1861 February 4th

February 4 1861 Monday

Montgomery Convention: Opening of Confederate Provisional Congress
Confederate Government Organised
Virginia Peace Conference Opens

Go to February 5 1861

CSA. Thomas Howell Cobb of Georgia was named as the provisional head of state or President for the establishment of the Confederate States of America.

CSA. Judah Philip Benjamin was appointed Attorney General in the Confederate provisional government.

Alabama. Representatives from the seceded states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana opened a convention in Montgomery to organise a new government. The Texas delegation arrived later.

District of Columbia. A Peace Conference called by the Virginia legislature opened in Washington but it was not attended by representatives from any of the seven seceded states. Twenty-one states sent representatives and the Border States were particularly prominent in the debates. Arkansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Oregon did not send representatives. Former President John Tyler headed the conference.

Virginia. A pro-Union majority took control of the Virginia Secession Convention, raising hopes that Virginia would not leave the Union. The Conference sat until 27 February 1861.

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 Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston

• District of Oregon: George Wright

Department of the East: John Ellis Wool

Department of New Mexico: Thomas T Fauntleroy

Department of Texas: David Emanuel Twiggs

Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke

Department of the West: William Selby Harney

Confederate Organisation

Provisional President Thomas Howell Cobb

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