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.
Indian Territory. Fort Washita in the Chickasaw Nation was abandoned by Union forces.
North Carolina. North Carolina state forces occupied Fort Caswell at the mouth of the Cape Fear River and Fort Johnston near Smithville.
Virginia. Captain Garrett J Pendergrast USN, commanding USS Cumberland at Norfolk, was ordered to defer his departure to Vera Cruz and to assist the preparation for moving the US Navy vessels in the Gosport Nay Yard 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.
Hébert, Paul Octave / Louisiana / Born 12 December 1818 Bayou Goula, Louisiana / Died 29 August 1880
USMA 1 July 1840 1 /42 Engineers / Cadet USMA 1 September 1836 / 2nd Lieutenant USA Engineers 1 July 1840 / Resigned USA 31 March 1845 / Lieutenant-Colonel USA Infantry 3 March 1847 / 14th US Infantry 9 April 1847 / Discharged USA 25 July 1848 / Brigadier-General Louisiana Militia 26 January 1861 / Colonel 1st Louisiana Artillery 19 February 1861 / Brigadier-General Louisiana Militia 1 April 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 18 August 1861 to rank from 17 August 1861 / Paroled Houston, Texas 23 June 1865 / Brevet Colonel USA 8 September 1847
Chief of Engineers Western Department 19 February 1861 / Department of Louisiana 16 April 1861-17 April 1861 / Department of Texas 14 August 1861-26 May 1862 / Eastern District of Texas 10 February 1862-28 May 1862 / Trans-Mississippi Department 26 May 1862-20 June 1862 / District of Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana 28 May 1862-20 August 1862 / Eastern Sub-District of Texas 28 May 1862-January 1863 / District of Texas 20 August 1862-19 October 1862 / First Sub-District of Texas 15 October 1862-29 November 1862 / 6th Brigade 2nd Division III Corps Trans-Mississippi Army September 1864 / Hébert’s Brigade X Division District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona January 1865-26 May 1865
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 