March 20 1861 Wednesday
CSA. The Confederate States government discussed the relocation of the capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia.
Florida. The sloop Isabel, carrying supplies for the US fleet, was seized off Pensacola by Florida state authorities.
Georgia. The state of Georgia passed an ordinance authorising the Confederate States government to occupy, use, and possess all military forts, navy yards, arsenals, and custom houses within the limits of the state.
Texas. Fort Brown was ordered to be abandoned by US Lieutenant-Colonel Electus Backus (3rd US Infantry). Fort Brown was established in 1846 at present-day Brownsville. It was named for Major Jacob Brown who was killed at Fort Brown (then Fort Texas) in 1846. Construction by General Zachary Taylor’s army began at a bluff beside a bend in the Nueces River, directly across from Matamoros. It was originally an earthen structure with walls 15 feet wide shaped into a six-sided star. The finished walls stood nine to 10 feet tall. Engineer Captain Joseph King Fenno Mansfield also made a ditch about eight feet deep and 15 to 22 feet wide, creating a second defense around the perimeter. A drawbridge spanned the ditch, and a gate was placed at the entrance. The fort projected out to form palisades at each of the star’s six points where guns controlled every approach and faced Mexican gun emplacements on the opposite side of the Rio Grande. During the ensuing siege, several officers served who later became generals in the Civil War. These included Lieutenant Braxton Bragg. George Henry Thomas, John Fulton Reynolds, Lafayette McLaws, Ulysses Simpson Grant, Don Carlos Buell, George Gordon Meade, Theophilus Hunter Holmes, James Longstreet, John Clifford Pemberton, and Edmund Kirby Smith. After the Mexican War, a new Fort Brown was built about a half-mile north of the original bastion, beside the Rio Grande.
US Army Captain Bennett H Hill complied with the request to leave but destroyed many supplies. The Confederates took control of the fort and remained until November 1863 when Union Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks launched an invasion toward Brownsville from Brazos Santiago Island on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Hearing of the Union approach, Confederate Brigadier-General Hamilton Prioleau Bee ordered Fort Brown’s evacuation. Confederate soldiers set fire to the fort and dozens of bales of cotton as they left. Fort Brown’s fire spread to downtown Brownsville, leaping from one building to the next as smoke and panic engulfed the town a massive explosion destroyed most of Fort Brown. Law and order departed with the army and looting began. Union troops occupied what was left of Fort Brown and began rebuilding it. The fort became the Union staging ground for raids against wagon trains carrying cotton toward Mexico. In July 1864 Confederates once again took possession of the vacated Fort Brown and remained until the war ended in May 1865.
Texas. Fort Duncan was abandoned by the US Army under Captain O L Shepherd (3rd US Infantry). Fort Duncan was established on 27 March 1849 by Captain Sidney Burbank and companies A, B, and F of the 1st US Infantry. They had already founded Fort Inge on the Leona River. The fort was named after Colonel James Duncan, a hero of the Mexican War. It was one of a line of five frontier military outposts. Its location at Eagle Pass on the California Road was significant because of the trade crossing into Mexico at Eagle Pass, and its position was good for scouting against Native Americans. Roads ran to Fort Inge and Fort McIntosh and mail was received from San Antonio.
After the Confederates occupied the fort, the post was known as Rio Grande Station and served the Confederate Frontier Regiment. Eagle Pass became important to the Confederacy as it offered the only available port still open for the export of cotton. Cotton was the chief source of foreign income for the and Fort Duncan was said to be the last Confederate outpost to surrender to the Union in 1865. US Army troops reoccupied Fort Duncan on 23 March 1868.
Texas. The Texas state legislature confirmed the action of the Texas Convention in deposing Governor Samuel Houston. The legislature also transferred the forts, arsenals, and other military facilities in the state to the Confederate government.
Union Organisation
Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles
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 T Fauntleroy interim, William Wing Loring awaited
Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston
- District of Oregon: George Wright
Department of Texas: Carlos Adolphus Waite
Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
Department of the West: William Selby Harney
Confederate Organisation
Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory
“Department of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in New Orleans” “Army of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
Department of South Carolina: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
- “Forces in Charleston”: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Department of West Florida: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in Pensacola”: Braxton Bragg
Union Generals
Major-General USA
Winfield Scott
Brigadier-General USA
John Ellis Wool
David Emanuel Twiggs
Edwin Vose Sumner
Brigadier-General USA (Staff)
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Confederate Generals
Brigadier-General ACSA
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg
American Civil War High Command 