February 9, 1861
- At the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama, after privately considering William Yancey, Howell Cobb, Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, and Robert Barnwell Rhett for President of the Confederate States of America, the Convention settles on Jefferson Davis. They select Alexander Stephens, both pro-Union and a friend of Abraham Lincoln, as vice-president.
- In a blow to the newly formed Confederacy, Tennessee voters reject the call for a secessionist convention, 68,262 to 59,499.