August 17 1861 Saturday
Confederate Invasion of New Mexico
Rosecrans’ West Virginia Campaign
Missouri. Incidents at Brunswick and Hunnewell.
Missouri. A railroad train was fired on by Confederate irregulars at Palmyra, resulting in the death of one Union soldier and several wounded.
North Carolina. Union Lieutenant Reigart B Lowry USN completed preparations for sinking a stone fleet to block the inlets to the North Carolina sounds. Nineteen schooners had been loaded with stone and all were ready for a tow by the steamers Adelaide and Governor Peabody. The vessels were to be positioned, sunk, and secured to block the navigable channels until the naval blockade could become fully effective.
Virginia. Union Major-General George Brinton McClellan established the Department of the Potomac. The new territorial command comprised the states of Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and the bulk of Virginia east of the Allegheny Mountains and north of the James River, except for a 60-mile radius around Fort Monroe. He discontinued the different Departments with current jurisdiction in and around Washington, DC, and northern Virginia in order to achieve the singleness of purpose and unity of command which had been lacking in the First Bull Run campaign.
Union Organisation
USA: The Military Division (Department) of the Potomac was discontinued and reorganised as the Department of the Potomac.
USA: The Department of Northeastern Virginia was discontinued and merged into the new Department of the Potomac.
USA: The Department of Pennsylvania was discontinued and its territory was incorporated into the Department of the Potomac. The state of Pennsylvania remained under independent command.
USA: The Department of the Shenandoah was discontinued and its territory was incorporated into the Department of the Potomac.
USA: The Department of Washington was discontinued and its territory was incorporated into the Department of the Potomac.
USA: The Department of the Potomac was established, comprising the states of Delaware and Maryland, the District of Columbia, the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and Virginia east of the Allegheny Mountains and north of the James River, except for a 60-mile radius around Fort Monroe. Its area was taken from the Department of Pennsylvania, the Department of Washington, the Department of the Shenandoah and the Department of Northeastern Virginia.
USA: Major-General George Brinton McClellan was appointed to command the Department of the Potomac, arriving on 20 August 1861.
USA: Brigadier-General John Ellis Wool arrived to command the Department of Virginia, succeeding Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler.
USA: The Army of the Shenandoah was discontinued and its forces transferred to the Army of the Potomac.
USA: Command of the Department of the East became vacant until it was formally discontinued on 26 October 1861.
USA: George Henry Thomas confirmed Brigadier-General USV 17 August 1861 to rank from 3 August 1861.
USA: Egbert Ludovicus Vielé promoted Brigadier-General USV 17 August 1861.
Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles
Atlantic Blockading Squadron: Silas Horton Stringham
Gulf Blockading Squadron: William Mervine
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
West Indies Squadron: Garrett J Pendergrast
Western Gunboat Flotilla: John Rodgers
Potomac Flotilla: Thomas Tingey Craven
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
Department of the Cumberland: Robert Anderson awaited
Department of the East: Vacant
Department of Florida: Harvey Brown
Department of the Ohio: William Starke Rosecrans
- Cheat Mountain District: Joseph Jones Reynolds
- Cheat River District: Charles J Biddle
- District of Grafton: Benjamin Franklin Kelley
- Army of Occupation: William Starke Rosecrans
Department of the Pacific: Edwin Vose Sumner
- District of Oregon: George Wright
Department of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan awaited
- Army of the Potomac: Irvin McDowell
Department of Texas: Vacant
Department of Virginia: John Ellis Wool
Western Department: John Charles Frémont
- District of Ironton: Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss
- District of North Missouri: John Pope
- Southern District of New Mexico: Benjamin Stone Roberts
Confederate Organisation
CSA: Paul Octave Hébert promoted Brigadier-General PACS 18 August 1861 to rank from 17 August 1861.
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
Military Adviser to the President: Robert Edward Lee
Department No 1: David Emanuel Twiggs
Department of Fredericksburg: Daniel Harvey Hill
- District of Aquia: Daniel Ruggles
Department of Norfolk: Benjamin Huger
Department of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes
- Defences of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes
Department of the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder
- Army of the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder
Department of the Potomac: Joseph Eggleston Johnston
- Army of the Potomac: Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Department of South Carolina: Daniel Harvey Hill
Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring
Department of Texas: Earl Van Dorn interim Paul Octave Hébert awaited
- Defences of Galveston: John Creed Moore
Department of West Florida: Braxton Bragg
- “Forces in Pensacola”: Braxton Bragg
Western Department: Leonidas Polk
- District of Upper Arkansas: William Joseph Hardee
- Western Army: Benjamin McCulloch
District of East Tennessee: Felix Kirk Zollicoffer
Defences of Savannah: Alexander Robert Lawton
Indian Territory: Benjamin McCulloch
Forces in Richmond: Thomas Turner Fauntleroy
Army of the Kanawha: John Buchanan Floyd
Army of Liberation: Gideon Johnson Pillow
Army of the Northwest: William Wing Loring
Union Generals
Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission
Major-General USA
Winfield Scott
George Brinton McClellan
John Charles Frémont
Major-General USV
John Adams Dix
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
Benjamin Franklin Butler
David Hunter
Brigadier-General USA
John Ellis Wool
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner
Joseph King Fenno Mansfield
Irvin McDowell
Robert Anderson
William Starke Rosecrans
Brigadier-General USV
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Erasmus Darwin Keyes
Andrew Porter
Fitz-John Porter
William Buel Franklin
William Tecumseh Sherman
Charles Pomeroy Stone
Don Carlos Buell
Thomas West Sherman
John Pope
George Archibald McCall
William Reading Montgomery
Philip Kearny
Joseph Hooker
John Wolcott Phelps
Ulysses Simpson Grant
Joseph Jones Reynolds
Samuel Ryan Curtis
Charles Smith Hamilton
Darius Nash Couch
Rufus King
Jacob Dolson Cox
Stephen Augustus Hurlbut
Franz Sigel
Robert Cumming Schenck
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss
Frederick West Lander
Benjamin Franklin Kelley
John Alexander McClernand
Alpheus Starkey Williams
Israel Bush Richardson
James Cooper
James Brewerton Ricketts
Orlando Bolivar Willcox
Michael Corcoran
George Henry Thomas
Ambrose Everett Burnside
Henry Hayes Lockwood
Louis Blenker
Henry Warner Slocum
James Samuel Wadsworth
John James Peck
Ormsby McKnight Mitchel
George Webb Morell
John Henry Martindale
Samuel Davis Sturgis
George Stoneman
Henry Washington Benham
William Farrar Smith
James William Denver
Egbert Ludovicus Vielé
Brigadier-General USA (Staff)
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (Quartermaster-General)
Henry Knox Craig
Lorenzo Thomas (Adjutant-General)
James Wolfe Ripley (Ordnance)
Confederate Generals
Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission
General ACSA
Samuel Cooper
Albert Sidney Johnston
Robert Edward Lee
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Major-General PACS
David Emanuel Twiggs
Leonidas Polk
Brigadier-General ACSA
Braxton Bragg
Brigadier-General PACS
Alexander Robert Lawton
Milledge Lake Bonham
Benjamin McCulloch
William Wing Loring
Charles Clark
John Buchanan Floyd
William Henry Talbot Walker
Henry Rootes Jackson
Theophilus Hunter Holmes
Henry Alexander Wise
Earl Van Dorn
William Joseph Hardee
Richard Stoddert Ewell
David Rumph Jones
Benjamin Huger
John Bankhead Magruder
James Longstreet
Edmund Kirby Smith
John Clifford Pemberton
Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Henry Hopkins Sibley
John Henry Winder
Richard Caswell Gatlin
Daniel Smith Donelson
Samuel Read Anderson
Gideon Johnson Pillow
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham
Felix Kirk Zollicoffer
Daniel Harvey Hill
Jones Mitchell Withers
Richard Heron Anderson
Robert Augustus Toombs
Samuel Jones
Arnold Elzey
William Henry Chase Whiting
Jubal Anderson Early
Isaac Ridgway Trimble
Daniel Ruggles
George Bibb Crittenden
John Breckinridge Grayson
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Albert Pike
Paul Octave Hébert
American Civil War High Command 