Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
November 13, 1861 - President Lincoln is snubbed by General George B. McClellan when Lincoln calls on the General at McClellan's Headquarters and McClellan retires to bed. General McClellan was ordered to the White House for all subsequent meetings with the President.
November 15, 1861 - Captain David G. Farragut is selected by Secretary Gideon Wells to be the Naval leader in an expedition against New Orleans, the south's second largest city and a significant port. Wells was persuaded to choose Farragut by Captain David D. Porter, Farragut's stepbrother.
November 15, 1861 - General Don C. Buell arrives in Louisville, Kentucky to command the Department of the Ohio, replacing General William T. Sherman. President Lincoln urges Buell to advance into pro-Union eastern Tennessee. (Sherman was replaced due to his nervousness about being outnumbered by Confederate Forces, the high concentration of volunteers in his Department and their poor training, and newspaper reports that he was insane.)
November 15, 1861 - The USS San Jacinto arrives at Fortress Monroe, Virginia with James M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate emissaries to Britain and France aboard. This is the first news of the unauthorized boarding of the British packet Trent by Captain Charles Wilkes several days earlier.
November 16, 1861 - Eight days after Captain Charles Wilkes violates international law involving rights of neutral nations by boarding the British mail-packet Trent and removing Southern envoys James Mason and John Slidell, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair and Senator Charles Sumner urge their immediate release.
November 18, 1861 - Confederate leaning Kentuckians adopt a secession ordinance. Missouri and Kentucky both maintain separate legislatures, both Confederate and Union, for the next three years.
November 18, 1861 - The fifth session of the Provisional Confederate Congress meets in Richmond and remains in session through February 17, 1862.
November 20, 1861 - General George B. McClellan reviews the 70,000 men of the Army of the Potomac outside Washington, D.C. Visitors comment on the discipline and marching skill of the troops in contrast to the amateurish forces hastily assembled the past summer.
November 20, 1861 - General Halleck, recently assigned to the Department of Missouri in St. Louis, issues General Order #3 prohibiting former slaves from working in military camps.
November 21, 1861 - Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman becomes commander of both Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. These strategic forts are the core of the Confederate defenses in the central part of the divided United States.
November 21, 1861 - CSA General Albert S. Johnston again calls for 10,000 volunteers for the defense of Columbus, Kentucky.
November 22, 1861 - The Navy Department is authorized to recruit 500 marines and naval officers.
November 23, 1861 - A Union garrison repulses the Confederate attack on Ft. Pulaski on Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola, Florida.
November 24, 1861 - Colonel Nathan B. Forrest leads cavalry raids on Caseyville and Eddyville, Kentucky. This is Forrest's first notice in the war.
November 24, 1861 - Captain Wilkes reaches Boston, Massachusetts aboard the San Jacinto. Confederate emissaries Slidell and Mason are imprisoned at Fort Warren.
November 25, 1861 - Northern troops captured while burning bridges are to be hanged, if found guilty at court martial, by edict of Confederate secretary of war Judah P. Benjamin.
November 26, 1861 - At Wheeling, Virginia, a constituent's convention resolves to secede from Virginia and form a separate state.
November 27, 1861 - Word of the "Trent Affair" reaches Great Britain. Talk of war on the United States and the "outrage on the British flag" causes indignation to run high.
November 27, 1861 - The large navel fleet assembled to capture control of New Orleans (see November 15 entry) leaves Hampton Roads, Virginia for Ships Island, Mississippi.
