August 29 1862 Friday
Second Battle of Bull Run, VA
Rogersville, KY
Port Hudson, LA
Second Bull Run Campaign
Smith’s Invasion of Kentucky
Bragg’s Invasion of Kentucky
CSA. Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard returned to duty from sickness absence and was assigned to command the Department of South Carolina and Georgia. Since his replacement by General Braxton Bragg in May, the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston on 6 April, and the wounding of General Joseph Eggleston Johnston on 31 May, only two Confederate Generals of full grade had been in active service. General Robert Edward Lee was leading in Virginia and Bragg was in Tennessee. No new officers had been promoted to fill the void and when J E Johnston returned from convalescence he also was appointed to a major command. Rather than identifying new officers for the highest grade and commands, President Jefferson Finis Davis relied on using the most senior officers already in grade.
Arkansas. USS Pittsburg, Lieutenant Thompson, escorted the steamers White Cloud and Latan transporting troops to Eunice. The gunboat shelled and dispersed Confederate forces from a camp above Carson’s Landing on the Mississippi shore. The troops landed under cover of USS Pittsburg’s guns and seized a large wharf boat fitted out as a floating hotel.
Rogersville, Kentucky, also known as Big Hill. Confederate Major-General Edmund Kirby Smith’s army ascended Big Hill, the northern rim of the dry Kentucky Barrens and entered the more fertile Bluegrass region. Brigadier-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne’s division led the advance with Colonel John S Scott’s cavalry scouting ahead. The cavalry was moving north from Big Hill on the road to Richmond when it encountered Union troopers about a mile and a half south of Rogersville, seven miles from Richmond, and began skirmishing. The Union cavalry was joined by the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Army of Kentucky which had been sent from Louisville. These brigades were made up of hastily trained volunteers under Brigadier-General Mahlon Dickerson Manson and Brigadier-General Charles Cruft. Leaving Cruft’s brigade to hold Richmond, Manson ordered his own brigade to march to Rogersville. Manson pushed back the Confederate advance guard and resisted any attempt to drive him from his position. After midday, Union artillery joined the fight, forcing the Confederate cavalry to retreat back to Big Hill. Manson sent a few cavalry to pursue the enemy and withdrew back to Rogersville for the night.
During the night, Manson informed Major-General William Nelson of his situation and ordered Cruft’s brigade to be ready to march to his support when required. Confederate Major-General Edmund Kirby Smith was encouraged by the fight which showed that the Union would make a stand in the open ground rather than along the high bluffs of the Kentucky River eight miles north of Richmond. He ordered Cleburne to attack in the morning and promised to hurry reinforcements forward in the form of Brigadier-General Thomas James Churchill’s division.
ORDER OF BATTLE: ROGERSVILLE, KY
Union Department of the Ohio: Brigadier-General Horatio Gouverneur Wright
Army of Kentucky: Major-General William Nelson
1st Brigade (Kentucky): Brigadier-General Mahlon Dickerson Manson
2nd Brigade (Kentucky): Brigadier-General Charles Cruft
Cavalry Brigade (Kentucky): Brigadier-General James Streshly Jackson
Confederate Department of East Tennessee: Major-General Edmund Kirby Smith
Army of Kentucky: Major-General Edmund Kirby Smith
Cleburne’s Division, (Kentucky): Brigadier-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
Smith’s Brigade, Cleburne’s Division (Kentucky): Colonel Preston Smith
Hill’s Brigade, Cleburne’s Division (Kentucky): Colonel Benjamin Jefferson Hill
Cavalry Brigade (Kentucky): Colonel John S Scott
Port Hudson, Louisiana. Port Hudson was located on a 80 feet high bluff on the east bank above a hairpin turn in the Mississippi River 25 miles upriver from Baton Rouge. The hills and ridges in the area of the town represented extremely rough terrain, a maze of deep, thickly forested ravines, swamps, and canebrakes giving the effect of a natural fortress. Despite its importance for trade, the city consisted of few buildings and was populated by only 200 people at the start of the war. The river had shifted south and the docks had been moved with it. A railroad led to the town of Clinton, 19 miles to the northeast but it did not connect with the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad that connected Louisiana with other states and with Camp Moore, the main mustering point for Confederate forces in the state. The railroad was run down, the track consisting of strips of iron nailed flat to rotten ties. The entire rolling stock consisted of one locomotive, one passenger car, and six box and flat cars. This train could only accommodate a few hundred troops at the most and was inadequate for hauling heavy guns and ammunition. This lack of transport independent of the river itself limited the defensibility of Port Hudson.
Initial plans for fortifications were drawn up with the assistance of engineer officer Captain James Nocquet. Three different layouts for earthworks were considered, a central fort mounting cannon supported by angled outworks, a line of lunettes arranged along a 400 yard line, and a continuous ring of redoubts, trenches, and parapets surrounding the entire position. The first option was rejected because it was thought it would concentrate the armament into too small a target, and thus be too vulnerable to bombardment. The third option was rejected because a siege was considered unlikely, and the task of building such extensive works was too ambitious as the circumference of the ring would have been eight miles, requiring 35,000 men and 70 pieces of artillery to defend it. This left the line of lunettes as the best plan for the defence of the Port Hudson heights, and construction started in August 1862 on a line of seven of them fronting the river.
After Confederate Major-General John Cabell Breckinridge returned with most of his troops to Kentucky on 18 August 1862, he left only 1,500 men to work on the fortifications under Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles’ command. Ruggles mounted a 42-pounder smoothbore cannon, which was crewed by former sailors from the CSS Arkansas. Two 32-pounders were shortly added from the abandoned wreck of the USS Sumter. Ruggles turned over command of Port Hudson to Brigadier-General William Nelson Rector Beall and took a part of the garrison to occupy other posts in southwest Mississippi.
Louisiana. The Union Navy began to contest the guns of Port Hudson for control of the Mississippi. The improvised Union gunboat USS Anglo-American, a wooden side-wheel steamboat, passed Port Hudson moving upriver to join Commodore David Dixon Porter’s fleet at Vicksburg. It was struck many times by shots from Port Hudson but was unable to return fire due to wet cartridges and a shortage of ammunition.
Louisiana. Skirmish near St Charles Court House.
Missouri. Skirmishes at Bloomfield and Iberia.
Missouri. Union expedition from Waynesville began.
Missouri. Skirmish at California House
Tennessee. Skirmishes at Short Mountain Cross Roads near McMinnville.
Virginia. Reconnaissance to Warrenton.
Virginia. The Union James River Flotilla had completed its mission to support the withdrawal of General McClellan’s army from the James River. The Navy Department ordered Commodore Charles Wilkes to turn the ships over to Rear Admiral Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough. Wilkes was ordered to proceed to Washington to assume command of the West Indies Squadron in September.
Second Bull Run, Virginia, also known as Second Manassas, Manassas Plains, Groveton, Manassas Junction, or Gainesville. Union Major-General John Pope had about 62,000 men available to destroy Major-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s 20,000 men before the other half of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia came to Jackson’s rescue.
Pope prepared a series of uncoordinated and piecemeal frontal assaults against Jackson’s three divisions deployed on Stony Ridge and along an unfinished railroad grade. This incomplete trackway provided a ready-made entrenchment along part of the line roughly parallel to the Warrenton Turnpike.
Confederate Major-General James Longstreet Longstreet’s Corps, headed by Brigadier-General John Bell Hood’s division, began to march from Thoroughfare Gap to join Jackson at 6 am. They passed through Hay Market and Gainesville and then onto the Warrenton Turnpike. Jackson sent cavalry to guide the Longstreet’s column into positions that Jackson had identified. By 10 am, Hood’s division had filed onto Jackson’s right near Groveton and the rest of Longstreet’s Wing followed behind steadily, trying to control straggling. Hood took the left flank and the line was gradually extended to the right by four more divisions of Brigadier-General James Lawson Kemper, Brigadier-General David Rumph Jones, Brigadier-General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, and finally (after nightfall) Major-General Richard Heron Anderson.
While he waited for Longstreet’s arrival, Jackson reorganised his defence in case Pope attacked him that morning, positioning his 20,000 men in a 3,000-yard line to the south of Stony Ridge. Noticing the growing strength of the Union army along the Manassas-Sudley Road, he ordered Major-General Ambrose Powell Hill’s division to line the railroad grade near Sudley Church on his left flank. Aware that his position was weak because the heavy woods prevented the effective deployment of artillery, Hill placed his brigades in two lines, with Brigadier-General Maxcy Gregg’s brigade and Brigadier-General Edward Lloyd Thomas’ brigade in the front.
Hill held the left flank held and Jackson placed two brigades from Major-General Richard Stoddert Ewell’s division (now under the command of Brigadier-General Alexander Robert Lawton) in the centre of his line. Brigadier-General William Booth Taliaferro’s division, now commanded by Brigadier-General William Edwin Starke, was located on the right flank. Two more of Lawton’s brigades held observation points on the far right flank, to provide a secure connection when Longstreet arrived.
Pope’s intention was to move against Jackson on both flanks. He ordered Major-General Fitz John Porter to move his V Corps toward Gainesville and attack what he considered to be the Confederate right flank. He ordered I Corps (Major-General Franz Sigel) to attack Jackson at daybreak. Sigel, unsure of Jackson’s dispositions, chose to advance along a broad front. Brigadier-General Robert Cumming Schenck’s division was supported by Brigadier-General John Fulton Reynolds’ division (from Major-General Samuel Peter Heintzelman’s III Corps) on the left. Brigadier-General Robert Huston Milroy’s independent brigade was in the centre, and Brigadier-General Carl Schurz’s division of I Corps was on the right. Schurz’s two brigades, under Brigadier-General Alexander Schimmelfennig and Colonel Wladimir Krzyzanowski, moving north on the Manassas-Sudley Road, were the first to contact Jackson’s men at about 7 am. Sigel’s attack against Hill’s division was typical of all the battles along Stony Ridge that day. Although the unfinished railroad grade provided natural defensive positions in some places, the Confederates avoided a static defence, absorbing Union blows and following up with vigorous counterattacks. Schurz’s two brigades skirmished heavily with Gregg and Thomas, with both sides committing their forces piecemeal. As Milroy heard the sound of battle to his right, he ordered two of his regiments to assist Schurz. They achieved some success, and the 82nd Ohio Infantry breached the Confederate lines in a depression of ground known as the Dump. They were soon repulsed.
On Schurz’s right, Schenck and Reynolds were subjected to a heavy artillery barrage and answered with counter-battery fire, but they did not advance with their infantry. Assuming that Major-General Philip Kearny’s division of Heintzelman’s III Corps was poised to support him, Schurz ordered another assault against Hill around 10 am. Kearny did not move forward and the second assault failed like the first. By 1 pm, Sigel’s sector was reinforced by Major-General Joseph Hooker’s division (from Heintzelman’s III Corps) and then by the brigade of Brigadier-General Isaac Ingalls Stevens’ division (IX Corps). Pope also arrived on the battlefield expecting to see a victory.
Longstreet’s first units were beginning to arrive in position on Jackson’s right. Hood’s division straddled the turnpike, loosely connected with Jackson’s right flank. To Hood’s right were the divisions of Kemper and Jones. Wilcox’s division arrived last and was placed in reserve towards the right flank.
Confederate Brigadier-General James Ewell Brown Stuart’s cavalry encountered Union troops under Porter, Brigadier-General John Porter Hatch, and Major-General Irvin McDowell moving up the Manassas-Gainesville Road but a brief skirmish halted the Union column. A courier arrived with a message for Porter and McDowell known subsequently as the “Joint Order”. The order has been described as contradictory and obscure. It mentioned the attacks on Jackson’s left, which were already underway, but it was unclear how Porter and McDowell were to act. Pope did not explicitly order Porter and McDowell to attack but anticipated or assumed that they would do so towards Gainesville. Meanwhile, some of Stuart’s cavalry under Colonel Thomas Lafayette Rosser deceived the Union generals by dragging tree branches behind a regiment of horses to simulate great clouds of dust from large columns of marching soldiers. At this time McDowell received a report from his cavalry commander, Brigadier-General John Buford reported that 17 regiments of infantry, one battery, and 500 cavalry were moving through Gainesville at 8:15 am. This was Longstreet’s wing arriving from Thoroughfare Gap and it alerted McDowell and Porter that strong enemy forces lay to their front. Facing the enemy in strength, the Union advance was halted. However, for some reason, McDowell neglected to forward Buford’s report to Pope until about 7 pm, so the army commander was operating under two severe misconceptions: firstly, that Longstreet was not near the battlefield and secondly, that Porter and McDowell were marching to attack Jackson’s right flank. Porter and McDowell had in fact halted in front of Longstreet’s arriving divisions and had not advanced to attack.
Pope, assuming that the attack by Porter and McDowell on Jackson’s right would proceed as he believed he had ordered and authorised four separate attacks against Jackson’s front with the intent of diverting the Confederates’ attention until Porter delivered the fatal blow. Brigadier-General Cuvier Grover’s brigade attacked at 3 pm, expecting to be supported by Kearny’s division. Grover struck a gap in a line and penetrated between Thomas’ and Gregg’s brigades. His spirited bayonet charge was successful temporarily, but Kearny once again did not move forward as ordered and Pope did not intend to reinforce Grover’s probe with a major attack. Confederate Brigadier-General William Dorsey Pender’s brigade beat back the attack.
South of the turnpike, Reynolds was ordered to conduct a spoiling attack. He unexpectedly encountered Longstreet’s line, causing him to call off his demonstration. Pope dismissed Reynolds’ concern as a case of mistaken identity, insisting that Reynolds actually must have run into Porter’s V Corps, which was preparing to attack Jackson’s flank from that direction.
Union Brigadier-General Jesse Lee Reno ordered a brigade from XI Corps under Colonel James Nagle to attack the centre of Jackson’s line again. This time Brigadier-General Isaac Ridgeway Trimble’s brigade was driven back from the railroad embankment. Confederate counterattacks restored the line and pursued Nagle’s troops back into the open fields, where Union artillery halted their advance.
As Longstreet’s men occupied their final positions, Confederate General Robert Edward Lee ordered an offensive to begin against the Union left. Longstreet, however, saw that the divisions of Reynolds and Schenck extended south of the Warrenton Turnpike, overlapping half of his line, and he argued against making the attack at that time. Lee relented and deferred the advance when Stuart reported that the force on the Gainesville-Manassas Road (Porter and McDowell) was more formidable and extensive than first expected.
At 4:30 pm Pope finally sent an explicit order to Porter to attack but the courier lost his way and did not deliver the message until 6:30 pm. In any event, Porter was in no better position to attack now than he was earlier in the day. In anticipation of an attack that could not and would never come, Pope ordered Kearny to attack Jackson’s far left flank, intending to put strong pressure simultaneously on both ends of the line. At 5 pm, Kearny’s reputation for aggression was on display and he surged forward with ten regiments against Hill’s depleted division. During the most severe fighting of the day, counterattacks by the brigades of Brigadier-General Lawrence O’Bryan Branch and Brigadier-General Jubal Anderson Early were committed to repulsing the ferocious Union advance.
On the Confederate right, Longstreet observed a movement of part of McDowell’s force away from his front. The Union I Corps was moving divisions to Henry House Hill to support Reynolds. This report caused Lee to revive his plan for an offensive in that sector. Longstreet once again argued against it, this time because of inadequate time remaining before dusk. He suggested instead that a reconnaissance in force could feel the position of the enemy and set up the Confederates for a morning attack. Lee agreed and Hood’s division was sent forward. At the same time, Pope, who maintained his delusion that the Confederates were retreating, sent the division of Brigadier-General John Porter Hatch west along the turnpike in pursuit. Hood and Hatch collided briefly at the Groveton crossroads but the short, violent confrontation ended with darkness and both sides withdrew. In the dark, Hood’s men met the head of the column of Major-General Richard Heron Anderson, the last of Longstreet’s divisions to arrive from the Rappahannock River.
During the evening, Longstreet and his subordinates again persuaded Lee that they should not attack a force they considered to be placed in holding a strong defensive position, and for the third time, Lee cancelled the planned assault.
When Pope learned from McDowell about Buford’s report, he finally acknowledged that Longstreet was now on the field, but he optimistically assumed that Longstreet was there only to reinforce Jackson in order that the entire Confederate army could withdraw. The advance by Hood’s division reinforced this perception as Pope viewed it as a rearguard action made to deter pursuit. Pope issued explicit orders for Porter’s corps to rejoin the main body of the army parallel to the turnpike where it could spearhead the offensive on the following day. Two of McDowell’s divisions would join Porter and the attack would be made under McDowell’s overall direction. McDowell’s third division and Heintzelman’s Corps (Hooker’s and Kearny’s divisions) would move up the Hay Market Road.
A more prudent course, now that the entire Confederate army was present, would have been for Pope to withdraw the army over Bull Run and to unite with Major-General George Brinton McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, which was approaching with 25,000 more men from its disembarkation ports on the Potomac. Two full corps of the Army of the Potomac (Major-General William Buel Franklin’s VI Corps and Major-General Edwin Vose Sumner’s II Corps) were disembarking in Alexandria, but McClellan would not allow them to advance all the way to Manassas because he considered their artillery, cavalry, and transportation to be inadequate.
ORDER OF BATTLE: SECOND BULL RUN, VA
Union Army of Virginia: Major-General John Pope
I Corps (Virginia): Major-General Franz Sigel
1st Division, I Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Robert Cumming Schenck
1st Brigade, 1st Division, I Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Julius Stahel
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, I Corps (Virginia): Colonel Nathaniel Collins McLean
2nd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Adolf Wilhelm August Friedrich von Steinwehr
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Colonel John A Koltes
3rd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Carl Schurz
1st Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Colonel Alexander Schimmelfennig
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Colonel Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski
Independent Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Robert Huston Milroy
Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps (Virginia): Colonel John Beardsley
III Corps (Virginia): Major-General Irvin McDowell
1st Division, III Corps (Virginia): (Brigadier-General Rufus King), Brigadier-General John Porter Hatch
1st Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Virginia): Colonel Timothy Sullivan
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Abner Doubleday
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Marsena Rudolph Patrick
4th Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General John Gibbon
2nd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General James Brewerton Ricketts
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Abram Duryée
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Zealous Bates Tower
3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Colonel John W Stiles
4th Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Colonel Joseph Thoburn
3rd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General John Fulton Reynolds
1st Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General George Gordon Meade
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Truman Seymour
3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Conrad Feger Jackson
Cavalry Brigade, III Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General George Dashiell Bayard
Reserve Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Samuel Davis Sturgis
Piatt’s Brigade, Reserve Corps (Virginia): Brigadier-General Abram Sanders Piatt
III Corps (Potomac): Major-General Samuel Peter Heintzelman
1st Division, III Corps (Potomac): Major-General Philip Kearny
1st Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General John Cleveland Robinson
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General David Bell Birney
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps (Potomac): Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe
3rd Division, III Corps (Potomac): Major-General Joseph Hooker
1st Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General Cuvier Grover
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Potomac): Colonel Nelson Taylor
3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps (Potomac): Colonel Joseph Bradford Carr
V Corps (Potomac): Major-General Fitz John Porter
1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General George Webb Morell
1st Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Colonel Charles Woods Roberts
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General Charles Griffin
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General Daniel Butterfield
2nd Division, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General George Sykes
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Lieutenant-Colonel Robert C Buchanan
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Lieutenant-Colonel William Chapman
3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Division, V Corps (Potomac): Colonel Gouverneur Kemble Warren
IX Corps (Potomac): Major-General Jesse Lee Reno
1st Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General Isaac Ingalls Stevens
1st Brigade, 1st Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel Benjamin C Christ
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel Daniel Leasure
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel Addison Farnsworth
2nd Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Major-General Jesse Lee Reno
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel James Nagle
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel Edward Ferrero
Kanawha Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Brigadier-General Jacob Dolson Cox
1st Brigade, Kanawha Division, IX Corps (Potomac): Colonel Eliakim Parker Scammon
Confederate Department of Northern Virginia: General Robert Edward Lee
Army of Northern Virginia: General Robert Edward Lee
Right Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General James Longstreet
Anderson’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General Richard Heron Anderson
Armistead’s Brigade, Anderson’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Lewis Addison Armistead
Mahone’s Brigade, Anderson’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General William Mahone
Wright’s Brigade, Anderson’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Ambrose Ransom Wright
D R Jones’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General David Rumph Jones
Toombs’ Brigade, D R Jones’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Henry L Benning
Drayton’s Brigade, D R Jones’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Thomas Fenwick Drayton
D R Jones’s Brigade, D R Jones’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel George Thomas Anderson
Wilcox’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Wilcox’s Brigade, Wilcox’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Pryor’s Brigade, Wilcox’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Roger Atkinson Pryor
Featherston’s Brigade, Wilcox’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Winfield Scott Featherston
Hood’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General John Bell Hood
Whiting’s Brigade, Hood’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Evander McIver Law
Hood’s Brigade, Hood’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General John Bell Hood
Kemper’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General James Lawson Kemper
Kemper’s Brigade, Kemper’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Montgomery Dent Corse
Pickett’s Brigade, Kemper’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Eppa Hunton
Jenkins’ Brigade, Kemper’s Division, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins
Evans’ Independent Brigade, Right Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Nathan George Evans
Left Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson
Jackson’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General William Booth Taliaferro
Winder’s Brigade, Jackson’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel W S H Baylor
J R Jones’ Brigade, Jackson’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Bradley T Johnson
Taliaferro’s Brigade, Jackson’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel A G Taliaferro
Starke’s Brigade, Jackson’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General William Edwin Starke
A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General Ambrose Powell Hill
Branch’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Lawrence O’Bryan Branch
Field’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Charles William Field
Pender’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General William Dorsey Pender
Gregg’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Maxcy Gregg
Archer’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General James Jay Archer
J R Anderson’s Brigade, A P Hill’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Edward Lloyd Thomas
Ewell’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General Richard Stoddert Ewell
Lawton’s Brigade, Ewell’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Alexander Robert Lawton
Trimble’s Brigade, Ewell’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Isaac Ridgeway Trimble
Early’s Brigade, Ewell’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Jubal Anderson Early
Hays’ Brigade, Ewell’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Henry Forno
Cavalry Northern Virginia: Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart
Lee’s Brigade, Cavalry Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Fitzhugh Lee
Robertson’s Brigade, Cavalry Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General Beverley Holcombe Robertson
Union Organisation
USA: Brigadier-General Frederick Steele assumed command of the Army of the Southwest, succeeding Major-General Samuel Ryan Curtis.
USA: Godfrey Weitzel promoted Brigadier-General USV 29 August 1862.
USA: Joseph Lanman was promoted Commodore USN.
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 Logan
- Army of the Mississippi: William Starke Rosecrans
- Army of West Tennessee: Ulysses Simpson
Department of the Missouri: Henry Wager Halleck
- District of Missouri: John McAllister Schofield
- District of Southwest Missouri: Egbert Benson Brown
- Army of the Southwest: Frederick Steele
- District of Northwest Missouri: Willard Preble Hall
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 interim James Henry Carleton awaited
Department of New York: Edward Denison Morgan
Department of North Carolina: John Gray Foster
Department of the Ohio: Horatio Gouverneur Wright
- District of Louisville: Jeremiah Tilford Boyle
- Army of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell
- Army of Kentucky: William Nelson
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: General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was appointed to command the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, arriving on 24 September 1862, to succeed Major-General John Clifford Pemberton.
CSA: John Gregg promoted Brigadier-General PACS 15 September 1862 to rank from 29 August 1862.
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 interim John Porter McCown awaited
- 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 interim Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard awaited
- District of Georgia: Alexander Robert Lawton
- District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley
- 1st Sub-District of South Carolina: Arthur Middleton Manigault.
- 2nd Sub-District of South Carolina: Johnson Hagood
- 3rd Sub-District of South Carolina: William Stephen Walker
- 4th 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
- 1st Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: Daniel Ruggles
- 2nd Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: William Nelson Rector Beall
- 3rd 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
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
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
John Reese Kenly
John Potts Slough
Godfrey Weitzel
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
Matthew Duncan Ector
Edward Aylesworth Perry
John Gregg
American Civil War High Command 