January 2026

“There now seems to be a disposition in Congress to do something.”—Horatio Nelson Taft.

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1861. Mercury this morning 20 above zero, cold and pleasant all day. Interesting debates in Congress now. Chas Francis Adams took high conservative ground today in the “House.” There now seems to be a disposition in Congress to do Something. Attended the meeting of the “Raven Club” this evening at Prof Whitakers [...]

“The Brooklyn will coal at this place, and then proceed to Fort Jefferson.”—Operations in Florida

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

FORT TAYLOR, FLA., January 31, 1861. Col. L. THOMAS, Assistant Adjutant-General, U. S. Army: SIR: My company left Fortress Monroe, Va., on the 24th of the present month, and arrived at this place this morning. The Brooklyn will coal at this place, and then proceed to Fort Jefferson. As there was but a very small [...]

“If my company was raised to a hundred and a sloop of war stationed here there would be no apprehension of an attack at present.”—Operations in Florida

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

FORT TAYLOR, KEY WEST, FLA.,………. January 31, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 26th instant of a communication [following] from the headquarters of the Army dated the 4th instant, ordering my whole company to this fort. I had anticipated the order some time ago. This is the only dispatch [...]

Magnanimous Buchanan

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 31, 1861, The Charleston Mercury There is something base, on the part of the President, in keeping Major ANDERSON at Fort Sumter under the present circumstances. Knowing him to be a Southron and a slaveholder, he should be offered a furlough or leave of absence, and a substitute sent who is not a Southron. [...]

From the Old Dominion

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 31, 1861, The Charleston Mercury Our Richmond Correspondence. RICHMOND, January 29. Richmond Waking Up – Speech of Judge Robertson – What Virginians think of South Carolina – Future Course of the Old Dominion – The Inevitable Botts – A Slow Legislature, etc., etc. At last the darkness seems about to break here. The day [...]

The Revolution

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 31, 1861, The New York Herald WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 1861. Private advices from the South, received tonight, indicate that there will be a fight in less than thirty hours. The President declared to a member of Congress yesterday that he had no doubt that Fort Sumter would be attacked in less than a week, [...]

Southern States are going out one after another and the border states undetermined

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Meta Morris Grimball
Journal of Meta Morris Grimball

[January] 30th        Lewis returned and had a very nice time was handsomely entertained and enjoyed the change, the negroes seemed to like it too. Mr John Townsand was very much interested in the Fort—        Things seem to progress, the Southern States are going out one after another and the border states undetermined.—        We dined with [...]

“The southerners here are greatly offended and pretend innocence.”—Horatio Nelson Taft.

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

WEDNESDAY 30 A pleasant cold day, freezing in the shade, Streets muddy. Another Company of Flying Artillery arrived last night—90 men & four “pieces.” They are quartered in the old Wm Wirt House where Mrs Smith had her Young Ladies Select School or “Institute,” something of a change on those premises. The southerners here are [...]

Things here are not working right.

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Miscellaneous document sources

Junius Hillyer to Howell Cobb.. Washington [D. C], Jan. 30th, 1861. Dear Sir: I wish you would take a few moments of your time to drop me a line. Things here are not working right. Since the Southern men have left Washington there seems to be nobody standing up for the Southern movement, and the [...]

“… a third armed body of men took forcible possession of the works and engineer property at Ship Island.”—The Secession of Alabama and Mississippi

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

BILOXI, MISS., January 30, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to report that the works at Ship Island were visited by an armed body of men on the forenoon of the 13th instant. They stated to the overseer that their object was to take possession of the works, and, also, that they were acting on [...]

The News

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 30, 1861, The New York Herald The announcement of the peaceful mission of the steam sloop-of-war Brooklyn to Florida is confirmed by late advices from Washington. The provisions on board the Brooklyn are to be delivered at Fort Pickens, but she is not to enter the harbor of Pensacola, nor to land troops at [...]

Fort Sumter as Property

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 30, 1861, The Charleston Mercury The Government of the United States insists on holding Fort Sumter as property. They pretend to think that this is by no means a hostile attitude against South Carolina. They do not hold it was a military instrumentality by which the waters of our bay and the commerce of [...]

“An armed guard now tramps through the Halls of the Patent Office every night…”—Horatio Nelson Taft.

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

TUESDAY 29 There are indications today that the Republicans are “coming down” from the Chicago Platform and that something like the Crittenden proposition will be accepted by them. Secession seems to be now a fixed fact and we have to look Disunion in the face, while a subversion of the Government is threatened. This City [...]

Georgia’s Declaration of Causes for Secession

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Miscellaneous document sources

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to [...]

“You are instructed to act strictly on the defensive, and avoid as far as possible a collision with the hostile troops concentrated at Pensacola and in the adjacent forts.”—Operations in Florida

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

WAR DEPARTMENT, January 29, 1861. Lieut. ADAM J. SLEMMER, First Regiment Artillery, U. S. Army, Commanding Fort Pickens : SIR: The dispatch of which the inclosed is a copy was transmitted today, and the hope is indulged that it will be received before the arrival of the Brooklyn. Lieutenant Saunders goes as the bearer of [...]

Transportation of Families–Operations in Charleston Harbor

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

Fort SUMTER, S.C., January 29, 1861. (Received A. G. O., February 1.) Col. S. COOPER, Adjutant-General U.S. Army: COLONEL: The South Carolinians are at work in large force on Cummings Point, apparently framing heavy timbers, for what purpose I am unable yet to state. They succeeded this morning, favored by a very high tide, in [...]

The News

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 29, 1861, The New York Herald It is now stated that the mission of the war steamer Brooklyn to Pensacola is one of peace. She has been sent out to intercept vessels of the Gulf squadron that have been ordered to Pensacola to prevent them from going there, and thus obviate difficulty and perhaps [...]

To Our City Subscribers

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Civil War Day-by-Day

January 29, 1861, The Charleston Mercury In rainy weather we have frequent complaints that the MERCURY is received in a mutilated condition. This is owing to the fact that so few residences are provided with boxes to receive the paper and protect it from the weather. The carriers have to thrown it into piazzas, gardens, [...]