![\"Star](\"http:\/\/www.nellaware.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Star_of_the_West_Approaching_Fort_Sumter.jpg\")
<\/a>Star of the West<\/p><\/div>\n
5<\/b> – The Star of the West is loaded with 200 troops and provisions as it leaves New York. The ship is sailing to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina to provide relief for the troops on duty there.<\/p>\n
8<\/b> – Jacob Thompson resigns his position as the Mississippi Secretary of the Interior.<\/p>\n
9<\/b> – The Star of the West has made its way to the South Carolina coast, but rebel fire prevents the ship from entering Charleston Harbor, it returns to New York.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first gun of the new struggle for independence [if struggle there is to be] has been fired, and Federal power has received its first repulse.\u201d
\n\u2026 An excerpt from an editorial by the Charleston Mercury<\/i> on January 10, 1861.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
9<\/b> – Mississippi secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
10<\/b> – Florida secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
11<\/b> – Alabama secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
19<\/b> – Georgia secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day that Georgia was declared out of the Union was a day of the wildest excitement in Rome [Rome, Georgia]. There was no order or prearrangement about it all, but the people met each other and shook hands and exchanged congratulations over it and manifested the utmost enthusiasm. Of course, a great many of the older and wiser heads looked on with a great deal of foreboding at these rejoicings and evidence of delight, but the general feeling was one of excitement and joy.\u201d
\n\u2026 Georgian Mary A. Ward speaking before Congress after the war.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
19<\/b> – In an attempt to stave off secession, the state of Virginia proposes a national peace conference.<\/p>\n
21<\/b> – The United States Senate loses five more members from the South (others had resigned in December, 1860) as they resign. Notable among these resigning senators is Jefferson Davis of Mississippi.<\/p>\n
26<\/b> – Louisiana secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
29<\/b> – After losing five states to secession, the new state of Kansas is admitted as the thirty-fourth state of the Union. The Kansas state constitution prohibits slavery.<\/p>\nFebruary<\/h2>\n
\u201cUpon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them, I saw troubles and thorns innumerable. We are without machinery, without means, and threatened by a powerful opposition; but I do not despond and will not shrink from the task imposed on me.\u201d
\n\u2026 Jefferson Davis, the provisional president of the Confederate States of America, writes to his wife, Varina, in February, 1861.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1<\/b> – Texas secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am for the Union without any ‘if.’\u201d
\n\u2026 Unlike others in his state, Texas Governor Sam Houston was not in favor of secession.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
4<\/b> – Virginia\u2019s national Peace Convention opens in Washington, D.C. with former President John Tyler presiding. There are 131 delegates from 21 states in attendance, but there are no delegates present from the seceded states. The convention is boycotted by states of the Deep South.<\/p>\n
4<\/b> – The six seceded states begin to organize as they meet at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama to create their new government. The seceded states at this time are: South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana.<\/p>\n
8<\/b> \u2013 At the Montgomery convention, the seceded states adopt a Constitution for their provisional government.<\/p>\n
9<\/b> – The provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery elects Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as the provisional Confederate President, and Alexander Stephens of Georgia as the Confederate provisional Vice-President.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Davis is a man of slight sinewy figure, rather over the middle height, and of erect, soldierlike bearing. He is about fifty-five years of age; his features are regular and well-defined, but the face is thin and marked on cheek and brow with many wrinkles, and is rather careworn and haggard. One eye is apparently blind, the other is dark, piercing, intelligent.\u201d
\n\u2026 A description of Jefferson Davis by William Russell of the London Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot transform the negro into anything one-tenth as useful or as good as what slavery enables them to be.\u201d
\n\u2026 Words of Jefferson Davis, the provisional president of the Confederate States of America. February, 1861.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
9<\/b> \u2013 A secession convention up for vote in Tennessee is rejected by nearly ten thousand votes.<\/p>\n
10<\/b> – In Springfield, Illinois, a tall man named Abraham Lincoln leaves on his journey to Washington, D.C., and his place in history.<\/p>\n
13<\/b> – The Electoral College confirms Abraham Lincoln\u2019s election as President of the United States.<\/p>\n
15<\/b> – Now that it has provisional President Jefferson Davis and provisional Vice-President Alexander Stephens, the Montgomery, Alabama Confederate convention acts as a provisional Congress and passes a resolution to take Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina and Fort Pickens in Pensacola Beach, Florida. The resolution says that if necessary, force can be used to take these forts.<\/p>\n
18<\/b> – Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederacy.<\/p>\n Jefferson Davis<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThe man and the hour have met. Prosperity, honor and victory await his administration.\u201d <\/p>\n 23<\/b> – Abraham Lincoln completes his journey from Springfield, Illinois when he arrives in Washington, D.C., he has many challenges awaiting him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe attempt to break up this Union is the most atrocious piece of political wickedness the world ever saw, and it is very, very bitter to have to accept the fact that the attempt has succeeded…. Surely no man ever assumed the reins of government beset by such complicated and oppressive difficulties as have surrounded you.\u201d <\/p>\n 1<\/b> – A setback for Virginia\u2019s national Peace Convention as its proposals are refused for consideration by the United States Congress. There is no compromise reached by the convention.<\/p>\n 2<\/b> – The Morrill Tariff Act is passed by the United States Congress. This was a very protective tariff and the South had long opposed it.<\/p>\n 4<\/b> – Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of The United States.<\/p>\n President Abraham Lincoln<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cIt is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.\u201d <\/p>\n 4<\/b> – Major Robert Anderson reports that food is running short at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and this may cause an evacuation of the fort.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe little garrison in its present position presses on nothing but a point of pride, we are probably soon to be involved in the fiercest of human strife, a civil war.\u201d <\/p>\n 5<\/b> – President Abraham Lincoln completes his cabinet. It consists of:<\/p>\n Secretary of State – William H. Seward 6<\/b> – The new Confederacy completes its cabinet:<\/p>\n Secretary of State – Robert Toombs 6<\/b> – The Confederacy calls for 100,000 volunteers to serve for 12 months.<\/p>\n 11<\/b> – The Confederacy\u2019s Constitution is adopted and made permanent. The Confederate Constitution is closely modeled after the United States Constitution, but it differs by prohibiting the passing of any law impairing slavery.<\/p>\n 15<\/b> – Montgomery Blair, President Lincoln\u2019s Postmaster General, is the only member of the cabinet who advises Lincoln to reinforce Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter.<\/p>\n 29<\/b> – President Lincoln\u2019s cabinet now takes a stronger stance about the holding of Federal forts located in the South. Lincoln will not abandon Fort Sumter, he orders that preparations be made to send a relief expedition to Fort Sumter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe gauge is thrown down and we accept the challenge. We will meet the invader, and God and Battle must decide the issue between the hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny, and the people of South Carolina defending their freedom and their homes.\u201d 4<\/b> – Abraham Lincoln orders a relief expedition be sent to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.<\/p>\n 8<\/b> – The relief expedition ordered by Abraham Lincoln departs from New York.<\/p>\n Fort Sumter<\/p><\/div>\n 12<\/b> – The Civil War begins on Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m. as Confederate batteries bombard Fort Sumter. The Union garrison at Fort Sumter under command of Major Robert Anderson, returns fire.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGentleman, I will await the first shot and if you do not batter the fort to pieces about us, we shall be starved out in a few days.\u201d <\/p>\n Mary Chesnut<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThere was a sound of stir all over the house, pattering of feet in the corridors. All seemed hurrying one way, I put on my double gown and a shawl and went too. It was to the housetop. The shells were bursting…. The regular roar of the cannon\u2014there it was…. The women were wild there on the housetop,. Prayers came from the women and imprecations from the men. And then a shell would light up the scene…. We watched up there, and everybody wondered that Fort Sumter did not fire a shot.\u201d <\/p>\n Fort Sumter Flag<\/p><\/div>\n 13<\/b> – After 34 straight hours of fire from the Confederate batteries, Major Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOur Southern brethren… have attacked their father’s house and their loyal brothers. They must be punished and brought back, but this necessity breaks my heart.\u201d <\/p>\n 15<\/b> – President Abraham Lincoln proclaims a \u201cstate of insurrection\u201d and calls for 75,000 volunteers who are to serve for ninety days. By now, the Confederacy has now raised 60,000 volunteers after its call for 100,000 volunteers on March 6.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFather and I were husking out some corn. We could not finish before it wintered up. When William Cory came across the field he was excited and said, ‘Jonathan, they have fired upon and taken Fort Sumter.’ Father got white and wouldn’t say a word. <\/p>\n 17<\/b> \u2013 In the wake of President Lincoln’s call for volunteers, a Virginia convention votes for an ordinance of secession. The most important Upper South state has seceded from the Union.<\/p>\n 18<\/b> – Virginian Robert E. Lee is offered command of the Federal armies.<\/p>\n 18<\/b> – The Harpers Ferry arsenal is abandoned by its Union garrison.<\/p>\n 19<\/b> – The 6th Massachusetts Regiment is answering President Lincoln’s call for volunteers when it clashes with a mob while traveling through Baltimore to Washington. Twelve citizens and four soldiers are killed. Confederate sympathizers tear down railroad bridges and telegraph lines connecting to Washington. Maryland is a slave state with support for the South, but it will remain in the Union as one of four Border States.<\/p>\n 19<\/b> \u2013 President Lincoln proclaims that Southern ports from South Carolina to Texas are to be blockaded. Throughout the Civil War, this naval blockade will weaken the South’s economy, but blockade runners and privateers will have some success bringing needed provisions to Southern ports.<\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States Army. Lee has decided that his loyalty belongs to his home state of Virginia.<\/p>\n Robert E. Lee<\/p><\/div>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 The seceded state of Virginia takes over the United States armory at Harpers Ferry, and the Gosport Naval Yard in Norfolk. The Gosport Naval Yard is the largest facility located in the South for shipbuilding and repair.<\/p>\n Scars of a whipped Mississippi slave.<\/p><\/div>\n 21<\/b> \u2013 International trade in slaves has been illegal in the United States since 1808, but on this date the U.S.S. Saratoga<\/i> takes the Nightingdale<\/i> which is carrying a cargo of 961 slaves. The Deep South has been illegally importing slaves for a long time and its domestic slave trade will continue even after the start of the Civil War.<\/p>\n 27<\/b> – Included now in President Lincoln’s blockade are ports in North Carolina and Virginia.<\/p>\n 29<\/b> \u2013 The Women’s Central Association for Relief is formed at the Cooper Institute in New York City. Its purpose is the coordination of the many small relief groups now created, and being created. The United States Sanitary Commission will spring from the Women’s Central Association for Relief.<\/p>\n 3<\/b> – Abraham Lincoln calls for 42,000 three-year army volunteers and 18,000 sailors. The regular army also expands in manpower by 22,714.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMy first uniform was a bad fit; My trousers were too long by three or four inches; the flannel shirt was coarse and unpleasant, too large at the neck and too short elsewhere. The forage cap was an ungainly bag with pasteboard top and leather visor; the blouse was the only part which seemed decent; while the overcoat made me feel like a little nubbin of corn, in a large preponderance of husk. Nothing except \u201cVirginia Mud\u201d ever took my ideas of military pomp so low.\u201d <\/p>\n Anaconda Plan<\/p><\/div>\n 3<\/b> \u2013 United States General-In-Chief Winfield Scott proposes his \u201cAnaconda Plan,\u201d it will become an effective and essential part of the Union’s strategy to defeat the South.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe rely greatly on the sure operation of a complete blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf ports soon to commence. In connection with such a blockade, we propose a powerful movement down the Mississippi to the ocean, with a cordon of posts at proper points… the object being to clear out and keep open this great line of communication in connection with the strict blockade of the seaboard, so as to envelope the insurgent states and bring them to terms with less bloodshed than by any other plan.\u201d <\/p>\n 6<\/b> – Arkansas secedes from the Union.<\/p>\n 8<\/b> – Confederate President Jefferson Davis signs a bill that allows for the signing-up of 400,000 more volunteers for either three-years or for the duration of the war. A strong response of new volunteers follows.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMany a strong man quivered with emotion and tears fell from eyes unused to weep! We watched the cavalrymen as they mounted, whirled into line, waved their hats and galloped out of the night, leaving aching hearts to mourn their departure. They belonged to the Army of Northern Virginia and were bound for West Virginia.\u201d <\/p>\n 10<\/b> – There are riots in St. Louis, Missouri. Captain Nathaniel Lyon and his troops march captured pro-Southern militia through the streets of St. Louis, enraging civilians sympathetic to the South. The result is twenty-eight civilians and two soldiers killed. After this, Missourians who were undecided, now choose to support secession.<\/p>\n 12<\/b> \u2013 Baltimore, Maryland is returned to complete Federal control by Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler and his troops.<\/p>\n 13<\/b> \u2013 Queen Victoria proclaims British neutrality. Both the North and the South are recognized as belligerents by Great Britain. This means that Britain recognizes the South as having a separate status, something the United States did not desire.<\/p>\n 17<\/b> \u2013 A Virginia secession convention vote adopts its Ordinance of Secession.<\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 North Carolina secedes from the Union. Of all the Confederate states, the Tar Heel state will suffer the greatest death toll during the Civil War.<\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality. Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri will be the four Southern states known as the \u201cBorder States\u201d which do not secede from the Union.<\/p>\n 21<\/b> \u2013 The Confederate Congress votes to move the capital of the Confederate States of America from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n 23<\/b> \u2013 By popular vote, Virginia ratifies its Ordinance of Secession.<\/p>\n Am I Not A Man And A Brother?<\/p><\/div>\n 24<\/b> \u2013 Union Major General Benjamin Butler does not send three runaway slaves back to their owner, a Confederate colonel, and he declares the runaways to be \u201ccontraband of war.\u201d Now the Union lines mean freedom, and hundreds of thousands of slaves will cross to Union lines during the Civil War.<\/p>\n 24<\/b> \u2013 Alexandria, Virginia is occupied by 10,000 Federal troops. Elmer Ellsworth is a member of a Zouave Drill Team and he is a friend and former law clerk of President Abraham Lincoln’s. The young soldier is killed as he is removing a Confederate flag from a hotel roof.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe war, strange to say, has had a beneficial effect upon my spirits, which were flagging woefully before it broke out. But it was delightful to share in the heroic sentiment of the time, and to feel that I had a country\u2014a consciousness that seemed to make me young again. One thing, as regards to this matter, I regret, and one I am glad of. The regrettable thing is that I am too old to shoulder a musket myself, and the joyful thing is that Julian is too young.\u201d <\/p>\n 28<\/b> \u2013 Union Brigadier General Irvin McDowell becomes the commander of the Department of Northeastern Virginia.<\/p>\n 29<\/b> \u2013 Newport News, Virginia is occupied by Federal troops.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon us is devolved the high and holy responsibility of preserving the constitutional liberty of a free government.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe were both missionaries and musketeers. When we captured a man we talked him nearly to death; in other respects we treated him humanely. The Civil War was a battle of ideas interrupted by artillery.\u201d <\/p>\n 3<\/b> \u2013 The creator of the Kansas\u2013Nebraska Act, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, dies in Chicago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTell them to obey the laws and support the Constitution of the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n 3<\/b> \u2013 At Philippi in western Virginia, Confederates are defeated by troops led by Major General George B. McClellan.<\/p>\n Free and Salve States<\/p><\/div>\n 8<\/b> – Tennessee becomes the last state to secede from the Union. Eleven states have seceded to form the Confederate States of America. A summary of these states and the dates of their secession: 10<\/b> \u2013 The Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia results in the withdrawal of Federal troops.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cColonel Magruder has done something splendid on the peninsula. Bethel is the name of the battle. Three hundred of the enemy killed, they say.\u201d <\/p>\n 10<\/b> – France becomes neutral in America’s Civil War by a proclamation from Napoleon III.<\/p>\n 10<\/b> – Dorothea Lynde Dix is appointed Superintendent of Women Nurses for the United States Army. She will work for the next four years organizing hospitals, ensuring care for the wounded, and creating a professional nursing corps for the army. She earns the nickname of \u201cDragon Dix\u201d because of her personality, and for her managerial and administrative skills.<\/p>\n West Virginia<\/p><\/div>\n 11<\/b> \u2013 Counties in western Virginia do not want to secede from the Union and be part of the Confederacy. Delegates of this pro-Union part of Virginia meet at Wheeling to create their own state government. These counties are recognized by the Federal government as the: “loyal Virginia government,” eventually they will become the Union state of West Virginia.<\/p>\n 13<\/b> \u2013 President Abraham Lincoln signs an order to create the United States Sanitary Commission. It is a civilian organization with the goal of providing assistance to the army for the care of sick and wounded soldiers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDear Soldier, If these socks had language they would tell you that many a kind wish for you has been knit into them, and many a tear of pity for you has bedewed them. We all think of you, and want to do everything we can for you; for we feel that we owe you unlimited love and gratitude, and that you deserve the very best at our hands.\u201d <\/p>\n Mary Chesnut<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cIn Mrs. Davis’s drawing room last night, the President took a seat by me on the sofa where I sat. He talked for nearly an hour. He laughed at our faith in our own powers. We are like the British. We think every Southerner equal to three Yankees at least. We will have to be equivalent to a dozen now. After his experience of the fighting qualities of Southerners in Mexico, he believes that we will do all that can be done by pluck and muscle, endurance, and dogged courage, dash, and red-hot patriotism. And, yet his tone was not sanguine. There was a sad refrain running through it all. For one thing, either way, he thinks it will be a long war. That floored me at once. It has been too long already. Then he said, before the end came we would have many a bitter experience. He said only fools doubted the courage of the Yankees, or their willingness to fight when they saw fit. And now that we have stung their pride, we have roused them till they will fight like devils.\u201d <\/p>\n 30<\/b> \u2013 Below New Orleans, Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes sails the C.S.S. Sumter into the Gulf of Mexico after avoiding the U.S.S. Brooklyn, a blockader. Semmes will use the C.S.S. Sumter as a formidable commerce raider.<\/p>\n 2<\/b> \u2013 President Abraham Lincoln authorizes the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in a limited area from Washington, D.C. to New York.<\/p>\n 4<\/b> \u2013 The United States Congress convenes a special session.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n President Abraham Lincoln<\/p><\/div>\n \u201c[The firing upon Fort Sumter] presents to the whole family of man, the question, whether a constitutional republic, or a democracy\u2014a government of the people, by the same people\u2014can, or cannot, maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.\u201d <\/p>\n George B. McClellan<\/p><\/div>\n 11<\/b> \u2013 In western Virginia, George B. McClellan gains a Union victory at the Battle of Rich Mountain.<\/p>\n 13<\/b> \u2013 Rebel troops led by General Robert S. Garnett are beaten by Yankee troops at Corrick’s Ford in western Virginia. During this battle, Garnett becomes the first general to be killed in the Civil War.<\/p>\n 16<\/b> \u2013 Union Brigadier General Irvin McDowell and his army, the Department of Northeastern Virginia, begin advancing on Manassas Junction, Virginia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cForward to Richmond! Forward to Richmond! – The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet there on the 20th of July! BY THAT DATE THE PLACE MUST BE HELD BY THE NATIONAL ARMY!\u201d <\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 The rebels gather at Manassas Junction as troops from the Shenandoah Valley of Major General Joseph E. Johnston join with troops of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard.<\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 The Congress of the Confederate States of America convenes at Richmond.<\/p>\n First Battle of Bull Run by Kurz & Allison<\/p><\/div>\n 21<\/b> – The First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) ends with Irvin McDowell and his Union troops defeated at Manassas Junction. Washington residents traveled out to sight-see this battle, they came by carriage and expected this to be the only fight of the Civil War. It turned out to be a Confederate rout and the sight-seers and fleeing troops all hurried their way back to Washington in what is called: \u201cThe Great Skedaddle.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe stirring mass looked like a bristling monster lifting himself by a slow, wavy motion up the laborious ascent.\u201d <\/p>\n Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson<\/p><\/div>\n 21<\/b> \u2013 At the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), the unnerving \u201cRebel Yell\u201d is heard for the first time, and Thomas Jonathan Jackson is given the nickname of \u201cStonewall\u201d by Barnard Bee.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis was war; compact, well-made and reasoning war. It was war, too, in all its panoply and glory, as well as in its strength.\u201d <\/p>\n 21<\/b> \u2013 At St. Louis, the Union forces in the West come under the command of Major General John C. Fremont.<\/p>\n 21<\/b> \u2013 The Confederate Cabinet has a shake-up when Robert Toombs is replaced by R. M. T. Hunter as Secretary of State.<\/p>\n 22<\/b> \u2013 Major General George B. McClellan is called to Washington. McClellan will become commander of what will be the Army of the Potomac.<\/p>\n 25<\/b> \u2013 The Crittenden Resolution is passed in the United States Congress, it makes the preservation of the Union as the object of the war, not the abolishment of slavery.<\/p>\n 25<\/b> \u2013 General John C. Fremont takes command of Union troops in Missouri. Previously, Fremont was an explorer and a presidential candidate. Fremont’s actions in the West will cause controversy.<\/p>\n George B. McClellan<\/p><\/div>\n 27<\/b> – Brigadier General Irvin McDowell is replaced by thirty-four-year-old Major General George B. McClellan as the commander of the Army of the Potomac in Washington.<\/p>\n Ulysses S. Grant<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe found the 21st Illinois Regiment Volunteer Infantry here, commanded by Col. Ulysses S. Grant, afterward the great hero of the War. There was a sharp strife between Colonels Turner and Grant as to which outranked. Turner claimed superiority on account of the date of commission. Grant claimed it on account of having belonged to the Regular Army, and with his usual pertinacity and Pope’s order, gained his point and assumed command of the camp.\u201d <\/p>\n 3<\/b>– Congress passes legislation so that three ironclad ship prototypes will be created by the United States Department of the Navy.<\/p>\n 5<\/b> \u2013 The war will need money. To finance the Civil War, the first income tax in United States history is passed by Congress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSome of the boys began to get sick here on account of the poor water we had to use, and our rations grew no better very fast. Some of the boys positively asserted that our bacon had followed us from St. Charles, and our hard-tack was harder still… we hailed the advent of a barrel of flour with great joy, although we had no convenience for cooking it. But, \u201cnecessity is the mother of invention,\u201d so we hatched up a plan whereby we could get pancakes for supper, though \u201cBiddy,\u201d the cook, would have been horrified at the idea of calling them pancakes; but in the absence of anything better, we voted them excellent, but the stomachs refused to sanction our decision.\u201d <\/p>\n 6<\/b> \u2013 The First Confiscation Act is passed by the United States Congress. This provides for the seizure of property which is used for insurrection means, and it includes slaves who have been employed directly by Confederate armed forces. These contrabands are now not slaves, however, their status beyond that is uncertain.<\/p>\n 10<\/b> \u2013 The Confederates win at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri. Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon is killed in the battle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c… resumed the march early. The day was very hot. Before two hours had elapsed, I had a touch of sunstroke and I had to \u201cwilt.\u201d I was placed in a wagon. One of our officers had his wife along and she pillowed my head in her lap. I thought if this was the treatment for sunstroke, I would not object to being struck a little every day, but Dr. Buck soon came around and gave me some brandy and water which revived me a great deal.\u201d <\/p>\n 14<\/b> – Major General John C. Fremont places St. Louis, Missouri under martial law.<\/p>\n 29<\/b> \u2013 The command of Federal troops in southeastern Missouri and southeastern Illinois is given to Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant.<\/p>\n 28-29<\/b> \u2013 An amphibious attack upon Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina is successfully led by Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler and two forts guarding the inlet are taken by the Yankees. Hatteras Inlet is important for Atlantic Ocean access.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe are now set to work building forts and fortifications…. Soon several strong forts were built with heavy abatis to each with rifle pits connecting the forts…. Our duty was very heavy…. Our hospitals were overflowing. Over two hundred were on the sick list in our regiment alone at one time and deaths were quite frequent, and we soon became accustomed to the slow and solemn dirge of the soldier’s obsequies. Elon began to get worse and was getting quite homesick. It was evident that he would not live long if he remained in the army so the doctor concluded to discharge him. About a dozen from our company were discharged from this camp and we also had three or four deaths…. One day a peddler came into camp who had pies and cider for sale, and James and I bought some. Soon after I was taken violently ill, but a thorough purging set me on my feet again…. James soon commenced joking me about the cider and pie… In a few days he was taken sick, never more to rise.\u201d <\/p>\n 30<\/b> \u2013 Martial law is proclaimed in Missouri by Major General John C. Fremont. Under Fremont’s orders, the confiscation of any property or slaves used to aid the Confederacy takes place. Fremont also frees any slaves who are owned by secessionists.<\/p>\n Mary Chesnut<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cNorth Carolina writes for arms for her soldiers. Have we any to send? No. Brewster, the plain spoken, says, ‘The President is ill, and our affairs are in the hands of noodles. All the generals away with the army; nobody here; General Lee in Western Virginia. Reading the third Psalm. The devil is sick, the devil a saint would be. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me!’\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cNo discouragement now felt in the North. They take our forts and are satisfied for a while. Then the English are strictly neutral. Like the woman who saw her husband fight the bear, ‘It was the first fight she ever saw when she did not care who whipped.’\u201d <\/p>\n 4<\/b> \u2013 Columbus, Kentucky is seized by Confederate General Leonidas Polk. Kentucky ends it neutral stance as a result. Kentucky will be a Border State, a slave state that does not secede.<\/p>\n Ulysses S. Grant<\/p><\/div>\n 6<\/b> – General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops take Paducah, Kentucky.<\/p>\n 10<\/b> – Command of the Confederate Armies in the West is given to General Albert Sidney Johnston.<\/p>\n 11<\/b> – General John C. Fremont is ordered by President Abraham Lincoln to change his Missouri confiscation proclamation regarding property and slaves, so that it conforms to the Confiscation Act.<\/p>\n 12-17<\/b> \u2013 Thirty-one secessionist members of the Maryland legislature and others who are suspected to be active in a secessionist plot, are arrested by United States troops sent by President Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n 16-17<\/b> \u2013 Ship Island located between New Orleans and Mobile is occupied by the Union. The Gulf Blockade Squadron will have a base at Ship Island, the island will also be used in the taking of New Orleans.<\/p>\n 17<\/b> \u2013 There is change in the Confederate Cabinet when Leroy P. Walker is replaced by Judah P. Benjamin as Secretary of War, and Thomas Bragg takes Benjamin’s former cabinet position of Attorney General.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Chesnut<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThe high and disinterested conduct our enemies seem to expect of is involuntary and unconscious praise. They pay us the compliment to look for from us (and execrate us for the want of it) a degree of virtue they were never able to practise themselves. It is a crowning misdemeanor for us to hold still in slavery those Africans whom they brought here from Africa, or sold to us when they found it did not pay to own them themselves. Gradually, they slid or sold them off down here; or freed them prospectively, giving themselves years in which to get rid of them in a remunerative way. We want to spread them over other lands too–West and South, or Northwest, where the climate would free them or kill them, or improve them out of the world, as our friends up North do the Indians. If they had been forced to keep the negroes in New England, I dare say the negroes might have shared the Indians’ fate, for they are wise in their generation, these Yankee children of light. Those pernicious Africans! So have just spoken Mr. Chesnut and Uncle John, both ci-devant<\/i> Union men, now utterly for States rights.\u201d <\/p>\n 20<\/b> \u2013 The Union garrison in Lexington, Missouri is captured by rebels under Sterling Price.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been greatly interested since our last capture in examining a lot of newspapers found on board. They are as late as the 8th October, and give us most cheering accounts of the war. We have gloriously whipped the enemy at all points, and have brought Missouri and Kentucky out of the Union. The tone of the European press is highly favourable to our cause, and indicates a prompt recognition of our independence. And all this cheering information we get from the enemy himself!\u201d <\/p>\n William Tecumseh Sherman<\/p><\/div>\n 8<\/b> \u2013 Robert Anderson is replaced in command of the Federal army in the eastern and central parts of Kentucky, by Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman.<\/p>\n Death of Col. Edward D. Baker (not true to life).<\/p><\/div>\n 21<\/b>– At Ball’s Bluff near Leesburg, Virginia, Union troops are defeated in another rout. Senator Edward Baker, a good friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed at Ball’s Bluff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cA kind of shiver ran through the huddled mass upon the brow of the cliff; it gave way; rushed a few steps; then, in one wild, panic stricken herd, rolled, leaped, tumbled over the precipice! The descent is nearly perpendicular, with ragged, jutting crags, and a water-laved base. Screams of pain and terror filled the air. Men seemed so suddenly bereft of reason; they leaped over the bluff with muskets still in their clutch, threw themselves into the river without divesting themselves of their heavy accouterments, hence went to the bottom like lead. Others sprang down upon the heads and bayonets of those below. A gray-haired private of the First California was found with his head mashed between two rocks by the heavy boots of a ponderous \u201cTammany\u201d man, who had broken his own neck by the fall! The side of the bluff was worn smooth by the numbers sliding down.<\/p>\n \u201c… As it happened, the two larger bateaux were just starting with an overload when the torrent of terror-stricken fugitives rolled own the bluffs\u2014upon them. Both boats were instantly submerged…. The whole surface of the river seemed filled with heads, struggling, fighting, dying! Man clutched at man, and the strong who might have escaped, were dragged down by the weaker…. Captain Otter of the First California… was found a few days later with two men of his company clutching his neckband. Had he attempted to save them, or had they seized him and dragged him down? One officer was found with $126 in gold in his pocket; it had cost his life.\u201d <\/p>\n General Winfield Scott<\/p><\/div>\n 1<\/b> \u2013 General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” and the “Grand Old Man of the Army,” resigns as general-in-chief. Scott is 75-years-old and can no longer climb up on a horse without assistance. He is replaced by General George Brinton McClellan, who will organize the army into a fighting force, but then is reluctant to actually have the army fight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI went to the White House where I found the original gorilla, about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the head of our affairs now! Then, later, I went to Seward’s, where I found the gorilla again and was of course much edified by his anecdotes\u2014ever unworthy of one holding his high position. I suppose our country has richly merited some great punishment, else we should not now have such a wretched trifler at the head of affairs.\u201d <\/p>\n 2<\/b> – John C. Fremont is removed from of his Western command.<\/p>\n Alexander Stephens<\/p><\/div>\n 6<\/b> \u2013 The Confederacy elects Jefferson Davis as President, and Alexander Stephens as Vice President. They are to serve six-year terms with no re-election. As events go in the Civil War, Davis and Stephens will not need to concern themselves regarding re-election, and their six-year terms will be cut short.<\/p>\n Ulysses S. Grant<\/p><\/div>\n 7<\/b> \u2013 At Belmont, Missouri, General Ulysses S. Grant suffers a tactical defeat.<\/p>\n 7<\/b> \u2013 Port Royal in the South Carolina Sea Islands, is taken by the Federal forces of Navy Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont. Fleeing owners have abandoned 10,000 contrabands in the Sea Islands, what follows is experimental education and work programs for these freedmen.<\/p>\n 8<\/b> \u2013 The Trent Affair erupts when Captain Charles Wilkes, the commander of the USS San Jacinto<\/i>, removes Confederate diplomats James M. Mason and John Slidell from the H.M.S.<\/i> Trent, a British mail steamer. The Trent Affair causes a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Great Britain.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 Fire-eater William Lowndes Yancy introducing Jefferson Davis to an enthusiastic crowd. Yancy was one of the South’s most vocal proponents for secession.<\/p>\nMarch<\/h2>\n
\n\u2026 A letter to Abraham Lincoln from Orville H. Browning. March 26, 1861.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n
\u201cWe are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passions may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.\u201d
\n\u2026 Both quotes from President Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Jefferson Davis.<\/p>\n
\nSecretary of Treasury – Salmon P. Chase
\nSecretary of Navy – Gideon Welles
\nSecretary of War – Simon Cameron
\nSecretary of Interior – Caleb B. Smith
\nAttorney General – Edward Bates
\nPostmaster General – Montgomery Blair<\/p>\n
\nSecretary of Treasury – Christopher G. Memminger
\nSecretary of Navy – Stephen R. Mallory
\nSecretary of War – Leroy P. Walker
\nAttorney General – Judah P. Benjamin
\nPostmaster General – John H. Reagan<\/p>\nApril<\/h2>\n
\n\u2026 From an editorial in the Charleston Mercury<\/i>.<\/P><\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 Fort Sumter commander Major Robert Anderson’s reply to Colonel James Chesnut, Jr.,. Chesnut was bringing Confederate Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard’s demands to Anderson.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 Mary Chesnut was living in Charleston, South Carolina when Fort Sumter was bombarded by the Confederates and she kept a diary of the Civil War from its start to its end. Her husband was Colonel James Chesnut, Jr., an aide to Confederate Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 United States Army Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander at Fort Sumter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilliam said, ‘The President will soon fix them. He has called for 75,000 men and is going to blocade thier called ports, and just as soon as those fellows find out that the North means business will get down off thier high horse.\u201d
… Theodore Upson was a sixteen-year-old farm boy in Indiana when the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter. Upson would enlist and fight for the Union and serve under Grant and Sherman. The reader can see that Theodore’s father, Jonathan, is fearful of what is to come. (Please note that the spelling errors in this quote are Theodore Upson’s.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>May<\/h2>\n
\n\u2026 A young recruit from Massachusetts named Warren Lee Goss, describes his new army uniform as he becomes a soldier in Mr. Lincoln’s Army.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 Winfield Scott writing to George B. McClellan in May, 1861. Here Scott is describing his Anaconda Plan, which became an important strategy for the North.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Alansa Rounds Sterrett’s diary entry of May 13, 1861. Alansa lived in Augusta County, Virginia and here she is describing the scenes and emotions as Southern men depart for the war.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 An excerpt from a letter by author Nathaniel Hawthorne written to Commodore Horatio Bridge, who was Chief of the Bureau of Provisions for the United States Navy. Hawthorne mentions his fourteen-year-old son \u201cJulian,\u201d in this excerpt.<\/p>\nJune<\/h2>\n
\n\u2026 On June 1, 1861, Jefferson Davis was serenaded in Richmond, Virginia by a group of Confederate supporters, this is an excerpt from his address to them.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 The thoughts of a Federal soldier in Missouri.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Senator Stephen A. Douglas’ final message to his sons.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nSouth Carolina – December 20, 1860
\nMississippi – January 9, 1861
\nFlorida – January 10, 1861
\nAlabama- January 11, 1861
\nGeorgia – January 19, 1861
\nLouisiana – January 26, 1861
\nTexas – February 1, 1861
\nVirginia – April 17, 1861
\nArkansas – May 6, 1861
\nNorth Carolina – May 20, 1861
\nTennessee – June 8, 1861<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 An excerpt from Mary Chesnut’s diary entry of June 12, 1861. The Yankee casualties at Big Bethel were not as dire as Mary Chesnut had heard. For the North: 18 killed, 53 wounded, and 5 missing. For the South: 1 killed and 7 wounded.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 A quote by an anonymous civilian lady from the book: My Story of the War<\/i>, by Mary A. Livermore.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 Mary Chesnut writing in her diary on June 27, 1861. With her high social standing, Chesnut had the privilege of access to many of the South’s political and military leaders. In this excerpt, President Jefferson Davis expresses his apprehension regarding the common Southern attitude that the Yankees are weak.<\/p>\nJuly<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\u201cthat you give the legal means for making this contest a short, and a decisive one; that you place at the control of the government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand men, and four hundred millions of dollars.\u201d
\u201cIt was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of employing the war-power, in defense of the government, forced upon him. He could but perform this duty, or surrender the existence of the government.\u201d
\u2026 Selected words from a message President Abraham Lincoln sent to the special session of Congress. Lincoln in his message, was reviewing the matters and crisis of the Civil War, specifically its beginning when the Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter. This message was read to Congress on July 5, 1861.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 The demands of the New York Tribune<\/i> on July 16, 1861.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 An eyewitness describing the movement of the Union army at the First Battle of Bull Run.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u2026 A Yankee soldier describing the First Battle of Bull Run.<\/p>\n<\/a>August<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\n\u2026 Private Barber of Company D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, writing of the determination of command in Mexico, Missouri.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Private Barber of Company D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. August 5, 1861, Mexico, Missouri.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Private Barber of Company D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. August 13, 1861, St. Aubert, Missouri.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Private Barber of Company D, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. August 28, 1861, Rolla, Missouri.<\/p>\nSeptember<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\n\u2026 Mary Chesnut’s diary entry of September 1, 1861. Brewster was an acquaintance of Chesnut’s.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Mary Chesnut’s diary entry of September 2, 1861.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
\n\u2026 An excerpt from Mary Chesnut’s diary, September 19, 1861.<\/p>\nOctober<\/h2>\n
\n\u2026 Captain Raphael Semme’s journal entry of October 31, 1861, aboard the C.S.S. Sumter. The reader will note that Semmes is incorrect about Missouri and Kentucky being brought out of the Union. The Border States (Slave states that did not secede from the Union.) will be Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
\n\u2026 Private Randolph A. Shotwell was a seventeen-year-old Confederate at Ball’s Bluff. (A bateaux is a long, light, flatbottom kind of boat that is sharply pointed at its bow and stern.)<\/p>\nNovember<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\n\u2026 General George Brinton McClellan writing to his wife Mary Ellen. November, 1861.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>