April 16 1861 Tuesday
USA. US President Abraham Lincoln forbade trade between loyal states and the seceded states.
CSA. The Confederate government issued a call for 32,000 volunteers to defend the country against an alleged invasion.
Indian Territory. Fort Washita in the Chickasaw Nation was abandoned by the US Army. Fort Washita was established on 23 April 1842 by Captain George A H Blake (2nd US Dragoons) in present-day Bryan County, Oklahoma. When completed, the post was an open-plan fort with a central parade surrounded by post buildings. The fort was occupied by Confederate troops on 16 April 1861 and held until 1865. Most of the fort was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin on 1 August 1865 and was never reoccupied by US forces.
North Carolina. Fort Caswell was reoccupied by Confederate forces. Like many other US Army posts occupied before the secession of their States, Fort Caswell was first seized on 10 January 1861 but was returned to the control of the US Army until hostilities broke out.
Fort Caswell was built as a masonry Third System Fort on Oak Island and named for the first Governor of North Carolina, Richard Caswell. It formed an irregular pentagon with a completely encircling outer wall, or covered way, and an inner main work that was loopholed for defense. The fort was never fully armed to its original specification and in 1861 it was occupied only by army caretakers. The fort was heavily fortified as one of the main defences of the Cape Fear River. The Confederates constructed a massive new earthwork around the fort and on top of the main work to accommodate more heavy guns and provide protection against modern artillery. It remained in Confederate hands until abandoned and blown up by its own garrison on 17 Jan 1865. At the time of its capture, Fort Caswell mounted ten 10-inch rifled guns, two 9-inch rifled guns, one Armstrong rifle, four 32-pounder smoothbore guns, three 8-inch rifled guns, one Parrot 20-pounder rifle, three rifled field artillery pieces, and three more guns buried.
Virginia. Captain Garrett J Pendergrast USN, commanding USS Cumberland at Norfolk, was ordered to defer his departure to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and to assist in the preparations for moving the US Navy vessels from the exposed Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk to safer locations.
Union Organisation
Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
Department of Florida: Harvey Brown awaited
Department of New Mexico: William Wing Loring
Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston interim Edwin Vose Sumner awaited
- District of Oregon: George Wright
Department of Texas: Carlos Adolphus Waite
Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
Department of Washington: Charles Ferguson Smith
Department of the West: William Selby Harney
Confederate Organisation
CSA: Brigadier-General of Louisiana Militia Paul Octave Hébert assumed command of the unofficial “Department of Louisiana”, succeeding Major-General David Emanuel Twiggs who was awaiting assignment to a formal Confederate command.
Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory
Department of Louisiana: Paul Octave Hébert assumed
- “Forces in New Orleans” “Army of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
Department of South Carolina: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
- “Forces in Charleston”: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Department of Texas: Earl Van Dorn awaited
Department of West Florida: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in Pensacola”: Braxton Bragg
Defences of Savannah: Alexander Robert Lawton awaited
“Forces in Harper’s Ferry”: Kenton Harper
Union Generals
Major-General USA
Winfield Scott
Brigadier-General USA
John Ellis Wool
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner
Brigadier-General USA (Staff)
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Confederate Generals
Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission
Major-General PACS
David Emanuel Twiggs
Brigadier-General ACSA
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg
Brigadier-General PACS
Alexander Robert Lawton
American Civil War High Command 