannah, Georgia.
May 29, 1861 - Federal troops occupied Newport News, Virginia.
May 29, 1861 - U. S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron accepted Miss Dorothea Dix's offer to establish Federal Military hospitals.
May 29-June 1, 1861 - The Battle of Aquia Creek, Virginia. (VA002) (Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay [May-June 1861]). Three Federal naval vessels bombarded Confederate batteries near the mouth of Aquia Creek that were built to protect the northern terminus of the railroad to Richmond. Confederates feared a landing of troops, but this did not materialize. Results of the bombardment were inconclusive, although the batteries were later withdrawn.
May 30, 1861 - Federal Secretary of War Simon Cameron ordered Federal Major General Benjamin F. Butler, USA, stationed at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, not to surrender any fugitive slaves to disloyal owners.
May 31, 1861 - Federal Brevet Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, USA, replaced Federal Brigadier General William S. Harney, USA, for Federal control in Missouri.
June 1, 1861 - The Battle of Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia.
June 1, 1861 - Great Britain refused to receive Confederate privateer prizes.
June 3, 1861 - The Battle of Philippi, Virginia. (WV001) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). Federal Major General George B. McClellan, with Ohio volunteers, works to clear western Virginia of local Confederate forces. Federal Colonel Thomas A. Morris, temporarily in command of Federal forces in western Virginia, mounted a two-prong advance under E. Dumont and B. F. Kelley against a small Confederate occupation force at Philippi under Porterfield. Kelley marched on back roads from near Grafton on June 2 to reach the rear of the town, while Dumont moved south from Webster. Both columns arrived at Philippi before dawn on the 3rd. The resulting surprise attack routed the Confederate troops, forcing them to retreat to Huttonsville. Although a small affair, this was considered the first "major" land action in the Eastern Theater.
June 3, 1861 - Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic candidate for U. S. President in 1860, died of typhoid fever and exhaustion at age 48 in Chicago, Illinois.
June 5, 1861 - The state of North Carolina transfered the arsenal, magazines, etc. at Fayetteville to the Confederate government.
June 8, 1861 - By a state-wide vote of 2 to 1, Tennessee seceded from the Union, following the lead of the state legislature. Eastern Tennessee, however, would remain a staunchly pro-Union region.
June 8, 1861 - General Robert E. Lee, CSA, was appointed military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
June 10, 1861 - The Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. (VA003) (Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay [May-June 1861]). First land battle in Virginia. Federal Major General Benjamin F. Butler, USA, sent converging columns from Hampton, Virginia, and Newport News, Virginia, against advanced Confederate outposts at Little and Big Bethel. Confederates abandoned Little Bethel and fell back to their entrenchments behind Brick Kiln Creek, near Big Bethel Church. The Federals, under immediate command of Brigadier General Ebenezer Pierce, pursued, attacked frontally along the road, and were repulsed. Crossing downstream, the 5th New York Zouaves attempted to turn the Confederate left flank, but were repulsed. Unit commander Colonel T. Wynthrop was killed. The Federal forces were disorganized and retired, returning to Hampton and Newport News. The Confederates suffered 1 killed, 7 wounded.
June 10, 1861 - Napoleon III proclaimed French neutrality in regards to the American Civil War.
June 11, 1861 - Western Virginia counties met at Wheeling, Virginia, and refused to secede and set up a state government, recognized by the U. S. government as the "Loyal Virginia Government."
June 11, 1861 - Maryland Commissioners McKaig, Yellott, and Harding, who visited with Confederate President Jefferson Davis on behalf of the State, present their report to the Maryland state legislature. Accompanying their report was a letter from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, expressing his gratification to hear that the State of Maryland was in sympathy with themselves, was on the side of peace and reconciliation, and avowed his willingness for a cessation of hostilities, and a readiness to receive any proposition for peace from the United States government.
June 17, 1861 - The Battle of Boonville, Missouri. (MO001) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). Claiborne Jackson, the pro-Southern Governor of Missouri, wanted the state to secede and join the Confederacy. Federal Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon set out to put down Jackson's Missouri State Guard, commanded by Confederate General Sterling Price. Reaching, Jefferson City, the state capital, Lyon discovered that Jackson and Price had retreated towards Boonville. Lyon reembarked on steamboats, transported his men to below Boonville, marched to the town, and engaged the enemy. In a short fight, Lyon dispersed the Confederates, commanded on the field by Colonel John S. Marmaduke, and occupied Boonville. This early victory established Federal control of the Missouri River and helped douse attempts to place Missouri in the Confederacy.
June 17, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln watched as Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe demonstrated his hot air balloon invention as a potential military observation platform.
June 19, 1861 - pro-Unionists of Virginia met in Wheeling, Virginia, to elect Francis Henry Pierpont as the Provisional Governor of the potential new state of West Virginia.
June 20, 1861 - The Maryland House of Delegates adopted resolutions unqualifiedly protesting against the arrest of Ross Winans and other citizens of Maryland as an "oppressive and tyrannical assertion and exercise of military jurisdiction within the limits of Maryland, over the persons and property of her citizens, by the Government of the United States."
June 24, 1861 - Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris declared Tennessee out of the Union, with the vote for separation being: yeas 104,019, neas 47,238.
June 27, 1861 - The city marshal of Baltimore, Maryland, George P. Kane, was arrested for pro-Confederate activities.
June 28, 1861 - The Central Pacific Railway company was incorporated at Sacramento, California, for the purpose of building a transcontinental rail line.
June 29, 1861 - The Tennessee state legislature authorized the governor to accept free male Negroes between the ages of fifteen and fifty for military service.
July 2, 1861 - The Battle of Hoke's Run, Virginia. (WV002) (Manassas Campaign [July 1861]). On July 2, Federal Major General Robert Patterson's division crossed the Potomac River near Williamsport and marched on the main road to Martinsburg. Near Hoke's Run, Abercrombie's and Thomas's brigades encountered regiments of Confederate Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson's brigade, driving them back slowly. Jackson's orders were to delay the Federal advance only, which he did, withdrawing before Patterson's larger force. On July 3, Patterson occupied Martinsburg but made no further aggressive moves until July 15, when he marched to Bunker Hill. Instead of moving on Winchester, however, Patterson turned east to Charles Town and then withdrew to Harpers Ferry. This retrograde movement took pressure off Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and allowed Johnston's army to march to support Confederate Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard at Manassas. Patterson's inactivity contributed to the Federal defeat at First Manassas.
July 2, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus along the railroad lines from Washington, D. C., to New York City, New York.
July 4, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, in a speech to a special session of the U. S. Congress, stated the war is..."a People's contest...a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men..." The Congress authorized a call for 500,000 men.
July 5, 1861 - The Battle of Carthage, Missouri. (MO002) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). Federal Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon had chased pro-Confederate Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson and approximately 4,000 State Militia from the State Capital at Jefferson City, and Boonville, and pursued them. Federal Colonel Franz Sigel led another force of about 1,000 into southwest Missouri in search of the governor and his loyal troops. Upon learning that Sigel had encamped at Carthage, on the night of July 4, Jackson took command of the troops with him and formulated a plan to attack the much smaller Federal force. The next morning, Jackson closed up to Sigel, established a battle line on a ridge ten miles north of Carthage, and induced Sigel to attack him. Opening with artillery fire, Sigel closed to the attack. Seeing a large Confederate force--actually unarmed recruits--moving into the woods on his left, he feared that they would turn his flank. He withdrew. The Confederates pursued, but Sigel conducted a successful rearguard action. By evening, Sigel was inside Carthage and under cover of darkness, he retreated to Sarcoxie. The battle had little meaning, but the pro-Southern elements in Missouri, anxious for any good news, championed their first victory.
July 8, 1861 - Confederate Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, CSA, was ordered to conquer the Federal Territory of New Mexico.
July 9, 1861 - The U. S. House of Representatives resolved that it was not the duty of Federal soldiers to capture and return fugitive slaves.
July 11, 1861 - The Battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia. (WV003) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). Federal Major General George B. McClellan, with Ohio volunteers, works to clear western Virginia of local Confederate forces. On June 27, he moved his divisions from Clarksburg south against Lieutenant Colonel John Pegram's Confederates, reaching the vicinity of Rich Mountain on July 9. Meanwhile, Brigadier General T. A. Morris's Federal brigade marched from Philippi to confront Confederate Brigadier General R. S. Garnett's command at Laurel Hill. On July 11, Federal Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans led a reinforced brigade by a mountain path to seize the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike in Pegram's rear. A sharp two-hour fight ensued in which the Confederates were split in two. Half escaped to Beverly, but Pegram and the others surrendered on July 13. Hearing of Pegram's defeat, Garnett abandoned Laurel Hill. On July 22, McClellan was ordered to Washington, and Rosecrans assumed command of Federal forces in western Virginia. Federal victory at Rich Mountain was instrumental in propelling McClellan to command of the Army of the Potomac.
July 12, 1861 - Confederate Commissioner Albert Pike signed treaties with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in the Indian Nations.
July 13, 1861 - The Battle of Carrick's Ford, Virginia. Following the Confederate retreat from the Battle of Rich Mountain, Federals pursued, and, during fighting at Carrick's Ford on July 13, Confederate Brigadier General Robert Selden Garnett, CSA, was killed. He was the first Civil War general to die, mortally wounded while setting up a skirmish line and fighting a rear guard action.
July 16, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's army advanced upon Manassas Junction, Virginia. The U. S. Navy's Blockade Strategy Board suggests a plan to help implement the blockade of Southern ports - acquire old vessels greater than 250 tons each, fill them with heavy stones, and scuttle them at entrances to Southern harbors.
July 18, 1861 - The Battle of Blackburn's Ford, Virginia. (VA004) (Manassas Campaign [July 1861]). On July 16, the untried Federal army under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, 35,000 strong, marched out of the Washington defenses to give battle to the Confederate army, which was concentrated around the vital railroad junction at Manassas. The Confederate army, about 22,000 men, under the command of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard, guarded the fords of Bull Run Creek. On the morning of July 18, McDowell reached Centreville and pushed southwest and attempted to cross at Blackburn's Ford. He was repulsed. This action was a reconnaissance-in-force prior to the main event at 1st Manassas / Bull Run. Because of this action, Federal commander McDowell decided on the flanking maneuver he employed at First Manassas three days later.
July 19, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, with 38,000 troops, but fewer than 2,000 professional soldiers among them, move from Washington, D. C., to attack a Confederate force of 20,000, under Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, CSA, near Centerville, Virginia.
July 20, 1861 - Federal Major General Joseph E. Johnston, CSA, and his Confederate troops from the Shenandoah Valley joined Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, CSA, at Manassas Junction, Virginia.
July 21, 1861 - The Battle of 1st Manassas or First Bull Run (Manassas I), Virginia. (VA005) (Manassas Campaign [July 1861]). By the time Federal Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's 38,000 troops found Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard's army along the Bull Run Creek, near Manassas Junction, it had been reinforced with 12,000 troops of General Joseph E. Johnston, CSA, from the lower Shenandoah Valley. McDowell had 28,500 "effectives" when it attempted to turn the Confederate left, choosing a more complicated movement than his untrained troops and staff could properly execute. Early Federal progress during initial engagements was cut short by a stand made on Henry House Hill by Confederate Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson, CSA, hereafter referred to as "Stonewall" because of his stout defence and adept shifting of troops throughout the length of the combat. The Federal forces were themselves enveloped late in the afternoon. McDowell's army fled the battlefield in panic, with rear guard cover being provided by an infantry battalion under Federal Major General George Sykes, USA, and a cavalry squadron of Major Innis N. Palmer, USA. Federal losses were 2,706; Confederate losses were 1,981.
July 21, 1861 - Robert M. T. Hunter replaced Robert Toombs as Confederate Secretary of State.
July 21, 1861 - Federal Major General John C. Frémont, USA, assumed command of Federal forces in the West, at St. Louis, Missouri.
July 22, 1861 - Federal Major General George Brinton McClellan, USA, was immediately called to Washington, D. C., and asked to replace Federal Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, USA, in command of the main Federal force.
July 22, 1861 - The Missouri convention reassembled.
July 23, 1861 - The Missouri Convention passed a resolution (yeas 65, neas 21) declaring the office of president, formerly held by Confederate Brigadier General Sterling Price, CSA, during the last session of the convention, to now be vacant. A committee of seven were appointed to report what action they deem it advisable to take in the dislocated condition of the State.
July 25, 1861 - The U. S. Congress passed the Crittenden Resolution, declaring the object of the war to be the preservation of the Union rather than the end of slavery.
July 25, 1861 - The Committee appointed by the Missouri Convention on July 23rd presented its report to the Missouri Convention. It alluded at length to the present unparalled condition of things, the reckless course of the recent Missouri Government, and the flight of the governor and other state officers from the Missouri capital. The Committee declared the Missouri offices of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary of State vacant, and provides that their vacancies shall be filled by the Missouri Convention, the officers so appointed to hold their positions until August, 1862, at which time it provided for a special election by the people of Missouri.
July 26, 1861 - The Battle of Fort Fillmore, New Mexico. The U. S. fort was surrendered to Confederate troops.
July 27, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Federal Major General George B. McClellan, USA, as commander of the Department of the Potomac, replacing Federal Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, USA.
July 30, 1861 - The Missouri state convention voted 56-25 to elect a new, pro-Union, governor.
July 31, 1861 - The pro-Union Missouri State Convention elected Hamilton R. Gamble as the new governor of Missouri, replacing Claiborne Jackson who aligned himself with the Confederacy.
August 1, 1861 - Colonel John R. Baylor declares all of New Mexico Territory south of the 34th parallel the Confederate Territory of Arizona.
August 2, 1861 - The U. S. Congress passed the first United States income tax law.
August 3, 1861 - John LaMountain made his first ascent in a balloon from the Federal ship Fanny at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to observe Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point, Virginia.
August 5, 1861 - The Tax Law of 1861 passed the U. S. Congress that was also levied on the seceded South.
August 6, 1861 - The U. S. Congress passed the Confiscation Act, providing for the seizure of property, including slaves, used against the Union for insurrection purposes.
August 6, 1861 - The U. S. Congress approved all of the executive measures U. S. President Abraham Lincoln had issued since the initial firing on Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
August 10, 1861 - The Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri. (MO004) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon's Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops under the commands of Brigadier General Ben McCulloch approaching. On August 9, both sides formulated plans to attack the other. About 5:00 am on the 10th, Lyon, in two columns commanded by himself and Colonel Franz Sigel, attacked the Confederates on Wilson's Creek about 12 miles southwest of Springfield. Rebel cavalry received the first blow and fell back away from Bloody Hill. Confederate forces soon rushed up and stabilized their positions. The Confederates attacked the Union forces three times that day but failed to break through the Union line. Lyon was killed during the battle and Major Samuel D. Sturgis replaced him. Meanwhile, the Confederates had routed Sigel's column, south of Skegg's Branch. Following the third Confederate attack, which ended at 11:00 am, the Confederates withdrew. Sturgis, however, realized that his men were exhausted and his ammunition was low so he ordered a retreat to Springfield. The Confederates were too disorganized and ill-equipped to pursue. Wilson's Creek was a Confederate victory. This victory buoyed southern sympathizers in Missouri and served as a springboard for a bold thrust north that carried Price and his Missouri State Guard as far as Lexington. In late October, a rump convention, convened by Governor Claiborne Jackson, met in Neosho and passed an ordinance of secession. Wilson's Creek, the most significant 1861 battle in Missouri, gave the Confederates control of southwestern Missouri.
August 14, 1861 - Federal Major General John C. Frémont, USA, placed St. Louis, Missouri, under martial law.
August 19, 1861 - The Confederate Congress agreed to a military alliance with Rebel Missouri.
August 20, 1861 - A pro-Union convention met in Wheeling, Virginia, to establish a new state to be called Kanawha.
August 26, 1861 - The Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes, Virginia. (WV004) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). On August 26, Brigadier General John Floyd, commanding Confederate forces in the Kanawha Valley, crossed the Gauley River to attack Colonel Erastus Tyler's 7th Ohio Regiment encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. The Union forces were surprised and routed. Floyd then withdrew to the river and took up a defensive position at Carnifex Ferry. During the month, General Robert E. Lee arrived in western Virginia and attempted to coordinate the forces of Brigadier Gens. Floyd, Henry Wise, and William W. Loring.
August 28, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, USA, was given command of Federal troops in southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois.
August 28-29, 1861 - The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, North Carolina. (NC001) (Blockade of the Carolina Coast [August 1861]). On August 26, an amphibious expedition led by Major General Benjamin Butler and Flag Officer Silas Stringham, embarked from Fort Monroe to capture Hatteras Inlet, an important haven for blockade-runners. On the 28th, while the navy bombarded Forts Clark and Hatteras, Union troops came ashore and attacked the rear of the Confederate batteries. On August 29, Colonel William F. Martin surrendered the Confederate garrison of 670. The Federals lost only one man. Butler returned to Fort Monroe, leaving the captured forts garrisoned. This movement was part of Union efforts to seize coastal enclaves from which to enforce the blockade.
August 29, 1861 - Federal forces under Flag Officer S. H. Stringham, USN, and Federal Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler, USA, received the unconditional surrender of Confederate-held Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark, closing Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.
August 30, 1861 - Federal Major General John C. Frémont, USA, proclaimed martial law in Missouri and ordered the confiscation of property and slaves of Missouri residents aiding the Confederacy. His military proclaimation was unauthorized, and would eventually get him in trouble.
September 2, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln requested Federal Major General John C. Frémont, USA, modify his emancipation order within Missouri.
September 2, 1861 - The Battle of Dry Wood Creek, Missouri. (MO005) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). Colonel J. H. Lane's cavalry, comprising about 600 men, set out from Fort Scott to learn the whereabouts of a rumored Confederate force. They encountered a Confederate force, about 6,000-strong, near Big Dry Wood Creek. The Union cavalry surprised the Confederates, but their numerical superiority soon determined the encounter's outcome. They forced the Union cavalry to retire and captured their mules, and the Confederates continued on towards Lexington. The Confederates were forcing the Federals to abandon southwestern Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley.
September 4, 1861 - Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk, CSA, seized Columbus, Kentucky, ending the state's neutrality.
September 6, 1861 - Troops under Federal Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, USA, took Paducah, Kentucky.
September 10, 1861 - The Battle of Carnifex Ferry, Virginia. (WV006) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). Learning of Colonel Erastus Tyler's rout at Kessler's Cross Lanes, Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans moved three brigades south from Clarksburg to support him. On the afternoon of September 10, he advanced against Brigadier General John Floyd's camps at Carnifex Ferry. Darkness halted several hours' fighting. The strength of the Union artillery convinced Floyd to retreat during the night. Floyd blamed his defeat on his co-commander Brigadier General Henry Wise, contributing to further dissension in the Confederate ranks.
September 10, 1861 - Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, CSA, was given command of the Confederate armies in the West.
September 11, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln revoked Federal Major General John C. Frémont's unauthorized military proclamation of emancipation in Missouri. Later, the president relieved Federal Major General Frémont, USA, of his command and replaced him with Federal Brigadier General David Hunter, USA.
September 11, 1861 - The Kentucky House of Representatives, by a vote of 71 to 26, adopted a resolution directing Governor Beriah Magoffin to issue a proclamation ordering Confederate troops to evacuate Kentucky soil. The governor vetoed the resolution, which was afterwards passed over his veto, and accordingly the governor issued the required proclamation.
September 12, 1861 - The Battle of Cheat Mountain, Virginia. (WV005) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). General Robert E. Lee directed his first offensive of the war against Brigadier General Joseph Reynolds's entrenchments on the summit of Cheat Mountain and in the Tygerd Valley. The Confederate attacks were uncoordinated, however, and the Federal defense was so stubborn that Colonel Albert Rust (leading the attacks) was convinced that he confronted an overwhelming force. He actually faced only about 300 determined Federals. Lee called off the attack and, after maneuvering in the vicinity, withdrew to Valley Head on September 17. In October, Lee renewed operations against Laurel Mountain with the troops of Floyd and Loring, but the operation was called off because of poor communication and lack of supplies. Lee was recalled to Richmond on October 30 after achieving little in western Virginia.
September 12, 1861 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln ordered the arrest of certain disloyal members of the Maryland state legislature, to prevent the state's secession.
September 13-20, 1861 - The Battle of Lexington I, Missouri. (MO006) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). Following the victory at Wilson's Creek, the Confederate Missouri State Guard, having consolidated forces in the northern and central part of the state, marched, under the command of Major General Sterling Price, on Lexington. Colonel James A. Mulligan commanded the entrenched Union garrison of about 3,500 men. Price's men first encountered Union skirmishers on September 13 south of town and pushed them back into the fortifications. Price, having bottled the Union troops up in Lexington, decided to await his ammunition wagons, other supplies, and reinforcements before assaulting the fortifications. By the 18th, Price was ready and ordered an assauLieutenant The Missouri State Guard moved forward amidst heavy Union artillery fire and pushed the enemy back into their inner works. On the 19th, the Rebels consolidated their positions, kept the Yankees under heavy artillery fire and prepared for the final attack. Early on the morning of the 20th, Price's men advanced behind mobile breastworks, made of hemp, close enough to take the Union works at the Anderson House in a final rush. Mulligan requested surrender terms after noon and by 2:00 pm, his men had vacated their works and stacked their arms. This Unionist stronghold had fallen, further bolstering southern sentiment and consolidating Confederate control in the Missouri Valley west of Arrow Rock.
September 16, 1861 - The Battle of Barbourville, Kentucky. (KY001) (Operations in Eastern Kentucky [September-December 1861]). Kentucky Union sympathizers had trained recruits at Camp Andrew Johnson, in Barbourville, throughout the summer of 1861. Confederate Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer entered Kentucky in mid-September intending to relieve pressure on General Albert Sidney Johnston and his troops by conducting raids and generally constituting a threat to Union forces and sympathizers in the area. On September 18, 1861, he dispatched a force of about 800 men under command of Colonel Joel A. Battle to disrupt the training activities at Camp Andrew Johnson. At daylight on the 19th, the force entered Barbourville and found the recruits gone; they had been sent to Camp Dick Robinson. A small home guard force commanded by Capt. Isaac J. Black met the Rebels, and a sharp skirmish ensued. After dispersing the home guard, the Confederates destroyed the training camp and seized arms found there. This was, for all practical purposes, the first encounter of the war in Kentucky. The Confederates were making their might known in the state, countering the early Union presence.
September 17, 1861 - The Battle of Liberty, Missouri. (MO003) (Operations to Control Missouri [June-October 1861]). "General" D. R. Atchison left Lexington on September 15, 1861, and proceeded to Liberty where he met the Missouri State Guard. On the night of September 16-17, his force crossed the Missouri River to the south side and prepared for a fight with Union troops reported to be in the area. At the same time, Union Lieutenant Colonel John Scott led a force of about 600 men from Cameron, on the 15th, towards Liberty. He left his camp in Centreville, at 2:00 am on the 17th. He arrived in Liberty, sent scouts out to find the enemy, and, about 11:00 am, skirmishing began. At noon, Scott marched in the direction of the firing, approached Blue Mills Landing and, at 3:00 am, struck the Confederate pickets. The Union force began to fall back, though, and the Rebels pursued for some distance. The fight lasted for an hour. The Confederates were consolidating influence in northwestern Missouri.
September 17, 1861 - Judah P. Benjamin succeeds Leroy P. Walker as the Confederate Secretary of War, and Thomas Bragg replaced Judah P. Benjamin as Confederate Attorney General.
September 18, 1861 - The state of Kentucky declared support for the Union.
September 20, 1861 - Confederate forces under Major General Sterling Price, CSA, captured the Federal garrison at Lexington, Missouri.
October 1, 1861 - Confederate naval forces, including C.S.S. Curlew, Raleigh, and Junaluska, under Flag Officer W. F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny (later C.S.S. Fanny) in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, with Federal troops on board.
October 3, 1861 - The Battle of Greenbrier River, Virginia. (WV007) (Operations in Western Virginia [June-December 1861]). During the night of October 2-3, Brigadier General Joseph Reynolds with two brigades advanced from Cheat Mountain to reconnoiter the Confederate position at Camp Bartow on the Greenbrier River. Reynolds drove in the Confederate pickets and opened fire with his artillery. After sporadic fighting and an abortive attempt to turn his enemy's right flank, Reynolds withdrew to Cheat Mountain.
October 3, 1861 - Governor Thomas O. Moore, of Louisiana, banned the shipment of cotton from his state to Europe in order to place pressure on the European nations to officially recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation.
October 8, 1861 - Federal Brigadier General William T. Sherman, USA, assumed command of the Federal army in central and eastern Kentucky, replacing Federal Brigadier General Robert Anderson, USA.
October 9, 1861 - The Battle of Santa Rosa Island, Florida. (FL001) (Operations of the Gulf Blockading Squadron [October 1861]). After midnight on October 9, Brigadier General Richard Anderson crossed from the mainland to Santa Rosa Island with 1,200 men in two small steamers to surprise Union camps and capture Fort Pickens. He landed on the north beach about four miles east of Fort Pickens and divided his command into three columns. After proceeding about three miles, the Confederates surprised the 6th Regiment, New York Volunteers, in its camp and routed the regiment. General Anderson then adopted a defensive stance to entice the Federals to leave the fort and attack. Receiving reinforcements, Colonel Harvey Brown sallied against the Confederates, who reembarked and returned to the mainland.
October 12, 1861 - The Battle near Head of Passes, Mississippi River. The naval battle between the Confederate ironclad Manassas, with armed steamer Ivy and James L. Day, and the Federal warships Richmond, Vincennes, Water Witch, Nightingale, and Preble.
October 14, 1861 - Simon Cameron, U. S. Secretary of War, authorized Federal Brigadier General William T. Sherman, USA, commanding at Port Royal, South Carolina, to organize and arm, if necessary, squads of fugitive, captured slaves.
October 21, 1861 - The Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia. (VA006) (McClellan's Operations in Northern Virginia [October-December 1861]). A much larger Confederate force under Colonel Nathan G. Evans, CSA, crushes a Federal reconnaissance across the Potomac River near Leesburg, Virginia. U. S. Senator turned soldier, Colonel Edward D. Baker, USA, directed uncoordinated piecemeal attacks that resulted in 237 Federal troops killed and wounded, with 714 captured or missing; Confederate losses were 149. From a military standpoint the battle of Ball's Bluff was of minor significance, but political repercussions in Washington, D. C. were immediate and long lasting. A Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, headed by abolitionist U. S. Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Massachusetts, was formed to investigate the Army's failure; Brigadier General Charles P. Stone, USA, who lead the reconnaissance, was imprisoned for eight months without a charge or a trial. From this initial oversight, the Committee will oversee Federal military operations throughout the Civil War.
October 21, 1861 - The Battle of Camp Wildcat, Kentucky. (KY002) (Operations in Eastern Kentucky [September-December 1861]). Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer's men occupied Cumberland Gap and took position at Cumberland Ford to counter the Unionist activity in the area. Brigadier General George H. Thomas sent a detachment under Colonel T. T. Garrard to secure the ford on the Rockcastle River, establish a camp at Wildcat Mountain, and obstruct the Wilderness road passing through the area. Colonel Garrard informed Thomas that if he did not receive reinforcements, he would have to retreat because he was outnumbered seven to one. Thomas sent Brigadier General A. Schoepf with what amounted to a brigade of men to Colonel Garrard, bringing the total force to about 7,000. On the morning of October 21, soon after Schoepf arrived, some of his men moved forward and ran into Rebel forces, commencing a fight. The Federals repelled the Confederate attacks, in part due to fortifications, both man-made and natural. The Confederates withdrew during the night and continued their retreat to Cumberland Ford, which they reached on the 26th. A Union victory was welcomed, countering the Confederate victory at Barbourville.
October 21, 1861 - The Battle of Fredericktown, Missouri. (MO007) (