Confederate Congress adjourns; Lee, others made full general

• In Washington, the Asst. Sec. of Navy Gustavus V. Fox and Gen. Benjamin Butler awaken President Lincoln late at night to inform him of the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark, in North Carolina./1861
• In Richmond, Virginia, the Third Session of the Provisional Confederate Congress adjourns after approving the promotions of Samuel Cooper, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard to full general in the Confederate Army./1861 
• The C.S.S. Teaser shells Union Camp Butler on Newport News Point, Virginia./1861 
• The USS George Peabody, commanded Lieutenant Lowry, captures the brig Henry C. Brooks in Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. /1861 
• The USS Jamestown under Commander Green, captures the British blockade running schooner Aigburth off the Florida coast./1861

• A skirmish occurs at Munson's Hill, Virginia./1861

Related articles

• Why does no one remember Samuel Cooper? (michaelchardy.blogspot.com)
• Hatteras Expedition departs, CS win at Kessler's Cross Lanes (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Hatteras' Fort Clark, NC, falls

Bombardment of Forts Hatteras and Clark

• Today, while under fire, the United States Expeditionary Force under command of Ben Butler and Silas Stringham lands on Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with wet powder. While eight US Navy warships heavily bombard Forts Clark and Hatteras, the 900 Union troops come ashore to attack the rear of the Confederate batteries. Confederates unsuccessfully attempt to prevent the Federal attack and abandon Fort Clark under the heavy bombardment. The ships’ heavy cannonade forces the Confederates to evacuate Fort Clark. Commodore Samuel Baron, CSN, with two small vessels joined the defenders that evening. The Federals take abandoned Fort Clark with no resistance and begin firing on Confederate-held Fort Hatteras./1861
• Union Commander Dahlgren, Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, sends 400 seamen on steamboat Philadelphia to Alexandria, Virginia, to report to Brigadier General William B. Franklin for the defense of Fort Ellsworth. This timely naval reinforcement strengthens the fort’s defenses and consequently that of the nation’s capital. /1861 
• The USS Yankee, commanded by Cdr. T.T. Craven, captures the schooner Remittance near Piney Point, Virginia./1861

• The United States War Department gives Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant the command of Union troops in southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois./1861 
• Skirmishes occur in Missouri at Ball's Mills and Lexington, in Virginia at Bailey's Cross Roads and Bailey's Corners, and in Western Virginia at Gauley Bridge./1861

Related articles

• Hatteras Expedition departs, CS win at Kessler's Cross Lanes (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Surprised and Routed at Carnifex Ferry; To Hatteras! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Floyd Hopes to Ditch Wise; Benjamin Butler Doesn't Plan an Attack (civilwardailygazette.com)

Hatteras Inlet, NC: Expedition arrives

• The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a series of long, narrow islands that separate Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean, and Hatteras Inlet is the only deep-water passage connecting the two. In the first months of the war, the Outer Banks have provided perfect conditions for surreptitious Confederate blockade runners and raiders. From a vantage point atop the Hatteras lighthouse, Confederate privateers can see the Gulf Stream which Northern ships use to increase speed traveling to Northern ports. Privateers lay in wait until ships appear on the horizon and then overhaul them. Northern insurance adjusters have put pressure on the Lincoln Administration’s War Department to do something about the losses. During the summer of 1861, the CSS Winslow has wreaked havoc on Union shipping off North Carolina, and Federal naval and army officials combined forces to bring the area under control. To protect Hatteras Inlet, the Confederates have built two fortresses of sand and wood, garrisoned with 350 soldiers. Today the United States Expeditionary Force under command of General Benjamin Butler and Flag Officer Silas Stringham which left Hampton Roads, Virginia, yesterday, arrives off Cape Hatteras in view of Forts Hatteras and Clark with preparation for battle in the morning./1861
• Skirmishes occur at Antietam Iron Works, Maryland, and in Virginia at Ball’s Cross Roads and Bailey's Cross Roads./1861

Hatteras Expedition departs, Battle at Kessler's Cross Lanes

Hatteras Expedition leaves Hampton Roads

• Skirmishing breaks out at Wayne Court House, Blue's House, and Cross Lanes, western Virginia/1861 
• From his throne in Hawaii, King Kamehameha IV proclaims the neutrality of the Hawaiian Islands in the War./1861 
• In Western Virginia, Brigadier General John Floyd, commanding Confederate forces in the Kanawha Valley, crosses the Gauley River and attacks Col. Erastus Tyler's 7th Ohio Regiment encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. The Union forces are surprised and routed with 245 casualties. Confederate losses are 40. Floyd then withdraws to the river and takes up a defensive position at Carnifex Ferry./1861 
• Hampton Roads, Virginia, is the scene of the disembarkation of the first Federal expeditionary fleet from Fortress Monroe. Its mission is to attack and capture Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, a haven for blockade runners. The amphibious force, composed of eight vessels and 900 New York troops, is commanded jointly by Flag Officer Silas Stringham and General Benjamin Butler. This joint Army-Navy operation has 500 men from the German-speaking 20th New York Volunteers, 220 from the 9th New York Volunteers, 100 from an Army unit calling themselves Union Coast Guard (actually the 99th New York Volunteers), and 20 army regulars from the 2nd U.S. Artillery on board the USS Adelaide and USS George Peabody. Stringham’s naval assault includes the USS Minnesota, Cumberland, Susquehanna, Wabash, Pawnee, Monticello, the US Revenue Service cutter Harriet Lane (used at Fort Sumter), and the tug Fanny, needed to tow some of the landing craft. Hatteras Inlet was the most important of the four inlets deep enough for ocean-going vessels, so North Carolina has constructed two forts there, named Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark. Fort Hatteras is on the sound side of Hatteras Island. Fort Clark is a half a mile southeast, nearer to the Atlantic Ocean, but neither are strong. Fort Hatteras has only ten mounted guns, with five more unmounted within the fort. Fort Clark has only five. Most of them are inadequate for coastal defense, only relatively light 32-pounders or smaller and of limited range. Worse is the scant numbers of soldiers. North Carolina raised and equipped 22 infantry regiments at the beginning of the war, but 16 of these are defending Virginia. The 6 regiments left are deployed to defend the entire North Carolina coastline. Only a few companies of the 7th North Carolina Volunteers occupy both forts at Hatteras Inlet. Other coastal forts are in similar weak shape. Less than 1,000 men garrison Forts Ocracoke, Hatteras, Clark, and Oregon, and reinforcements are as far away as Beaufort. Unbelievably, North Carolina militia authorities did not keep the sad state of their coastal defenses a secret and allowed captured and shipwrecked Yankee sea captains and others free access to the forts and their environs. At least two have provided valuable full descriptions to the US Navy Department./1861 
• Union Captain A.H. Foote is ordered by the War Department in Washington to relieve Commander J. Rodgers in command of the Army’s gunboat flotilla on the Western rivers./1861
• The US tug Fanny under Lieutenant Crosby reports the capture of the blockade runner sloop Mary Emma at the headwaters of the Manokin River, Maryland./1861 
•  The USS Daylight under Commander Lockwood recaptures the brig Monticello in the Rappahannock River, Virginia./1861

Related articles

• Floyd Hopes to Ditch Wise; Benjamin Butler Doesn't Plan an Attack (civilwardailygazette.com)

Blockade runner caught off Charleston, SC

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Brig. Gen. Roswell Ripley

• At Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate War Department assigns Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley, an Ohio native who spent his childhood in New York, to command the Department of South Carolina and Brigadier General John B. Grayson to command the Department of Middle and East Florida./1861
• The Second Wheeling Convention adjourns./1861
• The USS Vandalia under Commander Samuel Phelps Lee captures the Confederate blockade runner Henry Middleton off Charleston, South Carolina, with a cargo of spirits, turpentine, and rosin./1861

Related articles

• July 28, 1861: The USS St. Lawrence sinks Confederate privateer Petrel (civilwar-online.com)

US Army changes & NC Stone Fleet ready

• In Washington, President Lincoln orders a commission for Kentuckian Simon Bolivar Buckner as brigadier general of volunteers (which he will refuse in preference for a Confederate general’s commission),  and George Thomas of Virginia is appointed US brigadier general of volunteers, Army of the Cumberland. US General Wool takes command at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, superseding Benjamin Butler. In a reorganization, the US Departments of Northeastern Virginia, Washington (DC), and the Shenandoah are merged into the US Department of the Potomac, officially forming the Union Army of the Potomac, which would commit most of the bloodshed in the Eastern Theater of the war. Maj. Gen. Henry “Old Brains” Halleck is made commander of the new Department of the Potomac. Today also Lincoln watches another exhibition of J. D. Mills' gun, dubbed by Lincoln "coffee mill gun,” near the Washington Monument and advises the government to pay double the sum that mechanics say it is worth if delivered in 30 days. /1861

• 

  North Carolina coast
  

  US Lieutenant Reigart B. Lowry writes US Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox regarding the progress for sinking a stone fleet to block the inlets to the North Carolina sounds: "We have nineteen schooners properly loaded with stone, and all our preparations are complete to divide them in two divisions and place them in tow of this steamer [Adelaide] and of the Governor Peabody. I think all arrangements are complete, as far as being prepared to 'sink and obstruct' . . . the obstructing party could place their vessels in position, secure them as we propose, by binding chains, spars on end in the sand to settle by action of the tide, anchors down, and finally sink them in such a way as to block the channel so effectually that there could be no navigation through them for several months to come, at least till by the aid of our new gunboats the outside blockade could be effectual."/1861
• Skirmish at Brunswick, Missouri./1861

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• August 13, 1861: The Swamp Fox maneuvers in SE Missouri (gathkinsons.net)

Confederate Navy contracts British shipbuilders

Cmdr. James D. Bulloch, CSN

• Confederate Naval Commander and Secret Service Agent James Dunwoody Bulloch writes from Liverpool in the United Kingdom to Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory: “After careful examination of the shipping lists of England, and inspecting many vessels, I failed to find a single wooden steamer fit for war purposes, except one paddle steamer, too large and costly for our coast. Wood as a material for ships has almost entirely gone out of use in the British merchant service, and their iron ships, though fast, well built, and staunch enough for voyages of traffic, are too thin in the plates and light in the deck frames and stanchions to carry guns of much weight. I therefore made arrangements to contract with two eminent builders for a gun vessel each . . .” Bulloch has signed his first contract with Fawcett & Preston Engineers in Liverpool and WC Miller and Son Ship Builders to build the CSS Florida, which would be finished by years’ end. He has signed the second contract in July 1861 with John Laird Sons and Company who has a shipyard near Liverpool to build the Enrica, the alias for the famous Confederate raider, the CSS Alabama. To be commanded by Admiral Raphael Semmes beginning one year from today, the CSS Alabama would range the globe for two years destroying Union merchant ships – 55 in all valued at US$4.5 million, plus ten others bonded at an additional US$562,000. In addition, Semmes would capture over 2,000 prisoners, not one harmed but deposited at the nearest port, all this without losing a single man./1861
• In Washington, Gen. Robert Anderson, the Kentucky native who had commanded the US forces inside Fort Sumter back in April, dines with the President and is informed of his appointment on completion of his convalescence to a command in Kentucky, violating the state’s neutrality. Gen. George B. McClellan also spends most of the evening at White House. /1861
• The USS Powhatan, commanded by Lieutenant David D. Porter, recaptures the schooner Abby Bradford off the mouth of the Mississippi River./1861

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• May 30, 1861: USS Powhatan seizes a prize off New Orleans (civilwar-online.com)
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• Confederates routed at Rich Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• July 8, 1861: "Running the Blockade" (civilwar-online.com)
• May 29, 1861: The blockade of New Orleans begins (civilwar-online.com)
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Rumors of Davis-Beauregard breach

Pres. Davis

Gen. Beauregard

• In Richmond, Virginia, persistent rumors are being whispered of a growing breach in the relationship between President Jefferson Davis and General P.G.T. Beauregard. Clearly, Beauregard’s personal pride and Davis’ thin skin have not mixed well, but the personal problems could create big problems for the strategic future of the Confederacy. Jewish Attorney General Judah P. Benjamin, a close friend of the President’s, seems to have taken Davis’ side as well. The rumors say that after the brilliant victory at Manassas, that Beauregard wanted desperately to invade Maryland, surround the District of Columbia, and finish the work of independence quickly by forcing a treaty of peace. Davis, holding to the principle of self defense, refused Beauregard’s plan. Days or even a few weeks following the battle, a relatively Southern small force could have taken Washington, but whether Beauregard’s intelligence knew in time is now irrelevant since that window of opportunity has now passed./1861

• Near Cape Fear, North Carolina the USS Penguin under Commander John L. Livingston pursues the blockade runner Louisa, which strikes a shoal and sinks./1861

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• August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . ." (civilwar-online.com)
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• July 29, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to William Porcher Miles (civilwar-online.com)
• August 5, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to First Myers (civilwar-online.com)
• August 5, 1861: The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut (civilwar-online.com)

Apaches attack West Texas Confederates

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Fort Davis, West Texas

• Confederate States Army troops at Fort Davis in West Texas, are attacked by Mescalero Apaches. The native warriors raid the garrison's livestock herd, killing two guards and making off with about 100 horses and or cattle./1861
• Off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the Confederate privateer, CSS York captures the schooner George G. Baker. Then the USS Union under Commander J.R. Goldsborough recaptures the George G. Baker. Then the York’s crew sets the ship afire to prevent her capture by the Union./1861

Davis calls for 400,000 volunteers to defend the South

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• In Richmond, President Jefferson Davis calls for 400,000 volunteers to defend their homes in the Confederacy./1861
• At Washington, US Secretary of War Simon Cameron replies to another of General Benjamin Butler’s queries about making runaway slaves contraband. Cameron tells Butler that Union troops must adhere to fugitive slave laws, but only within Union territory. All states in insurrection are exempt from the protection and escaped slaves in those areas will not be returned to their owners but become property of the US government./1861
• In the Gulf of Mexico, the USS Santee, commanded by Captain Eagle, captures the blockade runner schooner C.P. Knapp./1861
• Brig. Gen. U. S. Grant assumes command of the district of Ironton, Missouri./1861
• At a public dinner and serenade in Baltimore, Maryland, in honor of John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, his attempt to address the people is prevented by the rioting of Unionists./1861

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• Butler: "Make the runaways contraband" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Escaped Slaves are Not Free; Gathering Rebels in Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
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• August 6, 1861: Lincoln signs the Confiscation Act of 1861 (civilwar-online.com)
• Lincoln, Congress make runaway slaves US property (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Confederate troops burn Hampton, Virginia

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USS Cairo

• Confederate troops burn Hampton, Virginia, where Fortress Monroe is located with US General Benjamin Butler in command. General John Bankhead Magruder indicates that Butler’s quartering of runaway slaves and advocacy that they be made contraband is part of the reason for burning the town./1861 
• In Washington, the US War Department, trying to further improve operations, contracts with J.B. Eads of St. Louis to build seven shallow-draft ironclad river gunboats. These gunboats, the USS Cairo, Carondolet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, and St. Louis, will become the backbone of Grant’s Union naval force in the Western Theater beginning in February 1862./1861 
• Near Ship Island, Mississippi, the USS Massachusetts under Commander M. Smith captures the blockade runner sloop Charles Henry./1861

Unionists win battle of Athens, Missouri

• In Missouri, US General Nathaniel Lyon pulls out of Dug Springs as he receives reports that Confederate troops are advancing in large numbers.  A skirmish occurs at Kirksville, Missouri, and small battle at Athens (pronounce Aythens), Missouri. The Battle of Athens occurs in northeast Missouri near southeast Iowa along the Des Moines River across from Croton, Iowa. Colonel Martin Green's force of about 2,000 secessionist 2^nd Division Missouri State Guardsmen with three cannons tries to capture Athens from about 500 Unionist 1^st Northeast Missouri Home Guard commanded by Col. David Moore. Moore calls out his regiment at 5am when pickets warn of the secessionists' advance. With many men home visiting family without orders and after moving his sick over the river to Iowa, Moore is left with 333 men to fight 2,000. Green's much larger force surrounds Athens on three sides, with the river to the Unionists’ backs. Lieut. Col. Charles S. Callihan commanding the Union left flank faces Major Shacklett's cavalry and James Kniesley's three gun battery. The Unionists have no artillery, but Kniesley's guns are not much better, only a 6-pounder, a 9-pounder, and a hollowed log, a few solid shot and improvised canister. They have no impact in the battle except to spook a cavalry scout’s horse. The first cannon shot flies over the Unionists and the Des Moines River into the Croton, Iowa, rail depot. The second shoots through the Benning home and into the river. The log cannon blows apart on the first firing. The 2,000 poorly equipped, untrained, and untested secessionist State Guardsmen advance, generally firing their shotguns and squirrel rifles, while Moore’s 333 men are much better armed with Springfield rifled muskets and bayonets. Captain Hackney's Home Guard drives the State Guard away from Stallion Branch while US Lt. Col. Callihan’s men flee for the river with one of the Home Guards cavalry units at the sight of Major Shacklett's large force advancing. The others hold their positions, and the advance falters in a cornfield. After Shacklett is wounded in the neck, his men fall back. Seeing this, Moore fixes bayonets and countercharges, sending the State Guardsmen into a headlong retreat including Kniesley’s artillery. The Iowa militia watches from across the river and fire a few shots from long range with no effect. The Unionist Home Guardsmen win. Moore has three dead and twenty wounded. Missouri State Guard losses are unknown, but Moore captures twenty men, most of them wounded. Moore estimates 31 Missouri State Guard killed and wounded, and captures 450 horses with bridles and saddles, hundreds of arms, and a wagon load of long knives. The defeat demoralizes secessionist state guard efforts in Northeast Missouri. The Union victory has the distinction of being the most northerly of Civil War Battles fought west of the Mississippi, and also of being the only such battle fought along the Iowa border./1861
• The USS Vincennes/Jamestown under Commander Charles Green captures and burns the Confederate prize bark Alvarado, a blockade runner, off the coast of Fernandina, Florida./1861

• Off the coast of Puerto Rico, the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captures the large American brig Santa Clara./1861

• In Washington, President Lincoln approves a Congressional resolution to observe a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer and also approves the new income tax of 3 per cent on income exceeding $800 per year and other taxes./1861

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• August 9, 1861: Lyon maneuvers to strike Price (civilwar-online.com)
• August 9, 1861: News from Missouri (gathkinsons.net)
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• The First Income Tax; Chasing the Union in Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
• June 20, 1861: Lyon needs troops. (gathkinsons.net)
• June 1, 1861: Lyon turns the arsenal over to Blair (gathkinsons.net)
• June 24, 1861: Lyon wants more troops to hold Cape Girardeau (gathkinsons.net)
• July 2, 1861: Troop movements in Missouri (gathkinsons.net)
• August 5, 1861: Battle of Athens, MO (gathkinsons.net)
• Accidental Clash at Dug Springs, Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
• July 4, 1861: David Moore elected colonel of the 1st Northeast MO Home Guards (gathkinsons.net)

Freeborn captures prizes; battle looms in NE Missouri

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Sighting a gun on USS Freeborn

• In Pohick Creek, Virginia, the USS Thomas Freeborn under Lieutenant Eastman, captures the schooner Pocahontas loaded with wood, and the sloop Mary Frey./1861
• In northeast Missouri, Colonel Martin E. Green, commanding the 2^nd Division of the secessionist Missouri State Guard (about 2000 men and 3 cannons), bivouacs seven miles west of Athens (pronounced Aythens), Missouri, in preparation for a retaliatory attack on the 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guard (333-500 men) under Col. David Moore for the Union destruction of Green’s training camp on July 21st. While Moore attempts to prepare for the attack, several of his company commanders without orders allow their men to visit their homes. In a panic, Moore calls for reinforcement from the Iowa State Militia companies in Croton and Keokuk, Iowa, but they would not cross the river in time to participate in the engagement on August 5^th. /1861

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• Firing at Aquia Creek; Salute to Major Anderson; Abandon Harpers Ferry? (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Skirmish at Fairfax; More at Aquia Creek; A Halt at Grafton (civilwardailygazette.com)
• The Situation Around Washington; Shots at Aquia; Support for Contraband (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Civil War Naval Artillery - Part One: The Ubiquitous 32-Pounder (civilwar-online.com)
• A Botched Landing; Not Martial Law; The Anti-Lincoln Press (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Newport News falls; Aquia Creek bombarded (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• A Diary of American Events - June 1, 1861 (dotcw.com)
• July 4, 1861: David Moore elected colonel of the 1st Northeast MO Home Guards (gathkinsons.net)
• August 5, 1861: Battle of Athens, MO (gathkinsons.net)
• Lincoln empowered to declare insurrection's existence (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• July 27, 1861: Missouri convention (gathkinsons.net)

US Congress invests in ironclad technology as blockade tightens

• In Washington, the US Congress authorizes Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to appoint a three-member board to plan and construct “iron or steel-clad steamships or steam batteries” and appropriates $1.5 million dollars for the purpose./1861
• US General Nathaniel Lyon skirmishes with Missouri State Guard troops at McCulla's Store, Missouri/1861 
• In Washington, Prince Napoleon (Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte) of France, the nephew of the former French emperor and traveling in U.S. as private citizen, visits President Lincoln at noon. The Prince, arriving at the White House with Baron Mercier, found no one—neither butler nor doorman—at the main entrance to show him in, and an employee who happened to be passing by, took care of this duty. The meeting was "not so gay"; the Prince, huffed at his reception, "took a cruel pleasure in remaining silent." At 7 p.m., President Lincoln and his wife, Mary, host a state dinner for Prince Napoleon. He is seated at the right of Mrs. Lincoln and opposite General Winfield Scott, who is at the President's left. Gen. George B. McClellan is at the right of the Prince. The dinner turns out to be an unusually sociable and enjoyable affair./1861
• At Hampton Roads, Virginia, John LaMountain makes the first ascent in a balloon from Union ship Fanny to observe Confederate batteries on Sewell’s Point, Virginia—a harbinger of the twentieth century aircraft carrier./1861
• Off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, the USS Wabash, commanded by Captain Mercer, recaptures the American schooner Mary Alice, which had been taken by Confederate ship Dixie, and also captures the blockade running brig Sarah Starr. /1861  
• At Galveston, Texas, the USS South Carolina under Commander Alden, engages Confederate batteries on the Galveston coast./1861

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• William Howard Russell's Diary: Prince Napoleon. - Mr. Brekinridge. (dotcw.com)
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• William Howard Russell's Diary: Reception at Mr. Seward's. - Prince Napoleon. (dotcw.com)
• August 9, 1861: Lyon maneuvers to strike Price (civilwar-online.com)
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Lee to command western Virginia; Petrel sinks

USS Lawrence sinks the Petrel off the SC coast

• West Texas troops under command of Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, on their “buffalo hunt” to sweep out Union presence from the New Mexico Territory, take the fort at St. Augustine Springs without firing a shot./1861
• Confederate troops occupy New Madrid, Missouri, an important choke point on the Mississippi River./1861
• In another Confederate victory, US Maj. Gen. George McClellan is officially named to command the new Army of the Potomac./1861
• In an announcement at Richmond, General Robert E. Lee is assigned command of the western Virginia forces. He will arrive August 1. /1861 
• The schooner Petrel which slipped out of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the night of the 27th, bumps into the U.S.S. Lawrence at dawn. The Petrel runs but is chased down by 10am. As a matter of honor, the captain of the Petrel takes on the 52-gun frigate with her two guns. One shot from the Lawrence sinks her, and the Petrel’s crew surrenders--four drowned /1861 

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• July 8, 1861: "Running the Blockade" (civilwar-online.com)
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• More US military changes; West Texans head for New Mexico (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln Talks to the Troops; CSA Invades the North (Sort Of) (civilwardailygazette.com)

McClellan made Army of Potomac commander

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George B. McClellan

• At Washington, Lincoln officially turns over command of the Federal Division of the Potomac to George B. McClellan, replacing Irvin McDowell, who was routed by Confederates at Manassas almost a week ago. Lincoln summons McClellan to a Cabinet meeting without inviting General of the Army, Winfield Scott. Learning of it, Scott keeps McClellan in a meeting with him until the Cabinet meeting is over. When Gen. McClellan is able to explain his absence to Lincoln, the President is amused. Lincoln wants his new general to seize Manassas Junction and Strasburg, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, and push toward Tennessee, attacking Memphis on the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois, and east Tennessee from Cincinnati, Ohio. Never mind that neutral Kentucky is in the way. Apparently desperate for a good general anywhere he could get one, Lincoln also offers a commission in the US Army to Giuseppe Garibaldi, liberator of Italy. /1861 
• The Confederate privateer Petrel slips out of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, during the night to do damage to Yankee trading vessels. /1861
• At Mathias Point, Virginia, Confederate forces repel a Federal attempt to land a force./1861

Manassas the day after: Fallout & Reflection

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T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson

• Following the disaster for United States forces at Manassas (Bull Run), Virginia, yesterday, the Lincoln Administration has an easy scapegoat. Gen. Irvin McDowell is out and George B. McClellan is in, due to his mastery of the art of self-promotion. McClellan reports to Lincoln at Washington to receive his orders and becomes commander of the Department of Washington and Northeastern Virginia. On the Southern side, Beauregard becomes a full general in the Confederate States Army as a reward for a stunning victory. Meanwhile, Thomas J. Jackson, now being called “Stonewall,” for his actions yesterday on the field at Manassas Junction, writes to his wife, Mary Anna Jackson, “Yesterday we fought a great battle and gained a great victory, for which all the glory is due to God alone. Although under a heavy fire for several continuous hours I received only one wound, the breaking of the longest finger of my left hand; but the doctor says the finger may be saved. It was broken about midway between the hand and knuckle, the ball passing on the side next to the forefinger. Had it struck the centre, I should have lost the finger. My horse was wounded, but not killed. Your coat got an ugly wound near the hip, but my servant, who is very handy, has so far repaired it that it doesn't show very much. My preservation was entirely due, as was the glorious victory, to our God, to whom be all the honor, praise, and glory. The battle was the hardest that I have ever been in, but not near so hot in its fire.” Then Jackson writes to his pastor in Lexington, Virginia, “My dear pastor, in my tent last night, after a fatiguing day's service, I remembered that I failed to send a contribution for our colored Sunday school. Enclosed you will find a check for that object, which please acknowledge at your earliest convenience and oblige yours faithfully.”/1861 
• Union admiral David Farragut’s gunboats move into position to threaten any steamers on the Mississippi River./1861
• The U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution declaring the War is being waged to preserve the Union rather than to end slavery. The Senate will vote on the measure on July 25./1861

• The three-months US volunteers begin to return home as their enlistments come to an end. These enlistments ending are the reason why Lincoln pushed McDowell into a fight. Now McDowell is out of a job because his commander in chief pushed him prematurely into a battle his men were not prepared to fight./1861
• Confusion continues to reign in Missouri. The State Convention meeting at Jefferson City votes to support the Union cause and provides for a new pro-Union government to meet at St. Louis. Pro-Southern Governor Claiborne F. Jackson continues to claim that his administration is the only legal body in Missouri. Meanwhile, US Brigadier General Thomas W. Sweeny marches 45 miles through thunderstorms and skirmishes in the evening with 150 Missouri State Guardsmen at Forsyth, Missouri, taking possession of the town in about an hour, along with a quantity of munitions and supplies left in the courthouse./1861

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• Battle at Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Armies mass at Manassas Junction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• McDowell moves on Manassas Junction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Manassas: Johnston arrives to reinforce Beauregard (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Lincoln to McDowell: "You are all green -- Fight"

• After the Union victories at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill in West Virginia, George B. McClellan is eager to press further into Virginia. Accordingly, General Irvin McDowell advances toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, with 40,000 Union troops./1861
• In the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina, the USS Daylight arrives to establish a blockade. The Daylight cannot handle the job itself, however, and additional vessels will soon be needed./1861

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Irvin McDowell

• Union troops try to cross the Potomac River at Seneca Falls, northwest of Washington but are repulsed by the Confederates led by a company of the Louisiana Tiger Rifles./1861
• US General Irvin McDowell commands the largest army ever assembled by the United States of America at 35,000 strong. But with such little training, the army was little more than an armed mob. President Lincoln wants action to keep the Northern public excited about subjugating the South and the practical reason that many of the three month enlistments will be up on July 22. When McDowell asked for more time for training, the President replied “You are green, it is true; but they are green also. You are all green alike.” When McDowell’s request is proven true in another week on the battlefield, Lincoln will forget his encouragement, and McDowell’s head will roll for losing./1861