USS Yankee (1861) USS Yankee (1861) USS "Yankee" (1861) was a steam-powered side-wheel tugboat acquired by the Union Navy just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War. The "Yankee"—a side-wheel steamer built in 1860 at New York City—was one of three steam tugs chartered early in April 1861 at New York City for use on the expedition to provision Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the first U.S. state to declare its secession from the Union, which it had done on December 20, 1860. She departed New York on 8 April 1861 and arrived off Charleston Bar on the 15th, a few hours
Battle of Carthage (1861) In April 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all of the states to defeat the Confederacy. Missouri was asked to send four regiments. Governor Jackson refused the request. Instead, he called up the Missouri State Militia, possibly to seize the St. Louis Arsenal. If this was his intention, it was thwarted by the newly appointed commander of the arsenal, Captain Nathaniel Lyon of the 2nd U. S. Infantry. Lyon had previously been stationed in Kansas Territory and had developed well-known abolitionist views. Arriving in February 1861, Lyon quickly became associated with the