Davis appoints diplomats; Lincoln: 'Ky. camp stays'

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Gov. Beriah Magoffin

• In Richmond, President Jefferson Davis appoints three new special commissioners to Europe: James M. Mason to Great Britain, John Slidell to France, and Pierre Rost to Spain./1861

  
  

  
  

   
• In Washington, President Lincoln writes Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin that the organized Union force encamped in his state will not be removed. Violating Kentucky’s state neutrality is not his concern./1861

Related articles

• State of Kanawha proposed; Davis appoints 3 new diplomats (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• June 9, 1861: Kentucky's neutrality (gathkinsons.net)
• A Diary of American Events - June 22, 1861 (dotcw.com)
• August 8, 1861: Jefferson Davis on "Alien Enemies" (gathkinsons.net)

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)

The West: Reconnaissance, reinforcements, and reconfigurations

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USS Tyler

• In Richmond, Virginia, President Jefferson Davis orders all Northern men to leave the South in forty days./1861

• On the Mississippi River in Missouri, the USS Tyler and Conestoga under Lieutenant S.L. Phelps scouts the river for Confederate fortifications and movements as far south as New Madrid, Missouri, while Lieutenant Roger N. Stembel of the USS Lexington, operating with the US Army, reconnoiters the river north to Cape Girardeau, Missouri./1861

• At Mathias Point, Virginia, the USS Resolute, under command of Acting Master W. Budd, engages Confederate troops in land batteries while on a reconnaissance mission./1861

• The US Department of Kentucky and the Department of the Cumberland are combined under General Robert Anderson, the Union’s tragic hero of Fort Sumter. The new Department of the Cumberland encompasses both Kentucky and Tennessee, violating Kentucky’s neutrality and laying claim to another state which has allied with the Confederacy. Anderson’s department headquarters situated in Cincinnati, Ohio, demonstrates its geographical fiction and Lincoln's invasive intentions./1861

• In Washington, while President Lincoln directs new reinforcements be sent to subdue Missouri and forcibly hold her in the Union, he anxiously works on the volatile situation in Missouri by telegraph. He telegraphs Gen. John Fremont, commanding the Department of the West at Saint Louis: "Been answering your messages ever since day before yesterday. Do you receive the answers? The War Department has notified all the governors you designate to forward all available force. So telegraphed you. Have you received these messages? Answer immediately." Then he telegraphs Governor Morton of Indiana: "Start your four regiments to Saint Louis at the earliest moment possible. . . . hasten everything forward as soon as any one regiment is ready. . . . We shall endeavor to send you the arms this week."/1861

Related articles

• Lincoln sets day of prayer, makes recess appointment (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• August 8, 1861: Jefferson Davis on "Alien Enemies" (gathkinsons.net)
• First Battle of Mesilla, Arizona (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Martial law declared in St. Louis

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The odd bird John Fremont

• US General John Fremont declares martial law in St. Louis, Missouri. Fremont also orders two newspapers closed for allegedly pro-Southern editorials./1861
• In Richmond, Jefferson Davis orders the banishment of all foreign nationals whose home countries did not recognize the Confederate government./1861
• In Washington, President Lincoln decides to violate further Kentucky’s neutrality and Tennessee’s sovereignty and send assistance to Union men in Kentucky and Tennessee. He selects Brig. Gen. Robert Anderson, a Kentuckian, to command three brigades, and consults again with Tennessee Senator Andrew Johnson and Congressman Maynard. /1861

Related articles

• US War Dept. to recruit in Tennessee, Kentucky (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• August 8, 1861: Jefferson Davis on "Alien Enemies" (gathkinsons.net)
• Tennessee people affirm secession > 2 to 1 (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• A Diary of American Events - May 27, 1861 (dotcw.com)
• A Diary of American Events. - August 14, 1861 (dotcw.com)
• Confederate Navy contracts British shipbuilders (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

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

Related articles

• August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . ." (civilwar-online.com)
• August 4, 1861: Jefferson Davis to P.G.T. Beauregard (civilwar-online.com)
• August 10, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• 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)

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

Related articles

• Butler: "Make the runaways contraband" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Escaped Slaves are Not Free; Gathering Rebels in Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
• August 8, 1861: Jefferson Davis on "Alien Enemies" (gathkinsons.net)
• August 6, 1861: Lincoln signs the Confiscation Act of 1861 (civilwar-online.com)
• Lincoln, Congress make runaway slaves US property (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

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)
• 2nd Texas arrives at Mesilla; Wise evacuates Tyler Mountain (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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Skirmishes at Blackburn's, Mitchell's Ford

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James Longstreet

Daniel Tyler

• US General Irvin McDowell enters Centreville, Virginia, near Manassas and reconnoiters P.G.T. Beauregard's position. A strong skirmish at Blackburn’s Ford proves a probing test for McDowell, but was a complete blundering accident on the part of US Brigadier General Daniel Tyler who surprised himself and the Confederates while checking the ford. Confederate troops under James Longstreet, retreating from the Shenandoah Valley, meet and push back the probing action with the Federals losing 19 killed and 38 wounded and the Longstreet’s losses are 15 dead, 53 wounded. Another probe brings on another skirmish at Mitchell’s Ford. Hearing of Beauregard’s success at Blackburn’s Ford, Jefferson Davis tells him, “God be praised for your successful beginning.”/1861 

Related articles

• July 11, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• Forward to Richmond! Or, How Over-Estimating is Under-Estimating (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Lincoln to McDowell: "You are all green -- Fight" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• McDowell moves on Manassas Junction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Union Army Prepares to Move on Richmond! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• St. Nick Gives Up; McDowell Sets a Date (civilwardailygazette.com)
• "Yesterday, as we left the cars, we had a glimpse of war. It was the saddest sight: the memory of it is hard to shake off - sick soldiers, not wounded ones." - Mary Chesnut's Diary." (dotcw.com)

Johnston to reinforce Beauregard at Manassas

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Beauregard's HQ at Manassas

• Encamped at Manassas with 22,000 men, General P.G.T. Beauregard, nervous about being outnumbered, requests aid in stopping the Federal invasion of Virginia. In a bold move, President Jefferson Davis orders General Joseph E. Johnston by train to Manassas to reinforce Beauregard while US General Robert “Granny” Patterson (the man tasked with keeping Johnston occupied in western Virginia) retreats to Charleston, fighting a small engagement at Scary Creek, western Virginia. /1861

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  PGT Beauregard

• The US government at the direction of the Lincoln Administration, begins issuing paper currency demand notes commonly called "Greenbacks," in order to finance the war with artificial funds created out of thin air and backed by the supposed good name of the Federal government./1861

Related articles

• June 16, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• June 24, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Joseph Johnston (civilwar-online.com)
• June 3, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard writes to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• July 11, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• 10K Feds advancing in Virginia; Beauregard: "Answer me!" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Patterson maneuvers in western Virginia (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Union Army Prepares to Move on Richmond! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Feds try to stop Johnston's movement toward Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• The Union Advances Towards Manassas! Revenge on the High Seas! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• To Secure New Mexico for the CSA; Johnston and Beauregard Makes Some Plans (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Forward to Richmond! Or, How Over-Estimating is Under-Estimating (civilwardailygazette.com)

Diplomacy and the Confederate Navy

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Cdr. Raphael Semmes, CSN

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Cienfuegos, Cuba

• At Cienfuegos, Cuba, the commander of the CSS Sumter, Raphael Semmes, has in less than a week captured seven United States shipping vessels. He attempts to deposit the prizes in the port of Cienfuegos by casually telling the Spanish colonial governor that he assumes Cuba would treat Confederate ships with “the same friendly reception as to cruisers of the enemy.” Because such action could appear as diplomatic recognition of the Confederate government, the governor refuses the vessels, and Semmes is forced to release his prizes./1861
• President Jefferson Davis writes Lincoln that if the captured crewmen of the CSS Savannah are executed as pirates as has been determined, that Davis will order a like number of Northern prisoners executed. /1861 

Related articles

• The Escape of the CSS Sumter (civilwardailygazette.com)
• April 22, 1861: Raphael Semmes takes command of CSS Sumter (civilwar-online.com)
• June 30, 1861: The CSS Sumter runs the Blockade! (civilwar-online.com)
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• CSS Sumter runs blockade, begins career (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

27th Congress special session convenes

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• It’s the big day in Washington, and not just because it is the first Independence Day since the war began. A special called session of the 27^th Congress convenes, summoned by President Lincoln to handle his war measures, and fund his war to destroy the republic and preserve the Union. In a speech meant more for the press than the Congress, Lincoln addresses a joint session claiming the North has done everything in its power to maintain peace. He says his Administration has attempted to solve the problems without resorting to war, problems which he maintains the South has caused by seceding. The similarities between Lincoln’s list of tyrannical acts and claims and the offenses of King George III described in the Declaration of Independence are striking. Lincoln blames his entire fiasco at Fort Sumter on the South and insists that the United States must maintain its “territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.” If the man had any integrity himself, he would have understood that once the states seceded that they were no longer domestic foes. Again Lincoln belabors his position concerning the indivisibility of the Union, using that heretofore unknown national policy to justify his unconstitutional Presidential declaration of war on the Confederate States. Then the President concludes his address with a now-typical Lincoln request for 40,000 additional troops from the Northern states./1861
• Although no longer an official holiday in the South, this day still has an air of gratefulness to God and celebration of Freedom; and in honor of the day, President Jefferson Davis presents a Confederate flag to the Maryland Regiment in the Confederate Army. /1861 
• At Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Confederate and Federal troops briefly skirmish as they pour into the lower Shenandoah Valley./1861

Related articles

• April 15, 1861: Lincoln calls for troops (gathkinsons.net)
• Monday, April 15, 1861 (blogs.the-american-interest.com)
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North Carolina adopts a state flag

• In Raleigh, the North Carolina Secession Convention votes to adopt a state flag of a blue field with a white horizontal bar and a red vertical bar on the left side with an insignia star and two dates: May 20th, 1775 (Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence) and May 20th, 1861 (Secession from the United States)./1861 

• 

  John Winder
  

  Career US Army officer from Maryland, John H. Winder, is today commissioned Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and assigned  one of the most difficult jobs of the war – Assistant Inspector General for the military Camps of Instruction in the Richmond vicinity. Winder is charged with arming, clothing and equipping the Confederate recruits, local law enforcement, setting commodity prices in a city that is doubling in population, handling paperwork for those unfit for service, capturing deserters, caring for the sick and wounded, and later overseeing military prisons for prisoners of war. His job would prove nearly impossible, hamstrung by the Confederacy's dismal supply system and diminishing resources. Northern newspapers would accuse him of intentionally starving Union prisoners. President Jefferson Davis, Secretary James Seddon, and Adjutant Samuel Cooper would later agree that he was a much-maligned man, set to perform a task made impossible by the inadequacy of supplies of men, food, clothing, and medicines. Despite the criticisms, Winder would order that Federal prisoners receive the same ration as did Confederate soldiers in the field, scanty as it was./1861 
• Career US Navy officer, George N. Hollins, is commissioned a captain in the Confederate States Navy. A veteran of the War of 1812, Hollins joined the navy at age 15 and had a long and distinguished career. The Maryland native had been commander of the USS Susquehanna in the Mediterranean squadron when hostilities erupted. When he put in at Naples in May 1861, he received orders to return to New York. There he resigned his commission. After a brief stop in his hometown, Baltimore, Hollins offered his services to the Confederacy and receives his commission today./1861.

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)

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)