Feb. 18, 1862

Feb. 18, 1862: The first elected Confederate Congress convenes today in Richmond, to much fanfare. According to the Richmond Daily Dispatch, "The hall of the House of Representatives, for half an hour previous to the tap of the Speaker’s gavel, was a complete jam, the crowd consisting of the members elect, the members of the Virginia Legislature, citizens, and last, though not least, a considerable number of ladies — all anxious to witness the proceedings incident to an occasion so interesting, and yet so solemn and impressive."

---Gen. Halleck writes to Gen. Buell, asking him to move his Army of the Ohio closer to the Cumberland River, since Halleck wishes Buell to take command over Grant’s army. Buell offers excuses as to why he cannot do it.

---Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, a Union soldier, writes in his diary:
Tuesday, 18th—It is cloudy and quite cool. News came that Fort Henry has been taken and we fired a feu de joie. Some of the boys are afraid that the war will be over before we have a chance to have the honor of being in a battle.

---The Missouri Democrat, in Kansas City, announces that Quantrill and Parker, two notorious Rebel guerillas, were taken by surprise in the town of Independence by part of the 2^nd Ohio Cavalry, and suffered "discomfiture and rout."