January 10 1861 Thursday
Florida Seceded
Florida. The ordinance of secession was adopted at Tallahassee, by a vote of 62 to 7, and Florida became the third state to secede from the Union after South Carolina and Mississippi.
Florida. Union Lieutenant Adam Jacoby Slemmer, commanding Company G 1st US Artillery in the absence of Captain John Henry Winder, spiked the guns at Fort Barrancas near Pensacola, blew up the ammunition at Fort McRae, and occupied Fort Pickens. Despite initial vacillation by Commodore James Armstrong USN, the USS Wyandotte towed the garrison and all moveable supplies to Fort Pickens to permit its defence. The USS Wyandotte stayed in support but the store-ship Supply was soon sent to New York with the families of the garrison. Fort Pickens was a more defensible fortification than either Fort McRae or Fort Barrancas and was more readily accessible to resupply by sea.
Louisiana. The US Arsenal at Baton Rouge was seized by the Louisiana State Militia led by Colonel Braxton Bragg and by order of Governor Thomas O Moore. The arsenal was established in 1826 as an arms depository and depot. The main arsenal building was built in 1829 and relinquished 50,000 small arms, 4 howitzers, 20 heavy pieces of ordnance and 300 barrels of gunpowder to the Confederacy.
Louisiana. Louisiana State troops occupied Fort Pike near New Orleans. Fort Pike was established in 1819 as the first of the Third System of Forts. Construction was completed in 1827. It was near Petites Coquilles (Petite Coquille) in Orleans Parish and was originally called Fort Petites Coquilles. It was renamed after General Zebulon Montgomery Pike. The original plan was drawn up in 1817 by engineer Simon Bernard and Captain William T Poussin. It was designed as a triangular masonry fort with an arc of gun casemates facing the water passage of the Mississippi known as the Rigolets. A single-storey citadel in the center of the fort served as a barracks The land side of the fort was protected by a system of moats protecting three-pointed bastions that provided protective flanking fire.
It was recaptured by Union forces on 4 May 1862 and served as a base for Union operations in the area until the end of the war. In 1871 the garrison was withdrawn and it closed as a military post in 1890.
Massachusetts. Reinforcements intended for the garrison at Fort Pickens, Florida, departed from Boston harbour aboard the side-wheel steamship Vanderbilt. The 6th New York Infantry arrived at Santa Rosa Island on 26 Jun 1861.
Mississippi. The state of Mississippi received Commissioners from other States and adopted several resolutions recognising South Carolina as a sovereign and independent state.
North Carolina. Fort Caswell was occupied by North Carolina State Troops and armed citizens from Smithville and Wilmington. Like other US Army posts occupied before the secession of their States, Fort Caswell was returned to the control of the US Army until after hostilities broke out. It was then reoccupied by Confederate forces on 16 April 1861.
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 US Army caretakers.
Texas. Federal guns and military stores on board the steamship Texas were seized by Texas State troops in Galveston.
Virginia. The Virginia Governor transmitted a despatch from the Mississippi Convention, announcing the option of unconditional secession from the Union, and desiring on the basis of the old Constitution to form a new union with the seceding States. The Virginia House adopted an amendment submitting to a vote of the people the question of referring for their decision any action of the convention dissolving Virginia’s connection to the Union, or changing its organic law. The Richmond Enquirer denounced “the emasculation of the Convention Bill as imperilling all that Virginians hold most sacred and dear.”
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 California: Benjamin Lloyd Beall temporary
Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
Department of New Mexico: Thomas Turner Fauntleroy
Department of Oregon: George Wright
Department of Texas: David Emanuel Twiggs
Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
Department of the West: William Selby Harney
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 