Birthdays
James Holt Clanton
Turns 34 on this date
Jacob Collamer
Turns 70 on this date
Daniel Wheelwright Gooch
Turns 41 on this date
Lawrence Pike Graham
Turns 46 on this date
William Ing
Turns 31 on this date
James Longstreet
Turns 40 on this date
Robert Jacob Poulson
Turns 55 on this date
John Selden Roane
Turns 44 on this date
George Luther Stearns
Turns 52 on this date
Events
| Campaigns/Elections | Democrats celebrate "St. Hickory's Day" in honor of Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans | 01/08/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | From the capital, Dickinson alumni L. Q. Washington leaks the secret reinforcement of Fort Sumter | 01/08/1861 |
| Crime/Disasters | In central England, another mining accident kills four miners and two pit boys | 01/08/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | Jacob Thompson of Mississippi resigns as the Buchanan Administration's Secretary of the Interior | 01/08/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | Mississippi's Secession Convention appoints a committee to draw up an ordinance of secession | 01/08/1861 |
| Crime/Disasters | Survivors from American ship sunk in mid-Atlantic thousands of miles from land are rescued | 01/08/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | The second session of the 36th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC |
12/04/1860 to 03/02/1861 |
Documents
| Newspaper | Boston (MA) Herald, “The Crisis Approaching!,” January 8, 1861 | 01/08/1861 |