1861 March 6th

March 6 1861 Wednesday

Go to March 7 1861

CSA. The membership of the Confederate States’ Cabinet was completed. It comprised:

Secretary of State Robert Augustus Toombs
Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory
Secretary of the Treasury Christopher G Memminger
Attorney General Judah Philip Benjamin
Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan.

CSA. The Confederacy established a Regular Army, termed as the Army of the Confederate States of America (ACSA). It was intended to be an equivalent of the US Regular Army but it never properly existed in a tangible form. The ACSA adopted the rules and regulations of the US Regular Army, apart from the name. The Regular Army was authorised to appoint four Brigadier-Generals. About 750 officers were commissioned in the Regular Army (ACSA). All former US Army officers would be commissioned at their same relative grade in the Confederate Army, although in practice the great majority were assigned to at least one grade higher.

CSA. The Confederate Provisional Congress called for volunteers to create the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS) which was to become the effective military force of the Confederacy. The Act permitted the establishment of an army not exceeding 100,000 men for twelve months’ service. Congress also authorised the creation of staff, brigades, and divisions. The majority of Confederate officers were to be given assignments in the Provisional Army (PACS).

CSA. The Confederate Congress passed an act establishing the Confederate States Lighthouse Bureau, its chief officer to be a captain or commander of the Confederate States’ Navy. The former US Navy Commander Raphael Semmes was assigned to the command, reporting for duty on 4 April 1861.

District of Columbia. The US President Abraham Lincoln refused to meet three envoys sent by the Confederate Government, Martin J Crawford, John Forsyth, and A B Brown.  The envoys attempted unsuccessfully to arrange meetings with the new Federal administration as if they represented a sovereign nation.

Missouri. The Missouri state convention called for a convention of the Southern states which had not yet seceded, to meet at Nashville, Tennessee, on 15 April 1861 “providing for such amendments to the Constitution of the United States as shall secure to all the states equal rights in the Union”, and declaring strongly against secession.

South Carolina. Confederate Brigadier-General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard took steps to ensure that no supplies were available to help the garrison of Fort Sumter, where food was running out. He increased the frequency of training drills amongst the South Carolina Militia, preparing them to operate the guns facing the fort. Ironically, the fort’s garrison commander Major Robert Anderson had been Beauregard’s artillery instructor at West Point Military Academy and Beauregard had become Anderson’s assistant after graduation.

Texas. Surrender of Fort Brown to the Texas state authorities.

Union Organisation

Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
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 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

CSA: Brigadier-General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard arrived to assume command of the Department of South Carolina.
CSA: Brigadier-General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard arrived to assume command of the Forces in Charleston.

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

Union Generals

Major-General USA

Winfield Scott

Brigadier-General USA

John Ellis Wool
David Emanuel Twiggs

Brigadier-General USA (Staff)

Joseph Eggleston Johnston

Confederate Generals

Brigadier-General ACSA

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard