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| John S. Carlile |
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| Site of the Wheeling Convention |
- At the First Wheeling Convention of Unionist Virginians seeking to form their own state in Wheeling, western Virginia, a heated debate arises between the two major factions of the Convention. One wants immediate separation from Virginia while the other advocates a structured separation. John S. Carlile of Harrison County insists that the convention has the authority to take action on separation. Delegates form a Committee on Credentials and a Committee on State and Federal Relations. Calling for a state of “New Virginia,” Carlile argues that Virginia must consent to the separation before it secedes from the Union. He feels that this is the only way to comply with Section Three of Article Four of the U.S. Constitution outlining the procedure by which one state is created from another. The Committee on State and Federal Relations recommends that a new state not be formed at this time and advises waiting for the results of the May 23 referendum. By this time, the Virginia Secession Convention has voted to secede, but still to come on May 23 is the referendum in which the people of Virginia will vote to ratify the Virginia Ordinance of Secession./1861
- At the mouth of the Potomac River, the Aquia Creek Battery is spotted by the blockading ship, USS Mount Vernon, but the vessel does not fire on the Virginia Militia who are in the process of adding a second battery aback the bluffs south of the confluence of the Aquia Creek with the Potomac River./1861
- US Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler seizes a vessel at Baltimore, Maryland, loaded with arms for the Confederate States and a large number of guns. Butler imprisons Ross Winans, of Baltimore, at Fort McHenry./1861
- Major Robert Anderson receives word from President Lincoln that despite Kentucky’s neutrality, the Federal government will violate it to provide aid to Kentucky Unionists./1861
- William Tecumseh Sherman reenlists in the US Army and is commissioned commander of the 13th Regular Infantry because of the influence of Ohio Senator John Sherman. After graduating from West Point, Sherman had left the Army for better pay to head the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Institute at Pineville (later Louisiana State University). He resigned in January 1861 to avoid surrendering the Federal Arsenal at Baton Rouge./1861
- US Commander of the Department of Ohio, George B. McClellan, is promoted to major general in the US Army, his same rank in the Ohio militia. Only General-in-Chief Winfield Scott holds a higher rank./1861
- Colonel Thomas J. Jackson directs the seizure of a train at Harpers Ferry, western Virginia. Meanwhile, Colonel George Porterfield arrives in Grafton, western Virginia to recruit and take charge of Confederate troops. After not finding any Confederates in this pro-Union town he goes to Fetterman, western Virginia, and finds Captain W. P. Thompson with his Company of Marion Guards./1861
