February 20 1861 Wednesday
CSA. The Confederate Congress passed an Act to permit the acquisition of munitions of war.
CSA. The Confederate States’ Department of the Navy was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery. This act also established the position of Secretary of the Navy, authorized to handle all affairs related to the navies of the Confederacy.
Virginia. The Virginia state legislature returned without comment the resolutions proposed by the Michigan state legislature.
Union Organisation
Commander in Chief: President James Buchanan
Vice-President: John Cabell Breckinridge
Secretary of War: Joseph Holt
Secretary of the Navy: Isaac Toucey
- African Squadron USN: Captain William Inman USN
- Brazil Squadron USN: Captain Joshua R Sands USN.
- East Indian (Asiatic) Squadron USN: Captain Cornelius K Stribling USN
- European Squadron USN: vacant
- Home Squadron USN: Captain Garrett J Prendergast USN
- Mediterranean Squadron USN: Captain Charles H Bell USN
- Pacific Squadron USN: Captain John B Montgomery USN
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
- Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
- Department of New Mexico: Thomas Turner Fauntleroy interim, William Wing Loring awaited
- Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston
- District of Oregon: George Wright
- Department of Texas: Carlos Adolphus Waite temporary
- Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
- Department of the West: William Selby Harney
Confederate Organisation
President: Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of the Navy: vacant
Union Generals
Major-General USA
Winfield Scott
Brigadier-General USA
John Ellis Wool
David Emanuel Twiggs
William Selby Harney
Brigadier-General USA (Staff)
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
