1862 May 7th

May 7 1862 Wednesday

Battle of Eltham’s Landing, VA (CWSAC – Limited Battle – Inconclusive)

Peninsula Campaign
First Corinth Campaign
Jackson‘s Shenandoah Valley Campaign

California. Skirmish at Croghan’s Ranch.

Missouri. Skirmish at Horse Creek.

North Carolina. Union expedition by Colonel Rush C Hawkins from Roanoke Island to Gatesville began.

Tennessee. Skirmish at Purdy.

Virginia. Union reconnaissance to Mulberry Point on the James began by Major Robert Morris (6th Pennsylvania Cavalry).

Virginia. Occupation of Pearlsburg.

Virginia. Skirmishes at Somerville Heights (South Fork Shenandoah River), McDowell, Cow Pasture, and Giles Court House.

Virginia. Union troops from Major-General John Charles Frémont’s command engaged guerrillas at Wardensviille, who had previously murdered a party of soldiers and convalescents on their way from Winchester to Moorefield.

Virginia. Confederate Major-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson met Brigadier-General Edward Johnson and combined their forces at West View, seven miles west of Staunton. Jackson’s troops had marched 92 miles and ridden 25 miles by rail in four marching days. The largely untried force marched west along the Parkersburg turnpike to McDowell with Johnson’s brigade providing the vanguard.
At mid-afternoon, Union pickets were encountered at Rodgers’ tollgate, where the turnpike crosses Ramsey’s Draft. The entire Union force in the area was about 3,500 strong total but the advanced guard consisted of portions of three regiments (3^rd West Virginia Infantry, 32^nd Ohio Infantry and 75^th Ohio Infantry) under the overall command of Brigadier-General Robert Huston Milroy. The Union troops withdrew hastily, abandoning their baggage at the tollgate, and retreated to the crest of Shenandoah Mountain. Hearing of Jackson’s unexpected appearance, Union Brigadier-General Robert Cumming Schenck set out to march the 34 miles from Franklin in 23 hours to reinforce Milroy with his brigade of 1,500 men.
The Confederate force divided into two columns to envelop the Union position on Shenandoah Mountain. Milroy then ordered his force to withdraw once again and to concentrate at McDowell, where he waited to receive reinforcements. Milroy also positioned a section of artillery on Shaw’s Ridge to impede Johnson’s descent from the crest of Shenandoah Mountain. These guns were soon withdrawn to McDowell, along with their supporting infantry.
By dusk, Johnson’s advance regiments had reached Shaw’s Fork, where they encamped. Because of the narrow roads and shortage of practical campsites, Jackson’s army stretched back for eight to ten miles along the turnpike with its rear guard at Dry Branch Gap. Jackson established his headquarters at Rodgers’ tollgate. During the night, Milroy withdrew behind the Bullpasture River to McDowell, establishing his headquarters in the Hull House.

Eltham’s Landing, Virginia, also known as West Point or Barhamsville. USS Wachusett, Commander W Smith, USS Chicora, and USS Sebago had escorted Army transports up the York River and supported the landing of Union Brigadier-General William Buel Franklin’s division at Eltham’s Landing on the York River.
Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston had assigned Major-General Gustavus Woodson Smith’s Division the task of guarding the nearby road to Barhamsville and the line of retreat of the army. Smith assigned the task of counterattacking at the landing to the small division of two brigades under Brigadier-General William Henry Chase Whiting, aided by Hampton’s Legion under Colonel Wade Hampton.
Franklin posted Brigadier-General John Newton’s brigade in the woods on either side of the landing road, supported in the rear by portions of two more brigades under Brigadier-General Henry Warner Slocum and Brigadier-General Philip Kearny. Newton’s skirmish line was pushed back as Confederate Brigadier-General John Bell Hood’s Texan Brigade advanced, with Hampton on his right. Hood was concerned about casualties from friendly fire in the thick woods so he ordered his men to advance with the bayonet and unloaded rifles. Whiting’s own brigade under Colonel Evander McIver Law followed Hood on his left and the Union troops retreated from the woods to the plain before the landing where they gained the protection afforded by the Union gunboats. Whiting employed artillery fire against the gunboats but his guns had insufficient range and he had to disengage around 2 pm. The Union troops moved back into the woods after the Confederates left, but made no attempt to advance any further. Although the action was inconclusive, Franklin had missed an opportunity to intercept the Confederate retreat from Williamsburg, and Hood’s aggressive charge deterred enemy interference in the Confederate retreat. There were 194 Union casualties and 48 Confederate. (CWSAC – Limited Battle – Inconclusive)

ORDER OF BATTLE: ELTHAM’S LANDING, VA

Union Department of the Rappahannock: Major-General Irvin McDowell
1st Division, Rappahannock: Brigadier-General William Buel Franklin (attached to Army of the Potomac)
1st Brigade, 1st Division, Rappahannock: Brigadier-General Philip Kearny
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Rappahannock: Brigadier-General Henry Warner Slocum
3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Rappahannock: Brigadier-General John Newton

Confederate Department of Northern Virginia: General Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Army of Northern Virginia: General Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Left Wing Northern Virginia: Major-General Gustavus Woodson Smith
Smith’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General William Henry Chase Whiting
Whiting’s Brigade, Smith’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Evander McIver Law
Hood’s Brigade, Smith’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Brigadier-General John Bell Hood
Hampton’s Brigade, Smith’s Division, Left Wing Northern Virginia: Colonel Wade Hampton

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

Department of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Army of the Gulf: Benjamin Franklin Butler

Department of Kansas: James Gilpatrick Blunt

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 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: Justis Steinburger
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: General Braxton Bragg arrived to assume temporary command of the Army of Mississippi, succeeding General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

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
- 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: William Stephen Walker
- 6^th 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: Braxton Bragg
- I Corps Mississippi: Leonidas Polk
- II Corps Mississippi: Thomas Carmichael Hindman
- 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
Edwin Vose Sumner*
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Erasmus Darwin Keyes
Joseph Hooker

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

Andrew Porter
Fitz-John Porter
William Buel Franklin
Charles Pomeroy Stone
Thomas West Sherman
George Archibald McCall
William Reading Montgomery
Philip Kearny
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