April 22 1861 Monday
USA. Brigadier-General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, Quartermaster-General of the US Army, resigned to join the Confederacy and was succeeded as Quartermaster-General by Captain Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, who was to be rapidly promoted to Colonel on 14 May 1861 and Brigadier-General in the US Army on 15 May 1861. Johnston’s resignation meant that only three of the pre-war Regular Army generals were still in service, and one of those (Brigadier-General William Selby Harney), was already suspected of unreliable loyalty. Former US Regular Army Brigadier-General David Emanuel Twiggs had already resigned to join the Confederacy and held a commission as Major-General.
USA: Commander James Harmon Ward USN, commanding the receiving ship USS North Carolina at the New York Navy Yard, proposed a plan for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay and capital areas. Ward suggested that a “Flying Flotilla” of light draft vessels be formed to operate in the Chesapeake and its tributaries. His superior officer, Captain Samuel Livingston Breese, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, endorsed his plan and it was submitted to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Arkansas. The Confederates stationed two guns at Napoleon to force riverboats to stop for inspection.
Arkansas. Governor Henry M Rector refused to furnish the state’s quota of militia requested for Federal service.
District of Columbia. Captain Franklin Buchanan USN, Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, resigned to join the Confederate Navy. Buchanan subsequently took command of the Confederate States Navy as its senior officer. He was succeeded at Washington by Commander John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren USN.
Dahlgren spurred the build-up of Union ordnance and ships for the defence of Washington and the Potomac River.
In 1847, while he was an ordnance officer at the Washington Navy Yard he began to improve and systematise the procurement and supply system for weapons. He established the US Navy’s Ordnance Department and established a foundry to test and manufacture new equipment. The first product was the smoothbore boat howitzer designed specifically for use aboard small boats and in landings. He also made significant advances in gunnery. His most substantial contribution was a cast-iron muzzle-loading gun that was named the Dahlgren gun. By 1852, the Dahlgren gun had become the standard armament of the US Navy. He researched and advocated new technology for making and operating artillery and ammunition. He foresaw a consequence of those advances and pressed for the construction of iron armoured warships.
President Abraham Lincoln wanted to appoint Dahlgren substantively to the post of commander of the Washington Navy Yard. By law, however, that position could only be held by an officer with a grade of Captain or higher. Lincoln persuaded Congress to pass a special act permitting Dahlgren’s appointment to the yard. On 16 July 1862, Dahlgren was finally promoted to Captain and made Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance.
Illinois. Illinois militia troops occupied the vital river port of Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Maryland. The steamer Boston arrived at Annapolis with the 7th New York Militia Infantry aboard. They found USS Maryland had run aground after towing the venerable USS Constitution into the Chesapeake Bay, and got her off the shallows. Troops from both ships disembarked in Annapolis. Their arrival contributed to the security of Washington, DC, and the retention of Maryland for the Union. Union State Brigadier-General Benjamin Franklin Butler’s troops began to repair the railroad and reopened communications with Washington, which had been isolated since the Baltimore riots on 19 April.
North Carolina. The US Arsenal at Fayetteville was seized by North Carolina State troops. Construction of the Fayetteville Arsenal began on 9 April 1838 because the existing distribution of weapons and ammunition manufactories was inadequate for the defence of the country. New Federal arsenals were built to ensure that no part of the country was too distant from an arms depot. The structure was built with massive brick and stone walls and an octagonal tower on each corner. Entry was trestricted by iron gates.
Even before North Carolina seceded from the Union, Governor Ellis sought the surrender of the Arsenal. General Walker Draughon, commanding the North Carolina Militia, was ordered to take possession of the Arsenal, which was garrisoned by Battery D, 2nd US Artillery. On 22 April 1861, the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry under the command of Major Wright Huske, and the LaFayette Light Infantry, commanded by Captain Joseph B Starr brought about 500 armed men to the arsenal. US Lieutenant Julius de Lagnel, he decided that resistance was futile and surrendered the arsenal without incident. It was vacated by Federal forces on 27 April 1861. The Confederates acquired 37,000 stand of arms, 3,000 kegs of gunpowder, and large quantities of artillery ammunition.
After the capture of the Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, plans were made to relocate the rifle-making machinery from there to new workshops at the Fayetteville Arsenal. The machinery was installed in October 1861 and the arsenal became a major supplier of small arms for the Confederacy. At its peak, the arsenal produced 500 rifles per month along with other ordnance, cartridges, swords, and bayonets. Over one hundred workmen from the Harpers Ferry Arsenal relocated with their families to Fayetteville.
The arsenal was a major target for the approaching Union armies in 1865 and the commander, Colonel Childs, ordered the construction of earthworks for its defence. The Union entered Fayetteville on 11 March 1865 and took possession of the Arsenal but it had already been stripped of arms, munitions, and useful machinery by the retreating Confederates. The buildings were razed to the ground. As fires raged, some remaining artillery shells exploded and completed the devastation.
Virginia: Virginia State Major-General Robert Edward Lee accepted command of the Provisional Army of Virginia, arriving on 23 April 1861.
Union Organisation
USA: Major-General of Pennsylvania Militia Robert Patterson arrived to command the Department of Washington.
USA: Brigadier-General Joseph Eggleston Johnston resigned from the US Army as Quartermaster-General to join the Confederacy.
Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
Department of Florida: Harvey Brown
Department of New Mexico: William Wing Loring
Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston interim Edwin Vose Sumner awaited
- District of Oregon: George Wright
Department of Texas: Carlos Adolphus Waite
Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
Department of Washington: Robert Patterson assumed
Department of the West: William Selby Harney
Confederate Organisation
CSA: The Department of North Carolina was established, comprising the state of North Carolina.
CSA: Colonel Theophilus Hunter Holmes assumed command of the Department of North Carolina.
CSA: The Defences of North Carolina was established in the Department of North Carolina, comprising the area around Wilmington, North Carolina.
CSA: Colonel Theophilus Hunter Holmes assumed command of the Defences of North Carolina.
CSA: The Potomac Line was established, comprising forces collected around Fredericksburg, Virginia, controlling the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to the Rappahannock River.
CSA: Virginia State Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles assumed command of the Potomac Line.
Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory
Department of North Carolina established: Theophilus Hunter Holmes assumed
- Defences of North Carolina established: Theophilus Hunter Holmes assumed
Department of South Carolina: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
- “Forces in Charleston”: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Department of Texas: Earl Van Dorn
Department of West Florida: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in Pensacola”: Braxton Bragg
District of Louisiana: David Emanuel Twiggs
- “Forces in New Orleans” “Army of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg
Defences of Savannah: Alexander Robert Lawton
Potomac Line established: Daniel Ruggles assumed
Forces in Harper’s Ferry”: Kenton Harper
“Forces in Norfolk”: William Booth Taliaferro
Union Generals
Major-General USA
Winfield Scott
Brigadier-General USA
John Ellis Wool
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner
Confederate Generals
Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission
Major-General PACS
David Emanuel Twiggs
Brigadier-General ACSA
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg
Brigadier-General PACS
Alexander Robert Lawton
American Civil War High Command 