January 31, 1861

On January 26th, 1861, the State of Louisiana seceded from the Union and the Mint, along with nearly $5,000,000.00 in silver and gold, was seized by Louisiana militia on Jan. 31, 1861.

January 30, 1861

“ … Virginia – the home of the Constitution, the mother of Independence as well as of Presidents, the burial ground of Washington, of Madison, Jefferson and Henry, and the rest – Virginia, the shrine of so many memories, associations and glories, she must put on her armor and buckle on her shield, to save the constitution she bore so great a part in framing, and the Union, in whose affairs she has taken such a noble part.”

- Editorial, The Daily Virginian

January 29, 1861

Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state.

January 28, 1861

Approval by the legislature of a joint resolution authorizing a state convention to act for the people of Texas on the secession matter.

January 27, 1861

Major Robert Anderson, in a letter to his superior in Washington, DC Colonel Cooper, lists food supplies left inside Fort Sumter, including only 13 barrels of hardtack crackers.

January 26, 1861

Louisiana secedes from the Union.

January 25, 1861

Staunton, Virginia: George Baylor announces his candidacy for delegate to the State Convention. He supports the Crittenden-Douglas amendments to the Constitution, but believes that the South and North should part peacefully if they cannot find mutually agreeable terms.