1861 March 29th

March 29 1861 Friday

Go to March 30 1861

USA. US President Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet resolved to make a stronger stand on the issue of retaining control of US forts and military property still in Federal hands in the South. Plans were requested for an attempt to re-supply the garrison rather than evacuate the troops.

Texas. Fort Mason was abandoned by the US Army. Fort Mason was established by Captain Hamilton W Merrill and Companies A and B of the 2nd US Dragoons at a location chosen by Lieutenant-Colonel William Joseph Hardee on 6 July 1851. The post was named either for Lieutenant George T Mason who was killed during the Mexican War or for General Richard Barnes Mason, who died a year before the fort was established. Its purpose was to protect settlers from raids by Native Americans. The fort was closed in January 1854 but was reoccupied by Company A, 1st US Dragoons from March to May 1854, and then by various companies of the 2nd US Cavalry from 14 January 1856 to 29 March 1861. The headquarters and companies B, C, D, G, H, and I of the 2nd US Cavalry were stationed at various times until it passed into secessionist hands.  It was the last command of Colonel Robert Edward Lee before he left to join the Confederacy. The fort was largely unoccupied from 1861 to 1866 although, for a time in 1862, the Confederates held 215 prisoners, mostly civilians accused of being Union sympathizers. The US Army and 4th US Cavalry reoccupied the fort on 24 December 1866.

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: William Wing Loring

Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston interim, Edwin Vose Sumner awaited

• 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”: David Emanuel Twiggs

• “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
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner

Brigadier-General USA (Staff)

Joseph Eggleston Johnston

Confederate Generals

Major-General PACS

David Emanuel Twiggs

Brigadier-General ACSA

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg