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| Century | 1700's | 1800's | 1900's | 2000's | ||||||||
| Decade | 1800's | 1810's | 1820's | 1830's | 1840's | 1850's | 1860's | 1870's | 1880's | 1890's | ||
| Year | 1860 | 1861 | 1862 | 1863 | 1864 | 1865 | 1866 | 1867 | 1868 | 1869 | ||
| January, 1861 | May, 1861 | September, 1861 |
| February, 1861 | June, 1861 | October, 1861 |
| March, 1861 | July, 1861 | November, 1861 |
| April, 1861 | August, 1861 | December, 1861 |
Major events of 1861
| January 9, 1861 | Artillery fires on the Star of the West from Morris Island as it crosses into the main entrance channel to Charleston Harbor. As the ship comes about, Fort Moultrie opens fire, also with cannon shot. A mile and a half from Fort Sumter, the ship withdraws. | South Carolina |
| Star of the West | ||
| David Farragut | ||
| Fort Sumter | ||
| February 8, 1861 | The Convention of Seceded States adopts a provisional constitution forming the Confederate States of America | Alabama |
| Convention of Seceding States | ||
| February 9, 1861 | After privately considering William Yancey, Howell Cobb, Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, and Robert Barnwell Rhett for President of the Confederate States of America, the Convention settles on Jefferson Davis. They select Alexander Stephens, both pro-Union and a friend of Abraham Lincoln, as vice-president | |
| Jefferson Davis | ||
| Alexander Stephens | ||
| Convention of Seceding States | ||
| Robert Barnwell Rhett | ||
| Robert Toombs | ||
| April 12, 1861 April 13, 1861 |
Beginning at 4:30 am on the 12th and continuing until the morning of the 13th, Confederate batteries along the shore of Charleston Harbor fire on Fort Sumter under the command of Major Robert Anderson. Anderson arranges a surrender with Texas Senator Louis Wigfall on the morning of the 13th. | South Carolina |
| P. G. T. Beauregard | ||
| Fort Sumter | ||
| Edmund Ruffin | ||
| Civil War Firsts | ||
| Robert Anderson | ||
| June 3, 1861 | Battle of Philippi
First land engagement of the Civil War between American and Confederate forces |
West Virginia Virginia |
| George McClellan | ||
| Philippi | ||
| Operations in Western Virginia | ||
| Civil War Firsts | ||
| July 21, 1861 | (First) Manassas (Confederate)
(First) Bull Run (Union) About 25 miles southwest of Washington the first major battle of the Civil War pits Irvin McDowell [US] against P. G. T. Beauregard [CS] and Joe Johnston [CS]. |
Virginia |
| William Tecumseh Sherman | ||
| First Manassas - First Bull Run | ||
| P. G. T. Beauregard | ||
| Irvin McDowell | ||
| Joseph E. Johnston | ||
| Army of Northern Virginia | ||
| James Longstreet | ||
| John B. Gordon | ||
| Stonewall Jackson | ||
| Richard Ewell | ||
| Samuel Garland | ||
| Ambrose Burnside | ||
| Samuel Heintzelman | ||
| October 31, 1861 | Winfield Scott relieved from duty as Supreme Comander of the United States. | |
| Winfield Scott | ||
| General-in-Chief, U. S. Army | ||
| November 8, 1861 | British mail packet Trent, carrying James M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate commissioners to London and Paris, is halted in the Bahama Channel by the U.S. warship San Jacinto. | |
| Trent Affair |
| January, 1861 | May, 1861 | September, 1861 |
| February, 1861 | June, 1861 | October, 1861 |
| March, 1861 | July, 1861 | November, 1861 |
| April, 1861 | August, 1861 | December, 1861 |
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| Decade | 1800's | 1810's | 1820's | 1830's | 1840's | 1850's | 1860's | 1870's | 1880's | 1890's | ||
| Year | 1860 | 1861 | 1862 | 1863 | 1864 | 1865 | 1866 | 1867 | 1868 | 1869 | ||
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