May 20, 1861
- The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
- Delegates to the North Carolina Secession Convention passes Ordinance of Secession
A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1
- North Carolina State Convention met at Raleigh and passed unanimously an ordinance of secession.
- Seizure of telegraphic dispatches throughout the North. The object was to ascertain who were aiding the rebellion.
- All mail steamships on the coasts and rivers having any connection with the rebel States stopped.
- The Governor of Kentucky issued a proclamation declaring the neutrality of the State and forbidding the march of troops from either section across the State.
- A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863