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MAY

  9. Nomination of John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President, at Baltimore, Md., by the Union convention.

NOVEMBER

  6. Lincoln and Hamlin chosen President and Vice-President by the electoral votes of seventeen States.
  9. An attempt to seize the arms in Fort Moultrie.
11. Senator Hammond, of South Carolina, resigned.
18. Georgia legislature appropriated $1,000,000 to arm the State; Major Anderson sent to Fort Moultrie to relieve Colonel Gardner.

DECEMBER

  1. Great secession meeting in Memphis.
  3. Congress met. President Buchanan denied the right of a State to secede.
10. Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned; Senator Clay, of Alabama, resigned.
13. An extra session of the Cabinet was held to consider the question of reinforcing Fort Moultrie; President Buchanan opposed it, and reinforcements were not sent.
14. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, resigned because President Buchanan refused to reinforce Fort Moultrie.
18. The Crittenden compromise introduced in the United States Senate.
20. South Carolina convention adopted a secession ordinance by a unanimous vote.
24. South Carolina members of Congress resigned.
26. Major Anderson left Fort Moultrie and took possession of Fort Sumter/
27. The State troops of South Carolina seized the Government property in Charleston and took possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie.
29. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned because the President refused to withdraw the troops from Fort Sumter.
30. United States arsenal at Charleston seized by State troops.

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JANUARY

  2. Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, took possession of Fort Macon.
  3. Georgia State troops seized Fort Pulaski.
  4. United States arsenal at Mount Vernon, Ala., seized by State troops.
  5. Forts Morgan and Gaines, Ala., seized by State troops.
  6. United States arsenal at Apalachicola, Fla., seized by State troops.
  7. Fort Marion, Fla., seized by State troops.
  8. Jacob B. Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned because the Star of the West was sent to Charleston with troops.
  9. Steamer Star of the West, with supplies for Fort Sumter, fired on by Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor and driven back; Fort Johnston, N.C., seized by the citizens of Smithville; Mississippi adopted the ordinance of secession.
10. Florida adopted the ordinance of secession; United States troops transferred from Fort Barrancas to Fort Pickens, Fla.; Fort Caswell, N.C., seized by the citizens of Smithville and Wilmington.
11. P.B. Thomas, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and was succeeded by John A. Dix, of New York; governor of Louisiana seized Forts Philip, Jackson, Pike, and Macomb, and the United States arsenal at Baton Rouge; governor of South Carolina demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter, which Major Anderson refused; Alabama adopted the ordinance of secession.
12. Florida State troops took possession of Pensacola Navy-Yard and Forts Barrancas and McRee; surrender of Fort Pickens demanded.
13. Lieutenant Slemmer, in command of Fort Pickens, refused to obey Commodore Armstrong's order to surrender the fort to the Florida troops.
16. Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, demanded of President Buchanan the surrender of Fort Sumter, which was refused.
18. Virginia appropriated $1,000,000 for the defense of the State.
19. Georgia passed the act of secession.
20. Forts on Ship Island, Mississippi, seized by State troops.
21. Jefferson Davis resigned his seat in the United States Senate; members of Congress from Alabama resigned.
23. Members of Congress from Georgia resigned.
24. The Confederates seized the United States arsenal at Augusta, Ga.
26. Oglethorpe Barracks, at Savannah, Ga., and Fort Jackson seized by State troops.
27. John B. Floyd, late Secretary of War, indicted by the grand jury at Washington D.C., for maladministration of office and for conspiracy.
29. Kansas admitted into the Union.
30. The North Carolina legislature submitted the convention question to the people. This was the first instance of the will of the people being consulted in regard to the question of secession.

FEBRUARY

  1. Texas passed an ordinance of secession to be submitted to the will of the people; Louisiana seized the United States mint nd custom-house at New Orleans.
  4. Delegates from the seceded States met at Montgomery, Ala., to organize a Confederate government; peace congress met at Washington, D.C., ex-President Tyler being chosen president.
  7. The Choctaw Nation declared its adherence to the Southern Confederacy.
  8. United States arsenal at Little Rock, Ark., seized.
  9. Jefferson Davis and A.H. Stephens were elected provisional president and vice-president of the Confederate States.
13. Lincoln and Hamlin declared elected after the official count.
16. United States arsenal and barracks at San Antonio, Tex., seized by Confederates.
18. General Twiggs surrendered United States Government property in Texas, valued at $1,200,000, to the Confederacy.
19. General Twiggs superseded by Colonel Waite, U.S.A.; Fort Kearny, Nebr., seized.
23. Unexpected arrival of Lincoln in Washington, having traveled from Illinois secretly because of a plot to assassinate him while passing through Baltimore, Md.

MARCH

  1. General Twiggs expelled from the United States Army; the peace congress adjourned; the Confederate government assumed control of military affairs at Charleston, S.C.
  3. General Beauregard took command of Confederate troops at Charleston, S.C.
  4. Inauguration of Lincoln and Hamlin; the ordinance of secession was passed by the Texas convention after having been submitted to the people.
  6. Fort Brown, Tex., surrendered by Captain Hill, U.S.A.
  9. Confederate Congress passed an act to establish an army.
11. General Bragg assumed command of the Confederate forces in Florida.
22. Col. William W. Loring, U.S.A., assumed command of the Department of New Mexico.
28. Vote of Louisiana on secession made public; 20,448 for, 17,926 against.
30. Mississippi convention ratified Confederate constitution by a vote of 78 to 70.

APRIL

  3. South Carolina convention ratified the Confederate constitution by a vote of 114 to 16.
  4. Virginia convention, by a vote of 89 to 45, refused to submit an ordinance of secession tot he people.
  7. All intercourse between Fort Sumter and Charleston, S.C., stopped by order of General Beauregard.
  8. The United States Government notified the South Carolina authorities that provisions would be sent to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter by force, if necessary; the State Department refused to recognize the commissioners from the Confederate States.
11. United States troops were stationed at Washington, D.C.; the Confederate commissioners left Washington, D.C.; General Beauregard demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter; Major Anderson refused.
12. Bombardment of Fort Sumter; Fort Moultrie opened fire at 4 o'clock a.m.; Fort Sumter did not reply until 7 o'clock; Major Anderson had under his command 111 men, including officers, musicians, and laborers.
13. The bombardment continued; by noon most of the woodwork was on fire; General Wigfall came with a flag of truce, and arrangements were made for evacuating the fort; the terms were that the garrison should take all its individual and company property; that they should march out with their side arms in their own way, at their own time, and that they should salute their flag and take it with them; Daniel Hough, private, Battery E, First United States Artillery, was killed by the premature explosion of a cannon while saluting the Union flag on Fort Sumter at the evacuation; he was buried on the 15th, with all the honors of war, by order of General Beauregard, C.S.A.; he was the first soldier killed in the war; Col. Harvey Brown, Second United States Artillery, assumed command of the Department of Florida.
14. Major Anderson and his men sailed for New York.
15. President Lincoln issued a proclamation commanding all persons in arms against the Government to disperse within twenty days, and also called for 75,000 troops; President Lincoln called an extra session of Congress to meet July 4; the governor of north Carolina refused to furnish the quota of militia to the United States; Fort Macon, N.C., seized by State troops.
16. Governor Magoffin declared that "Kentucky would furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister States."
16. The Confederate government called for 32,000 men; the governors of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri refused to furnish troops under President Lincoln's proclamation.
17. Virginia convention adopted the ordinance of secession to be submitted to the people; Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation offering letters of marquee and reprisal to all who wished to engage in privateering.
18. United States arsenal at harpers Ferry, Va., destroyed by Lieutenant Jones to prevent it falling into the hands of the Confederates; Colonel Cake with 400 men of the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers arrived in Washington, D.C., the first volunteer troops to enter the city for its defense. Governor Jackson, of Missouri, declared that the requisition of President Lincoln for troops was "illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, and diabolical."
19. President Lincoln proclaimed the Southern ports in a state of blockade. The Sixth Massachusetts Volunteers was attacked by a mob while passing through Baltimore, Md., and 3 soldiers were killed; the soldiers fired on the mob, killing 11 and wounding many; Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson, Pennsylvania militia, was assigned to command of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia; Philadelphia appropriated $1,000,000 to equip volunteers and support their families.
20. Several bridges on the Northern Pennsylvania Railroad destroyed by Maryland Confederates to prevent the passage of troops to Washington; the Fourth Massachusetts arrived at Fortress Monroe, Va.; The Gosport Navy-Yard destroyed, and several war vessels scuttled by General McCauley to prevent them falling into the hands of the Confederates; the Cumberland was towed out; General Butler's command arrived at Annapolis, Md.; United States arsenal at Liberty, Mo., seized by Confederates.
21. The Government took possession of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad; Senator Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, mobbed at Lynchburg, Va.; Colonel Van Dorn, C.S.A., assumed command in Texas; United States mint at Charlotte, N.C., seized.
22. United States arsenal at Fayetteville, N.C., seized by State troops; governor of Arkansas refused to furnish quota of militia to United States.
23. Fort Smith, Ark., seized by Confederates; Maj. Gen. R.E. Lee assigned to command of the State military and naval forces in Virginia; United States officers at San Antonio, Tex., seized by Confederates as prisoners of war.
25. Major Sibley surrendered 420 United States troops to Colonel Van Dorn, C.S.A., at Saluria, Tex.; Governor Letcher proclaimed Virginia a member of the Southern Confederacy.
26. Maj. Gen. Jo0seph E. Johnston assigned to command of Virginia State forces in and about Richmond.
27. All officers of the United States army were required to take the oath of allegiance tot he United States; Brig, Gen. B.F. Butler, Massachusetts militia, assigned to command of Department of Annapolis; Col. K.F. Mansfield, U.S.A., assigned to command of Department of Washington; the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., ordered to Fort Adams, R.I.
29. Maryland house of delegates rejected the ordinance of secession by a vote of 63 to 13.

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