1861 November 5th

November 5 1861 Monday

Port Royal, SC

Port Royal Expedition
East Kentucky Operations
West Kentucky Operations

Kentucky. Union Brigadier-General William Nelson occupied Prestonsburg.

Missouri. Union Brigadier-General Ulysses Simpson Grant had attempted for two days to divert Confederate attention in southeastern Missouri and to intercept Confederate reinforcements heading across the Mississippi from Columbus, Kentucky. When he learned that Confederate troops were moving across Missouri in the direction of Colonel Richard James Oglesby’s column, he ordered Brigadier-General Charles Ferguson Smith to move from Paducah into southwestern Kentucky to distract the Confederates. Grant chose to strike against Belmont, a ferry landing and tiny hamlet consisting of just three shacks, some 2,000 feet across the river from Columbus. Grant’s expedition consisted of 3,114 men organised into two brigades under Brigadier-General John Alexander McClernand and Colonel Henry Dougherty, plus two cavalry companies and an artillery battery. Grant’s force travelled aboard the steamers Aleck Scott, Chancellor, Keystone State, Belle Memphis, James Montgomery, and Rob Roy, under the protection of gunboats USS Lexington and USS Tyler.

Port Royal, South Carolina. Early in the morning Union gunboats USS Ottawa, USS Seneca, USS Pembina, USS Curlew, USS Isaac Smith, and USS Pawnee, made an incursion into the harbour at Port Royal, seeking to draw enemy fire and estimate the enemy strength. Confederate Captain Josiah Tattnall CSN and his “mosquito fleet” had been attempting an active defence, harassing elements of the Union fleet as they came into shallow coastal waters. With the approach of the Union expedition of fifteen warships Tatnall’s “Savannah River Squadron” made an aggressive sortie with the gunboats CSS Savannah (flagship), CSS Sampson, CSS Lady Davis, and the tender CSS Resolute, along with the converted slaver-privateer Bonita. Tattnall encountered eight of Du Pont’s fifteen US warships. The Confederates were vastly outgunned and outclassed and driven back.
The Union ships returned to their anchorage where the captains of the warships assembled to formulate plans for the assault on the forts. Union Brigadier-General Thomas West Sherman informed Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont USN that the army could not take part in the operation. The loss of ships in the storm had deprived him of his landing boats as well as much of his ammunition. Furthermore, his transports were not designed to make a landing against armed opposition. Sherman would not commit his troops until the arrival of the storm-delayed transport Ocean Express, carrying most of his small arms’ ammunition and heavy ordnance. Unwilling to cancel the operation at this point, Du Pont ordered his fleet to attack alone, concentrating their gunfire on Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard. As they moved in, however, the flagship USS Wabash grounded on Fishing Rip Shoal and the advance was abruptly halted. By the time USS Wabash was worked free, the day was too far gone to continue the attack.

South Carolina. Confederate General Robert Edward Lee was recalled to Richmond from western Virginia and assigned to command the defence of the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida. The transfer was made in response to the arrival of the huge Union fleet off Port Royal. Lee also relinquished his role as Military Adviser to the President in order to concentrate on repelling the Union incursion on the South Carolina Coast. To give Lee wide-ranging authority to coordinate his resources along the Atlantic coastline, the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and the majority of Florida came under his command in a new Department. The existing Departments led by Brigadier-General Roswell Sabine Ripley (South Carolina), Alexander Robert Lawton (Georgia), and James Heyward Trapier (Middle and East Florida) were re-designated and subordinated as Districts within Lee’s Department.

Virginia. Operation at New River began.

Union Organisation

Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron: Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron: Samuel Francis Du Pont
Gulf Blockading Squadron: William McKean
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
Western Gunboat Flotilla: Andrew Hull Foote
Potomac Flotilla: Thomas Tingey Craven

General–in-Chief: George Brinton McClellan

Department of the Cumberland: William Tecumseh Sherman

Department of Florida: Harvey Brown

Department of New England: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Department of New York: Edward Denison Morgan

Department of the Ohio: Ormsby McKnight Mitchel

District of Grafton: Benjamin Franklin Kelley

Department of the Pacific: George Wright

District of Oregon: Albemarle Cady
District of Southern California: James Henry Carleton

Department of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan

District of Harper’s Ferry and Cumberland: Benjamin Franklin Kelley
Army of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan

Department of Texas: Vacant

Department of Virginia: John Ellis Wool

Western Department: David Hunter

District of Western Kentucky: Charles Ferguson Smith
District of North Missouri: John Pope
District of Southeast Missouri: Ulysses Simpson Grant
Southern District of New Mexico: Benjamin Stone Roberts

Department of Western Virginia: William Starke Rosecrans

District of the Kanawha: Jacob Dolson Cox

Confederate Organisation

CSA: The post of Military Adviser to the Present became vacant after the transfer of General Robert Edward Lee from western Virginia to South Carolina.

CSA: The Department of Georgia was discontinued and incorporated into the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida.
CSA: The Department of Middle and Eastern Florida was discontinued and incorporated into the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida.
CSA: The Department of South Carolina was discontinued and incorporated into the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida.

CSA: The Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida was established, comprising the coastal areas of the three states, formerly in the Department of Georgia, the Department of South Carolina, and the Department of Middle and East Florida. The western border was defined as the Apalachicola River.
CSA: General Robert Edward Lee was appointed to command the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida, arriving on 8 November 1861.

CSA: The District of South Carolina was established in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, comprising the area of the former Department of South Carolina.
CSA: Brigadier-General Roswell Sabine Ripley assumed command of the District of South Carolina.

CSA: The District of Georgia was established in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, comprising the area of the former Department of Georgia.
CSA: Brigadier-General Alexander Robert Lawton assumed command of the District of Georgia.

CSA: The District of Middle and East Florida was established in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, comprising the area of the former Department of Middle and East Florida.
CSA: Brigadier-General James Heyward Trapier assumed command of the District of Middle and East Florida.

Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: Judah Philip Benjamin
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory

Military Adviser to the President: Vacant

Department No 1: Mansfield Lovell

Department of Alabama and West Florida: Braxton Bragg

District of Alabama: Jones Mitchell Withers
Army of Pensacola Braxton Bragg

Department of Henrico: John Henry Winder

Department of Norfolk: Benjamin Huger

Department of North Carolina: Richard Caswell Gatlin

District of Cape Fear: Joseph Reid Anderson
District of Pamlico: Daniel Harvey Hill

Department of Northern Virginia: Joseph Eggleston Johnston

District of Aquia: Robert Augustus Toombs
District of the Potomac: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Army of the Potomac: Joseph Eggleston Johnston
- I Corps Potomac: Earl Van Dorn
- II Corps Potomac: Gustavus Woodson Smith
Valley District: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
- Army of the Valley: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Army of the Northwest: William Wing Loring

Department of the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder

Army of the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder

Department of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida: Robert Edward Lee awaited

District of Middle and East Florida: James Heyward Trapier
District of Georgia: Alexander Robert Lawton
District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley

Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring

Department of Texas: Paul Octave Hébert

District of Galveston: John Creed Moore
Defences of Pass Cavallo: John W Glenn

Western Department: Albert Sidney Johnston

First Geographical Division: Leonidas Polk
District of Upper Arkansas: William Joseph Hardee
District of the Indian Territory: Benjamin McCulloch
District of East Tennessee: Felix Kirk Zollicoffer
Army of Central Kentucky: Albert Sidney Johnston
Army of Eastern Kentucky: Humphrey Marshall
Western Army: Benjamin McCulloch

District of Arizona: John Robert Baylor

Forces in Richmond: Charles Dimmock

Union Generals

Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission

Major-General USA

George Brinton McClellan
John Charles Frémont
Henry Wager Halleck

Major-General USV

John Adams Dix
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
Benjamin Franklin Butler
David Hunter
Edwin Denison Morgan

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
James Shields
John Fulton Reynolds
William Farquhar Barry
John Joseph Abercrombie
John Sedgwick
Charles Ferguson Smith
Silas Casey
Lawrence Pike Graham
George Gordon Meade
Abram Duryée
Alexander McDowell McCook
Oliver Otis Howard
Eleazar Arthur Paine
Daniel Edgar Sickles
Charles Davis Jameson
Ebenezer Dumont
Robert Huston Milroy
Lewis Wallace
Willis Arnold Gorman
Daniel Butterfield
Horatio Gouverneur Wright
Edward Otho Cresap Ord
William Nelson
William Thomas Ward
John Gross Barnard
Innis Newton Palmer
Seth Williams
John Newton
Winfield Scott Hancock
Thomas Leonidas Crittenden
George Wright
Isaac Ingalls Stevens
Thomas Williams
George Sykes
William Henry French
William Thomas Harbaugh Brooks
John Milton Brannan
William Wallace Burns
John Porter Hatch
David Sloane Stanley
William Kerley Strong
Albin Francisco Schoepf
Lovell Harrison Rousseau
James Scott Negley
Thomas John Wood
Richard W Johnson
Adolph Wilhelm August Friedrich Von Steinwehr
Joseph Bennett Plummer
John Gray Foster
George Washington Cullum

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

Leonidas Polk
Braxton Bragg
Earl Van Dorn
Gustavus Woodson Smith
Theophilus Hunter Holmes
William Joseph Hardee
Benjamin Huger
James Longstreet
John Bankhead Magruder
Mansfield Lovell
Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Edmund Kirby Smith

Brigadier-General PACS

Alexander Robert Lawton
Milledge Lake Bonham
Benjamin McCulloch
William Wing Loring
Charles Clark
John Buchanan Floyd
Henry Rootes Jackson
Henry Alexander Wise
Richard Stoddert Ewell
David Rumph Jones
John Clifford Pemberton
Henry Hopkins Sibley
John Henry Winder
Richard Caswell Gatlin
Daniel Smith Donelson
Samuel Read Anderson
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
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Albert Pike
Paul Octave Hébert
Joseph Reid Anderson
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Leroy Pope Walker
Albert Gallatin Blanchard
Gabriel James Rains
James Ewell Brown Stuart
Lafayette McLaws
Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Thomas Carmichael Hindman
Adley Hogan Gladden
John Porter McCown
Lloyd Tilghman
Nathan George Evans
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Philip St George Cocke
Robert Emmett Rodes
Richard Taylor
Louis Trezevant Wigfall
James Heyward Trapier
Samuel Gibbs French
William Henry Carroll
Hugh Weedon Mercer
Humphrey Marshall
John Cabell Breckinridge
Richard Griffith
Daniel Marsh Frost