1862 April 24th

April 24 1862 Thursday

New Orleans, LA

Burnside’s Expedition to North Carolina
Peninsula Campaign – Siege of Yorktown
Operations at New Orleans
Confederate Evacuation of New Mexico

Alabama. Skirmish at Tuscumbia.

New Orleans, Louisiana. Seeing that the week-long bombardment by his mortar fleet was having a negligible effect on Fort Jackson and Fort St Philip, Union Captain David Glasgow Farragut USN gave the order at 2 am for his fleet to run boldly past the forts and to head for New Orleans. Preparations were made on all ships to douse the flames if the Confederates launched fire rafts, and chains were draped over the vulnerable boilers and magazines. The fleet of seventeen warships got underway in three separate divisions of eight, three, and six ships. At about 3.40 am the first ships steamed through the breach in the obstructions which had been opened previously by USS Pinola and USS Itasca and they were immediately detected by the defenders. A withering fire from the forts only opened after the first division of eight ships was already through the breach. They were answered by heavy broadsides from the ships.
The flagship USS Hartford led the second division but grounded in the swift current near Fort St Philip as it evaded a Confederate fire raft. The fire raft still hit the vessel and the ship was set afire. The crew saved the ship by sinking the raft in the river with two well-aimed shots. The ship was extricated from the mud flat and steamed on to rejoin the fleet. There were brief engagements between the converted merchant vessel and fast screw steamer USS Varuna with eight guns and the unarmoured side-wheel steamer CSS Governor Moore with two guns, and between the USS Pensacola and the CSS Governor Moore. USS Varuna was rammed by two Confederate ships and sank in the ensuing melee but the rest of the Confederate flotilla was quickly scattered and annihilated. CSS Warrior, CSS Jackson, CSS Colonel Lovell and CSS Breckinridge, the tender Phoenix, steamers Star and Belle Algerine, and Louisiana gunboat General Quitman were all destroyed.
The armoured ram CSS Manassas was brought under fire both by the Union ships and by misguided Confederate gunners in the fort. The iron armour was pierced and the engines smashed and then it was driven ashore by USS Mississippi and sunk. The steam tenders CSS Landis and CSS W Burton surrendered and CSS Resolute was destroyed to prevent capture. CSS Governor Moore continued to resist but when it was brought under fire by five Union ships, it disintegrated in flames. Of its 93 crewmen, 57 were killed and 17 wounded. In all the Confederates lost 12 men dead and 40 wounded in the forts, in addition to an unknown number in the crews of the annihilated river fleet. The Union fleet lost 37 men dead and 149 wounded.

ORDER OF BATTLE: NEW ORLEANS, LA

Union Department of the Gulf: Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler
Army of the Gulf: Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler
1^st Brigade (Gulf): Brigadier-General John Wolcott Phelps
2^nd Brigade (Gulf): Brigadier-General Thomas Williams
West Gulf Blockading Squadron: Captain David Glasgow Farragut USN
First Division: Captain Theodorus Bailey USN
Second Division: Fleet Captain Henry H Bell USN
Mortar Division: Commander David Dixon Porter USN
USS Hartford (flagship), USS Brooklyn, USS Richmond, USS Pensacola, USS Mississippi, USS Oneida, USS Viruna, USS Iroquois, USS Cayuga, USS Itasca, USS Katahdin, USS Kennebec, USS Kineo, USS Pinola, USS Sciota, USS Winona, USS Wissahickon, USS Portsmouth, USS Harriet Lane, USS Owasco, USS Clifton, USS John P Jackson, USS Westfield, USS Miami, nineteen mortar schooners

Confederate Department No 1: Major-General Mansfield Lovell
Defences of New Orleans (Department No 1): Brigadier-General Johnson Kelly Duncan
Fort Jackson and Fort St Philip: Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Higgins
Clamette and McGehee Lines (Department No 1): Brigadier-General Martin Luther Smith
Mississippi River Flotilla: Commander John K Mitchell CSNCSS Louisiana, CSS McRae, CSS Jackson, CSS Manassas, CSS Governor Moore, CSS Governor Quitman, CSS Warrior, CSS Stonewall Jackson, CSS Defiance, CSS Resolute, CSS General Lovell, CSS R J Breckinridge, two boat howitzers

Mississippi. Skirmish on Corinth Road.

North Carolina. Union siege artillery was ordered to begin the reduction of Fort Macon at the earliest opportunity.

North Carolina. CSS Nashville made a successful run through the blockade into Wilmington with a cargo of 60,000 stand of arms and 40 tons of powder.

Tennessee. Skirmish at Lick Creek.

Tennessee. Skirmish on the Shelbyville Road, and at Little Rock Landing.

Virginia. Operations and New Market. Skirmish near Harrisonburg.

Virginia. Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston requested the stock-piling of supplies to begin at Richmond rather than at his lines around Yorktown, as part of his preparations for a withdrawal towards the capital.

Union Organisation

Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Edwin McMasters Stanton
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron: Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron: Samuel Francis Du Pont
West Gulf Blockading Squadron: David Glasgow Farragut
East Gulf Blockading Squadron: William McKean
Pacific Squadron: Charles H Bell
Western Gunboat Flotilla: Andrew Hull Foote
Potomac Flotilla: Robert Harris Wyman

Chairman of the War Board: Ethan Allen Hitchcock

Department of the Mississippi: Henry Wager Halleck

District of West Tennessee: Ulysses Simpson Grant
- Army of West Tennessee: Ulysses Simpson Grant
District of the Mississippi: Isaac Ferdinand Quinby
- Army of the Mississippi: John Pope
District of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell
- Army of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell
District of Cairo: William Kerley Strong
- Sub-District of Columbus: Isaac Ferdinand Quinby

Department of the Missouri: Henry Wager Halleck

District of St Louis: Lewis Merrill
District of Central Missouri: James Totten
District of Southeast Missouri: Frederick Steele
District of Southwest Missouri: Samuel Ryan Curtis
- Army of the Southwest: Samuel Ryan Curtis
District of Northeast Missouri: John Montgomery Glover
District of Northwest Missouri: Benjamin Franklin Loan
District of Kansas: Samuel Davis Sturgis

Department of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Army of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Middle Department: John Adams Dix

District of the Eastern Shore of Maryland: Henry Hayes Lockwood

Mountain Department: John Charles Frémont

Cheat Mountain District: Thomas Maley Harris
Railroad District: Benjamin Franklin Kelley
District of the Kanawha: Jacob Dolson Cox
District of the Gap: Samuel Powhatan Carter
District of the Valley of the Big Sandy River: James Abram Garfield

Department of New Mexico: Edward Richard Sprigg Canby

Central and Northern District of New Mexico: Benjamin Stone Roberts

Department of New York: Edward Denison Morgan

Department of North Carolina: Ambrose Everett Burnside

Department of the Pacific: George Wright

District of the Humboldt: Francis James Lippitt
District of Oregon: Albemarle Cady
District of Southern California: James Henry Carleton

Department of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan

Army of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan
- II Corps Potomac: Edwin Vose Sumner
- III Corps Potomac: Samuel Peter Heintzelman
- IV Corps Potomac: Erasmus Darwin Keyes

Department of the Rappahannock: Irvin McDowell

Military District of Washington: James Samuel Wadsworth

Department of the Shenandoah: Nathaniel Prentiss Banks

Department of the South: David Hunter

Northern District of the South: Henry Washington Benham
Southern District of the South: John Milton Brannan
Western District of the South: Lewis Golding Arnold

Department of Texas: Vacant

Department of Virginia: John Ellis Wool

Confederate Organisation

CSA: Brigadier-General Hamilton Prioleau Bee arrived to command the Sub-District of the Rio Grande.

Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: George Wythe Randolph
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory

Military Adviser to the President: Robert Edward Lee

Department No 1: Mansfield Lovell

Department of Alabama and West Florida: Samuel Jones

Army of Mobile: William L Powell

Department of Middle and Eastern Florida: Joseph Finegan

Department of East Tennessee: Edmund Kirby Smith

Army of East Tennessee: Edmund Kirby Smith

Department of Henrico: John Henry Winder

Department of the Indian Territory: Douglas Hancock Cooper

Department of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes

District of Cape Fear: Samuel Gibbs French
District of Pamlico: Robert Ransom temporary
District of Roanoke Island: Henry Marchmore Shaw

Department of Northern Virginia: Joseph Eggleston Johnston

District of Aquia: Gustavus Woodson Smith
Army of Northern Virginia: Joseph Eggleston Johnston
- Right Wing Northern Virginia: James Longstreet
- Left Wing Northern Virginia: Gustavus Woodson Smith
- Centre Wing Northern Virginia: Daniel Harvey Hill
Valley District: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
- Army of the Valley: Thomas Jonathan Jackson

Department of South Carolina and Georgia: John Clifford Pemberton

District of Georgia: Alexander Robert Lawton
District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley
- 1^st Sub-District of South Carolina: Arthur Middleton Manigault.
- 2^nd Sub-District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley
- 3^rd Sub-District of South Carolina: Nathan George Evans
- 4^th Sub-District of South Carolina: Maxcy Gregg
- 5^th Sub-District of South Carolina: Daniel Smith Donelson
- 6^th Sub-District of South Carolina: Thomas Fenwick Drayton

Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring

District of Lewisburg: Henry Heth

Department of Texas: Paul Octave Hébert

Eastern District of Texas: Paul Octave Hébert
Western District of Texas: Henry Eustace McCullough
Sub-District of Houston: John C Bowen
Sub-District of Galveston: Ebenezer B Nichols
Sub-District of the Rio Grande: Hamilton Prioleau Bee
Defences of Pass Cavallo: John W Glenn

Western Department: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

Trans-Mississippi District: Earl Van Dorn
District of North Alabama: Daniel Ruggles
Army of Mississippi: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
- I Corps (Mississippi): Leonidas Polk
- II Corps (Mississippi): Braxton Bragg
- III Corps (Mississippi): William Joseph Hardee
- Reserve Corps (Mississippi): John Cabell Breckinridge
Army of the West: Earl Van Dorn

District of Arizona: Henry Hopkins Sibley

Army of New Mexico: Henry Hopkins Sibley

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

Asterisk indicates concurrently Brigadier-General USA

John Adams Dix
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
Benjamin Franklin Butler
David Hunter
Edwin Denison Morgan
Ethan Allen Hitchcock
Ulysses Simpson Grant
Irvin McDowell*
Ambrose Everett Burnside
William Starke Rosecrans*
Don Carlos Buell
John Pope
Samuel Ryan Curtis
Franz Sigel
John Alexander McClernand
Charles Ferguson Smith
Lewis Wallace
Ormsby McKnight Mitchel
Cassius Marcellus Clay

Brigadier-General USA

Brackets indicates concurrently Major-General USV

John Ellis Wool
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner
Joseph King Fenno Mansfield
(Irvin McDowell)
Robert Anderson
(William Starke Rosecrans)
Philip St George Cooke

Brigadier-General USV

Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Erasmus Darwin Keyes
Andrew Porter
Fitz-John Porter
William Buel Franklin
William Tecumseh Sherman
Charles Pomeroy Stone
Thomas West Sherman
George Archibald McCall
William Reading Montgomery
Philip Kearny
Joseph Hooker
John Wolcott Phelps
Charles Smith Hamilton
Darius Nash Couch
Rufus King
Jacob Dolson Cox
Stephen Augustus Hurlbut
Robert Cumming Schenck
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss
Benjamin Franklin Kelley
Alpheus Starkey Williams
Israel Bush Richardson
James Cooper
James Brewerton Ricketts
Orlando Bolivar Willcox
Michael Corcoran
George Henry Thomas
Henry Hayes Lockwood
Louis Blenker
Henry Warner Slocum
James Samuel Wadsworth
John James Peck
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
Silas Casey
Lawrence Pike Graham
George Gordon Meade
Abram Duryée
Alexander McDowell McCook
Oliver Otis Howard
Eleazar Arthur Paine
Charles Davis Jameson
Ebenezer Dumont
Robert Huston Milroy
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
Jeremiah Tilford Boyle
Christopher Columbus Augur
Schuyler Hamilton
Jesse Lee Reno
George Washington Morgan
Julius Stahel
John McAllister Schofield
Thomas Jefferson McKean
John Grubb Parke
Zealous Bates Tower
Jefferson Columbus Davis
James Henry Lane
John McAuley Palmer
William High Keim
James Abram Garfield
Lewis Golding Arnold
Frederick Steele
William Scott Ketchum
Abner Doubleday
John Wynn Davidson
Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana
David Bell Birney
Thomas Francis Meagher
Henry Morris Naglee
Andrew Johnson
James Gallant Spears
Eugene Asa Carr
Thomas Alfred Davies
Daniel Tyler
William Hemsley Emory
Andrew Jackson Smith
Marsena Rudolph Patrick
Isaac Ferdinand Quinby
Hiram Gregory Berry
Orris Sanford Ferry
Daniel Phineas Woodbury
Henry Moses Judah
Richard James Oglesby
John Cook
John McArthur
Robert Latimer McCook
Jacob Gartner Lauman
Horatio Phillips Van Cleve
John Alexander Logan
Speed Smith Fry
Alexander Asboth
James Craig
Mahlon Dickerson Manson
Gordon Granger
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby
Grenville Mellen Dodge
Robert Byington Mitchell
James Gilpatrick Blunt
Francis Engle Patterson
Quincy Adams Gillmore
Amiel Weeks Whipple
Cuvier Grover
George Lucas Hartsuff
Rufus Saxton
Benjamin Alvord
Napoleon Bonaparte Buford
William Sooy Smith
Nathan Kimball
Charles Devens
James Henry Van Alen
Carl Schurz

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/PACS

Samuel Cooper
Robert Edward Lee
Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg

Major-General PACS

Leonidas Polk
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
George Bibb Crittenden
John Clifford Pemberton
Richard Stoddert Ewell
William Wing Loring
Sterling Price
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham
Samuel Jones
John Porter McCown
Daniel Harvey Hill
Jones Mitchell Withers
Thomas Carmichael Hindman
John Cabell Breckinridge

Brigadier-General PACS

Alexander Robert Lawton
Charles Clark
John Buchanan Floyd
Henry Alexander Wise
David Rumph Jones
Henry Hopkins Sibley
John Henry Winder
Richard Caswell Gatlin
Daniel Smith Donelson
Samuel Read Anderson
Richard Heron Anderson
Robert Augustus Toombs
Arnold Elzey
William Henry Chase Whiting
Jubal Anderson Early
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble
Daniel Ruggles
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Albert Pike
Paul Octave Hébert
Joseph Reid Anderson
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Albert Gallatin Blanchard
Gabriel James Rains
James Ewell Brown Stuart
Lafayette McLaws
Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Lloyd Tilghman
Nathan George Evans
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Robert Emmett Rodes
Richard Taylor
James Heyward Trapier
Samuel Gibbs French
William Henry Carroll
Hugh Weedon Mercer
Humphrey Marshall
Richard Griffith
Alexander Peter Stewart
William Montgomery Gardner
Richard Brooke Garnett
William Mahone
Lawrence O’Bryan Branch
Edward Johnson
Maxcy Gregg
Raleigh Edward Colston
Henry Heth
Johnson Kelly Duncan
Sterling Alexander Martin Wood
John George Walker
John King Jackson
George Edward Pickett
Bushrod Rust Johnson
James Patton Anderson
Howell Cobb
George Wythe Randolph
Joseph Brevard Kershaw
James Ronald Chalmers
Joseph Lewis Hogg
Ambrose Powell Hill
James Johnston Pettigrew
Carter Littlepage Stevenson
Daniel Leadbetter
William Whann Mackall
Charles Sidney Winder
Robert Ransom
John Bell Hood
Daniel Marsh Frost
Winfield Scott Featherston
Thomas James Churchill
William Booth Taliaferro
Albert Rust
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
Samuel Bell Maxey
Hamilton Prioleau Bee
James Morrison Hawes
George Hume Steuart
William Duncan Smith
James Edwin Slaughter
Charles William Field
John Horace Forney
Paul Jones Semmes
Lucius Marshall Walker
Seth Maxwell Barton
Dabney Herndon Maury
John Bordenave Villepigue
Henry Eustace McCullough
John Stevens Bowen
Benjamin Hardin Helm
John Selden Roane
States Rights Gist
William Nelson Pendleton
Lewis Addison Armistead
Joseph Finegan
Martin Luther Smith
Franklin Gardner
William Nelson Rector Beall
Thomas Jordan
William Preston
Roger Atkinson Pryor
Henry Little
John Echols
George Earl Maney
Jean Jacques Alfred Alexandre Mouton
John Stuart Williams