DECEMBER, 1860.

DEO. 1.-Florida Legislature ordered the election of a con vention. Great secession meeting in Memphis.

DEC. 3.-Congress met. The President denied the right of a State to secede, and asserted the right of the General Government to coerce a seceding State.

DEC. 5.-Election of delegates to South Carolina Convention took place. The successful candidates were secessionists.

DEC. 10.-Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned. Senator Clay, of Alabama, resigned. The Louisiana Legislature ordered the election of a convention, and appropriated $500,000 to arm the State.

DEC. 13.-An extra session of the Cabinet was held to consider the question of reinforcing Fort Moultrie; the President opposed it, and reinforcements were not sent.

DEC. 14.-General Cass, Secretary of State, resigned.

DEC. 17.-South Carolina Convention assembled.

DEC. 18.-The Crittenden Compromise introduced in the United States Senate.

DEC. 19.-Governor Hicks, of Maryland, refused to receive the Mississippi Commissioner.

DEC. 20.—South Carolina Convention adopted a secession ordinance; the vote unanimous.

DEC. 22.-The Crittenden Compromise voted down in the Senate committee of Thirteen.

DEC. 24. The people of Pittsburg stop the shipment of ordinance from the arsenal at that place to Southern forts. Governor Moore called an extra session of the Alabama Legislature.— Election of members of the Alabama Convention took place; the majority for secession was over 50,000.-South Carolina members of Congress resigned.

DEC. 26.-Major Anderson left Fort Moultrie and took possession of Fort Sumter. He had with him only 111 men. South Carolina Commissioners arrived in Washington. The President refused to receive them.

DEC. 27.-Revenue cutter, William Aiken, surrendered to the South Carolina authorites.

DEC. 28.-South Carolina seized the Government property in Charleston, took possession of Castle Pinckney and fort Moultrie.

DEC. 29.-John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned.

DEO. 31.-South Carolina sent Commissioners to the slave States to make arrangements for a Southern Confederacy.

JANUARY, 1861.

JAN. 2.-Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, took possession of Fort Macon. Georgia troops seized Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the United States arsenal at Savannah.

JAN. 4.-Governor Moore, of Alabama, seized Fort Morgan, and the United States arsenal at Mobile. Fast-day, by proclamation of the President.

JAN. 7.-State Conventions of Alabama and Mississippi, Legislatures of Virginia and Tennessee, assembled.

JAN. 8-Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned. Fort Johnson at Wilmington, and Caswell at Oak Island, seized by North Carolina.

JAN. 9.-The steamer Star of the West fired on by rebel batteries in Charleston harbor, and driven back. Mississippi Convention passed secession ordinance by vote of 84 to 15.

JAN. 10.-Florida Convention adopted an ordinance of secession by a vote of 62 to 7. Florida seized Fort McRae.

JAN. 11.-Alabama seceded; vote in Convention, ayes, 61; noes, 39. P. B. Thomas, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and was succeeded by John A. Dix, of New York. The Governor of Louisiana seized Forts Phillip and Jackson, on the Mississippi below New Orleans, the United States arsenal at Baton Rouge, and Forts Pike and Macomb, on Lake Ponchartrain.

JAN. 13.-Florida troops took possession of the Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Barancas. Lieutenant Slemmer, in command of Fort Pickens, refused to obey Commodore Armstrong's order to surrender the fort to the Florida troops, and thus saved that important place to the Union.

JAN. 16.-The Legislature of Arkansas called a convention. Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, demanded of the Presiden the surrender of Fort Sumter, which was refused. The Mist souri Legislature voted to hold a convention.

JAN. 18. The Legislature of Virginia appropriated $1,000,000

for the defense of the State.

JAN. 19.-Georgia adopted a secession ordinance by vote of 208 to 89..

JAN. 21.-Members of Congress from Alabama resigned. Jef ferson Davis resigned his place in the Senate.

JAN. 23.-Georgia members of Congress resigned.

JAN. 24-The rebels seized the C. S. arsenal at Augusta Georgia.

JAN. 26.—Louisiana Legislature passed secession ordinance by vote of 113 to 17.

JAN. 30.-North Carolina Legislature submitted the convention question to the people. This was the first instance of the will of the people being consulted in regard to the question of secession. The revenue cutters Cass, at Mobile, and McLelland, at New Orleans, surrendered to the rebel authorities.

FEBRUARY, 1861.

FEB. 1-Texas Convention passed an ordinance of secession by vote of 166 to 7, to be submitted to the people. The Louisiana authorities seized the Mint and Custom House at New Or leans.

FEB. 4.-Delegates from the seceded States met at Montgomery, Alabama, to organize a Confederate Government. Peace Congress met at Washington; Ex-President Tyler was chosen President.

FEB. 8.-The U. S. arsenal at Little Rock surrendered to Arkansas.

FEB. 9.-Jefferson Davis and A. H. Stephens elected Provisional President and Vice President of the Southern Confederacy.

FEB. 13. The electoral vote counted. Abraham Lincoln reeeived 180 votes, Stephen A. Douglas 12, John C. Breckenridge 72, and John Bell 39.

FEB. 19.-Fort Kearney, Kansas, seized by the rebels.

FEB. 23. General Twiggs surrendered government property in Texas, valued at $1,200,000, to the rebels.

MARCH, 1861.

MARCH 1.-General Twiggs expelled from the army. Peace Congress adjourned.

MARCH 2.-Revenue cutter Dodge surrendered to the rebels at Galveston, Texas.

MARCH 4.-The ordinance of secession passed by the Texas Convention and submitted to the people, having been adopted by a majority of about 40,000, the Convention declared the State out of the Union,

MARCH 5.-General Beauregard took command of the troops at Charleston.

MARCH 6.-Fort Brown, on the Rio Grande, was surrendered by special agreement. The Federal troops evacuated the fort and sailed for Key West and Tortugas.

MARCH 28.-Vote of Louisiana on secession made public. For secession, 20,448; against it, 17,926.

MARCH 30.-Mississippi Convention ratified the Confederate Constitution by a vote of 78 to 70.

APRIL, 1861.

APRIL 3.-South Carolina Convention ratified the Confederate Constitution by a vote of 114 to 16.

APRIL 4.-Virginia Convention, by a vote of 89 to 45, refused to submit an ordinance of secession to the people.

APRIL 7.-All intercourse between Fort Sumter and Charleston stopped by order of Beauregard. The steamer Atlantic sailed from New York with troops and supplies.

APRIL 8.-The Federal Government notified the South Carolina authorities that provisions would be sent to Major Anderson by force, if necessary. The State Department refused to recognize the Confederate States Commissioners.

APRIL 11.-Troops are stationed in Washington, and the oath of fidelity administered to the men. The rebel Commissioners left Washington. General Beauregard demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. Major Anderson refused.

BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER.

APRIL 12.-The rebels had constructed batteries on Morris Island, Sullivan Island and Cumming's Point, besides occupying Fort Moultrie; they had alse built a powerful floating battery, all of which were employed in the attack on Sumter. Fort Moultrie opened fire at four o'clock in the morning. Fort Sumter did not reply until seven o'clock. The fire was kept up with vigor by both sides. Major Anderson had under his command 111 men, including officers, musicians and laborers. The Legislature appropriated $500,000 to arm the State. Fort Pickens reinforced.

APRIL 13.-The bombardment of Fort Sumter continued; early in the day the officers' quarters were fired by a shell; by noon most of the wood work was on fire; Sumter's fire was almost silenced when General Wigfall came with a flag of truce, and arrangements were made for evacuating the fort. The terms were that the garrison should take all its individual and company property, that they should march out with their side arms in their own way, at their own time, and that they should salute their flag and take it with them.

APRIL 14-Major Anderson and his men sailed for New York. Governor Yates, of Illinois, called an extra session of the Legislature, to meet April 22.

APRIL 15.-The President issued a proclamation commanding all persons in arms against the Government to disperse within twenty days; also calling for 75,000 volunteers. The New York Legislature authorized the raising of $3,000,000 for their equipment and support. The President called an extra session of Congress, to meet July 4th.

APRIL 16.-The Governors of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri, refused to furnish troops under the President's proclamation. The Confederate Government called for 32,000

men.

APRIL 17.-Virginia Convention adopted secession ordinance in secret session by a vote of 60 to 53, to be submitted to the people on the fourth Thursday of May. Forces were sent to seize the U. S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and the Gosport Navy Yard. All the military power of the State was placed under the control of the President of the Southern Confederacy. Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation, offering letters of marque and reprisal to all who wished to engage in privateering.

APRIL 18.-U. S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry destroyed by Lieutenant Jones, to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy. Colonel Cake, with 400 men of the 25th Pennsylvania regiment, arrived in Washington. These were the first troops to enter the city for its defense.

APRIL 19.-Steamer Star of the West seized by the rebels at Indianola, Texas. The 6th Masssahusetts regiment, while passing through Baltimore, was attacked by a mob; two soldiers were wounded. The troops fired upon the mob, killing eleven and wounding many. President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the ports of South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, in a state of blockade. Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, added to the military department of Washington, ard placed under the command of General Pat terson. City Council of Philadelphia appropriated $1,000,000 to equip the volunteers and support their families.

APRIL 20.-The Governor of North Carolina seized the Branch Mint at Charlotte. Several bridges on the Northern Pennsylvania Railroad destroyed by Maryland rebels, to prevent the pas sage of troops to Washington. The U. S. Arsenal at Liberty, Mo., seized by the secessionists and the arms distributed among the surrounding counties. The Gosport Navy Yard destroyed by General McCauley, to keep it from the rebels; the war vessels Delaware, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Germantown, Merrimac,