1861 January 31st

January 31 1861 Thursday

Go to February 1 1861

Louisiana. The US Mint and Customs House in New Orleans were seized by Louisiana State troops, yielding $599,303 in gold and silver. The US Mint building was designed by architect William Strickland, who had apprenticed with Benjamin Latrobe and designed US Mint buildings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Dahlonega, Georgia. It was built on the original site of Fort St Charles at the foot of what became Esplanade Avenue. The New Orleans Mint began operations on 8 March 1838. After the state authorities seized the mint and its remaining bullion, production of US coins continued until the Confederate States of America took control in April 1861. Within a month of the takeover, Secretary of the Treasury, Christopher Gustavus Memminger closed down the facility due to difficulties in obtaining bullion.

Louisiana. The US Revenue Schooner Washington under Captain Robert K Hudgins USRM was seized by Louisiana State authorities while undergoing repairs at New Orleans.

North Carolina. The state of North Carolina elected Thomas Lanier Clingman as US Senator.

South Carolina. South Carolina authorities offered to purchase Fort Sumter from the US government. This proposal offered a compromise solution to the continuing presence of a US Army garrison within the territory of South Carolina, at Charleston. The offer was rejected as unacceptable to the US government.

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: 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