1862 August 20th

August 20 1862 Wednesday

Fort Ridgely, MN
Stevensburg, VA

Smith’s Invasion of Kentucky

USA. New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley claimed that the abolition of slavery was the “Prayer of Twenty Millions“, sparking new and impassioned discussions of the issue of emancipation.

Alabama. Reconnaissances to Guntersville and Woodville ended.

Louisiana. Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler sent transports upriver to Baton Rouge to withdraw the garrison from the city and to return the troops to New Orleans.

Louisiana. Confederate Major-General Richard Taylor arrived in Alexandria to organise the defence of western Louisiana. He found fewer than 2,000 troops available to defend the region. There were two troops of Home Guard cavalry, a battalion of Texan mounted infantry, and a mob of scattered guerrillas. He commenced a strenuous effort to strengthen and train his forces, to equip and supply them, in order to conduct disruptive operations towards New Orleans.

Fort Ridgely, Minnesota. About 400 Sioux warriors began to attack Fort Ridgely, which was commanded by Union Lieutenant Timothy J Sheehan, but they were repulsed.

Mississippi. Incidents at Marietta and Day Springs.

Missouri. Union reconnaissance to Dunklin County, Stoddard County, and Wayne County began.

Missouri. Skirmish at Union Mills.

Tennessee. Incidents at Murfreesboro, Drake’s Creek, and Manscoe Creek.

Tennessee. Skirmishes at Pilot Knob and Edgefield Junction.

Virginia. Skirmishes at Brandy Station, Bull Run, Kelly’s Ford, Freeman’s Ford, Raccoon Ford, and Rappahannock Station.

Virginia. Union Major-General Pope continued his withdrawal of the Army of Virginia from its exposed position at Clark’s Mountain to the line of the Rappahannock River, completing the relocation the following day.

Virginia. All the Union troops of the Army of the Potomac retreating from Harrison’s Landing reached Yorktown, Newport News, and Fortress Monroe, and prepared to embark for Washington, DC. Major-General Fitz John Porter’s V Corps completed its embarkation during the day at Newport News and left for Aquia Creek.

Virginia. Union Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside was ordered to move his IX Corps from Fredericksburg westwards to join Major-General John Pope’s Army of Virginia near Culpeper.

Kelly’s Ford, Virginia. In the early morning, Confederate Colonel William Henry Fitzhugh Lee led his cavalry brigade to Kelly’s Ford on the Rappahannock River. They drove away a small Union cavalry force. Meanwhile,

Stevensburg, Virginia. Confederate Brigadier-General James Ewell Brown Stuart led the bulk of his cavalry toward Stevensburg. During the afternoon, they encountered five Union regiments under Brigadier-General George Dashiell Bayard. The Confederates forced the Union cavalry to turn back towards the Rappahannock River. The majority of the Union force managed to escape across the river but 64 men were captured. The Confederates suffered 3 men killed and 13 wounded.

Union Organisation

USA: John Grubb Parke confirmed Major-General USV 20 August 1862 to rank from 18 July 1862.

USA: Jesse Lee Reno confirmed Major-General USV 20 August 1862 to rank from 18 July 1862.

USA: Horatio Gouverneur Wright promoted Major-General USV 20 August 1862 to rank from 18 July 1862. The promotion was commensurate with his appointment to command the Department of the Ohio, but was not confirmed and was negated when his command of the Department ceased.

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: James Lawrence Lardner
Pacific Squadron: Charles H Bell
Western Gunboat Flotilla: Charles Henry Davis
Potomac Flotilla: Samuel Magaw

General–in-Chief: Henry Wager Halleck

Department of the Mississippi: Henry Wager Halleck

District of Corinth: William Starke Rosecrans
District of West Tennessee: Ulysses Simpson Grant
- Sub-District of Jackson: John Alexander McClernand
- Army of the Mississippi: William Starke Rosecrans
- Army of West Tennessee: Ulysses Simpson Grant

Department of the Missouri: Henry Wager Halleck

District of Missouri: John McAllister Schofield
District of Southwest Missouri: Egbert Benson Brown
- Army of the Southwest: Samuel Ryan Curtis
District of Northwest Missouri: vacant

Department of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

District of Pensacola: Lewis Golding Arnold
Army of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Department of Kansas: James Gilpatrick Blunt

Army of Kansas: James Gilpatrick Blunt

Middle Department: John Ellis Wool

District of the Eastern Shore of Maryland: Henry Hayes Lockwood
VIII Corps Middle: John Ellis Wool

Department of New Mexico: Edward Richard Sprigg Canby

Department of New York: Edward Denison Morgan

Department of North Carolina: John Gray Foster

Department of the Ohio: Horatio Gouverneur Wright awaited

Army of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell

Department of the Pacific: George Wright

District of the Humboldt: Francis James Lippitt
District of Oregon: Benjamin Alvord
District of Southern California: George Washington Bowie
District of Utah: Patrick Edward Connor

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
- V Corps Potomac: Fitz John Porter
- VI Corps Potomac: William Buel Franklin

Department of the South: David Hunter

Department of Texas: Vacant

Department of Virginia: John Adams Dix

IV Corps Virginia: Erasmus Darwin Keyes
VII Corps Virginia: John Adams Dix
IX Corps Virginia: Ambrose Everett Burnside

District of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell

Military District of Washington: James Samuel Wadsworth

Army of Virginia: John Pope

I Corps Virginia: Franz Sigel
II Corps Virginia: Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
III Corps Virginia: Irvin McDowell

Confederate Organisation

CSA: The District of Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana was discontinued and divided into the District of Texas and the District of West Louisiana.

CSA: The Trans-Mississippi District was discontinued and divided between the District of Missouri and the District of West Louisiana.

CSA: The District of Texas was established in the Trans-Mississippi Department.
CSA: Brigadier-General Paul Octave Hébert was appointed to command the District of Texas, arriving on 12 September 1862.

CSA: The District of West Louisiana was established in the Trans-Mississippi Department, comprising Louisiana west of the Mississippi River.
CSA: Major-General Richard Taylor assumed command of the District of West Louisiana.

CSA: The District of Missouri was established in the Trans-Mississippi Department.
CSA: Major-General Sterling Price assumed command of the District of Missouri.

CSA: The Sub-District of Houston transferred from the District of Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana to the District of Texas.
CSA: Colonel Xavier Blanchard Debray (26th Texas Cavalry) retained command of the Sub-District of Houston.

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: Vacant

Department of Middle and Eastern Florida: Joseph Finegan

Department of East Tennessee: Edmund Kirby Smith

Army of Kentucky: Edmund Kirby Smith

Department of Henrico: John Henry Winder

Department of North Carolina: Daniel Harvey Hill

District of North Carolina: James Green Martin
- Sub-District of Cape Fear: William Henry Chase Whiting

Department of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee

District of Aquia: Gustavus Woodson Smith
Army of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee
- Longstreet’s Right Wing Northern Virginia: James Longstreet
- Jackson’s Left Wing Northern Virginia: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Valley District: 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: Johnson Hagood
- 3^rd Sub-District of South Carolina: William Stephen Walker
- 4^th Sub-District of South Carolina: William Stephen Walker

Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring

District of Abingdon: Humphrey Marshall

Trans-Mississippi Department: Theophilus Hunter Holmes

District of Missouri: Sterling Price
District of Arkansas: Thomas Carmichael Hindman
District of West Louisiana: Richard Taylor
District of Texas: Paul Octave Hébert awaited
- Sub-District of Houston: Xavier Blanchard Debray
Western District of Texas: Henry Eustace McCullough
- Eastern Sub-District of Western Texas: Xavier Blanchard Debray
- Sub-District of the Rio Grande: Hamilton Prioleau Bee
District of Arizona: Henry Hopkins Sibley
District of Indian Territory: Douglas Hancock Cooper
Defences of Pass Cavallo: John W Glenn

Western Department: Braxton Bragg

District of the Mississippi: Earl Van Dorn
District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: Earl Van Dorn
- 1^st Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: Daniel Ruggles
- 2^nd Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: William Nelson Rector Beall
- 3^rd Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: Martin Luther Smith
District of the Tennessee: Sterling Price
Gulf District: John Horace Forney
Army of Mississippi: Braxton Bragg
- Right Wing Mississippi: Leonidas Polk
- Left Wing Mississippi: William Joseph Hardee
- Reserve Corps Mississippi: Jones Mitchell Withers
Army of the West: Sterling Price

Forces in Richmond: Gustavus Woodson Smith

Union Generals

Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission

Major-General USA

George Brinton McClellan
John Charles Frémont
Henry Wager Halleck
John Ellis Wool

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
Lewis Wallace
Ormsby McKnight Mitchel
Cassius Marcellus Clay
George Henry Thomas
George Cadwalader
William Tecumseh Sherman
Edward Otho Cresap Ord
Edwin Vose Sumner*
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Erasmus Darwin Keyes
Joseph Hooker
Silas Casey
Fitz John Porter
William Buel Franklin
Darius Nash Couch
Isaac Ingalls Stevens
Philip Kearny
Israel Bush Richardson
Henry Warner Slocum
John James Peck
John Sedgwick
William Farrar Smith
Alexander McDowell McCook
William Nelson
Thomas Leonidas Crittenden
Joseph King Fenno Mansfield*
John Gray Foster
John Grubb Parke
Jesse Lee Reno
Christopher Columbus Augur

Brigadier-General USA

Brackets indicates concurrently Major-General USV

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

Brigadier-General USV

Andrew Porter
Charles Pomeroy Stone
Thomas West Sherman
George Archibald McCall
William Reading Montgomery
John Wolcott Phelps
Charles Smith Hamilton
Rufus King
Jacob Dolson Cox
Stephen Augustus Hurlbut
Robert Cumming Schenck
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss
Benjamin Franklin Kelley
Alpheus Starkey Williams
James Cooper
James Brewerton Ricketts
Orlando Bolivar Willcox
Michael Corcoran
Henry Hayes Lockwood
Louis Blenker
James Samuel Wadsworth
George Webb Morell
John Henry Martindale
Samuel Davis Sturgis
George Stoneman
James William Denver
Egbert Ludovicus Vielé
James Shields
John Fulton Reynolds
William Farquhar Barry
John Joseph Abercrombie
Lawrence Pike Graham
George Gordon Meade
Abram Duryée
Oliver Otis Howard
Eleazar Arthur Paine
Daniel Edgar Sickles
Charles Davis Jameson
Ebenezer Dumont
Robert Huston Milroy
Willis Arnold Gorman
Daniel Butterfield
Horatio Gouverneur Wright
William Thomas Ward
John Gross Barnard
Innis Newton Palmer
Seth Williams
John Newton
Winfield Scott Hancock
George Wright
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
George Washington Cullum
Jeremiah Tilford Boyle
Schuyler Hamilton
George Washington Morgan
Julius Stahel
John McAllister Schofield
Thomas Jefferson McKean
Zealous Bates Tower
Jefferson Columbus Davis
James Henry Lane
John McAuley Palmer
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
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
Samuel Wylie Crawford
Henry Walton Wessells
Milo Smith Hascall
Leonard Fulton Ross
John White Geary
Alfred Howe Terry
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys
James Henry Carleton
Absalom Baird
John Cleveland Robinson
Truman Seymour
George Dashiell Bayard
Henry Prince
Abram Sanders Piatt
Thomas Turpin Crittenden
Maximilian Weber
Pleasant Adam Hackleman
Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan
Alvin Peterson Hovey
James Clifford Veatch
William Plummer Benton
Henry Bohlen
John Curtis Caldwell
Isaac Peace Rodman
Neal S Dow
George Sears Greene
Samuel Powhatan Carter
John Gibbon
George William Taylor
Erastus Barnard Tyler
James Birdseye McPherson
Charles Griffin
George Henry Gordon
James Madison Tuttle
Julius White
Peter Joseph Osterhaus
Stephen Gano Burbridge
Washington Lafayette Elliott
Albion Parris Howe
Green Clay Smith
William Bowen Campbell
Philip Henry Sheridan
Benjamin Stone Roberts
Alfred Pleasonton
Jacob Ammen
Joshua Woodrow Sill
Catharinus Putnam Buckingham
Fitz-Henry Warren
Morgan Lewis Smith
Charles Cruft
Frederick Saloman
James Streshly Jackson
Cadwallader Colden Washburn
Francis Jay Herron
John Cochrane
John Basil Turchin
Henry Shaw Briggs
Conrad Feger Jackson
James Dada Morgan
Johann August Ernst Willich
Henry Dwight Terry
James Blair Steedman
George Foster Shepley
John Buford
Francis Preston Blair

Brigadier-General USA (Staff)

Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (Quartermaster-General)
Henry Knox Craig
Lorenzo Thomas (Adjutant-General)
James Wolfe Ripley (Ordnance)
William Alexander Hammond (Surgeon-General)

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
Lafayette McLaws
Ambrose Powell Hill
Richard Heron Anderson
James Ewell Brown Stuart
Richard Taylor
Simon Bolivar Buckner

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
Robert Augustus Toombs
Arnold Elzey
William Henry Chase Whiting
Jubal Anderson Early
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble
Daniel Ruggles
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Paul Octave Hébert
Albert Gallatin Blanchard
Gabriel James Rains
Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Lloyd Tilghman
Nathan George Evans
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Robert Emmett Rodes
James Heyward Trapier
Samuel Gibbs French
William Henry Carroll
Hugh Weedon Mercer
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
James Johnston Pettigrew
Carter Littlepage Stevenson
Daniel Leadbetter
William Whann Mackall
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
James Green Martin
Thomas Lanier Clingman
Wade Hampton
Daniel Weisiger Adams
Louis Hébert
Samuel Garland
John Creed Moore
Ambrose Ransom Wright
James Lawson Kemper
James Jay Archer
George Burgwyn Anderson
Beverley Holcombe Robertson
St John Richardson Liddell
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Johnson Hagood
William Dorsey Pender
Micah Jenkins
Martin Edwin Green
Fitzhugh Lee
Harry Thompson Hays
Albert Gallatin Jenkins
William Edwin Starke
William Barksdale
Edward Dorr Tracy