10 January, 1862: Friday

Confederate - Government
The Trans-Mississippi District of Department No. 2 is set up under the command of Major General Earl Van Dorn.

Union - Government
President Lincoln writes to his Secretary of War and expresses his disappointment in the failure of the army to move in the West. Lincoln also has other issues to contend with, his Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, has been accused of corruption.

In the US senate, pro-Confederate Missouri senators Waldo P. Johnson and Trusten Polk are expelled.

Union - Government/Civilian
The first auction of confiscated cotton from Port Royal, South Carolina, was held in New York.

Union-Military
Kentucky
Ulysses Grant's Union forces leave Cairo, Illinois and head toward Columbus, Kentucky. According to E.B. Long's The Civil War Day by Day, this was meant as a diversionary tactic to take attention from Union operations toward east Tennessee. (Grant's men will be marching to and from for a total of 21 days.)

Further east in Kentucky, at Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, Union forces led by Brig. General James A Garfield advance against Confederates led by Humphrey Marshall. Garfield is unable to penetrate the Confederate lines or force them back, . Both sides retreat....both sides declare victory.

Western Virginia
Union soldiers evacuate Romney without a fight, in the face of the advance of Stonewall Jackson's troops. Jackson's troops enter the town and settle down there for the winter.

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