May 21 1861 Tuesday
Chesapeake Bay Blockade
CSA. The Confederate President was authorised to confer temporary ranks and commands for officers in the Confederate States’ Provisional Army.
CSA. The Confederate Department of the Navy was given the power by the Congress to grant patents concerning inventions such as armed vessels, floating batteries, and other defences.
Africa. USS Constellation, the oldest United States’ warship afloat, Captain John S Nicholas, captured the slave brig Triton at the mouth of the Congo River.
Missouri. A convention was held between pro-Confederate Missouri State Major-General Sterling Price and US Brigadier-General William Selby Harney. They came to an agreement with the aim of restoring order and equilibrium to the state. Harney agreed not to bring any Federal troops into the state if Price maintained law and order with the Missouri State Guard. This decision gave effective control to the Pro-Confederate force and abrogated accepted Federal rights in the state.
Virginia. After Virginia’s state forces were consolidated with the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, Virginia State Brigadier-General Philip St George Cocke was appointed Colonel of the 19th Virginia in the Confederate army. Cocke was superseded in command of the Confederate forces gathering at Manassas by Brigadier General Milledge Luke Bonham.
Virginia. The USS Monticello fired two shots at the Sewell’s Point battery near Norfolk but drew off when the battery returned fire. The Sewell’s Point battery and other batteries in the area continued to engage Union vessels on occasions during the following twelve months.
Virginia. USS Pocahontas, Commander John P Gillis, seized the steamboat James Guy off Machodoc Creek.
Virginia. Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan, commanding USS Pawnee, demanded the surrender of Alexandria. An amphibious expedition had embarked secretly overnight, departed Washington Navy Yard to occupy Alexandria. This was the first landing of Union troops on Virginia shores and was protected by the improvised gunboats USS Thomas Freeborn, USS Anacostia, and USS Resolute. Alexandria was the fourteenth most populous city in the Confederacy but its exposed location meant that it had to be evacuated by the Confederates.
Union Organisation
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
Western Gunboat Flotilla: John Rodgers
Potomac Flotilla: James Harmon Ward
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
Department of Annapolis: John Adams Dix
Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
Department of Florida: Harvey Brown
Department of New Mexico: Edward Richard Sprigg Canby
Department of the Ohio: George Brinton McClellan
Department of the Pacific: Edwin Vose Sumner
- District of Oregon: George Wright
Department of Pennsylvania: Robert Patterson
Department of Texas: Vacant
Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke
Department of Washington: Joseph King Fenno Mansfield
Department of the West: William Selby Harney
Confederate Organisation
CSA: The Hampton Line was established, comprising forces gathering in the Yorktown peninsula of Virginia.
CSA: Colonel John Bankhead Magruder assumed command of the Hampton Line.
Magruder, John Bankhead / Virginia / Born 1 May 1807 Port Royal, Virginia / Died Houston, Texas 18 February 1871
USMA 1 July 1830 15/42 Infantry / Cadet USMA 1 July 1826 / 2nd Lieutenant USA 7th US Infantry 1 July 1830 / 1st US Artillery 11 August 1831 / 1st Lieutenant USA 31 March 1836 / Captain USA 18 June 1846 / Resigned USA 20 April 1861 / Colonel Provisional Army of Virginia 9 May 1861 / Colonel PACS Artillery 16 May 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 17 June 1861 / Major-General PACS 7 October 1861 / No Record of Parole / Brevet 2nd Lieutenant USA 1 July 1830 Brevet Major USA 18 April 1847 Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel USA 13 September 1847 / Major-General Mexican Imperial Army/ WIA Chapultepec 13 September 1847
Forces in Richmond 8 May 1861-21 May 1861 / Hampton Line 21 May 1861-26 May 1861 / Department of the Peninsula 26 May 1861-31 May 1861 / Army of the Peninsula 26 May 1861-31 May 1861 / Department of the Peninsula 17 June 1861-12 April 1862 / Army of the Peninsula 17 June 1861-12 April 1862 / Magruder’s Division Army of Northern Virginia 12 April 1862-May 1862 / Reserve Northern Virginia 4 May 1862-25 June 1862 / Magruder’s Command Northern Virginia 25 June 1862-14 July 1862 / District of Texas 10 October 1862-27 November 1862 / District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona 29 November 1862-4 August 1864 / District of Arkansas 4 August 1864-28 January 1865 / II Corps Trans-Mississippi 4 August 1864-31 March 1865 / District of Arkansas 31 January 1865-14 February 1865 / District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona 20 March 1865-26 May 1865
CSA: Brigadier-General Milledge Luke Bonham assumed command of the Department of Alexandria, succeeding Colonel Philip St George Cocke.
CSA: Brigadier-General Milledge Luke Bonham assumed command of the Forces in Alexandria, succeeding Colonel Philip St George Cocke.
Bonham, Milledge Luke / South Carolina / Born 25 December 1813 Red Bank, South Carolina / Died White Sulfur Springs, North Carolina 27 August 1890
Captain USV South Carolina Infantry 9 April 1836 / Mustered Out USV 7 July 1836 / Major-General South Carolina Militia / Lieutenant-Colonel USA 3 March 1847 / 12th US Infantry 9 April 1847 / Colonel USA 12 August 1847 Discharged USA 25 July 1848 / Major-General South Carolina Militia 10 February 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 23 April 1861 / Resigned PACS 14 July 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 14 July 1861 / Resigned PACS 29 January 1862 / Brigadier-General PACS 20 February 1865 to rank from 9 February 1865 / No Record of Parole / WIA Contreras 19 August 1847
Department of Alexandria 21 May 1861-30 May 1861 / Forces in Alexandria 21 May 1861-23 May 1861 / Army of the Potomac 24 May 1861-1 June 1861 / Department of the Potomac 31 May 1861-1 June 1861 / Bonham’s Brigade Alexandria Line 31 May 1861-20 July 1861 / 1st Brigade Army of the Potomac 20 July 1861-22 October 1861 / 1st Brigade Longstreet’s Division Army of the Potomac 22 October 1862-9 November 1862 / 1st Brigade Van Dorn’s Division Army of the Potomac 9 November 1861-10 January 1862 / 1st Division Army of the Potomac 10 January 1862 / Bonham’s Brigade Butler’s Division Hampton’s Cavalry Corps Army of Tennessee 2 April 1865-May 1865
CSA: Brigadier-General of Virginia Militia Benjamin Huger assumed command of the Forces in Norfolk, succeeding Colonel Walter Gwynn.
Huger, Benjamin / South Carolina / Born 22 November 1805 Charleston, South Carolina / Died Charleston, South Carolina 7 December 1877
USMA 1 July 1825 8 /37 Artillery-Ordnance / Cadet USMA 1 July 1821 / 2nd Lieutenant USA 3rd US Artillery 1 July 1825 / Captain USA Ordnance 30 May 1832 / Major USA 15 February 1855 / Resigned USA 22 April 1861 / Lieutenant-Colonel ACSA Infantry 16 March 1861 / Brigadier-General Virginia Militia 22 May 1861 / Brigadier-General Provisional Army of Virginia June 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 17 June 1861 / Major-General PACS 7 October 1861 / Assistant Inspector-General 12 June 1862 / Inspector of Ordnance and Artillery 26 August 1862-23 November 1863 / Paroled Shreveport, Louisiana 12 June 1865 / Brevet 2nd Lieutenant USA 1 July 1825 Brevet Major USA 29 March 1847 Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel USA 8 September 1847 Brevet Colonel USA 13 September 1847
Forces in Norfolk 21 May 1861-23 May 1861 / Department of Norfolk 23 May 1861-12 April 1862 / Huger’s Division Army of Northern Virginia May 1862-12 June 1862 / Inspector of Ordnance and Artillery 26 August 1862-23 November 1863 / Assistant Inspector-General Trans-Mississippi Department 26 August 1862-July 1863 / Chief of Ordnance Trans-Mississippi Department July 1863-March 1865
CSA: Brigadier-General of Virginia Militia Thomas Turner Fauntleroy assumed command of the Forces in Richmond succeeding Colonel John Bankhead Magruder who moved his force onto the Yorktown peninsula to become the Hampton Line.
Fauntleroy, Thomas Turner / Virginia / Born 8 October 1795 Richmond, Virginia / Died Leesburg, Virginia 12 September 1883
Lieutenant Virginia Militia 1812 / Major USA 2nd US Dragoons 8 June 1836 / Lieutenant-Colonel USA 30 June 1846 / Colonel USA 1st US Dragoons 25 July 1850 / Resigned USA 13 May 1861 / Colonel Provisional Army of Virginia 15 May 1861 / Brigadier-General Virginia Militia June 18 May 1861-8 October 1861 / Major PACS 55th Virginia Infantry 1861 / Brigadier-General PACS 9 July 1861 Declined 17 August 1861 Unconfirmed / Resigned PACS 30 August 1861
Department of New Mexico 5 September 1859-22 January 1861 / Forces in Richmond 21 May 1861-30 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
Department of Alexandria: Milledge Luke Bonham
- Forces in Alexandria: Milledge Luke Bonham
Department of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes
- Defences of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes
Department of South Carolina: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
- “Forces in Charleston”: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring
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
Indian Territory: Benjamin McCulloch
Potomac Line: Daniel Ruggles
Hampton Line: John Bankhead Magruder
Forces in Harper’s Ferry”: Thomas Jonathan Jackson interim, Joseph Eggleston Johnston awaited
“Forces in Norfolk”: Benjamin Huger
Forces in Richmond: Thomas Turner Fauntleroy
Forces in the Kanawha Valley: Christopher Quarles Tompkins
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
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
David Hunter
Erasmus Darwin Keyes
Andrew Porter
Fitz-John Porter
William Buel Franklin
William Tecumseh Sherman
Charles Pomeroy Stone
Don Carlos Buell
Thomas West Sherman
Nathaniel Lyon
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
Brigadier-General USA (Staff)
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs
Confederate Generals
Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission
General ACSA
Samuel Cooper
Major-General PACS
David Emanuel Twiggs
Brigadier-General ACSA
Robert Edward Lee
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg
Brigadier-General PACS
Alexander Robert Lawton
Milledge Lake Bonham
Benjamin McCulloch
William Wing Loring
American Civil War High Command 