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| Confederate bond |
- In Charleston, Missouri, the Battle of Charleston (Bird's Point) is a minor clash in
which Union forces led by Col. Henry
Dougherty destroy a Confederate camp. This skirmish is the culmination of
several skirmishes in the Charleston and Bird's Point area for the past
week between pro-Union forces and secession groups./1861
- Newspaper
offices in Easton and West Chester, Pennsylvania, are seized by the
Lincoln Administration for their supposed Southern sympathies. The editor
of the Essex County Democrat in Haverhill, Massachusetts, is tarred and
feathered for his pro-Confederate feelings/1861
- Trying
to settle the political and military chaos in Missouri, the Confederate
Congress in Richmond, Virginia, agrees
to an alliance with
Missouri's secessionist government The Congress also passes an Act authorizing the sale
of Confederate Bonds. /1861
- US Assistant Secretary of the
Navy Gustavus V. Fox orders 200 US Marines to report to Commander Dahlgren
at the Washington Navy Yard for duty on board ships of the Potomac
Flotilla for the purpose of scouting the Maryland countryside—especially
Port Tobacco—for locations suspected of being Confederate depots for
provisions and arms to be used for invading Maryland./1861
- In
Washington, Henry
Halleck is promoted to Major General./1861
- In Montgomery, Alabama, Congressman Walter Brooke of Mississippi introduces a bill in Confederate Congress to move the capital city to Richmond, Virginia./1861
- President Lincoln writes Gustavus V. Fox, to encourage him as he was deeply disappointed he could not resupply Fort Sumter in time to keep Major Anderson in the fort. Lincoln’s encouragement shows from his own hand his shrewd plan to force war on the South, “You and I both anticipated that the cause of the country would be advanced by making the attempt . . . even if it should fail."/1861
- Soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment who were killed in the Baltimore riots on April 19 are honored at ceremonies in Boston./1861
- Governor Letcher of Virginia calls for volunteers for the Confederate army while in Nebraska Territory, a call for volunteers to support the Union goes out./1861
- In one of his first orders as commander of the State Militia, Major General Robert E. Lee orders Major Thomas J. Jackson to the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to remove all weapons and equipment for gun and cannon manufacturing as well as any other munitions and move them South to keep them from the danger of being stolen by Federal forces from the north or Unionist sympathizers from Virginia./1861
- Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, part of the Unionist Douglas faction of the Democratic party, but privately a secessionist, calls out the Missouri Volunteer Militia for maneuvers about 4.5 miles northwest of the St. Louis Federal Arsenal at a place called Lindell's Grove. The militia, under command of General David M. Frost, names their training ground Camp Jackson after their governor. Governor Jackson wants them to prepare to assault and take the Federal Arsenal, the largest depository of munitions west of the Appalachian Mountains./1861
- Federal forces seize two Confederate ships in the waters of the Atlantic, and the U.S. Navy blockades the mouth of the James River./1861
- Union army officer James R. Greene, assisting in the evacuation of US troops from Texas, reports to fellow officer C. C. Sibley that, while carrying out his responsibility, he had heard a rumor that his command was to be made prisoners of war. Not believing it, he still checked it out and found it to be true./1861
