April 22 1861 Monday
USA. 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 relieved 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.
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 showing signs 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. A depot of US Army stores was seized at Napoleon, by order of Governor Henry M Rector.
Arkansas. Governor Henry M Rector refused to furnish the state’s quota of militia requested for Federal service.
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 Infantry aboard. They found USS Maryland aground after it had towed 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. They acquired 37,000 stand of arms, 3,000 kegs of gunpowder, and large quantities of artillery ammunition.
Virginia: Confederate 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 Mt 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 