Home › Outline History of America › January, 1861

January, 1861

9-When South Carolina determined to secede from the Union Major Anderson was in command of the Federal garrison in Charleston harbor. Seeing that he was to be attacked, he crossed from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, a stronger position. This move was looked upon by South Carolina as a hostile act, and the South Carolinian militia prepared to reduce Fort Sumter. The Star of the West, an unarmed Federal vessel, bearing troops and military munitions to the fort, was fired upon and compelled to go back. This was the first act of hostility of the civil war. The first gun of the war was fired at half-past four o'clock, Friday morning, April 12, 1861, when General Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter.

APRIL, 1861. 18-The Confederates seized Harper's Ferry. The United States armory at that place contained immense quantities of munitions of war, which was of incalculable value to the Confederates at that juncture. Twelve war ships there at the time were scuttled or fired by the captors. 19-The news that the Union flag had been fired on in Charleston harbor was electrical throughout the North. Party lines vanished in the excitement of the moment. President Lincoln issued a requisition for seventy-five thousand troops to suppress the Rebellion, which was responded to by the enlistment of three hundred thousand volunteers. The sixth regiment of Massachusetts was first to go to the defence of Washington. It was attacked by a mob in the streets of Baltimore. Several men of the regiment were killed. This was the first blood shed in the civil war. One of the Union soldiers, shot in the affray, turned around, and saluting the flag, exclaimed : "Hurrah for the Stars and Stripes!" and fell lifeless on the pavement. It was on April 19th, the anniversary of Lexington and Concord. JUNE, 1861.

General George B. McClellan defeated the Confederates at Philippi, in West Virginia. This victory, with those of Rich Mountain, July 11, and Carrick's Ford, July 14, held this portion of Virginia, which was subsequently formed into a separate state within the Union.

JUNE, 1861. 10-After General B. F. Butler occupied Fortress Monroe, an expedition was sent against Big Bethel. It was mismanaged from the outset, and ended in disaster. On the way, the Union troops, by a singular mistake, fired into one another; and when they reached the Confederate position they were repulsed with bloody loss. In this unhappy affray, Major Theodore Winthrop, who gave promise of high literary powers, was killed; as was also Lieutenant Greble, who already had won a marked reputation as an officer.

JULY, 1861. 20-The Confederate Congress was removed from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond, Va., which became the Confederate Capital until the close of the war. 21-General Irvin McDowell encountered the Confederate forces, under General Beauregard, at Bull Run, about twenty-seven miles distant from Alexandria, The Confederates were at first driven from the field, but having been rallied by General T. J. Jackson, and assisted by General Kirby Smith, who had arrived with his force from Manassas Junction, the Union troops were defeated, and the defeat was turned into a rout. This showed the people of the North for the first time the real character of the conflict on which they had entered. Congress voted $500,000,000 and 500,000 men, and made General McClellan commander of the army of the Potomac.