13 January 1862: Monday

Union - Government
President Lincoln indicates to the Cabinet that he would name Edwim M. Stanton as Secretary of War. Stanton was a prominent Washington attorney and had been the Attorney General under President Buchanan.

Also, the President sent to the Senate his nomination of Simon Cameron (who had just resigned as Secretary of WAr) to be Minister of Russia, replacing the "legendary" Cassius Marcellus Clay.

The council of generals, Cabinet ministers, General McClellan and President Lincoln meet in the afternoon to consider action by the armies. General McClellan refuses to divulge his plan of operations and resents the interference of the generals and the President.

Lincoln writes once more to Generals Buell and Halleck in the West, expressing his desire for action on all fronts against the enemy. He desires them to "menace him with superior forces at different points, at the same time."

Union - Military
The sea-borne expedition under Brigadier GEneral A.E. Burnside arrives at Hatteras Inlet, North CArolina, and the general assumes command of the Department of North CArolina. There is a lack of low-draft vessels and proper landing craft, which delays the intended invasion.

Brief bio of Simon Cameron from Wikipedia
Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799 – June 26, 1889) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War. After making his fortune in railways and banking, he turned to a life of politics. He became a U.S. senator in 1845 for the state of Pennsylvania, succeeding James Buchanan. Originally a Democrat, he failed to secure a nomination for senator from the Know-Nothing party, and joined the People's Party, the Pennsylvania branch of what became the Republican Party. He won the Senate seat in 1857, and became one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the presidential election of 1860.

Cameron gave his support to Abraham Lincoln, and became his Secretary of War. He only served a year before resigning amidst corruption. Cameron became the minister to Russia during the Civil War, but was overseas for less than a year. He again served in the Senate, eventually being succeeded by his son, J. Donald Cameron, and only resigned from Senate upon confirmation that his son would succeed him.

Early life
Cameron was born in Maytown, Pennsylvania, to Charles Cameron and Marth Pfoutz. He was orphaned at nine and later apprenticed to a printer, Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland Gazette before entering the field of journalism. He was editor of the Bucks County Messenger in 1821. A year later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and studied political movements while working for the printing firm of Gales and Seaton. He married Margaret Brua and returned to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he purchased and ran the Republican in 1824.

Cameron served as state printer of Pennsylvania from 1825 until 1827 and was state adjutant general in 1826. He constructed several rail lines and merged them into the Northern Central Railway. He founded the Bank of Middletown in 1832 and engaged in other business enterprises. In 1838, he was appointed as commissioner to settle claims of the Winnebago Indians.

Politics
Cameron as a senator favoring greenbacks, Harper's Weekly, June 6, 1874Cameron became a Whig Party member, and later a member of the Democratic Party, before being elected to replace James Buchanan in the Senate in 1844. He switched to the Republican Party and was nominated for President, but gave his support to Abraham Lincoln at the 1860 Republican National Convention. Lincoln, as part of a political bargain, named Cameron Secretary of War.

Because of allegations of corruption, however, he was forced to resign early in 1862. His corruption was so notorious that Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, when discussing Cameron's honesty with Lincoln, told Lincoln that "I don't think that he would steal a red hot stove". When Cameron demanded Stevens retract this statement, Stevens told Lincoln "I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back." He was succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton, who had been serving as a legal advisor to the War Secretary. Cameron then served as United States Minister to Russia.

In 1866, Cameron was again elected to the Senate and served there until 1877, when on assurances from the Pennsylvania General Assembly that his son, James Donald Cameron, would be the successor to his seat, he resigned. His son had already been named as Secretary of War in 1876.

Later life
Cameron retired to his farm at Donegal Springs Cameron Estate near Maytown, Pennsylvania where he died on June 26, 1889. He is buried in the Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Cameron County, Pennsylvania and Cameron Parish, Louisiana are named in his honor.

Quotes
"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought."
"I am tired of all this sort of thing called science here... We have spent millions in that sort of thing for the last few years, and it is time it should be stopped." (on the Smithsonian Institution, 1861)

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

12 January 1862: Sunday

Washington - Government/Military
The officers with whom Lincoln had met with yesterday meet again today, this time with members of the Cabinet. General McClellan, recovering from his illness, also comes to the White House, believing that his command is being undermined.

Western Virginia
Beginning on this day, and extending for 11 days, the 37th Ohio Infantry carries out an expedition to Logan Court House and the Guyandotte Valley of western Virginia, opposed by Confederate guerrillas.

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

11 January 1862, Saturday

Union-Government
In Washington, President Lincoln accepts the resignation of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, and states that hewill name him Minister to Russia. Cameron, "while probably reasonably honest personally, was a Pennsylvania politician who could never forget his friends and associations. Few had been satisfied with War Department operations."

In addition, Lincoln, frustrated with the lack of movement of his armies in Virginia, confers at the White House with a group of major officers.

Union - Military
Virginia
A fleet of approximately 100 vessels filled with about 15,000 troops led by Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside sails from Hampton Roads, Virginia, headed for the coast of North Carolina. The navy squadron is under the command of Commodore Louis M. Goldsborough.

Kentucky
There is a brief clash of gunboats near Fort Jefferson, (north of Columbus) on the Mississippi river.


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

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

9 January, 1862: Thursday

Union - Government/Military
President Lincoln informs General McClellan that neither of the commanders in the West, Halleck or Buell, had answered his (Lincoln's) request of when they would be ready to move.

Union - Military
Illinois
Ulysses S. Grant is preparing a reconnaissance force to move into Kentucky toward Columbus.

Kentucky
There is a brief skirmish near Columbus, Kentucky.

Virginia
There is a brief skirmish near Pohick Run, Virginia.


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

8 January 1862, Wednesday

Confederacy - Government
President Davis continues to correspond via letter with the governors of various Confederate states, including Claiborne Jackson of Mississippi, emphasizing that their states were not being deliberately neglected and that the Confederacy needed manpower.

Union - Military
Missouri
Union soldiers rout a Confederate camp at Roan's Tan Yard on Silver Creek, Missouri.

There is a skirmish at Charleston, Missouri

Western Virginia
There is a skirmish on the Dry Fork of Cheat River, western Virhinia.

Kentucky
There is a skirmish near Somerset on Fishing Creek, Kentucky.


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

7 January 1862: Tuesday

Union - Government/Military
The Federal Department of North Carolina is formed and will be commanded by Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside.

Confederacy - Military
Western Virginia
Stonewall Jsckson orders his troops from Hancock, Maryland toward Romney, western Virginia. There is fighting at Hanging Rock Pass/Blue's Gap.

Kentucky
In eastern Kentucky, there is a skirmish near Paintsville and another at Jennie's Creek.


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

6 January 1862: Monday

Union - Government
President Lincoln meets with General McClellan, now recovered from his illness - speculated to have been typhoid fever. He rejects a move from Radical senators to remove the general for lack of action.

President Lincoln also writes to Buell in Kentucky, expressing his distress over "our friends in Kentucky", urging - but not ordering - military advance in the area.

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

5 January 1862: Sunday

Confederacy - Military
Maryland
Stonewall Jackson and his forces have moved from Bath, western Virginia to the Potomac River, opposite Hancock, Maryland. They are chasing retreating Union soldiers. They bombard Hancock for two days. The town does not surrender and the Confederates do not cross the river.

Union - Military
Missouri
Union soldiers "operate" in the Johnson and La Fayette counties of Missouri.

There is a skirmish at Columbus, Missouri.

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

4 January, 1862: Saturday

Military - Confederacy
Western Virginia
Stonewall Jackson's troops move into and occupy Bath. Meanwhile, there are also skirmishes at Slane's Cross Roads, Great Cacapon Bridge, Sir John's Run, and Alpine depot.

Union - Government/Military
President Lincoln, assuming the war reins on the illness of McClellan, had requested General Buell to march from Kentucky into East Tennessee. Today he asks of Buell what the progress is. "Buell somewhat doubted the wisdom of the move, and at times appeared to neglect it."

General Don Carlos Buell (from Wikipedia)

Don Carlos Buell (March 23, 1818 – November 19, 1898) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole War, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. Buell led Union armies in two great Civil War battles—Shiloh and Perryville—but was relieved of field command in late 1862 and made no more significant military contributions.

Early life
Buell was born in day Lowell, Ohio. He was a first cousin of George P. Buell, also a Union general.

He lived in Indiana for a time before the Civil War. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment. In the Mexican-American War, he served under both Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He was breveted three times for bravery and was wounded at Churubusco. Between the wars he served in the U.S. Army Adjutant General's office and as an adjutant in California.

Civil War
At the start of the Civil War, Buell was an early organizer of the Army of the Potomac and briefly commanded one of its divisions. He was promoted to brigadier general, with seniority dating from May 17, 1861.

In November 1861, he succeeded Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman in command at Louisville, Kentucky. Buell's command was designated the Department of the Ohio and his troops the Army of the Ohio (later the Army of the Cumberland). Buell's superiors wanted him to operate in eastern Tennessee, an area with Union sympathies and considered important to the political efforts in the war. However, Buell essentially disregarded his orders and moved against Nashville instead, which he captured on February 25, 1862, against little opposition. (Confederate attentions were elsewhere at this time, as Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was capturing Forts Henry and Donelson.) On March 21, he was promoted to major general of volunteers, but Buell lost his independent status when his command was incorporated within the new Department of the Mississippi, under the command of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck.

At the Battle of Shiloh, Buell reinforced Grant, helping him defeat the Confederates on April 7, 1862. Buell considered that his arrival was the primary reason that Grant avoided a major defeat. Halleck had to continually prod Buell to get his army to Pittsburg Landing in order to reinforce Grant, concentrating for a planned attack on the Confederate stronghold at Corinth. Although Buell's army was only 90 miles east at Columbia, it took one month to reach Pittsburg Landing, just in time for Grant to launch a counterattack on the Confederate Army of Mississippi. Buell made excuses that the Army of the Ohio's march overland toward Pittsburg Landing was hindered by "swollen rivers" and rain.

There have been accusations that Grant developed a professional grudge against Buell that would haunt his future career; however Grant gave Buell unwavering praise in his memoirs. After Grant's successful counterattack at Shiloh, Buell continued under Halleck's command in the Battle of Corinth. In June and July, Buell started a leisurely movement of four divisions towards Chattanooga, but his supply lines were disrupted by Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest and his offensive ground to a halt.

Buell got himself into more political difficulties during this period. Some Northerners suspected that Buell was a Southern sympathizer because he was one of the few Federal officers who was a slaveholder (he inherited the slaves from his wife's family). Suspicions continued as Buell enforced a strict policy of non-interference with Southern civilians during his operations in Tennessee and Alabama.

A serious incident occurred on May 2, 1862 when the town of Athens, Alabama, was pillaged by Union soldiers. Buell, noted for his iron discipline, was infuriated and brought charges against his subordinate on the scene, John B. Turchin. President Abraham Lincoln succumbed to pressure from Tennessee politicians and ordered Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to replace Buell on September 30, 1862. However, Thomas refused the command and Lincoln relented, leaving Buell in command. Turchin was court-martialed but not cashiered from service as Buell wanted, and was in fact promoted to brigadier general.

In the fall of 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky and Buell was forced to pursue him to defend Louisville, Kentucky, and the Ohio River. A single corps of Buell's army was attacked by Bragg at the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862, while Buell, a couple of miles behind the action, was not aware that a battle was taking place until late in the day and thus did not effectively engage the full strength of his army to defeat the smaller enemy force. Although Perryville was tactically indecisive, it halted the Confederate invasion of Kentucky and forced their withdrawal back into Tennessee.

When he failed to pursue Bragg's withdrawal, Buell was relieved of command on October 24, replaced by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans. Buell spent the next year and a half in Indianapolis, in military limbo, hoping that a military commission would exonerate him of blame; he claimed he had not pursued Bragg because he lacked supplies. Exoneration never came, and he left military service on May 23, 1864.

Although he had been offered a command at the express recommendation of Grant, Buell declined it, saying that it would be degradation to serve under either Sherman or Edward Canby because he ranked them both. In his memoirs, Grant called this "the worst excuse a soldier can make for declining service."

Postbellum life
Following the war Buell lived again in Indiana, and then in Kentucky, employed in the iron and coal industry as president of the Green River Iron Company. From 1885 to 1889 he was a government pension agent. He died at his home in Rockport, Kentucky, and is buried in St. Louis, Missouri, at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

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

3 January 1862: Friday

Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes a letter to the Governor of Mississippi. He is aware of the Union troops on Ship Island, Mississippi, and points out that their movement will probably be toward Mobile or New Orleans.

Confederacy - Military
Stonewall Jackson had begun moving his forces north from Winchester, Virginia on what will, in future, be called the Romney campaign. His purpose was to break up the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and destroy dams on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. There is a brief skirmish at Bath in western Virginia.

Western Virginia
There is a skirmish at Huntersville in western Virginia

Missouri
There is a skirmish at Hunnewell, Missouri.

Virginia
There is a Union reconnaissance near Big Bethel, Virginia.

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

2 January 1862: Thursday

Union - Government
President Lincoln is informed that General McClellan is feeling better, but not yet back on duty.

Confederacy - Civilian
The Memphis Argus newspaper publishes editorials asking why soldiers have not been used, and to complain of taxes.


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

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

29 April, 1862: Monday

Union - Military
Mississippi - Tennessee
The army of GEneral Halleck completes its preliminary preparations for marching from Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee toward the Confederates at Corinth, Mississippi.

Halleck has over 100,000 men, Beauregard has about 2/3rd that msny.

Grant is relegated to second-in-command under Halleck. He is upset by what he considers to be a demotion.

Also in Tennessee, there is a skirmish on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, near Bethel Station.

South Carolina
There are skirmishes at Pineberry Battery, Willstown, and White Point.

Kentucky
There is a skirmish at Cumberlandd Gap.

North Carolina
There is a skirmish at Batchelder's Creek.

Louisiana
Union officers raise the US flag at the New Orleans Custom House and the city hall, over the opposition of the frustrated populace and city authorities.

Alabama
There is a skirmish at West Bridge, near Bridgeport.




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

22 April, 1862: Tuesday

Union - Military
Virginia
Addition Union reinforcements swell McClellan's already mighty ranks near Yorktown as the seige against Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates continues.

Confederates - Military
Texas
In Aransas Bay, daring Confederate raiders capture several Union launches.


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

21 April, 1862: Monday

Confederacy - Government
The regular Confederate Congress adjourns after declaring certain classes of persons exempt from military conscription. President Davis is concerned over the two-program attack of McClellan and McDowell toward Richmond.

Confederacy - Military
Arkansas
There is a skirmish at Pocahontas, Arjansas.

Louisiana
The Confederate forts on the Mississippi continue to be shelled by mortars.

North Carolina
Union troops continue to lay seige to the city.


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

20 April, 1862: Sunday

Union - Government
Virginia
General McDowell meets President Lincoln at Aquia Creek near Fredericksburg and accompanies the President and Secretaries Stanton and Chase back to WAshington.

Union - Military
Louisiana
During the night, troops from the USS Itasca and Pinoila tackled the troublesome river obstructions near Fort Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi in a daring operation. Although explosives failed to work, the Union troops did manage to weaken and force a break in the barricade of old hulks andchains that blockaded the Mississippi.

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

18 April, 1862: Friday

Union - Military
Louisiana
The Federal fleet begins its bombardment of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, on the Mississippi below New Orleans.

Admiral Farragut had little belief in DAvid Dixon Porter's mortars, but had allowed them to try to reduce the forts. The bombardment will continue for 6 days.

Virginia
GEneral Irvin McDowell, marching overland toward McClellan from WAshington, occupied Falmouth near fredericksburg. But he was still between Washington and the Confederate army, despite McClellan's entreaties that McDowell be sent to the Peninsula, where the huge Federal army was doing little to win the siege of Yorktown.

Confederate Military
Virginia
In the Shenandoah Valley, Stonewall Jackson leaves Harrisonburg for Elk Run Valley and Conrad's Store, where the Confederate forces will remain until the end of April, leaving the valley to Bank's troops.

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

17 April, 1862: Thursday

Government - Confederates
President Davis writes Governor Thomas O. Moore of Louisiana of his concern over attack from both directions: "The wooden vessels are below, the iron gun boats are above; the forts should destroy the former if they attempt to ascend. The Louisiana may be indispensable to check the descent of the iron boats. The purpose is to defend the city and valley; the only question is as to the best mode of effecting the object.

Military - Union
Louisiana
In the passes and river below Fort Jackson and St. Philip, the large fleet of Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut, and the mortar fleet of David Dixon Porter, and transports with troops of Benjamin F. Butler are gathering.

Missouri
Skirmishing occurs near Warsaw.

Tennessee
Skirmishing occurs near Pittsburg Landing, and near Woodson's Gap.

Mississippi
Skirmishing occurs near Corinth.

Virginia
A Union expedition from Summerville to Addison, in western Virginia, operates until the 21st.
In the Shenandoah, GEneral Banks troops continue to move forward, occupying New Market. Stonewall Jackson's troops retire slowly before them.




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

16 April, 1862: Wednesday

Government - Union
President Lincoln signs a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia.

Military - Union
Alabama
Union troops occupy Tuscumbia.

Government - Confederates
President Davis approves an act of the Confederate Congress calling for conscription of every white mail between eighteen and thirty-five years of age for three year's service. The measure provided for administration of enrollment and draft by state officials, assignment to units from their own states, election of company, battalion and regimental officers, and for substitutions. There wew no specific exemptions; those provided by the act of April 21 exempted government officials, ferrymen, pilots, employees in iron mines and foundries, telegraph operators, ministers, printers, educators, hospital employees, and druggists among others. (There will be a number of later revisions to the exemptions.)

Military - Confederates
Virginia
There is an engagement at Lee's Mill, also known as Burnt Chimneys and Dam No. 1

There is minor fighting near Yorktown, on the Peninsula.

Georgia
There is skirmishing at Whitemarsh Island.

Missouri
There is skirmishing near Blackwater Creek.





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