Scott: "Surrender Sumter", Lincoln: "Reinforce Pickens"

• In Washington, President Jefferson Davis' Peace Commissioners, Crawford, Forsyth, and Roman, request a meeting with United States Secretary of State-designate, the Hon. Mr. Seward, but Mr. Seward refuses an interview/1861 
• Braxton Bragg arrives at Pensacola to assume Confederate command of military forces in Florida./1861
• The Confederate Congress unanimously adopts a Permanent Constitution for the Confederacy today/1861 
• US General Scott informs President Lincoln that the relief of Fort Sumter was unfeasible and that the Army cannot be responsible for reinforcing Fort Sumter immediately. Scott contends it would take up to eight months to authorize and prepare an expedition large enough to relieve the fort. A month ago, perhaps, it would have been a different matter, but “since then a surrender under assault or from starvation has been merely a question of time,” adding that the situation at Charleston, South Carolina, is becoming a real crisis which the Army alone cannot handle effectively. He recommends that Major Robert Anderson be instructed to evacuate the fort. Instead of listening to reason, Lincoln orders General Scott to "exercise all possible vigilance for the maintenance of all the places within the military departments of the United States" and specifically directs Scott to reinforce Fort Pickens at Pensacola Bay, Florida, the more accessible of the two forts./1861