Wednesday, February 4. Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote to General Robert E. Lee expressing concern about the Federal threats to the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.
Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee and Arkansas.
Thursday, February 5. Queen Victoria of England In Great Britain, Queen Victoria informed the British Parliament that Britain had refrained from trying to “induce a cessation of the conflict between the contending parties in the North American States, because it has not yet seemed to Her Majesty that any such overture could be attended with a probability of success.”
In Virginia, General Joseph Hooker began reforming the Federal Army of the Potomac after assuming command. Hooker removed former commander Ambrose Burnside’s system of “grand divisions” and reinstated the army corps system. Hooker also worked to restore troop morale by providing better food, equipment, and camp sanitation.
Skirmishing occurred in Virginia and Arkansas.
Friday, February 6. U.S. Secretary of State William Seward informed the French government that the offer by Emperor Napoleon III to mediate an end to the war had been declined.
In Virginia, a corps from the Federal Army of the Potomac was transfered to Newport News to threaten the Confederate capital of Richmond from the east.
Skirmishing occurred in Virginia and Tennessee.
Saturday, February 7. General Samuel P. Heintzelman assumed command of the recreated Federal Department of Washington.
In South Carolina, three Confederate blockade runners broke through the Federal blockade on Charleston.
Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Sunday, February 8. Circulation of the Chicago Times was temporarily suspended by a military order for publishing “disloyal statements.” General Ulysses S. Grant later rescinded the order.
Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi and Missouri.
Monday, February 9. The Confederate Southwestern Army was extended to include the entire Trans-Mississippi Department.
Skirmishing occurred in Virginia and Tennessee.
Tuesday, February 10. On the Mississippi River, the Federal ship Queen of the West headed toward the Red River.
Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, western Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri.
Primary source: The Civil War Day by Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)
Civil War History 