Confederate States Department of the Navy Confederate States Department of the Navy The Department of the Navy was the Confederate Civil Service department responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Confederate Navy and Confederate Marine Corps. It was officially established on February 21, 1861. The Department of the Navy was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama which passed into law on February 20, 1861. This act also established the position of Secretary of the Navy which was according to the act authorized to handle all affairs related to the navies of the Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis nominated and
President of the Confederate States of America on February 11. Davis was inaugurated on February 18 upon his arrival from Mississippi, where he had gone upon his resignation from the U.S. Senate. Davis and Stephens were elected on Wednesday November 6, 1861, for six-years terms, as provided by the permanent constitution. The Capital had been moved in June 1861, to Richmond, and the inauguration took place at the statue of Washington, on the public square, on February 22, 1862. Before Davis entered on the execution of his office as President of the Confederate States, he was constitutionally required to take the following oath or affirmation: In 1861,