May 4 1862 Sunday
Siege of Yorktown Ended, VA (CWSAC – Major Battle – Inconclusive)
Farmington, MS
Peninsula Campaign
First Corinth Campaign
Confederate Evacuation of New Mexico
Cuba. Lieutenant Earl English, commanding USS Somerset, reported the capture of the steamer Circassian between Havana and Matanzas.
Louisiana. USS Calhoun, Lieutenant Joseph E DeHaven, captured the sloop Charles Henry off St Joseph and occupied Fort Pike, which had been evacuated by the Confederates.
Tennessee. Incident at Pulaski.
Farmington, Mississippi, also known as Farmington Heights. Union Major-General John Pope, commanding the left wing of the armies advancing against Corinth, moved from Hamburg to Seven Mile Creek and then to a creek two miles from Farmington, which was just four miles from Corinth. Major-General Don Carlos Buell was slow in coming up on his right flank, as he was still at Monterey, waiting in his turn for Major-General George Henry Thomas to align on his right before he could advance.
The Confederate Army of Mississippi of General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard had occupied defensive positions along a ridge behind a creek three to six miles from the town of Corinth. They covered the Mobile & Ohio Railroad to the north and the Memphis & Charleston railroad to the east. Major-General Leonidas Polk held the left wing, General Braxton Bragg the centre, and Major-General William Joseph Hardee the right wing. Major-General Earl Van Dorn was kept in reserve behind the rear of the railroad intersection. The defenders had entrenched energetically and strengthened both the reality and the appearance of the formidable defensive line.
Beauregard sent a diversionary cavalry raid towards Paducah, with two regiments spreading rumours that Van Dorn had crossed the Mississippi and was advancing on the Union lines of communications. He also appointed Captain John Hunt Morgan as Colonel and instructed him to raise a regiment of cavalry raiders in Kentucky to harass the enemy’s rear. The former raid was ineffectual but Morgan’s effectiveness rapidly gained him notoriety.
Beauregard’s plan was to keep Van Dorn’s veterans in reserve as his mobile offensive force, and he planned an attack with that force while the main body remained in the defences. The weather turned rainy and the Union advance on Corinth ground to a halt. Bragg attacked Pope’s advanced guard at Farmington, but Van Dorn was unable to make his way through the dense terrain to attack the exposed Union flank. Pope abandoned his exposed position and withdrew to rejoin the main body.
ORDER OF BATTLE: Confederate Western Department
Western Department: General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Army of the West: Major-General Earl Van Dorn
Jones’ Division (West): Major-General Samuel Jones
Rust’s Brigade, Jones’ Division (West): Brigadier-General Albert Rust
Maury’s Brigade, Jones’ Division (West): Brigadier-General Dabney Herndon Maury
Roane’s Brigade, Jones’ Division (West): Brigadier-General John Selden Roane
Price’s Division (West): Major-General Sterling Price
Little’s Brigade, Price’s Division (West): Brigadier-General Lewis Henry Little
Hébert’s Brigade, Price’s Division (West): Colonel Louis Hébert
Green’s Brigade, Price’s Division (West): Colonel (State Brigadier-General) Martin Edwin Green
McCown’s Division (West): Major-General John Porter McCown
Hogg’s Brigade, McCown’s Division (West): Brigadier-General Joseph Lewis Hogg
Churchill’s Brigade, McCown’s Division (West): Brigadier-General Thomas James Churchill
Ector’s Brigade, McCown’s Division (West): Colonel Matthew Duncan Ector
Missouri. Skirmish at Licking.
New Mexico Territory. Tucson is evacuated by Confederate forces.
Tennessee. Union raid on the Mobile & Ohio railroad near Bethel, and skirmish at Purdy.
Tennessee. Skirmish at Pulaski.
Virginia. Union reconnaissance to Culpeper Court House began.
Virginia. Skirmish at Franklin.
Virginia. Skirmish at Princeton,
Virginia. Skirmish at Cheese Cake Church.
Virginia. Skirmish at Columbia Bridge.
Virginia. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was reorganised into three segments. The Left Wing was assigned to Major-General Gustavus Woodson Smith, the Centre Wing was disbanded and its forces were allocated to the Right Wing under Major-General James Longstreet. The Reserve was allocated to Major-General John Bankhead Magruder.
Virginia. Part of Confederate Major-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s force was moving from Conrad’s Store towards Harrisonburg when he learned of the presence of a Union force from the command of Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks nearby. The Confederates skirmished with them and Banks was persuaded to withdraw from Harrisonburg to Strasburg. Jackson had left his cavalry with Major-General Richard Stoddert Ewell’s division, which was arriving through Swift Run Gap, while he headed south own division to join Brigadier-General Edward Johnson near Staunton. He took his 5,000 infantry on a long march through Brown’s Gap to the Virginia Central Railroad ten miles from Charlottesville. They then boarded trains and arrived in Staunton. The troops were given two days’ rest before they marched to oppose the Union troops advancing from the northwest.
Yorktown, Virginia. Union Major-General George Brinton McClellan’s siege of Yorktown ended as Confederate troops under General Joseph Eggleston Johnston evacuated their fortifications before the Union siege artillery opened the final bombardment in preparation for an assault.
Early in the morning, Union Major-General Samuel Peter Heintzelman ascended in an observation balloon and saw that the Confederate earthworks were empty of troops. The Union army advanced into the undefended fortifications, where they captured 56 heavy siege guns which the Confederates had found impossible to dismount and recover.
Confederate Brigadier-General James Ewell Brown Stuart’s cavalry covered the Confederate withdrawal while Brigadier-General George Stoneman sought to pursue them with Union cavalry. The opposing cavalry scouts skirmished briefly near Williamsburg. Stoneman was supported by four batteries of horse artillery and followed by the infantry divisions of Brigadier-General Joseph Hooker (1/III) and Brigadier-General William Farrar Smith (2/IV) and eventually about half of the Union army under Brigadier-General Edwin Vose Sumner (II Corps). The pursuers made contact near the Halfway House. The Confederate division of Major-General James Longstreet was acting as the rearguard and occupied some earthworks built previously by Major-General John Bankhead Magruder, midway between Halfway House and Williamsburg.
McClellan also ordered Brigadier-General William Buel Franklin’s division (newly arrived from Alexandria) to board transport ships on the York River in an attempt to move upstream to West Point and cut off Johnston’s retreat. However, it took two days to re-embark the men and equipment. (CWSAC – Major Battle – Inconclusive)
Virginia. USS Corwin, Lieutenant Thomas S Phelps, captured the schooner Director and a launch marked “US brig Dolphin” in the York River near Gloucester Point. The guard boat General Scott and the sloop Champion, both loaded with Confederate military stores, were burned to prevent capture.
Virginia. A boat crew from USS Wachusett, Commander W Smith, occupied Gloucester Point after Union troops occupied Yorktown. Two Confederate schooners were captured.
Virginia. Union forces at Ragged Island burned the schooner Beauregard, laden with coal intended for the ironclad CSS Virginia at Norfolk.
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 Southwest Missouri: Samuel Ryan Curtis
- Army of the Southwest: Samuel Ryan Curtis
- District of Southeast Missouri: Frederick Steele
- 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
Department of Kansas: James Gilpatrick Blunt awaited
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: Centre Wing (Northern Virginia) was discontinued and its forces reassigned to Reserve (Northern Virginia).
CSA: Reserve (Northern Virginia) was established in the Army of Northern Virginia.
CSA: Major-General John Bankhead Magruder assumed command of Reserve (Northern
Virginia).
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: John Horace Forney temporary
- 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
- Reserve Northern Virginia: John Bankhead Magruder
- 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
- 1st Sub-District of South Carolina: Arthur Middleton Manigault.
- 2nd Sub-District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley
- 3rd Sub-District of South Carolina: Nathan George Evans
- 4th Sub-District of South Carolina: Maxcy Gregg
- 5th Sub-District of South Carolina: Daniel Smith Donelson
- 6th Sub-District of South Carolina: Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Department of Southwestern Virginia: William Wing Loring
- District of Abingdon: Humphrey Marshall
- 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
George Henry Thomas
George Cadwalader
William Tecumseh Sherman
Edward Otho Cresap Ord
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
American Civil War High Command 