State of Kanawha proposed; New CS diplomats approved

• The pro-Union Second Wheeling Convention, the group of thirty-nine western Virginia counties which have seceded from the Commonwealth of Virginia, calls for the creation of the state of Kanawha. /1861
• President Jefferson Davis approves the addition of Confederate commissioners to Europe. Everyone hopes that an eloquent commissioner like Benjamin Franklin can acquire needed arms, supplies, and recognition from Great Britain, France, and Spain/1861
• Pro-Southern and Pro-Northern forces in Missouri battle it out at Jonesboro which follows a similar clash several days earlier at Klapsford. /1861
• US Major-General George B. McClellan assumes command of the newly organized Department of the Potomac, replacing the Departments of Northeastern Virginia, Washington, and the Shenandoah./1861

Related articles

• June 6, 1861: McClellan takes command of Missouri (gathkinsons.net)
• August 18, 1861: George B. McClellan takes control of the Department of the Potomac (civilwar-online.com)
• June 21, 1861: McClellan heads for St. Louis (gathkinsons.net)
• Day of Prayer in Confederacy; Skirmish at Romney, Va. (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

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

Related articles

• May 30, 1861: USS Powhatan seizes a prize off New Orleans (civilwar-online.com)
• July 13, 1861: CSS Patrick Henry ordered to sea (civilwar-online.com)
• 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)
• Confederates surprised at Phillippi (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Merrimack to become ironclad (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

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

Related articles

• William Howard Russell's Diary: Prince Napoleon. - Mr. Brekinridge. (dotcw.com)
• A Peevish Prince, a Hairy-Handed President, a Disastrous Dinner Party (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
• 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)
• McClellan made Army of Potomac commander (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• A Diary of American Events. - August 10, 1861 (dotcw.com)

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 

Related articles

• July 8, 1861: "Running the Blockade" (civilwar-online.com)
• Confederate Invasion of New Mexico; Western Virginia Heats Up (civilwardailygazette.com)
• 2nd Texas arrives at Mesilla; Wise evacuates Tyler Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• 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

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

Related articles

• 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)

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

Related articles

• 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

Image via Wikipedia

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

Battle of Carrick's Ford; Garnett killed

R.S. Garnett

• US Major General George B. McClellan in western Virginia overtakes Brigadier General Robert Seldon Garnett on the Cheat River at Carrick's/Corrick's Ford. While directing his rear guard skirmishers to Garnett is shot and dies minutes later. He is the first general to die during the War. After Garnett dies, his command is routed with 70 killed. Union losses are 53 killed. This battle is significant because McClellan has now successfully taken control of all the western counties of Virginia which have decided to secede from Virginia. West Virginia has important Baltimore & Ohio Railroad lines which bring coal to the coast to fuel the Union naval blockade, and it provides the Union Army with a base of operations to attack Virginia proper. /1861 
• In Washington, the US House of Representatives expels Missouri Congressman John Clark for his pro-secession position./1861

Confederate treaty with Choctaws, Chickasaws

Indian Territory

Choctaw Battle Flag

• The Confederate government represented by Special Commissioner Albert Pike signs a treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. By signing these treaties, the tribes severed their relationships with the federal government, much in the way the southern states did by seceding from the Union. They were accepted into the Confederates States of America, and they sent representatives to the Confederate Congress. The Confederate government promised to protect the Native Americans' land holdings and to fulfill the obligations such as annuity payments made by the federal government. /1861

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  Albert Pike

• George B. McClellan occupies Beverly, western Virginia, while Confederate troops under J.E. Johnston and Robert S. Garnett retreat from Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain into the Cheat River Valley. West and south, Jacob Cox’s Union troops move in on Southern forces under former Virginia governor General Henry Wise in the Great Kanawah Valley./1861

Related articles

• US troops evacuate Indian Territory (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• June 22, 1861: Chief Ross plays a deep game (gathkinsons.net)
• Confederates routed at Rich Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• McClellan moves on Rich Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Kentucky's neutrality; McClellan slowed by terrain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Confederates routed at Rich Mountain

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William Rosecrans

• Image via Wikipedia

  John Pegram

  Union troops under General George B. McClellan score another major victory in western Virginia at the Battle of Rich Mountain. Confederate General Robert Garnett and Colonel John Pegram have positioned their forces at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill to block two key roads and keep McClellan from penetrating any further east. McClellan has planned a feint against Garnett at Laurel Hill while sending the bulk of his force against Pegram at Rich Mountain. In an area of western Virginia with many Union sympathizers, Gen. William S. Rosecrans with 2000 Federal troops is guided on a less-traveled, rugged mountain path to completely surprise the left wing of Lieutenant Colonel John Pegram’s Confederate troops at Rich Mountain. McClellan has promised to attack the Confederate front when he hears gunfire from Rosecrans's direction. After a difficult march through a drenching rain, Rosecrans strikes Pegram’s left wing. After several attempts, he finally drives the Confederates from their position. McClellan shells the Confederates but does not assault them as expected. Each side suffers around 70 casualties. Pegram is forced to abandon his position, but Rosecrans blocks his escape route, forcing Pegram to surrender 560 men and opens the road to Beverly, western Virginia. McClellan gets the credit for Rosecrans’ hard work and becomes a Union hero. McClellan is on his way to becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meanwhile Gen. T.A. Morris forces Gen. Robert S. Garnett to evacuate Laurel Hill, western Virginia. Union losses are 12 killed, 49 wounded. Confederate losses are unknown./1861
• Confederate Congress appropriates $172,523 for the reconstruction of Merrimack into an ironclad. Secretary of the Navy Stephen F. Mallory orders flag Officer French Forrest to begin the transformation of the Merrimack into an ironclad./1861

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  Battle of Rich Mountain

• In Washington, the United States Senate formally expels the following members of that body: J. M. Mason and R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia; T. L. Clingman and Thomas Bragg of North Carolina; Louis T. Wigfall and J. U. Hemphill of Texas; C. B. Mitchell and W. K. Sebastian of Arkansas, and A. O. F. Nicholson of Tennessee./1861

Related articles

• McClellan moves on Rich Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Patterson Reconsiders Attacking; McClellan & Lyon Push Forward (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Ambushing in Western Virginia (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Patterson and McClellan Exaggerate the Rebs (civilwardailygazette.com)

Kentucky's neutrality; McClellan slowed by terrain

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S.B. Buckner

• At the same time that he has ordered the War Department to recruit Union troops in neutral Kentucky, President Lincoln tells the Inspector General of Kentucky State Militia, Simon Bolivar Buckner saying that Union troops will not enter the state because it is neutral. But he couldn't promise it would always be that way./1861
• In Indian Territory, the Confederate government represented by Special Commissioner Albert Pike concludes a treaty of mutual aid with the Creek Indians./1861

• Major General George B. McClellan in West Virginia sends four US infantry regiments and a cavalry unit under General William S. Rosecrans toward Confederates at Rich Mountain at the same time ordering General T.A. Morris toward Confederate troops under Gen. Robert Sheldon Garnett at Laurel Hill, Virginia. However, the attack is slowed by terrain and unfamiliar roads, delaying a battle another day./1861

Related articles

• McClellan invades western Virginia; Mobile, New Orleans blockaded (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• US War Dept. to recruit in Tennessee, Kentucky (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

McClellan moves on Rich Mountain

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G.B. McClellan

• In Western Virginia, US Major General George B. McClellan moves three brigades to Buckhannon and one to Philippi, in preparation for an attack on Robert S. Garnett’s Confederate forces in the direction of Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain, Virginia. While McClellan well outnumbers Garnett, he disbelieves his intelligence and decides to wait until he could receive reinforcements./1861

Jackson destroys Martinsburg Shops

"Jackson Commandeers the Railroad," June 20, 1861. Mort Kunstler

• After evacuating Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson falls back, arriving this afternoon at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Shops at Martinsburg, Virginia, where “forty-two locomotives and their tenders at that important railroad center, in addition to 305 cars, chiefly coal gondolas are located. Pursuant to orders from Joseph E. Johnston, but against his better judgment that railroad equipment should always be saved, Jackson begins a systematic destruction of the Martinsburg yards. Details begin to rip up track and burn cross-ties. Other soldiers set fire to the round houses and machine shops. Locomotives and tenders, as well as at least 305 coal cars, are either set afire, heaved into the Opequon river, or dismantled to the point of uselessness over the next few days./1861

• At Wheeling, western Virginia, across the river from the state of Ohio, Unionist Virginians from the northwestern counties who are disloyal to their state come to an important point in the Second Wheeling Convention. Today the convention selects new officers of the “Restored government of Virginia.” Among them, delegates elect attorney and railroad magnate Francis H. Pierpont of Marion County as provisional governor of “Federal Virginia,” or what will be named West Virginia./1861
• General George B. McClellan assumes command in person of the US Army in western Virginia./1861 
• The governor of Kansas, Charles L. Robinson, today issues a proclamation forming a state militia to defend the new state against spill-over violence from Missouri. Kansas, with just over 100,000 residents statewide, would eventually send 20,000 to war. Robinson, a Republican, had already served prison time in Kansas for his subversive activities with the son of John Brown and his illegal election as territorial governor. Robinson remains the only Kansas governor who was impeached. /1861 
• Veteran naval officer George Nichols Hollins is commissioned a captain in the Confederate Navy. He will go to work in days and will eventually command the famous Mosquito Fleet at New Orleans./1861

Related articles

• Martinsburg burned; Skirmish at Cole Camp, Missouri (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Rebels Attack B&O Where No Rebels Should Be; Jackson Marches (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Jackson completes Martinsburg destruction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Jackson disrupts B&O main line; Missouri Gov. evacuates capital

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Harper's Ferry bridge during the War

• In following orders to abandon Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, and avoid being cut off by McClellan and Patterson advancing from the west and north, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson destroys the 800-foot combined highway-railroad bridge there, effectively closing the main line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for nearly ten months./1861
• Tennessee native Nathan Bedford Forrest enlists in the Confederate army as a private today in Josiah White’s cavalry company/1861
• Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson completes a full-scale evacuation of the state government from Jefferson City as US forces under Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon advance on the city./1861

Related articles

• April 17, 1861: Claiborne Fox Jackson of Missouri refuses troops (gathkinsons.net)
• June 8, 1861: Lyon gives Jackson and Price safe passage (gathkinsons.net)
• Jackson seizes 100mi of B&O; Commons debates CSA recognition (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Jackson moves on B&O; Butler to Fortress Monroe (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Day of Prayer in Confederacy; Skirmish at Romney, Va.

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Pres. Davis

• Today is set aside by President Jefferson Davis as a special day of fasting and prayer in the Confederacy for the “Lord of Hosts to guide and direct our policy in the paths of right, duty, justice, and mercy; to unite our hearts, and our efforts for the defence of our dearest rights: to strengthen our weakness; crown our arms with success, and to enable us to secure a speedy, just, and honorable peace.”/1861 
• In a telegram from Adjutant General Samuel Cooper, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in command at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, is authorized, if he feels the enemy “is about to turn [his] position”, to "destroy everything at Harper’s Ferry" and "retire upon the railroad towards Winchester." Meanwhile as George B. McClellan and Patterson advance from the west and north on the strategic town at the foot of the Shenandoah Valley, Johnston orders Colonel Thomas J. Jackson to abandon Harper's Ferry./1861
• US Brigadier General Lew Wallace, who had received his rank by raising a regiment, the 11^th Indiana, today marches his 500 men from Maryland to Romney, western Virginia, allegedly to protect pro-Union citizens from harassment. After a skirmish at Romney, Wallace retreats to Maryland. Wallace, like so many new paper generals in Lincoln’s Army, is a lawyer and politician who had served in the Mexican War but had no formal military training. He would after the War write the book, Ben Hur./1861
• In Washington, President Lincoln signs legislation forming the United States Sanitary Commission, a civilian organization whose aim is to provide care for the sick & wounded in the war, revolutionizing health care for the US military./1861

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John Carlile

• At the Second Wheeling (western Virginia) Convention, John Carlile introduces to the convention "A Declaration of the People of Virginia," calling for the reorganization of Virginia state government on the grounds that Virginia's secession had in effect vacated all offices of the existing government./1861

Related articles

• Lee Warns Johnston to Hold Harpers Ferry; The Union Advance (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Calls for "New Virginia", Jackson seizes train (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Missouri Gov. calls for 50K; Taney: "Let South go"

Jefferson City, Missouri, 1861

• At Jefferson City, the capital city of Missouri, Governor Claiborne Jackson puts out a call for 50,000 volunteers for the pro-Southern Missouri State Guard, to defend the state from the unlawful Federal takeover of the state’s cities and territory. Then he promptly begins preparations to evacuate the state government from Jefferson City and join the newly assembled State Guard troops near Boonville, Missouri./1861
• At the Second Wheeling Convention in western Virginia, the delegates pass a resolution thanking General McClellan, the Indiana and Ohio Militias, and the 1^st Virginia Infantry (US) commanded by Colonel R.F. Kelley for coming to northwest Virginia. In a statement revealing their rejection of republicanism for national centralization, the convention rebukes the common idea throughout the rest of Virginia that these military units are invading the state, “but on the contrary, we declare Virginia soil to be American soil, and free to the march of American soldiery and sojourn of American citizens, from all and every portion of American territory.”/1861

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SCOTUS Chief Justice Roger Taney

• In response to a letter from former US President and New Hampshire Democrat Franklin Pierce to Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Roger Taney, Taney today thanks Pierce for his support of the Court’s decision in Ex Parte Merryman in which the Court declared Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus unconstitutional. Taney writes that in the case of John Merryman, his duty was clear and that he was forced to meet that duty “directly and firmly, without evasion” regardless of the consequences. Taney adds that he is concerned about the delirium into which the country seems to have been thrown and wishes that Lincoln would let the Southern states go their way and avoid a useless war. “I hope … that the North, as well as the South, will see that a peaceful separation, with free institutions in each section, is far better than the union of all the present states under a military government, and a reign of terror preceded too by a civil war with all its horrors, and which end as it may will prove ruinous to the victors as well as the vanquished. But at present I grieve to say passion and hate sweep everything before them.”/1861

Related articles

• SCOTUS: Suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Ellsworth funeral; Merryman arrested (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Merrimack raised; Lyon replaces Harney (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Capital moves to Richmond; Price-Harney Truce in St. Louis (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• April 17, 1861: Claiborne Fox Jackson of Missouri refuses troops (gathkinsons.net)

Confederates surprised at Philippi, Virginia

• CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana. (Jefferson Davis birthday, 1808).
• The Democrats and the Union lose a strong supporter when Stephen F. Douglas dies unexpectedly at age 48 in Chicago, Illinois,, complications following rheumatic fever or typhoid. In Washington, President Lincoln mourns the “Little Giant” of the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates who had defeated the President in the 1858 US Senate race in Illinois but who lost to Lincoln in the 1860 Presidential election./1861



Battle of Philippi, western Virginia

• Union troops under Colonel R.F. Kelley march out of the mountains through the night in driving rain and this morning surprise Confederate forces under Colonel G.A. Porterfield, at Philippi, western Virginia, and the raw Confederates retreat rapidly under fire. The Confederate troops flee the field so quickly that the Northerners call their triumph the “Philippi Races.” Only a skirmish with about 3000 Union soldiers routing roughly 800 Confederate soldiers, no one is killed in this first land engagement of the war. It helps propel the Union commander - General George B. McClellan to fame. The Confederate defeat also has a bearing on western Virginia’s secession from the Old Dominion as the absence of Confederate troops in the area encourages pro-Union Virginians in the west to declare their support for the North./1861 
• In Washington, Lincoln, continuing under the paranoia of an imminent invasion of the District of Columbia by the demon Southerners, writes commander of the Army Winfield Scott, "I have accounts from different sources, tending to some expectation of an attack being made upon our forces across the Potomac to-morrow morning. I think it prudent to say this to you, although it is highly probable you are better informed than I am[.]"/1861



CSS Savannah flying both US and CS flags

• The privateer Savannah, which left port in Charleston, South Carolina, only yesterday, overhauls the brig Joseph and sends her into Georgetown, SC. In the afternoon the brig U.S.S. Perry attacks and captures the privateer Savannah. Her cruise is ended and her crew is arrested and taken to New York./1861 
• Confederate Secretary of War Stephen F. Mallory instructs Lieutenant John Mercer Brooke to develop an ironclad design for construction in the South./1861
• Against its will but forced by Governor Henry M. Rector, the Arkansas Secession Convention finally adjourns, but political turmoil will continue in Confederate Arkansas. General William J. Hardee will be assigned to command Confederate forces in Arkansas, but many soldiers will not want to join the regular army and risk being moved away from their home state. A lack of organization and cohesive command will plague Arkansas for the remainder of 1861./1861

Related articles

• Calls for "New Virginia", Jackson seizes train (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Tennessee, Arkansas both secede (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Philippi - The First Land Battle (civilwardailygazette.com)
• The Day Before the Attack on Philippi (civilwardailygazette.com)