United States Civil War (1861 – 1865) in Real Time

Day 40 of the United States Civil War, May 21st 1861

Alabama

(Confederate States) President Jefferson Finis Davis was authorized to confer temporary grades and commands for officers in the Confederate States’ Provisional Army.

The Confederate Department of the Navy was given the power by the Congress to grant patents concerning inventions such as armed vessels, floating batteries, and other defences.

Africa

The sloop-of-war USS CONSTELLATION under the command of United States Navy, Captain John S Nicholas, captured the slave brig TRITON at the mouth of the Congo River.

Missouri

A convention was held between pro-Confederate Major General of the Missouri State Guard, Sterling Price and United States Army, General Brigadier-General William Selby Harney (Commander of the United States Army's Western Department). They came to an agreement with the aim of restoring order and equilibrium to the state. Harney agreed not to bring any Federal troops into the state if Price maintained law and order with the Missouri State Guard. This decision gave effective control to the Pro-Confederate force and abrogated accepted Federal rights in the state.

Virginia

The gunboat USS MONTICELLO fired two shots at the Sewell’s Point battery near Norfolk but drew off when the battery returned fire.

Second-class sloop USS POCAHONTAS under the command of United States Navy,Commander John P Gillis, seized the steamboat JAMES GUY off Machodoc Creek.

Confederate States Army, Colonel John B. Magruder is assigned to the command at Yorktown.

Virginia State Militia, Major General Robert E. Lee commander of Virginia's forces, issued Special Orders, No. 95, assigning Confederate States Army, Brigadier General M. L. Bonham to command the state's troops on the Alexandria Line:

Special Orders, No. 95

Headquarters Virginia Forces,
Richmond, Va., May 21, 1861.

I. Brig. Gen. M.L. Bonham, of the C.S. Army, is assigned to the command of the troops on the line to Alexandria. He will post his brigade of South Carolina volunteers at Manassas Junction, and establish his headquarters at that point or in advance, as he may find necessary. He will be guided by the instructions given to Col. George H. Terrett, commanding at Alexandria, and Col. P. St. George Cocke, at Culpepper Court-House, whose commands are embraced within his district, and are put under his control.

By order of Major-General Lee:

R.S. Garnett,
Adjutant-General.

United Kingdom

(United states) Minister to the Court of St. James, Charles Francis Adams receives from (United states) President Abraham Lincoln Dispatch No. 10, the dispatch included demands that the British accept the Federal blockade, allow the United States to deal with Confederate privateers as pirates, and pledge to stop interacting (officially or otherwise) with “the domestic enemies of this country.” If Britain tried intervening in the conflict, then “we, from that hour, shall cease to be friends and become once more, as we have twice before been forced to be, enemies of Great Britain.”  (United States Secretary of State) William H. Seward had wanted Adams to read the message to Russell, but Lincoln wisely insisted that Seward change the instructions so that Adams had discretion in his discussion with (United Kingdom) Foreign Secretary Lord Russell and was to use the document only for his own guidance. Adams had the good sense to soften the dispatch by presenting only noninflammatory parts to Russell. Russell, as it happened, had already decided to have no further discussions with the Confederate commissioners.

Day 42 of the United States Civil War, May 23rd 1861

Alabama

Confederate States Marine Corps, Colonel Lloyd J Beall was appointed as the first Commandant of the Confederate States Marine Corps.

California

Skirmish at Larrabee’s Ranch.

Operations were commenced against Indians on the Mad and Eel Rivers.

Massachusetts

The sidewheel frigate USS MISSISSIPPI under the command of United States Navy, Captain William Mervine was compelled to put back into Boston for repairs because acts of sabotage had damaged her steam condensers.

New York

A battery of modern breech-loading 12-pounder Whitworth guns was landed at New York City, as a gift from American patriots abroad.

Virginia

Demonstration at Hampton.

Virginia voters speak, ratifying secession, but exhibiting the lack of unanimity that supporters would have preferred with a vote of 96,750-32,134 in favor.

Two companies of Confederate troops surrendered to United States forces at Clarksburg.

Virginia State Militia, Major-General Walter Gwynn, a former United States Army Engineers officer and former railroad engineer and surveyor, sited and supervised the construction of batteries to defend Norfolk, from late April to early May 1861. This included the active battery at Sewell’s Point. Gwynn commanded the defence of Norfolk until he was relieved by regular Confederate forces on May 23rd 1861.

United States Army, Colonel Justin Dimick retained command of the 415 United States Army garrison soldiers stationed in Fort Monroe, while Massachusetts Militia, Brigadier-General Benjamin Franklin Butler took command of the entire garrison and the region around the fort. With reinforcements arriving continually, Butler planned to advance up the York Peninsula, and also to threaten Norfolk and other locations on the southern coast of Hampton Roads.

With troops belonging to the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment (United States) advanced a few miles northwest from Fort Monroe to the town of Hampton. Some locals saw them coming and tried to burn the bridge linking the fort to the mainland, but the Vermonters quickly put out the fire and crossed. Residents and the few nearby Confederate soldiers fled, leaving their slaves behind. That night, three of the slaves made their way through the Vermonters’ picket line to seek refuge among the Federals. United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Butler, thinking the slaves may have information about enemy positions, summoned them to his headquarters. They revealed that they belonged to Confederate States Army, Colonel Charles K. Mallory, who had them building a battery. Mallory sent Confederate States Army, Major J.B. Cary of his staff to request that Butler return his “property” to him, in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act. Butler refused because the slaves had been put to work for the Confederate war effort against the United States. According to Cary, Butler “indicated his determination to take possession of anything which he might deem necessary for his use.” As such, Butler announced: “I shall hold these Negroes as contraband of war.”

Day 44 of the United States Civil War, May 25th 1861

District of Columbia

(United States) President Abraham Lincoln attends the funeral for United States Army, Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, after laying in state at the White House,

Maryland

Pro-Southern Marylander John Merryman is rousted from his bed at 2:00 A.M. by a United States Army squad and removed to Fort McHenry, the start of what will become a celebrated dispute over civil liberties in wartime.

Virginia

The 69th New York Infantry Regiment (United states) destroyed seven barges and five miles of railroad between Alexandria and Leesburg.

The steamer THOMAS COLYER was captured by sloop-of-war USS PAWNEE under the command of United States Navy, Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan at Alexandria.

The wooden steam frigate USS MINNESOTA under the command of United States Navy, Captain Silas Horton Stringham, seized the bark WINFRED near Hampton Roads.

New York

Harper's Weekly: The Seventy Ninth Regiment (Highlanders), New York State Militia, 25 May 1861

Day 46 of the United States Civil War, May 27th 1861

Alabama

The sidewheel steam frigate USS POWHATAN under the command of United States Navy Lieutenant David Dixon Porter established the naval blockade of Mobile.

South Carolina

Confederate States Army, Brigadier-General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard left Charleston to take command of forces in Virginia. Command of the forces in South Carolina passed to Confederate States Army, Colonel Daniel Harvey Hill.

Virginia

United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Butler sent a force eight miles south from Fortress Monroe to occupy the lightly defended town of Newport News, an excellent anchorage for the United States Navy. Butler’s force established and significantly fortified the new Camp Butler and placed a battery at Newport News Point that could cover the entrance to the James River ship canal and the mouth of the Nansemond River.

United States Army, Colonel Benjamin Franklin Kelley moved his regiment forward from Wheeling towards Grafton to protect the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

Day 48 of the United States Civil War, May 29th 1861

District of Columbia

United States Army, Brigadier General William Selby Harney, commanding the Department of the West, was formally relieved of command. He had been previously suspended because of the embarrassment caused by his expression of explicit pro-slaveholding views in Missouri. By exposing Harney’s partiality to the secessionist cause, United States Army, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon eliminated the Confederate sympathiser Harney from military command in Missouri.

(United States) Secretary of War Simeon Cameron accepted the offer of Dorothea Dix to establish Federal Military hospitals.

Virginia

United States forces including the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment (United States), United States Army, Colonel John A Bendix’s 7th New York Infantry Regiment (United States), 4th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (United States), Scott’s Life Guards, and a detachment of United States Regular artillerymen completed the occupation of Newport News. United States Army, Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler established a camp within artillery range of Fort Monroe at Hampton and set up another fortified camp at Newport News, about 8 miles from the fort.

The Confederate garrison at Harper’s Ferry retired to Martinsburg as enemy forces approached the Potomac River from the north.

(Virginia) Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay - Battle of Aquia Creek

The gunboat USS THOMAS FREEBORN under the command of United States Navy, Commander James H. Ward bombarded Confederate batteries near the mouth of Aquia Creek. The Confederate garrison under Provisional Army of Virginia, Colonel Daniel Ruggles prepared for a landing of troops, but this did not arise. The Confederates reported that USS THOMAS FREEBORN fired 14 shots and wounded one man in the hand.

Louisiana

The Confederate privateer J C CALHOUN captured the American brig PANAMA, which was taken to New Orleans with two earlier prizes, the American schooners MERMAID and JOHN ADAMS.

The sidewheel steam frigate USS POWHATAN under the command of United States Navy, Commander David Dixon Porter, captured the schooner MARY CLINTON attempting to run the block­ade near Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River.

Maryland

United States forces began to move through Maryland towards Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

Day 50 of the United States Civil War, May 31st 1861

District of Columbia

United States Coast Survey vessels BIBB, CRAWFORD and AGASSIZ are transferred to the United States Revenue Cutter Service.

Virginia

George Strong visits the site in Alexandria where United States Army, Colonel Ellsworth perished on May 24th 1861. "Explored the house, which is being carried off by relic hunters in little bits. Flag-staff is nearly cut through; stair-banisters, all gone; pieces of floor and stairs gouged out."

Virginia State Militia, Major General Robert E. Lee issued Special Orders, No. 149, announcing that Virginia State Militia, Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard was assigned to the command of the troops in the Alexandria line near Manassas Junction, Virginia:

Special Orders, No. 149

Headquarters Virginia forces
Richmond, Va., May 31, 1861

General G.T. Beauregard, of the C.S. Army, is assigned to the command of the troops in the Alexandria line. He is referred to the orders heretofore given to his predecessors in that command for the general direction of operations.

By order of Major-General Lee:

R.S. Garnett,
Adjutant-General

(Virginia) Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay - Battle of Aquia Creek

The United States Navy “Flying Flotilla” or Potomac Flotilla was reinforced during the evening by the sloop-of-war USS PAWNEE under the command of United States Navy, Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan. USS PAWNEE added its guns to the continuing naval bombardment of the Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek.

Missouri

United States Army, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, supersedes United States Army, Brigadier General William Selby Harney in Missouri. whose pro-Southern sympathies had brought his loyalty into question.

Kansas

The United States garrisons which had been ordered to evacuate their forts and posts in the Indian Territory arrived at Fort Leavenworth.

Atlantic Ocean

The steamer USS COMMODORE PERRY under the command of United States Navy, Lieutenant Enoch G Parrott, captured the Confederate blockade runner HANNAH M JOHNSON.