2nd Texas arrives at Mesilla; Wise evacuates Tyler Mountain

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Stonewall Jackson

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

Related articles

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

Battle at Manassas

US General Rickett's Battery fleeing the field at Manassas, Virginia

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"There stands Jackson like a stone wall ..."

Image by The National Guard via Flickr

4th Alabama

• About 25 miles southwest of Washington the first major battle of the War places US Gen. Irvin McDowell’s 35,000, some of whom are regular troops against Confederate Generals P. G. T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston’s 30,000 volunteers. With neither army well-trained and dressed in both blue and gray with similar flags, the day would shape up to be confusing. Unknown to McDowell’s troops situated at Sudley Ford on Bull Run, Johnston has combined forces with Jackson. McDowell hopes to surprise the Confederates by striking them on the left flank at the Stone Bridge, but after Northern Artillery opens at 5 o’clock in the morning, the Southerners learn of the Union advance. Confederate General N.G. Evans meets McDowell’s troops as they approach from Sudley Ford, holding the Southern position until around noon. The Confederates then fall back to Henry House Hill where Evans, Jackson, and others, make a strong stand. McDowell's feint on the Confederate front is believed to be the real attack until McDowell hits Beauregard's flank in force when McDowell’s forces advance on Henry House Hill around 2 o’clock as Beauregard and Johnston reinforce Evans’ tired troops. An order from Old Bory to Ewell directing an attack on McDowell's left does not reach him, but the stand that Thomas J. Jackson’s men take on the field in the midst of smoke and dust inspires Gen. Barnard Bee to rally his South Carolinians, “There stands Jackson like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer.” Thus the famous sobriquet. Bee died in the next charge. Despite Union attempts to charge Henry House Hill, the Southerners hold fast and are successful in driving the Federals back in defeat. As Union forces press hard against the Confederate left flank, the 4th Alabama Volunteer Infantry plugs the gap while other Southern forces form a defensive line behind them. The 4th holds its ground for more than an hour, repulsing four assaults by Union troops. (The 4th Alabama would fight in every major engagement in the Eastern Theater of the war, surrendering less than 100 men at Appomattox in April 1865.) Finally the Confederates regroup and attack. As McDowell’s men pull away, panic strikes when a shell destroys a wagon which blocks the main road of retreat. Union troops scatter and run, every man for himself. Though for a time it could have gone the opposite direction, the Confederates rout McDowell at the Battle of Manassas Junction, Virginia. The battle is costly. Confederates lose 387 dead, 1,582 wounded, 13 missing. Union losses are 460 killed, 1,124 wounded, and 1,312 missing.  President Jefferson Davis observes the Southern victory from Manassas, while in Washington, Lincoln, hearing of the complete defeat, sequesters himself with his Cabinet, and everyone North and South realize the war has begun with earnest./1861  
• As Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon is in the southwest portion of Missouri pursuing the secessionist Missouri State Guard, Unionist Missouri Home Guard companies are forming throughout the state, while stranded secessionists are still trying to organize. At Kahoka, Missouri, David Moore has been elected colonel of the 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guard Regiment, but he has dissension in his own command and a growing secessionist force under Colonel Martin E. Green of the Missouri State Guard’s 2nd Division at a training camp on the Horseshoe Bend of the Fabius River. Green has just formed the 1st Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Division, Missouri State Guard commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph C. Porter and Major Benjamin W. Shacklett. Colonel Moore decides to strike the local secessionist and then fall back to Athens to be close to the Croton, Iowa, supply depot and support from the Iowa militia. On July 21, with the help of a company of Illinois militia and a company of Iowa Home Guards he attacks the village of Etna in Scotland County, Missouri, and drives off Shacklett's MSG cavalry. He then fell back to Athens./1861

• Now back in Georgia, Robert Toombs, who has recently resigned as Confederate Secretary of State, is made a Brigadier General of a Georgia brigade./1861

• General Banks supersedes General Patterson in command of the Department of the Shenandoah. /1861 
• The USS Albatross, under Naval Commander Prentiss, engages the CSS Beaufort, commanded by Lieutenant R. C. Duvall, in Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. The Albatross with heavier guns forces the Beaufort to withdraw./1861

Bull Run Animated Map from Civil War Trust on Vimeo.

Related articles

• Both Armies to Attack Across Bull Run! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Battle of Blackburn's Ford and Johnston Steals a March (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Day After the Battle: The Sun Rises, but Shines Not (civilwardailygazette.com)
• July 18, 1861: The Battle of Blackburn's Ford (civilwar-online.com)
• Jackson Arrives at Manassas; Patterson in the Dark, Out the Door (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Armies mass at Manassas Junction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• McDowell Moves Deeper While Patterson Blunders (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Colossal Battle at Bull Run! The Union Army Routed from the Field! (civilwardailygazette.com)

Armies mass at Manassas Junction

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Stone Bridge over Bull Run

• Third session of Confederate Congress convenes in Richmond, Virginia, having moved from Montgomery, Alabama. /1861 
• Around Manassas Junction, Virginia, troops begin to mass. US Gen. Irvin McDowell has 1,300 men near Sudley Ford on Bull Run, a creek running by Manassas. Other Union troops travel by the Stone Bridge over Bull Run. Joseph Johnston's 1,400 Confederate troops, fresh from Shenandoah Valley join Jackson’s 2,500 and P.G. T. Beauregard’s at Manassas, yet problems have arisen in the transport of the troops. The troop train broke down, nearly defeating the Confederate army. The tension is high, and an ominous stillness hangs in the hot July air./1861 
• The New York Tribune compares Peace Democrats to the venomous Copperhead snake, which strikes without warning. During the War, Northerners who advocated a negotiated settlement with the South become known as Peace Democrats or Copperheads./1861

Related articles

• Skirmishes at Blackburn's, Mitchell's Ford (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• McDowell moves on Manassas Junction (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Feds try to stop Johnston's movement toward Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• July 18, 1861: The Battle of Blackburn's Ford (civilwar-online.com)
• Battle of Blackburn's Ford and Johnston Steals a March (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Johnston to reinforce Beauregard at Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• July 11, 1861: P.G.T. Beauregard to Jefferson Davis (civilwar-online.com)
• First battle of Civil War still relevant 

Feds invade the Valley; Suspension of habeas corpus extended to NYC

The first cannon used to defend the Valley

• Raphael Semmes in the CSS Sumter burns the Golden Rocket at Sea in the Gulf of Mexico. /1861 
• Federal troops under Gen. Robert Patterson cross the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland, and head toward Harper’s Ferry and the Shenandoah Valley where they intend to curtail the movement of Confederate forces toward Manassas Junction, Virginia. In the process, they push Confederate troops under Thomas J. Jackson off the field at the Battle of Hoke’s Run in West Virginia. Also, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson fights an engagement at Hainesville near Martinsburg, West Virginia. At this battle the first hostile cannon shot is fired in the Defense of the Valley of Virginia./1861 

• In Washington, Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to General of the Army Winfield Scott, expands the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to areas between Washington and New York City. Previously he has already suspended it between Baltimore and Washington and in parts of Missouri. The Supreme Court has already ruled Lincoln’s suspension unconstitutional, but Lincoln ignores the ruling, extending his tyranny up the seaboard, taking away the rights of citizens to speak against the government or have some recourse against the military. The rights of habeas corpus are enshrined in the United States Constitution, and are so central to a civilized society that to suspend them strips the rights of every citizen. Habeas corpus (Latin for “bring forth the body") provides for a citizen's right to a fair trial, the right to face one's accuser, and force the accuser to prove the guilt of the accused. Habeas corpus protects against unlawful arrests and prevents unlawful imprisonment. It is a common feature of Western civilization. That is, until Lincoln arrived in town from Springfield, Illinois. In other business, General John Fremont meets with President Lincoln in Washington to discuss Fremont’s appointment to command US forces in Missouri where there have been crazy politics and violent unrest. Lincoln wants Missouri stabilized and forced by military might to stay in the Union. Never has a US President been so brazen./1861

• At Wheeling, in western “Federal” Virginia, a new legislature convenes with the backing of the Lincoln Administration./1861

Related articles

• CSS Sumter runs blockade, begins career (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• June 29, 1861: CSS Sumter ready for sea (civilwar-online.com)
• June 21, 1861: CSS Sumter nearly ready for sea (civilwar-online.com)
• June 30, 1861: The CSS Sumter runs the Blockade! (civilwar-online.com)
• Lincoln recognizes "Federal" Virginia (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Johnston evacuates Harper's Ferry (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• The Escape of the CSS Sumter (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Ex parte Merryman and Abraham Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus by Andrew Young (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• SCOTUS: Suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln suspends writ of habeas corpus (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Habeas corpus (crisskross.wordpress.com)
• Lincoln Suspends Writ of Habeas Corpus; Jackson to the Valley (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Ellsworth funeral; Merryman arrested (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Missouri Gov. calls for 50K; Taney: "Let South go" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Lincoln: "Bag Jackson"

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1865 British Gatling Gun

• Today in the hayloft of Hall’s carriage shop across from the Willard Hotel in Washington, J.D. Mills of New York demonstrates his new shooting machine to three Cabinet members, five generals, and the Governor of Connecticut. Mills had demonstrated the new weapon for President Abraham Lincoln in yesterday. It is a single barreled gun mounted on an artillery carriage – similar to the Gatling Gun, an early form of the machine gun. The gunner simply turns the crank and the .58 caliber bullets, in special metal jackets, feed in one after the other. The commander of the Washington defenses, Gen. Joseph Mansfield, begs for some of the machines. The Chief of Ordnance, General James Wolfe Ripley, however, refuses to order them on the ground that they use too much ammunition./1861
• In Washington, President Lincoln calls a conference with Gens. Scott, Meigs, and John A. Dix, and cabinet to consider the military situation. "The President expresses a strong desire to bag [Gen. Thomas J. ('Stonewall')] Jackson [(CSA)]."/1861

Related articles

• Washington's security worries Lincoln (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Jackson completes Martinsburg destruction

• At Martinsburg, western Virginia, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, against his personal feelings but obeying Joseph Johnston’s orders, completes the destruction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Shops, roundhouses, 42 locomotives and at least 305 rail cars valued at over $400,000./1861
• At Falls Church, Virginia, Professor Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe, whose academic connections are unclear, today demonstrates the reconnaissance value of his hot air balloon by ascending with an artist to observe the encamped Confederate units nearby while the artist sketches the scene, providing an aerial image of the Southern position./1861

Related articles

• Boonville, balloons, and bowie knives (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Martinsburg burned; Skirmish at Cole Camp, Missouri (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Jackson destroys Martinburg Shops (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Not the Worst Day for Ballooning (civilwardailygazette.com)

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)

Martinsburg burned; Skirmish at Cole Camp, Missouri

Martinsburg, (West) Virginia June 19-20, 1861

• While Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Col. Thomas J. Jackson are on the road retreating from Harper’s Ferry toward Winchester, Virginia, Johnston is concerned that Union troops might be advancing toward Martinsburg, (West) Virginia, where Colonel J.E.B. Stuart is, twenty miles north of Winchester. Johnson orders Jackson to join Stuart and destroy the important Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops before they fall into Union hands./1861
• The Pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard defeats the pro-Union Missouri Home Guard in a battle at Cole Camp in Benton County, Missouri. The Confederate victory provides an open line of march for the fleeing Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Missouri State Guard to get away from US Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's force in Boonville, Missouri./1861
• At the Second Wheeling Convention in western Virginia, delegates vote unanimously to follow US Constitutional restrictions for formation of new states and form a loyal government of Virginia which would permit creation of a new state./1861

Related articles

• 2nd Wheeling Convention opens; Lyon: "This means war" (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Feds occupy Missouri capitol (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Patterson Confused While Scott is Silent (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Boonville, balloons, and bowie knives (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Skirmishes at Boonville, Pooleville and Vienna; Johnston to Attack! (civilwardailygazette.com)
• June 17, 1861: The battle of Boonville (gathkinsons.net)

Feds occupy Missouri capitol

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US BG N. Lyon

• US Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon with approximately 1,400 volunteers and U.S. Army regulars occupies the capitol building at Jefferson City without firing a shot and turns to pursue Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson who finished evacuating the capital yesterday to join the Missouri State Guard at Boonville, Missouri./1861

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Harper's Ferry today

• Around Harpers Ferry, Virginia, both Confederate and Federal forces are maneuvering near the hamlet where most observers have for some time expected the first large scale battle to take place. Both armies are spending significant effort destroying as much as possible to deny it to the enemy. Near Point of Rocks, Maryland, where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad crosses the Potomac River into Virginia for 120 miles, the US Corps of Engineers today find and  explode a 100-ton boulder which they have found sitting on the tracks. To this day no one has figured out how retreating Confederate troops under Colonel Thomas J. Jackson were able to place the boulder there./1861
• The brig USS Perry arrives at New York with the privateer Savannah, captured June 4. The Savannah's crew is paraded through the streets in chains and thrown into cells reserved for felons. They are accused of piracy and face the hangman’s noose./1861

Related articles

• Merrimack raised; Lyon replaces Harney (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Jackson moves on B&O; Butler to Fortress Monroe (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• June 8, 1861: Lyon gives Jackson and Price safe passage (gathkinsons.net)
• Beauregard takes command; Jackson burns B&O assets (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Virginia secession ratified; Jackson bags B&O (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• June 1, 1861: Lyon turns the arsenal over to Blair (gathkinsons.net)

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)
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Delegates chosen for 2nd Wheeling Convention

USRC Harriet Lane

• At Wheeling, western Virginia, delegates are selected to the Second Wheeling Convention to secede from the commonwealth of Virginia./1861
• The Confederate shore battery at Pig Point, near Hampton Roads, Virginia, today fires on the US revenue cutter Harriet Lane commanded by Captain Faunce. The Harriet Lane, named for the niece of President James Buchanan, was part of the infamous Fox Expedition which precipitated P.G.T. Beauregard’s firing on Fort Sumter in April. The Harriet Lane had fired the first naval shot of the War outside Charleston Harbor, SC, when the US mail steamer Nashville appeared on the night of April 11^th no colors flying./1861

Related articles

• The Duty which the Soldier Owes to His Country (Richmond Enquirer June 4, 1861)
• May 13, 1861: Western Virginia - Convention begins at Wheeling (gathkinsons.net)
• Calls for "New Virginia", Jackson seizes train (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• NC elects convention; Unionist Virginians meet at Wheeling (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Wheeling Convention closes; Lincoln: "Protect the gold" (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)

Beauregard takes command; Jackson burns B&O assets

T.J. Jackson

• Miscommunication and zeal lead the Confederate forces under Colonel Thomas J. Jackson in western Virginia to continue destroying Baltimore and Ohio Railroad assets. Major General Robert E. Lee had on May 6 ordered Jackson to destroy B&O railroad bridges to frustrate the Union advance on Harper's Ferry. After burning the B&O Railroad bridge over Opequon Creek two miles east of Martinsburg, western Virginia, Jackson’s men set fire to fifty coal cars and run them off the destroyed trestle, where they will burn for two months, the intense heat melting the axles and wheels. The fifty-two remaining locomotives and rail cars at the round house in Martinsburg are thereby left stranded, preventing their removal by rail to the south./1861



PGT Beauregard

• Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard takes command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac at the Alexandria Line, succeeding Milledge L. Bonham. The immediate concern is Col. R.F. Kelley in western Virginia who is moving US troops despite driving rain. Beauregard’s command would become known as the Army of Northern Virginia./1861
• The privateer Savannah leaves Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, to go hunting for Yankee trading vessels./1861 

Related articles

• 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)
• Virginia secession ratified; Jackson bags B&O (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Beauregard to command Confederate army in Virginia (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Calls for "New Virginia", Jackson seizes train (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)