13 March, 1862: Thursday

Government - Confederate
In Richmond, General Lee is charged by President Davis with the conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy, which seemed to be a sort of advisory post, never clearly defined.

Military - Union
General McClellan and his newsly named corps commanders hold a consequential conference at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. McClellan pressed his plan to shift the Army of the Potomac by boat to the York and James Rivers and head for Richmond from the Peninsula, rather than from Urbanna near the mouth of the Rapahannock.

The generals agreed, in particular because General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates were now on the line of the Rapahannock.

President Lincoln once more emphasized to McClellan, through the Secretary of War, that manassas Junction and Washington must be left secure, although he agreed that the Army could move via the Peninsula. The letter ended, "at all events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some route."

Missouri
In St. Louis, General Halleck assumed command of the new Department of the Mississippi.

Union forces under General John Pope bombard Confederate works at New Madrid, on the Mississippi.

Arkansas
There is fighting at Spring River.

Tennessee
There is fighting at Beach Creek Ridge, Tennessee.

North Carolina
Under the covering fire of the Navy, Union troops under GEneral Ambrose Burnside land on the west bank of the Neuse River south of New Berne and advance at once.

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