WHAT ALL HAPPENED SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 1861
Find out what all happened September to December 1861

American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government. (20. November 1861)

American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as the commander of the Union Army, replacing General Winfield Scott. (1. November 1861)

The Pony Express officially ceases operations. (26. October 1861)

The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, University of Toronto. (9. November 1861)

American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. (3. September 1861)

American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US. (8. November 1861)

American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control of the mouth of the Tennessee River. (6. September 1861)

American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress. (9. December 1861)

American Civil War: Battle of Belmont: In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive. (7. November 1861)

19 people are killed in the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre, the deadliest massacre of Europeans by aborigines in Australian history. (17. October 1861)

Forces led by Nguyen Trung Truc, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sink the French lorcha L'Esperance. (10. December 1861)

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. (6. November 1861)

American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting. (21. October 1861)

Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. (21. December 1861)

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases. (23. October 1861)

The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University. (4. November 1861)

The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express. (24. October 1861)

American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens. (9. October 1861)

American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom. (26. December 1861)

American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy. (10. December 1861)