May 8 1861 Wednesday
Camp Jackson Operations
CSA. The Confederate Congress voted for enlistments to last the duration of the war and not for a pre-determined period. A call for 82,000 more volunteers had been issued in April.
Missouri. A consignment of arms sent by Confederate President Jefferson Finis Davis from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reached the pro-secession militia at Camp Jackson, near St Louis.
Virginia. Virginia State Major Thomas H Williamson, aided by military engineers, began the construction of fortifications at the Aquia Creek landing to protect the terminus of the Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. The Confederate defences were subsequently strengthened by the addition of a second battery on the bluffs to the south of the confluence of the Aquia Creek with the Potomac River.
Union Organisation
USA: The parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia north of the Kanawha River, north and west of the Greenbrier River and thence on a line northwest to the southwest boundary of Maryland were transferred from the Union Department of the East to the Department of the Ohio.
Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles
- Coast Blockading Squadron USN: Flag Officer Silas Horton Stringham USN
- Gulf Blockading Squadron USN: Flag Officer William Mervine USN
- Pacific Squadron USN: Captain John B Montgomery USN
- Potomac Flotilla USN: Commander James Harmon Ward USN
General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott
- Department of Annapolis: Benjamin Franklin Butler awaited
- Department of the East: John Ellis Wool
- Department of Florida: Harvey Brown
- Department of New Mexico: Vacant
- Department of the Ohio: George Brinton McClellan awaited
- 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: Edmund Brooke Alexander temporary
Confederate Organisation
CSA: Colonel John Bankhead Magruder assumed command of the Forces in Richmond, succeeding Colonel Joseph Eggleston Johnston.
Magruder, John Bankhead | Virginia | Born 1 May 1807 Port Royal | USMA 1830 15/42 Infantry | 2nd Lieutenant USA 7th US Infantry 1 July 1830 1st US Artillery 11 August 1831 1st Lieutenant USA 1st US Artillery 31 March 1836 Captain USA 1st US Artillery 18 June 1846 Resigned USA 20 April 1861 Colonel PACS 16 May 1861 Brigadier-General PACS 17 June 1861 Major-General PACS 7 October 1861 Not paroled | Died 18 February 1871 | 8 May 1861 – 20 May 1861 Forces in Richmond, 21 May 1861 – 25 May 1861 Hampton Line, 26 May 1861 – 30 May 1861 Department of the Peninsula, 26 May 1861 – 30 May 1861 Army of the Peninsula, 17 June 1861 – 11 April 1862 Department of the Peninsula, 17 June 1861 – 11 April 1862 Army of the Peninsula, 4 May 1862 – 25 June 1862 Reserve Northern Virginia, 25 June 1862 – 14 July 1862 Magruder’s Command Northern Virginia, 10 October 1862 – 26 November 1862 District of Texas, 29 November 1862 – 5 August 1864 District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, 4 August 1864 – 28 January 1865 District of Arkansas, 4 August 1864 – 31 March 1865 II Corps Trans-Mississippi, 31 January 1865 – 14 February 1865 District of Arkansas, 20 March 1865 – 26 May 1865 District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona
CSA: The Department of Southwestern Virginia was established, comprising the mountainous regions of southwest Virginia.
CSA: Colonel William Wing Loring assumed command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia.
Loring, William Wing | North Carolina-Florida | Born 4 December 1818 Wilmington, North Carolina | Private 11th Florida Militia 1832 Sergeant 11th Florida Militia 1835 1st Lieutenant 11th Florida Militia 1836-1837 Captain USA US Mounted Rifles 19 May 1846 Major USA US Mounted Rifles 1847 Lieutenant-Colonel USA US Mounted Rifles 1851 1st US Mounted Rifles 1853 Colonel US 1st Mounted Rifles 30 December 1856 Resigned USA 13 May 1861 Brigadier-General PACS 20 May 1861 Major-General PACS February 15 1862 to rank from 17 February 1862 Surrendered 26 April 1865 Paroled 1 May 1865 | WIA Chapultepec 1847 WIA x 2 Churubusco 1847 | Died 30 December 1886 | 22 January 1861 – 30 April 1861 Department of New Mexico, 8 May 1861 – 15 October 1862 Department of Southwestern Virginia, 20 July 1861 – 25 January 1862 Army of the Northwest, 15 December 1862 – 20 May 1863 I Corps Mississippi, 14 June 1864 – 28 July 1864 III Corps Tennessee
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: Philip St George Cocke
- Alexandria Line: Philip St George Cocke
- 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
- Potomac Line: Daniel Ruggles
- Forces in Harper’s Ferry”: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
- “Forces in Norfolk”: Walter Gwynn
- Forces in Richmond: John Bankhead Magruder
- Forces in the Kanawha Valley: Christopher Quarles Tompkins
Union Generals
- Major-General USA Winfield Scott 5 July 1841 to rank from 25 June 1841 General-in-Chief
- Brigadier-General USA John Ellis Wool 25 June 1841 Department of the East
- Brigadier-General USA William Selby Harney 14 June 1858
- Brigadier-General USA Edwin Vose Sumner 16 March 1861 Department of the Pacific
- Colonel Joseph King Fenno Mansfield 28 May 1853 Department of Washington
- Colonel George Wright 3 March 1855 District of Oregon
- Colonel Edmund Brooke Alexander 3 March 1855 Department of the West temporary
- Colonel Philip St George Cooke 14 June 1858 Department of Utah
- Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey Brown 28 April 1861 Department of Florida
- State Major-General Robert Patterson Department of Pennsylvania
- State Major-General George Brinton McClellan Department of the Ohio awaited
- State Brigadier-General Benjamin Franklin Butler Department of Annapolis awaited
Confederate Generals
- Major-General PACS David Emanuel Twiggs March 22 1861 District of Louisiana
- Brigadier-General ACSA Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard March 1 1861 Department of South Carolina & Forces in Charleston
- Brigadier-General ACSA Braxton Bragg March 7 1861 Forces in Louisiana & Department of West Florida & Forces in Pensacola & Forces in New Orleans
- Brigadier-General PACS Alexander Robert Lawton 13 April 1861 Defences of Savannah
- Brigadier-General PACS Milledge Luke Bonham 23 April 1861
- Colonel Earl Van Dorn 16 March 1861 Department of Texas
- Colonel Theophilus Hunter Holmes March 1861 Department of North Carolina & Defences of North Carolina
- Colonel Thomas Jonathan Jackson 21 April 1861 Forces in Harper’s Ferry
- Colonel John Bankhead Magruder 16 May 1861 Forces in Richmond
- Colonel William Wing Loring Department of Southwestern Virginia
- State Major-General Walter Gwynn 10 April 1861 Forces in Norfolk
- State Brigadier-General Philip St George Cocke 21 April 1861 Department of Alexandria & Alexandria Line
- State Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles May 1861 Potomac Line
- Colonel Christopher Quarles Tompkins Forces in the Kanawha Valley
