February 23 1861 Saturday
Arrival of President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC
District of Columbia. US President Abraham Lincoln arrived incognito in Washington, DC. Rumours of his surreptitious and clandestine arrival provoked accusations of cowardice and widespread ridicule in the press.
Texas. Voters in Texas passed the state’s Ordinance of Secession confirming the decision of the state legislature on 1 February by a majority of three to one.
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: William Inman
Brazil Squadron: Joshua Ratoon Sands
East Indian (Asiatic) Squadron: Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling
European Squadron: vacant
Home Squadron: Garrett J Prendergast
Mediterranean Squadron: Charles H Bell
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
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 War: Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory
“Department of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in New Orleans” “Army of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
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
American Civil War High Command 