1862 March 31st

March 31 1862 Monday

Burnside’s Expedition to North Carolina
Peninsula Campaign
Island No 10 Campaign
Shiloh Campaign
Sibley’s Operations in New Mexico

Go to April 1 1862

CSA. The Confederate Congress authorised the grade of Commodore in the Confederate States Navy. No officer was ever actually appointed to the grade and the term was generally used as a courtesy title for an officer commanding a squadron or flotilla.

Arkansas. Incident at Crooked Creek.

Georgia. Incident at Wilmington Island.

Mississippi. Confederate Major-General George Bibb Crittenden was relieved of command of the Reserve Corps of the Army of Mississippi after accusations of drunkenness and neglect of duty.

Pink Hill, Missouri. A band of Confederate guerrillas met at the farm of Samuel C Clark near the hamlet of Pink Hill, some three miles southeast of Stoney Point. Union Captain Albert P Peabody led a company of 65 men from the 1^st Missouri Cavalry past the farm and they were ambushed by the guerrillas. The cavalrymen dismounted and returned fire. Peabody sent for reinforcements but most of the Confederates managed to escape. The Confederates lost 6 men killed and wounded and the Union three men wounded.

Missouri. At Island No 10 Confederate Major-General John Porter McCown requested reinforcements. Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard suggested that Major-General Earl Van Dorn could relieve the besieged garrison from the western bank of the Mississippi. Van Dorn’s troops were still recovering from defeat at Pea Ridge and unable to help.
Beauregard’s attention was focused on an offensive towards Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River and he wanted to reduce the size of the garrisons along the river. He issued a new plan for defending the Mississippi. He required McCown to send six infantry regiments, two artillery companies, and most of his cavalry to move from Madrid Bend to Fort Pillow, for onward transfer to Beauregard’s army near Corinth.
This left about McCown with 4,000 men to defend Island No 10 and Madrid Bend, and many of them were still unarmed. Beauregard believed that the position was nearly invincible and could be held until it was relieved or successfully evacuated. He sent Brigadier-General William Whann Mackall, an engineer officer, to replace McCown. When Mackall arrived, he found the garrison disheartened and poorly armed and the Confederate gunboats were all but useless against their Union counterparts. Beauregard’s confidence in the ability of Island No 10 to hold out was unwarranted by the actual circumstances.

New Mexico Territory. Incidents at Comanche Canyon and Comanche Pass.

North Carolina. Skirmish at Deep Gully.

South Carolina. Incident at Whitmarsh Island.

Tennessee. Union expedition to Paris began under Captain William A Haw (5th Iowa Cavalry).

Tennessee. Skirmish on the Purdy Road at Adamsville, involving Union Major-General Lewis Wallace.

Tennessee. The Union Marine Brigade under Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Buford surprised and routed a Confederate garrison at Union City and severed this important line of communication.

Utah Territory. Stephen S Harding became Governor of Utah Territory.

Virginia. Operation on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad ended.

Union Organisation

USA: Major-General David Hunter arrived to command the Department of the South.

USA: The Northern District was established in the Department of the South, comprising the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and the parts of Florida north of the line connecting Cape Canaveral to Cedar Keys and east of a north-south line from Cedar Keys to the border of Georgia.
USA: Brigadier-General Henry Washington Benham assumed command of the Northern District of the Department of the South.

USA: The Southern District was established in the Department of the South, comprising Florida south of a line connecting Cape Canaveral and Cedar Keys.
USA: Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan assumed command of the Southern District of the Department of the South.

USA: Edward Richard Sprigg Canby promoted Brigadier-General USV 11 April 1862 to rank from 31 March 1862.

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: John Pope
  • 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

Department of the Missouri: Henry Wager Halleck

• District of St Louis: John McAllister Schofield
• 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: James William Denver awaited

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: Robert Huston Milroy
• Railroad District: Benjamin Franklin Kelley
• District of the Kanawha: Jacob Dolson Cox
• District of the Cumberland: Robert Cumming Schenck
• 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

• Southern 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
  • I Corps Potomac: Irvin McDowell
  • II Corps Potomac: Edwin Vose Sumner
  • III Corps Potomac: Samuel Peter Heintzelman
  • IV Corps Potomac: Erasmus Darwin Keyes
  • V Corps Potomac: 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

Military District of Washington: James Samuel Wadsworth

Confederate Organisation

CSA: Major-General John Cabell Breckinridge was appointed to temporary command of Reserve Corps (Mississippi), arriving officially on 6 April 1862, to succeed Major-General George Bibb Crittenden.

CSA: Brigadier-General Leroy Pope Walker resigned to resume his political career.

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: Braxton Bragg

• Army of Mobile: William L Powell

Department of Middle and Eastern Florida: James Heyward Trapier interim William Scott Dilworth temporary awaited

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 Norfolk: Benjamin Huger

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 the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder

• Army of the Peninsula: John Bankhead Magruder

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 awaited
• Defences of Pass Cavallo: John W Glenn

Western Department: Albert Sidney Johnston

• Trans-Mississippi District: Earl Van Dorn
• District of North Alabama: Daniel Ruggles
• Army of Mississippi: Albert Sidney Johnston
  • I Corps (Mississippi): Leonidas Polk
  • II Corps (Mississippi): Braxton Bragg
  • III Corps (Mississippi): William Joseph Hardee
  • Reserve Corps (Mississippi): John Cabell Breckinridge temporary
• 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

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
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
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
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
William Hervey Lamm Wallace
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

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
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

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
Jones Mitchell Withers
Richard Heron Anderson
Robert Augustus Toombs
Arnold Elzey
William Henry Chase Whiting
Jubal Anderson Early
Isaac Ridgway Trimble
Daniel Ruggles
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Albert Pike
Paul Octave Hébert
Joseph Reid Anderson
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Leroy Pope Walker RES
Albert Gallatin Blanchard
Gabriel James Rains
James Ewell Brown Stuart
Lafayette McLaws
Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Thomas Carmichael Hindman
Adley Hogan Gladden
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
John Cabell Breckinridge
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
Martin Luther Smith