January 12 1861 Saturday
Florida. Pensacola had little strategic or commercial significance because of its poor overland communications with the interior but it did offer the best natural harbour in the Gulf of Mexico. It was therefore a significant anchorage for the US Navy. The entrance was guarded by Fort McRae and Fort Barrancas on the landward side and by Fort Pickens on the tip of the 40-mile long Santa Rosa Island. Union control of Fort Pickens prevented Confederate access to the most important Navy Yard south of Norfolk, Virginia.
The surrender of Fort Pickens was demanded by Governor Madison S Perry of Florida and Governor Andrew B Moore of Alabama but this was refused by Lieutenant Adam Jacoby Slemmer. Slemmer’s actions prevented the Confederates from acquiring large quantities of military equipment at Fort Pickens. Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the war.
Florida State troops seized the Barrancas Barracks, Fort Barrancas, and Fort McRae after the Union garrisons had escaped across Mobile Bay to Fort Pickens. When the mainland installations were surrendered and before reinforcements arrived by sea, Slemmer’s garrison at Fort Pickens numbered just 81 men, of whom 30 were seamen.
Florida. The US Navy Yard at Pensacola was surrendered intact to the Florida State authorities. State troops from Alabama and Florida approached the gates of the Navy Yard, demanding surrender. Having no means to defend the yard, Commodore James Armstrong USN was compelled to surrender. Quartermaster William Conway famously refused to obey the order of Lieutenant F B Renshaw USN to strike the Union colours and was jailed. The two Union naval ships in the harbor, Wyandotte and Supply, were commanded by officers loyal to the Union and were taken to sea to avoid capture.
Mississippi. The state of Mississippi withdrew its representatives from the US Congress.
Tennessee. The state of Tennessee passed the Convention Bill.
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 