- Jan 1 Porfirio Díaz conquers Mexico City
- Jan 2 Colonel Charles Stone is put in charge of organizing DC militia
- Jan 2 South Carolina seizes inactive Ft Johnson in Charleston Harbor
- Jan 3 US Fort Pulaski and Fort Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia
- Jan 3 US state of Delaware legislature rejects proposal to join Confederacy
- Jan 4 US Civil War: Federal Ft Morgan in Mobile, Alabama seized by Confederate forces
- Jan 5 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Ft Sumter
- Jan 5 Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay
- Jan 6 Florida troops seize Federal arsenal at Apalachicola
- Jan 6 NYC mayor proposes NY become a free city, trading with North and South
- Jan 7 Florida troops takeover Fort Marion at St Augustine (US Civil War)
- Jan 8 US Civil War: Union forces abandon Fort Barrancas in favor of Fort Pikens on Santa Rosa Island, near Pensacola, Florida
Battle of Fort Sumter
Jan 9 A Union merchant ship, the Star of the West, is fired upon by cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy as it tries to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina; considered to be the first shots fired in US Civil War
- Jan 9 US Civil War: Mississippi secedes from the Union
- Jan 10 Florida secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- Jan 10 Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by LA state troops (US Civil War)
- Jan 10 US forts & property seized by Mississippi
- Jan 11 Alabama secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- Jan 11 Mexico City captured by Juarez (Lib) in War of Reform
- Jan 12 Florida state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens (US Civil War)
Steam Elevator Patented
Jan 15 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
- Jan 15 US Civil War: Union forces at Fort Pikens on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, Florida refuse Florida Militia demand to surrender
- Jan 19 Georgia secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- Jan 19 Mississippi troops take Fort Massachusetts and Ship Island (US Civil War)
Jefferson Davis Resigns
Jan 21 Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and 4 other southern senators resign (U.S Civil War)
- Jan 24 Federal troops from Fort Monroe are sent to Fort Pikens on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, Florida
- Jan 25 Augusta Arsenal seized by the Confederacy in Georgia (US Civil War)
- Jan 26 Louisiana secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- Jan 29 US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
- Jan 31 Friedrich Hebbel's play "Siegfrieds Tod" premieres in Weimar
- Jan 31 State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans (U.S Civil War)
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