Confederate Congress adjourns; Lee, others made full general

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

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

Related articles

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

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

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• 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)

Spies in White House; Privateer Jefferson Davis wrecks

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St. Augustine, Florida, waterfront in 1860s

• In Washington, President Lincoln receives a warning from Marshal Ward Lamon, in Philadelphia that too many eavesdroppers and traitors lurk about the White House. He urges that security measures be tightened, and a detective employed./1861
• Skirmishes at Pohick Creek, Virginia, and Sandy Hook, Maryland./1861
• Near St. Augustine, Florida, the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis, commanded by Captain Coxetter, wrecks on the bar trying to enter St. Augustine, ending a very successful cruise. The Charleston Mercury (26 August 1861) writes: “The name of the privateer Jefferson Davis has become a word of terror to the Yankees. The number of her prizes and the amount of merchandise which she captured have no parallel since the days of the Saucy Jack [1812 privateer]."/1861

Related articles

• Lyon withdraws from Dug Springs, MO; Alvarado burned (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

US Army changes & NC Stone Fleet ready

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

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  North Carolina coast
  

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

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• The West: Reconnaissance, reinforcements, and reconfigurations (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• A Diary of American Events. - August 9, 1861 (dotcw.com)
• August 13, 1861: The Swamp Fox maneuvers in SE Missouri (gathkinsons.net)

Lincoln moves to curb freedom of New York press

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President Lincoln

• In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation declaring the seceding States in a state of insurrection and prohibiting all trade and public intercourse with them. This proclamation is important as a legal issue. First, it serves notice that no further compromising will be done with the seceded states. In addition it ends a thriving cotton trade in the border states. Most importantly, it makes lawful any action that the Administration would like to take against anyone in the North whom it deems to be trafficking with the enemy. These actions could include curbing freedom of the press and jailing suspected individuals without charges for indefinite periods (suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, which is protected and guaranteed in the US Constitution). And the Lincoln Administration doesn’t waste any time. In New York, the Lincoln Administration indicts several New York newspapers in court for alleged pro- Confederate leanings, among them are the New York Journal of Commerce, the Brooklyn Eagle, and the New York Daily News/1861 
• Patriot and Union forces clash at Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri/1861 

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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

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• 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)

Confederate Navy contracts British shipbuilders

Cmdr. James D. Bulloch, CSN

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

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• May 30, 1861: USS Powhatan seizes a prize off New Orleans (civilwar-online.com)
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• 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)

McCulloch: "Let Missouri choose her destiny"

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Gen. Ben McCulloch

• After Federal forces under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon have chased the pro-secession Missouri State Guard, its commander, Gen. Sterling Price, and its duly elected Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, out of the state capital at Jefferson City and nearly out of the state. At last, at Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, reinforced by Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch’s Western Army composed of Arkansans and Cherokees, they had made a stand, and now Lyon is dead and the Federals in retreat. Gen. Ben McCulloch, today gives Missouri citizens an ultimatum: it is time to take sides. Unlike Lyon and the Federals, McCulloch promises protection to Union sympathizers, but “Missouri must be allowed to choose her own destiny.”/1861

• At Washington, by proclamation, President Lincoln appoints the "last Thursday in September next, as a day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the nation." In a recess appointment, Lincoln reappoints William S. Wood, who had charge of the special train that brought Lincoln to Washington for his inauguration, as commissioner of public buildings, as the Senate failed to act on his appointment before adjourning. /1861
• US Navy Commander J. Rodgers arrives with gunboats USS Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga, at Cairo, Illinois, to protect the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and to guard against Confederate movements./1861

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• Lincoln, Congress make runaway slaves US property (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
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• Congress invests in ironclad technology as blockade tightens (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln ignores Greeley on peace; violates Kentucky sovereignty again (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)

Battle of Wilsons Creek, Missouri; Lyon killed

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Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri

• Confederates under Sterling Price and Benjamin McCulloch rout the Federals at Springfield or Wilson's Creek, Missouri. Federal General Nathaniel Lyon is killed during the battle while leading 5,200 men in battle./1861 
• In Washington, President Lincoln calls on Gen. Winfield Scott at his home to try to adjust the differences between Scott and Gen. George B. McClellan. Scott is jealous of McClellan, and McClellan is hideously vain./1861

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• August 10, 1861: Nathaniel Lyon killed at Wilson's Creek (gathkinsons.net)
• August 9, 1861: Lyon maneuvers to strike Price (civilwar-online.com)
• Wilson's Creek: The First "Big" Campaign (markerhunter.wordpress.com)
• Death of a General Along Wilson's Creek (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Accidental Clash at Dug Springs, Missouri (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Union Army Moves Towards Rebels at Wilson's Creek (civilwardailygazette.com)
• Wilson's Creek, Wyeth's Painting, and Memory (markerhunter.wordpress.com)

Lincoln, Congress make runaway slaves US property

• In Washington, the US Congress, now in lock-step with the dictates of the Lincoln Administration, and trying to finish its legislative agenda for an August recess, gets a flurry of new bills done. President Lincoln and Cabinet members gather at the Capitol to approve and sign those bills. The U.S. Congress approves the Confiscation Act of 1861, permitting seizure of property, including slaves, used to support the rebellion. The act permits the confiscation of any property that had been allowed by the owner to be used by the Confederates against the United States. The act strips their slave owners of any claim to them but does not clarify whether the slaves are free. Because of this uncertainty, slaves who flee to U.S. forces become the property of the U.S. government. Lincoln hesitates before signing the bill. He also signs a law giving freedom to slaves employed by Confederates in carrying on war and approves an act authorizing a penalty for recruiting soldiers or sailors, and for enlisting, against U.S. Congress also passes and Lincoln signs an Army bill establishing the pay of private soldiers with an amendment legalizing the proclamations and orders of President since his inauguration. The Congress then adjourns its special session./1861

• In a show of Federal force disregarding Kentucky’s sovereignty, the US War Department establishes a military camp near Lexington, Kentucky, violating Kentucky’s declared neutrality./1861

Unionists win battle of Athens, Missouri

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

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

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

Related articles

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

US Congress invests in ironclad technology as blockade tightens

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

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• William Howard Russell's Diary: 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)

Lincoln empowered to declare insurrection's existence

Lincoln

• In Washington, the Lincoln Administration submits eleven Union officers’ names to Congress for promotion to brigadier general. Among them are William B. Franklin, Samuel Heintzelman, Joseph Hooker, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant, stationed in Illinois, made a General of Volunteers. Many people North and South realize after the events of July that the war will be more than three months’ duration and now expect it to continue for a few months more./1861
• In a breathtaking increase in tyrannical executive power, President Lincoln approves an act empowering the Chief Executive to decide when and where a state of insurrection exists./1861
• In the new (unelected) pro-Union state government of Missouri, meeting at St. Louis, Hamilton Gamble is elected Governor by the legislature, replacing the duly elected pro-secession Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, who is in command of the Missouri State Guard in southwest Missouri, fighting the US government for Missouri’s right to state sovereignty but being pursued by US Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. Meanwhile in northeast Missouri, following a July 21st attack by Unionist 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guard Regiment commanded by Colonel David Moore at Etna, Missouri, on the secessionist training camp of the Missouri State Guard’s 2nd Division under Colonel Martin E. Green, today Colonel Moore responds by entering Edina in Knox County, Missouri, stampeding the local Home Guards with his 1^st Cavalry Regiment, then proceeding toward his target, Col. Moore's Unionist regiment in Athens. Meanwhile, several hundred of Moore's regiment receive the new Springfield rifled muskets./1861
• Aeronaut John LaMountain makes his first successful balloon flight from Fort Monroe observing Confederate defenses throughout the Hampton Roads area./1861

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• Boonville, balloons, and bowie knives (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Feds occupy Missouri capitol (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Missouri troops win Battle of Carthage (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• May 28, 1861: Price says there's nothing to worry about (gathkinsons.net)
• May 21, 1861: The Price-Harney Truce (gathkinsons.net)

Lincoln ignores Greeley on peace; violates Kentucky sovereignty again

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Horace Greeley

• At Washington, President Lincoln receives the first of a series of letters from newspaper editor (and liberal Republican) Horace Greeley advocating a negotiated peace. 
• Later today, Lincoln asks the Kentucky delegation in Congress if they will consent to "my friend Jesse Bayles" raising "a Kentucky Regiment" in blatant violation of Kentucky’s neutrality./1861

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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