January 8 1861 Tuesday
Fort Barrancas, FL
USA. US Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson of Mississippi resigned because he disagreed with the decision to send the Star of the West with troops aboard to reinforce Charleston. He was replaced interim by Moses Kelly.
Alabama. The Alabama state convention received Commissioners from South Carolina.
Fort Barrancas, Florida. A company of 50 US Army soldiers was stationed at Fort Barrancas near Pensacola, under the command of Major John Henry Winder (3rd US Artillery). A party of twenty pro-Confederate militiamen under Colonel William Henry Chase approached and demanded the surrender of the fort. The pro-Confederate Winder was absent so Lieutenant Adam Jacoby Slemmer, acting commander in his absence, ordered the troops to fire warning shots to repel the militia. The gunfire drove the intruders away without casualties. Slemmer was persuaded by the incident that Fort Pickens across the bay was easier to defend than Fort Barrancas. He decided to spike the guns, load his ammunition and supplies on a flatboat, and move his company to Fort Pickens. Although Fort Barrancas was subsequently occupied by the Confederates, the Union held Fort Pickens throughout the Civil War.
North Carolina. The North Carolina Senate bill to arm the State forces passed the North Carolina House.
South Carolina. The US Sub-Treasury at Charleston was seized by South Carolina state troops.
Virginia. The Virginia state legislature passed an anti-coercion resolution in opposition to armed intervention by the Federal authorities.
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 