Thursday, January 29, 2026

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

0 comments

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 [...]

Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

Georgia’s Declaration of Causes for Secession

0 comments

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 [...]

Miscellaneous document sources

“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

0 comments

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 [...]

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

Transportation of Families–Operations in Charleston Harbor

0 comments

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 [...]

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

The News

0 comments

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 [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

To Our City Subscribers

0 comments

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, [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

The Leader of the Florida Troops at Pensacola.

0 comments

January 29, 1861, The Charleston Mercury Major William H. Chase, formerly of the United States Corps of Engineers, is the leader of the State troops at Pensacola, Florida. He was formerly a resident of Massachusetts, and received the appointment of cadet from that State to the Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated March [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

The State Flag

0 comments

January 29, 1861, The Charleston Mercury The Legislature last night again altered the design of the State flag. It now consists of a blue field, with a white palmetto tree in the middle, upright. The white crescent in the upper flag staff corner remains as before, the horns pointing upward. This may be regarded as [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

Removal of Beauregard from command.

0 comments

The Presidents reply to Senator Slidell’s query on Major Beauregard being relieved of command at West Point. Washington, January 29, 1861. My Dear Sir,–With every sentiment of personal friendship and regard, I am obliged to say, in answer to your note of Sunday, that I have full confidence in the Secretary of War, and his [...]

Turning on the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan’s Administration, From 1860 to its Close, by Horatio King