To the surprise of most, Eliza Clinch Anderson arrived at Fort Sumter unannounced briefly to visit her husband, commanding officer Major Robert Anderson.  In the company of her brother, she had traveled from New York despite a lingering illness, and visited the fort with the permission of the South Carolina authorities.  The visitors brought news good and bad.  Congress had voted to support the garrison and its commander but other Southern states were now seceding. (By John Osborne)

Major Anderson sent one of his officers, Lieutenant  Snyder, to request from Governor Pickens permission to send away in safety the forty-five women and children then in the garrison at Fort Sumter, prior to any attack.  Pickens granted this request in writing but at the same time ordered no further communications, or transport of supplies between Charleston and the fort so as to "prevent irregular collisions, and to spare the unnecessary effusion of blood."  (By John Osborne) 

South Carolina militia, under the command of Colonel John Cunningham, seized control of the Charleston Arsenal from the federal military storekeeper, Captain F.C. Humphreys, under his protest. A militia guard had surrounded the installation since November 9, 1860, after the election of Abraham Lincoln. South Carolina troops then began issuing arms and ammunition.  Material worth an estimated $400,000 was seized.  (By John Osborne) 

President Buchanan, in a last effort to avoid South Carolina's secession, dispatched Caleb Cushing, a Democratic loyalist and chair of the Democratic National Convention in South Carolina during the summer, to ask the new governor to postpone the Secession Convention.  In a short interview, Governor Pickens told Cushing that it was too late and "very candidly, that there was no hope for the Union."  The Secession Convention was already underway - Cushing was invited to attend but refused - and South Carolina seceded within hours.  (By John Osborne) 

French forces under Admiral de Genonilly had occupied Saigon in Indo-China during 1859 but Vietnamese resistance continued to harass the occupation and set up a virtual blockade on the port city.  French and Spanish land and naval units began military operations on February 19, 1861. Six days later, through a series of assaults on insurgent fortifications in heavy fighting that cost the French and Spanish three hundred men killed and wounded, all pressure on Saigon was relieved.  (By John Osborne)