February 26, 1861

Confederate President Jefferson Davis sends a message to the U.S. Congress, calling on them to release all armaments that rightfully belong to Southern states - arguing that they now rightfully belong to the Confederate States of America.

February 25, 1861

President-Elect Lincoln meets with both houses of Congress.

February 24, 1861

The Montgomery Convention completes the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.

February 23, 1861

Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC to take office.

February 22, 1861

In Montgomery, Georgia, dele3gate Augustus Wright introduces a bill to form a Volunteer Division in the Army of the Confederate States of America.

February 21, 1861

President-elect Lincoln speaks to both houses of New Jersey legislature.

February 20, 1861

P.G.T. Beauregard resigns from the U.S. Army.

February 19, 1861

Fort Kearney, in Kansas Territory, was taken possession of by secessionists, and a secession flag raised. It was soon after retaken by a party of Unionists.

February 18, 1861

Jefferson Davis is inaugurated President of the Confederacy.

February 17, 1861

Abraham Lincoln and his family attend a church service in Buffalo, New York and dine with Millard Fillmore.

February 16, 1861

Abolition newspapers are making merry over the fact that South Carolina gets neither a President nor a Vice President in the Southern Confederacy.
- from Charleston Mercury

February 15, 1861

The Montgomery convention, acting as the provisional Confederate congress, resolves to take Fort Sumter by force if necessary.

February 14, 1861

President-elect Lincoln and his party depart Columbus, Ohio for a 12-hour train trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

February 13, 1861

The U.S. Electoral College makes Lincoln's win official.

February 12, 1861

Noble Leslie DeVotie, main contributing founder of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, drowns on this day while on duty as chaplain of the Alabama troops. He was 23 years of age. Since Alabama had in fact seceded at that time, he was the first man to lose his life in the Civil War.

February 11, 1861

Abraham Lincoln leaves Springfield, Illinois to start his inaugural journey to Washington, D.C.

February 10, 1861

Jefferson Davis , at his plantation, Brierfield, receives word from Montgomery that he has been selected president of the new Confederate States of America.

February 9, 1861

Jefferson Davis of Mississippi is unanimously elected President of the Confederacy by delegates to the Montgomery convention.

February 8, 1861

Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Alabama.

February 7, 1861

Choctaw Nation in Indian territory aligns itself with the Provisional Confederate government.

February 6, 1861

Richmond ramps up arms production at the Tredegar Iron Works.

February 5, 1861

Three of the four Louisiana representatives to the U.S. Congress leave their seat.

February 4, 1861

Confederate constitutional convention meets for the first time.

 Delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana meet in Montgomery, Alabama to establish the Confederate States of America.

February 3, 1861

Ben McCullough, a former Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal, receives an appointment as a "military officer" from the committee of public safety in Texas.

February 2, 1861

Let the 'great, but not the greatest, evil' come ; for, as did the great and good Calhoun, from whom is drawn that expression of value, I love and venerate the Union of these States, but I love Liberty and Mississippi more." 

Jefferson Davis, as quoted in February 2, 1861 issue of Harper's Weekly

February 1, 1861

Delegates convene in Austin, Texas to vote for secession.