1 January 1862, Wednesday

I will provide events of each day of the Civil War, beginning with January 1, 1862.

The war had begun on April 21, 1861 with Confederates firing upon Fort Sumter.

The First Battle of Bull Run was in July 1861.

No other major battles took place during this first year.

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US Government
President Lincoln holds a reception at the White House. All the Cabinet members, diplomatic corps, justices, and army and navy officers attend, as well as trhe public.

Prior to the reception, Lincoln attempts to get General Halleck from St. Louis and Cairo and General Buell from Louisville to cooperate "in concert" in drives on Nashville, Tennessee and Columbus, Kentucky. General McClellan continues to be ill.

Confederate Government
President Davis of the Confederacy gives a New Year's reception also.

General
Massachusetts
Provincetown: 4 men, Mason and Slidell and their secretaries, leave Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, and once in Provincetoen board the British sloop of war Renaldo en route to Halifax and Europe.

Florida
Union artillery bombards shipping and Fort Barrancas.

Confederates bombard Fort Pickens.

South Carolina
There is a sharp engagement at Port Royal Ferry on the Coosaw River, South Carolina, part of the continuing operations by the Union to enlarge their main enclave on the south Atlantic coast.

Missouri
Dayton, Missouri is virtually destroyed in a skirmish.

Western Virginia
Stonewall Jackson leads a Confederate force toward Romney, western Virginia. (This will eventually become known as the "Romney Campaign."

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971