Settlers declare Confederate Territory of Arizona

CS flag raised in Tucson, 3/28/1861

• • In Richmond, Virginia, President Jefferson Davis calls a Cabinet meeting to decide what should be done about the atrocities committed by northern generals against Southern prisoners and civilians. Cabinet unanimously says retaliation should be used only in extreme cases. Later, Davis urges General Joseph E. Johnston to take advantage of the weakness among Union forces following their defeat at Manassas. /1861
  • Meanwhile, General Robert E. Lee arrives in West Virginia to take command of Confederate forces following their defeat under General Garnett at Carrick’s Ford./1861 
• Image via WikipediaSettlers with Lt. Col. John Baylor of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles officially declare the Confederate Territory of Arizona following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Mesilla. It consists of the New Mexico Territory south of the 34th parallel north to the US border with Mexico, including parts of the modern states of New Mexico and Arizona. Its capital is Mesilla (now in Las Cruces, New Mexico) along the southern border. In July 1860, a constitutional convention at Tucson had established the territory, but recognition in Washington was blocked by anti-slavery Congressmen. Having seceded from the US in March 1861, the Arizona Territory now sends a petition to the Confederate States for recognition. In July 1862, the Confederate Arizona territorial government will relocate in exile to El Paso, Texas, after the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Glorieta Pass (New Mexico Campaign) and remain for the rest of the war. The territory will be represented in the Confederate Congress and Confederate troops will continue to fight under the Arizona banner until war's end./1861

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• First Battle of Mesilla, Arizona (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• West Texans capture Fort Fillmore, New Mexico (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• President Davis Mishandling Provisions?; Arizona (CSA) is Established (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Battle in New Mexico! Confederates Gather in Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
• A Fort About to Fall and a Bit of Mutiny (civilwardailygazette.com)
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• The Great Bloodless War in the East; Preparing for Blood in the West (civilwardailygazette.com)

West Texans capture Fort Fillmore, New Mexico

Fort Fillmore, Arizona/New Mexico Territories

• US Major General George McClellan is officially appointed commander of the US Army of the Potomac, replacing Irvin McDowell. He will receive his orders tomorrow./1861
• At sunset at Fort Fillmore, US New Mexico Territory, (or Mesilla, Confederate Arizona Territory), the 250 troops of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor orders his artillery and cavalry into reserve, while the rest of his command moves into position to attack the fort’s 500 men of the 7^th US Infantry tomorrow. During the night, the Texas Confederates capture 85 of Fort Fillmore’s horses, which constitute much of the fort's mobility. Fearing an attack at daybreak, US Major Isaac Lynde of the 7th US Infantry decides to abandon Fort Fillmore during the night after destroying the ammunition and supplies inside. Lynde retreats northeast towards Fort Stanton across the dry Organ Mountains. Unfortunately, many of the 7^th US Infantrymen apparently had filled their canteens with the fort's medicinal whiskey instead of water, hardly wise for a summertime march across desert country. Lincoln’s War Department will discharge Lynde from the Army for his action, but after the war he will receive a pension./1861

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• Lincoln Talks to the Troops; CSA Invades the North (Sort Of) (civilwardailygazette.com)
• More US military changes; West Texans head for New Mexico (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

First Battle of Mesilla, Arizona

Image via Wikipedia

Eastern Confederate Arizona

• With his troops’ three months’ military enlistment expiring, US Gen. Robert Patterson is relieved of duty in the Shenandoah Valley, having failed to hold Joseph Johnston in Winchester, Virginia, and prevent him from moving east to support Beauregard at Manassas (Bull Run)./1861
• Falling in line with the Lincoln Administration, the US Congress approves the use of volunteers to put down the rebellion. Also, the US Senate passes by a vote of 30-5 the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution offered by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, which states the reason for war and invasion of the South is preservation of the Union and the Constitution, not to interfere with the institution of slavery as it is established. The measure is important in keeping Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland in the Union. Although the measure passes in Congress, it means little because within two weeks, President Lincoln will sign a confiscation act, allowing for the seizure of property—including slaves—from rebellious citizens. /1861
• Missouri continues to convulse with unrest. Fighting breaks out at Harrisville and Dug Springs. US Major General John C. Fremont assumes command of the Department of the West at St. Louis./1861
• At Mesilla, capital of the self-proclaimed Confederate Arizona Territory in the Federal Territory of New Mexico, a battalion of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, on their “buffalo hunt” to drive out Union sympathy in the New Mexico Territory, fight the First Battle of Mesilla in the vicinity of Fort Fillmore. If they can force Federal troops out of the Southwest, they can open New Mexico to Confederate control. Baylor leads his battalion across the Rio Grande into Mesilla, to the cheers of the population. A company of Arizona Confederates join Baylor here, and are mustered into the Confederate Army. Meanwhile at Fort Fillmore near Mesilla, Major Isaac Lynde, of the 7^th US Infantry, leaves a small force behind to guard the fort, and leads 380 Regulars to the village of Messilla to drive out Baylor. Lynde approaches the town and demands Baylor's surrender. When Baylor refuses, Lynde deploys his men into a skirmish line and opens fire with his mountain howitzers. The infantry is ordered to advance but heavy sand and corn fields interfere with his attack. Lynde then orders his cavalry, three companies of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles, to charge Baylor's men. The Confederates managed to shoot many of the Union soldiers, disorganizing the attack, and repulsing the Union assault. Both sides begin skirmishing at long range as Lynde reforms his command and decides to retreat to the fort with Baylor’s Texans and armed Arizona citizens in pursuit. Lynde loses between 3 and 13 men killed plus 2 officers and 4 men wounded, while Baylor’s losses are between 2 and 7 dead and 7 seriously wounded with twenty horses killed./1861
• John LaMountain begins balloon reconnaissance ascensions at Fortress Monroe, Virginia./1861

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• Lincoln Talks to the Troops; CSA Invades the North (Sort Of) (civilwardailygazette.com)
• More US military changes; West Texans head for New Mexico (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• The Great Bloodless War in the East; Preparing for Blood in the West (civilwardailygazette.com)

2nd Texas arrives at Mesilla; Wise evacuates Tyler Mountain

Image via Wikipedia

Stonewall Jackson

• In West Virginia, Union General Jacob Cox attacks Confederate forces under former Virginia Governor, General Henry Wise, at Tyler Mountain. Wise evacuates the area around Charleston, West Virginia and pulls back to Gauley Bridge. /1861
• Discussing his new-found fame from the disciplined fighting of his command at Manassas three days ago, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson says to Captain John D. Imboden, “Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. Captain, that is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.”/1861
• A battalion of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor arrives tonight in Mesilla, capital of Confederate Arizona, but within the US Territory of New Mexico, and he prepares to launch a surprise attack the next morning. However, a Confederate deserter informs the fort's commander, US Major Isaac Lynde, of the plans./1861
• In Richmond, R.M.T. Hunter replaces Robert Toombs as Confederate Secretary of State. /1861 
• Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond receives the contract to produce iron plate for the Merrimack conversion project./1861
• In Washington, an Act "to provide for the temporary increase of the Navy" passed by US Congress, gives President Lincoln the authority to take vessels into the Navy and appoint officers for them, to any extent deemed necessary. The Congress is merely confirming the actions that President has been taking since April./1861

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• Battle at Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• July 9, 1861: Toombs prepares to resign as Confederate Secretary of State (civilwar-online.com)

Lincoln: Reinforce Fort Pickens

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  Fort Pickens, Pensacola Bay, Florida

  Having strong-armed an unwilling Cabinet into an aggressive act of war on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln now turns to act on Fort Pickens in Pensacola Bay, Florida. Without any report that his earlier orders to reinforce Pickens have been carried out and rumors that the orders had been ignored, Lincoln, in a similar bullying provocation as he has ordered for Fort Sumter, commands a second military force to relieve and reinforce Fort Pickens. In the morning, Captain Montgomery C. Meigs receives the go-ahead to draft plans to reinforce Fort Pickens. Assisted by General Scott's military secretary, Meigs completes his proposal and takes it to Lincoln's office by mid-afternoon. Lincoln approves the arrangements and has Scott informed that the President wishes "this thing done, and not to let it fail . . . ." Scott adds only a few details, and the project is "definitely adopted."/1861
• Fort Bliss, Texas, near El Paso surrenders to Texas Militia. As the list of Federal installations taken over by Southern state militias continues to lengthen, the mood among both Northern and Southern states becomes pessimistic toward a peaceful resolution. The Lincoln Administration is foolishly unyielding in its provocations and aggressions, as the US President plays a game of arrogant intimidation with the Constitution, American lives, resources, and the future of the Republic./1861
• General John Bankhead Magruder reassigned from Arkansas to Texas./1861

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• Lincoln's act of war at Fort Pickens (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln's friends: Withdraw to avoid War (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Scott to Lincoln: Withdraw; Tucson, Arizona secedes (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Gen. Scott to Lincoln: "Surrender Sumter" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lamon: Lincoln will evacuate Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Sumter: Lincoln vents, Beauregard to prevent (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln chooses War, will relieve Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Disunion: The Choice is Charybdis (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Southern Peace Commissioners frustrated (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Fox reports to Lincoln re: Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Lee accepts Colonel 1st US Cavalry

Col. R.E. Lee, 1st US Cavalry

• U.S. Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee, 2^nd Cavalry, had been serving in the U.S. Department of Texas under Brevet Brigadier General David Twiggs prior to the mid-February surrender to the Texas Militia. Today Lee accepts a commission from US Secretary of War Simon Cameron, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, as Colonel of the First US Cavalry. In doing so, Lee apparently ignores the offer of a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate Army from Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker /1861
• In Austin, Texas, the sacked Governor Sam Houston refuses to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy as required by the Texas Secession Convention. He issues a proclamation protesting the acts of the Convention as null and void and resigns his seat, declaring that he is ever for Texas, but never for the Confederacy. He and Jefferson Davis have been long-time personal enemies./1861

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• Lincoln chooses War, will relieve Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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Lincoln chooses War, will relieve Sumter

Lincoln in 1861

• FIRST DAY OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES-LINCOLN’S MILITARY ACT OF WAR- After a sleepless night, President Lincoln rises this Good Friday “in the dumps.” At noon his formal Cabinet meeting convenes. With all of the advice, arm-twisting, and recommendations during nearly a month in office, Mr. Lincoln finally announces his plan for Fort Sumter. There will be no evacuation as had been promised. 

Instead, Lincoln favors Gustavus Fox’s plan for Fort Sumter with one change. Instead of a military expedition to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter, the expedition would attempt to land peaceably only provisions. There would be no reinforcement of Sumter unless the effort to send “bread” to the garrison found resistance. The government would also communicate to South Carolina officials its intentions "to provision the fort peaceably if unmolested." 

The discussion is so scattered that Attorney General Bates complains that no one could arrive at definite conclusions, suggesting instead that the President state his questions in order and require the members to respond directly. One by one, the cabinet officers present their recommendations, with the exception of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, who is conspicuously absent. 

Image via Wikipedia

Sec. of War Simon Cameron

In the end, the Cabinet vote splits 3-2 in favor of Lincoln’s plan with his own Secretary of War, Simon Cameron in absentia, saying he preferred to keep his wishes silent in the matter. Secretary of State William Seward and Interior Secretary Caleb Smith vote no. By being absent, Cameron was plainly trying to keep the Cabinet from being hamstrung by a 3-3 vote and at odds with their own fledgling President. Lincoln orders the expedition to be ready to sail by April 6th to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter. Lincoln has strong-armed his own radical Cabinet into a foolish act of intimidation and war. /1861  

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION] The South Carolina Convention of the People goes into secret session to debate the ratification of the Constitution/1861 
• Mississippi ratifies the Confederate Constitution./1861
• William Wing Loring, former commander of the US Department of Oregon, assumes command of the U. S. Department of New Mexico as US Army troops abandon Fort Mason, Texas./1861

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• Charleston defenses nearly complete, Lincoln pushes Fox plan (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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• Disunion: The Choice is Charybdis (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)

Scott to Lincoln: Withdraw; Tucson, Arizona secedes

US Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott

• In Washington, D.C., General of the US Army Winfield Scott, understanding the volatile situation with the South, advises President Lincoln in a memorandum not only to evacuate Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, SC, but also Fort Pickens at Pensacola Bay in order to avert war. 

Scott reasons that if Sumter alone should be abandoned, it would be attributed to "necessity," rather than a willingness to conciliate the South. Only "the evacuation of both the forts would instantly soothe and give confidence to the eight remaining slave-holding States, and render their cordial adherence to this Union perpetual." The "liberality of the act," Scott argued, might also induce the seceding states to return. 

But Lincoln is not interested in conciliation. He wants to assert his new Administration’s authority and needs Southern tax revenues. Therefore, Lincoln asks Gustavus V. Fox to prepare a listing of the ships, men, and supplies he would need for his proposed relief expedition. Fox wastes no time in providing a list of requirements for both the army and navy. 

Following a state dinner this evening, Lincoln calls a Cabinet meeting to inform them of General Scott's recommendations. They unanimously dissent from Scott's recommendation to abandon Fort Pickens. Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Fox’s brother-in-law and ardent proponent of putting the South in its place, accuses Scott of "playing politician," by offering a political rather than military assessment of the crisis. Lincoln then calls a formal cabinet meeting for the next day to consider the entire situation./1861

• A second secession convention of the self-proclaimed Territory of Arizona meets in Tucson and ratifies the Mesilla secession ordinance of March 16. The Territory of Arizona was formed July 1860 of present-day Arizona and New Mexico south of 34 degrees North to the border with Mexico. The conventions will subsequently establish a provisional territorial government for the Confederate Territory of Arizona and send a representative to petition for recognition by the Confederacy./1861

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION] At Charleston, 200 copies of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession are ordered for the Convention's use/1861 

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• Sumter: Lincoln vents, Beauregard to prevent
• Lincoln chooses War, will relieve Sumter
• Lincoln's Cabinet advises him on Sumter relief plan
• Missouri supports Crittenden Compromise; Arkansas to have referendum

Lincoln's friends: Withdraw to avoid War

Image via Wikipedia

Gen. S.A. Hurlburt

• Now back in Washington, President Lincoln’s personal friend from Illinois, Stephen A. Hurlbut, reports to President Lincoln. Hurlburt has found in South Carolina and Charleston "no attachment to the Union . . . . positively nothing to appeal to." A separate Southern nationality is an "established fact." 

Equally conclusive is Hurlbut's appraisal of the Confederacy's plans to take Forts Sumter and Pickens. He has "no doubt" that Southern forces would repulse any type of relief effort, even a ship containing only provisions and no troops. Even if the government abandons Sumter, the crisis would continue as the South would "demand" Fort Pickens and the remaining federal forts in Florida. Thus, any attempt to maintain and enforce federal authority within the limits of the Confederacy would mean "War, in fact, War in which the seceding States will be united and the others disunited." 

Lincoln trying to figure out this Union thing

Hurlbut's travel partner, another trusted personal Illinois friend of the President, Colonel Ward H. Lamon, agrees with Hurlbut's assessment. South Carolina is swept with a madness that is hurrying the masses into open rebellion. According to Lamon's Carolina sources, war can be avoided only if the federal government acquiesces to peaceable secession and refuses to reinforce its Southern forts. Any attempt to reinforce Sumter would bring "the tocsin of war."/1861

• Meanwhile in Charleston, Confederate Brigadier General P. Gustave T. Beauregard advises President Jefferson Davis in Montgomery that the evacuation of Fort Sumter "ought to be decided upon in a few days" by the Lincoln Administration. He recommends that "this state of uncertainty ought not to last longer than is necessary to have all our preparations made to compel ... a surrender, should the United States Government not be willing to withdraw ... peaceably."/1861

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION][SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard invites the second session of the Convention of the People of South Carolina to visit the Charleston fortifications/1861 

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• Lincoln chooses War, will relieve Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Scott to Lincoln: Withdraw; Tucson, Arizona secedes (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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• Lamon: Lincoln will evacuate Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Charleston defenses nearly complete, Lincoln pushes Fox plan (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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• Gen. Scott to Lincoln: "Surrender Sumter" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Beauregard takes Charleston command (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Disunion: The Choice is Charybdis (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)

Lincoln sends two friends to Charleston

Image via Wikipedia

Ward H. Lamon

Image via Wikipedia

Stephen Hurlburt

• Besides the visit of Gustavus V. Fox to Charleston and Fort Sumter, President Lincoln has also dispatched two personal friends from Illinois to assess the situation in Charleston, South Carolina. Stephen A. Hurlbut, has family and friends in Charleston, and Ward H. Lamon arrives on official US government business. Hurlbut travels as a private citizen and stays with his sister for two days before returning to Washington. Lamon arrives to examine some post office matters. Lamon’s official status, his imposing physical size, and talkativeness draws more attention than Hurlbut. In two days, Lamon has a formal interview with South Carolina Governor Pickens and is permitted to visit Major Anderson at Fort Sumter. Lamon gives the impression to both Governor Pickens and Anderson that Fort Sumter will be soon evacuated./1861
• U. S. troops abandon Fort Chadbourne, Texas./1861

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• Fox reports to Lincoln re: Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Scott to Lincoln: Withdraw; Tucson, Arizona secedes (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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Arizona secedes, Texas sacks Gov. Houston

Mesilla, capital of seceded Arizona Territory

• The citizens of the Southwestern town of Mesilla, in present-day New Mexico, adopt an ordinance of secession from the United States, citing as reasons for their separation the region's common interests and geography with the Confederacy, the need of frontier and border protection, and the loss of postal service routes under the United States government. The ordinance proposes secession to the western portions of their self-proclaimed Territory of Arizona. The Confederate government will later recognize and establish a territorial government for Arizona./1861

Gov. Sam Houston

•  The Texas Secession Convention in Austin sacks Texas Governor Sam Houston and replaces him with Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark. Houston, who has accepted Texas citizens’ decision to secede and re-assume its independent sovereignty has also refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Confederate government required by the Texas Secession Convention, and it cost him his job./1861

• Knowing its diplomatic, economic, and military future depend upon international recognition, Confederate Secretary of State, the Honorable Robert Toombs, dispatches three commissioners to Britain and then France to secure recognition for the Confederacy/1861
• Confederate Provisional Congress creates the Confederate Marine Corps. It never numbers more than 600 members and its records are destroyed on purpose near the end of the war./1861

• Georgia's secession convention unanimously ratifies the Confederate Constitution and adopts "an Enunciation of Fundamental Principles" explaining the doctrine of state sovereignty and why Georgia is fully within her right to secede and take all subsequent actions. It is a clear statement of the doctrine of sovereign states' rights which all the seceded states firmly believe. It explain that governments are expressions of sovereignty, and when government is not doing its job to serve the sovereign people, it must be reformed or overthrown./1861

• Robert E. Lee of Virginia is promoted to full Colonel in the US Army. Edwin Vose Sumner is promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the US Department of the Pacific, replacing Albert Sidney Johnston/1861