January 14 1861 Monday
USA. The Committee of Thirty-Three and the Committee of Thirteen were unable to reach an acceptable compromise about slavery and the issues prompting the actual or threatened secession of several Southern states. The US House of Representatives agreed on the Corwin Amendment as a solution. The Corwin Amendment proposed that the United States Constitution would shield the “domestic institutions” of the states (including slavery) from the constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress. This proposal would be considered and rejected as inadequate by Southern states and an excessive compromise by Abolitionists.
Illinois. Richard Yates succeeded John Wood as Governor of Illinois.
Indiana. Henry S Lane succeeded Abram A Hammond as Governor of Indiana.
Louisiana. Louisiana State troops occupied Fort Macomb near New Orleans. Fort Macomb was occupied by 1st Louisiana State Infantry. Fort Macomb was originally established in 1822 as a Third System fort named Fort at Chef Menteur and completed in 1827. It was located in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. It was renamed Fort Wood in 1827 for Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer Derby Wood and renamed again as Fort Macomb in 1851 after Major-General Alexander Macomb, a veteran of the War of 1812. It was sometimes spelled Fort McComb.
Fort McComb and the nearby Its design closely matched that of Fort Pike; both were designed as a triangular masonry fort with an arc of gun casemates facing the Mississippi River. 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 occupied by Confederate forces until recaptured by Union forces on 18 August 1862. The fort was garrisoned until it closed in 1871.
Maryland. James Carroll, the former Democratic candidate for Governor, announced his intention to side with the seceding states.
South Carolina. The South Carolina state legislature declared that any attempt to reinforce the US garrison at Fort Sumter would be considered an open act of hostility and a declaration of war. The legislature also approved the Governor’s action in firing on the Star of the West when it had tried to bring supplies to the garrison. By describing any such efforts by the Federal authorities as a hostile act, the South Carolina legislature attempted to place the blame for any future conflict on the US Government. The US Government, for its part, insisted on its right to free passage and movement of military forces to any location in the United States.
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 