U.S. House of Representatives Calendar

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		1. 1861: Lincoln promoted Gen. George B. McClellan to general-in-chief of Union Army.	2. 1861: Union gen. John C. Fremont accepted order relieving him of command in Missouri.	3. 1861: Gen. David Hunter assumed command of Union forces in Missouri.	4. 1861: Confederate Gen. Thomas J. Jackson assumed command of Shenandoah Valley.	5. 1861: Robert E. Lee was named to command new Department of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida.
6. 1861: Provisional Pres. Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.	7. 1861: Union forces captured Hilton Head Island, S.C.	8. 1861: James Mason and John Slidell aboard British mail ship RMS Trent captured by USS San Jacinto.	9. 1861: War Department reorganized command structure.	10. 1861: Davis expressed concern with slow pace of enlistments in Confederate Army.	11. 1861: Thaddeus Lowe sent an observation balloon up from a boat anchored in the Potomac River.	12. 1861: Confederate blockade runner, Fingal, arrived in Savannah with military supplies.
13. 1861: Lincoln waited at home of Gen. McClellan, but the general returned and went to bed without seeing the president.	14. 1861: Union troops broke up a Confederate camp in Virginia near Point of Rocks, Maryand.	15. 1861: Capt. Wilkes and San Jacinto arrived at Fort Monroe, Virg., with captured Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell.	16. 1861: Sen. Charles Sumner (Mass.) and Postmaster Gen. Montgomery Blair urged Lincoln to release Mason and Slidell.	17. 1861: Union gunboat Connecticut captured blockade runner off Florida coast.	18. 1861: Fifth session of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States convened in Richmond.	19 1861: Union Gen. Henry W. Halleck assumed command of Department of issouri.
20. 1861: Union Gen. David Hunter assumed command of the Department of Kansas.	21. 1861: Davis named Judah P. Benjamin as new secretary of war for the Confederacy.	22. 1861: Confederate Department of the Indian Territory was established under Gen. Albert Pike.	23. 1861: Two Union warships and guns of Fort Pickens bombarded Pensacola Navy Yard.	24. 1861: USS San Jacinto arrived in Boston and Mason and Slidell were taken to Fort Warren.	25. 1861: Confederate Navy Department accepted shipment of armor to convert USS Merrimack into ironclad CSS Virginia.	26. 1861: Convention in Wheeling adopted constitution for a new state to be called West Virginia.
27. 1861: News of seizure of Mason and Slidell from RMS Trent caused outrage in Britain.	28. 1861: Confederate Congress admitted Missouri to the Confederacy.	29. 1861: Planters near Charleston and Savannah burned cotton crops to prevent their capture.	30 1861: British foreign minister demanded that Slidell and Mason be released.

NAVAL CHRONOLOGY 1861 - 1865

November 1861

1.Violent storm struck the Port Royal Sound Expedition off the Carolina coast, widely scattering naval vessels, transports and supply ships and jeopardizing the success of this major undertaking. However, the damage to the fleet was less than could have been expected. All ships had been furnished with secret instructions to be opened at sea only in case of separation from the Fleet.

2.USS Sabine, Captain Cadwalader Ringgold, rescued Major John G. Reynolds and a battalion of U.S. Marines under his command from U.S. transport Governor, unit of the Port Royal Sound Expedition, sinking off Georgetown, South Carolina.

British steamer Bermuda ran the blockade at Charleston with 2,000 bales of cotton.

4.Coast Survey Ship Vixen entered Port Royal Sound to sound channel escorted by USS Ottawa and Seneca. Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall took Union ships under fire.

5.USS Ottawa, Pembina, Seneca and Pawnee engaged and dispersed small Confederate squadron in Port Royal Sound, fired on Fort Beauregard and Fort Walker.

6.USS Rescue, Lieutenant William Gwin, captured and burned schooner Ado hard aground in Corrotoman Creek, Virginia.

Captain Purviance, commander of USS St. Lawrence, reported capture of British schooner Fanny Lee, running the blockade at Darien, Georgia with cargo of rice and tobacco.

7.Naval forces under Flag Officer Du Pont captured Port Royal Sound. While Du Pont's ships steamed in boldly, the naval gunners poured a withering fire into the defending Forts Walker and Beauregard with extreme accuracy. The Confederate defenders abandoned the Forts and the small Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall could offer only harassing resistance but did rescue troops by ferrying them to the mainland from Hilton Head. Marines and sailors were landed to occupy the Forts until turned over to Army troops under General T. W. Sherman. Careful planning and skillful execution had given Du Pont a great victory and the Union Navy an important base of operations. The Confederates were compelled to withdraw coastal defenses inland out of reach of naval gunfire. Du Pont wrote: AIt is not my temper to rejoice over fallen foes, but this must be a gloomy night in Charleston.@

USS Tyler, Commander Walke and USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, supported 3,000 Union troops under General Grant at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri and engaged Confederate batteries along the Mississippi River. The arrival of Confederate reinforcements compelled Grant to withdraw under pressure. Grape, canister and shell from the gunboats scattered the Confederates, enabling Union troops to re-embark on their transports. Grant, with characteristic restraint, reported that the gunboats' service was Amost efficient,@ having Aprotected our transports throughout.@

8.USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, stopped British mail steamer Trent in Old Bahama Channel and removed Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell. The action sparked a serious international incident.

Boat expedition under Lieutenant. James E. Jouett from USS Santee surprised and captured Confederate crew of schooner Royal Yacht and burned the vessel at Galveston.

USS Rescue, Lieutenant Gwin, shelled Confederate battery at Urbana Creek, Virginia and captured a large schooner.

9.Gunboats of Flag Officer Du Pont's force took possession of Beaufort, South Carolina and by blocking the mouth of Broad River, cut off this communication link between Charleston and Savannah.

Major General Robert E. Lee wrote Confederate Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin regarding the effects of the Union Navy's victory at Port Royal: AThe enemy having complete possession of the water and inland navigation, commands all the islands on the coast and threatens both Savannah and Charleston and can come in his boats, within 4 miles of this place [Lee's headquarters, Coosawhatchie, South Carolina]. His sloops of war and large steamers can come up Broad River to Mackay's Point, the mouth of the Pocotaligo and his gunboats can ascend some distance up the Coosawhatchie and Tulifinny. We have no guns that can resist their batteries and have no resources but to prepare to meet them in the field.@

11.Thaddeus Lowe made balloon observation of Confederate forces from Balloon-Boat G. W. Parke Custis anchored in Potomac River. G. W. Parke Custis was procured for $150 and readied for the service at the Washington Navy Yard. Lowe reported: AI left the navy-yard early Sunday morning, the 10^th instant . . A towed out by the steamer Coeur de Lion, having on board competent assistant aeronauts, together with my new gas generating apparatus, which, though used for the first time, worked admirably. We located at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek, about three miles from the opposite or Virginia shore. Yesterday [11 November] proceeded to make observations accompanied in my ascensions by General Sickles and others. We had a fine view of the enemy's camp-fires during the evening and saw the rebels constructing new batteries at Freestone Point.@

12.Fingal (later CSS Atlanta), purchased in England, entered Savannah laden with military supplies-the first ship to run the blockade solely on Confederate government account.

USS W. G. Anderson, Acting Lieutenant William C. Rogers, captured Confederate privateer Beauregard near Abaco.

13.USS Water Witch, Lieutenant Aaron K. Hughes, captured blockade running British brigantine Cornucopia off Mobile.

14.U.S. cutter Mary, Captain Pease, seized Confederate privateer Neva at San Francisco, California.

15.Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell disembarked from USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, at Fort Monroe.

USS Dale, Commander Yard, captured British schooner Mabel east of Jacksonville.

16.Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory advertised for plans and bids for building four seagoing ironclads capable of carrying four heavy guns each.

17.USS Connecticut, Commander Maxwell Woodhull, captured British schooner Adeline, loaded with military stores and supplies off Cape Canaveral, Florida.

18.USS Monticello, Lieutenant Braine, engaged Confederate battery near New Inlet, North Carolina.

USS Conestoga, Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, on expedition up Cumberland River, dispersed Confederate forces and silenced battery at Canton, Kentucky.

19.CSS Nashville, Lieutenant Pegram, captured and burned American clipper ship Harvey Birch, bound from Le Havre to New York.

21.USS New London, Lieutenant Abner Read, with USS R.R. Cuyler and crew members of USS Massachusetts, captured Confederate schooner Olive with cargo of lumber in Mississippi Sound; same force took steamer Anna, with naval stores, the following day.

22.Two days of combined gunfire commenced from USS Niagara, Flag Officer McKean, USS Richmond, Captain Francis B. Ellison and Fort Pickens against Confederate defenses at Fort McRee, the Pensacola Navy Yard and the town of Warrington, terminating the following day with damage to Confederate positions and to Richmond.

U.S. Marine Corps authorized to enlist an additional 500 privates and proportionate number of noncommissioned officers.

23.CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, evaded USS Iroquois at Martinique and steamed on course for Europe.

Confederate gunboat Tuscarora accidentally destroyed by fire near Helena, Arkansas.

24.Landing party from USS Flag, Commander J. Rodgers, USS Augusta, Pocahontas, Seneca and Savannah, took possession of the Tybee Island, Savannah Harbor. AThis abandonment of Tybee Island,@ Du Pont reported, Ais due to the terror inspired by the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard and is a direct fruit of the victory of the 7th [capture of Port Royal Sound].@

25.First armor plate for shipment to CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) accepted by Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory.

USS Penguin, Acting Lieutenant Thomas A. Budd, captured blockade running schooner Albion near North Edisto, South Carolina with cargo of arms, munitions and provisions.

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured American brig Montmorenci off Leeward Islands.

26.CSS Savannah, Commodore Tattnall and three steamers sortied against Union fleet in Cockspur Roads, Savannah; unsuccessful in effort to draw blockading vessels within range of Fort Pulaski's guns.

Flag Officer Du Pont observed the blockade's increasing pressure on the South's economy: AThe flag is hoisted on the lighthouse and martello tower at Tybee... Shoes are $8 a pair in Charleston.

Salt $7 a bushel, no coffee-women going into the interior-[Captain James L.] Lardner has closed the port so effectively that they can no longer get fish even.@

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned American schooner Arcade north of Leeward Islands.

27.USS Vincennes, Lieutenant Samuel Marcy, boarded and seized blockade running British bark Empress, aground at the mouth of the Mississippi River, with large cargo of coffee.

28.USS New London, Lieutenant A. Read, captured Confederate blockade runner Lewis, with cargo of sugar and molasses and schooner A. J. View, with cargo of turpentine and tar, off Ship Island, Mississippi.

29.Lieutenant Worden, later commanding officer of USS Monitor, arrived in Washington after seven months as a prisoner in the South.

30.USS Wanderer, Lieutenant James H. Sports, captured blockade running British schooner Telegraph near Indian Key, Florida.

USS Savannah, Commander John S. Missroon, with other ships in company, seized Confederate schooner E. J. Waterman, after the vessel grounded at Tybee Island with cargo of coffee on board.