September 18 1862 Thursday
Smith’s Invasion of Kentucky
Bragg’s Invasion of Kentucky
Maryland Campaign
Second Corinth Campaign
Azores. CSS Alabama, Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the whaling ship Elisha Dunbar. As the whaling season around the Azores Islands was coming to an end, Semmes decided to change his cruising ground to the Newfoundland Banks.
USA. Despite missing an excellent opportunity to destroy the Confederate army, the Union army’s modest tactical success at Antietam became a turning point of the war and was proclaimed publicly as a victory for the Union. It was a sufficient victory to encourage President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Although Lincoln had intended to proclaim emancipation earlier, he was advised by his Cabinet to make the announcement only after a Union victory in order to avoid the perception that it was issued out of desperation. The Union victory at Antietam and Lincoln’s proclamation played a decisive role in dissuading the governments of France and Great Britain from recognising the sovereignty of the Confederacy. Once the issue of emancipation had been linked directly and explicitly to the outcome of the war, no European government could find the political will to oppose the United States.
CSA. The Confederate Congress authorised the creation of Army Corps commands, formalising the widespread existence of unofficial corps-sized commands. Divisions could now be organised officially into Corps, with properly named and appointed Corps commanders. The new grade of Lieutenant-General would also be authorised for Corps commanders.
Kentucky. Skirmish at Cave City
Kentucky. Skirmish near Florence.
Kentucky. Skirmish at Glasgow resulted in the capture of some Confederate soldiers.
Kentucky. Skirmish at Owensboro.
Kentucky. The evacuation of Cumberland Gap by its Union garrison permitted Confederate Major-General Edmund Kirby Smith to summon the division of 9,000 men that had been observing the region to join his main army at Lexington.
Maryland. Confederate General Robert Edward Lee held his positions around Sharpsburg throughout the day and skirmished with McClellan’s army, buying time for him to remove his wounded to the south side of the Potomac River. Lee banked on Union Major-General George Brinton McClellan’s passivity for one more day and stood his ground despite facing great odds. At nightfall Lee started the retreat to Virginia across Boteler’s Ford, ending his invasion of Maryland.
McClellan did not renew the assaults at Sharpsburg but prepared orders to renew to attack on 19 September. McClellan had about 20,300 fresh men available in V Corps and VI Corps. Only one of their twelve brigades had been committed on 17 September and, by midday, the 1st Division of IV Corps, under Major-General Darius Nash Couch had also arrived from Crampton’s Gap with 6,000 veteran troops. Around the same time, Brigadier-General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys arrived with 6,000 Pennsylvanian recruits to reinforce V Corps.
McClellan could have attacked with almost 62,000 fresh men during the afternoon but he remained passive. He succumbed to his tendency to overestimate the strength of his opponent. Having crossed the barrier of Antietam Creek, he was within striking distance of the ford that Lee needed to escape across the Potomac. An aggressive and ruthless attack could probably have destroyed the Confederate army on the north bank of the Potomac. McClellan subsequently blamed the failure to defeat the Confederates on the garrison of Harper’s Ferry, suggesting that if they had held out for one more day, he could have seized Maryland Heights, and lifted the siege. He said that the garrison would have supplemented his own strength sufficiently to ensure victory, while the Confederates would have been prevented from sending their last-ditch reinforcements to save the day at Sharpsburg.
Mississippi. Skirmish at Rienzi.
Mississippi. As part of Union Major-General Ulysses Simpson Grant’s concentric advance on Iuka, Union Major-General Edward Otho Cresap Ord approached Iuka with his three divisions. Skirmishing ensued before nightfall between his reconnaissance patrols and Confederate pickets about six miles from the town. Ord pushed forward again overnight to within two miles of the town. Major-General William Starke Rosecrans informed Grant that he would not arrive at Iuka with his two divisions until midway through 19 September.
Missouri. Operation at Johnson County began.
Tennessee. Operation at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson began.
Union Organisation
USA: Brigadier-General James Henry Carleton arrived to command the Department of New Mexico, succeeding Brigadier-General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby.
USA: Major-General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield died of wounds received at Antietam. He was the seventh-ranking General in the US Regular Army and fifth among those currently active.
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: Samuel Phillips Lee
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: Andrew Allen Harwood
General–in-Chief: Henry Wager Halleck
Department of the Mississippi: Henry Wager Halleck
- 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 Grant
Department of the Missouri: Henry Wager Halleck
- District of Missouri: John McAllister Schofield
- District of Southwest Missouri: Egbert Benson Brown
- Army of the Southwest: Frederick Steele
- District of Northwest Missouri: Willard Preble Hall
District of Corinth: William Starke Rosecrans
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: James Henry Carleton
- District of Arizona: Joseph Rodman West
Department of New York: Edward Denison Morgan
Department of North Carolina: John Gray Foster
Department of the Northwest: John Pope
- District of Wisconsin: Washington Lafayette Elliott
Department of the Ohio: Horatio Gouverneur Wright
- District of Louisville: Jeremiah Tilford Boyle
- Army of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell
Department of the Pacific: George Wright
- District of the Humboldt: Francis James Lippitt
- District of Oregon: Benjamin Alvord
- District of Southern California: George Washington Bowie
- District of Utah: Patrick Edward Connor
Department of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan
- Army of the Potomac: George Brinton McClellan
- I Corps Potomac: George Gordon Meade temporary
- II Corps Potomac: Edwin Vose Sumner
- III Corps Potomac: Samuel Peter Heintzelman
- V Corps Potomac: Fitz John Porter
- VI Corps Potomac: William Buel Franklin
- IX Corps Potomac: Jacob Dolson Cox temporary
- XI Corps Potomac: Franz Sigel
- XII Corps Potomac: Alpheus Starkey Williams temporary
Department of the South: Ormsby McKnight Mitchel
- X Corps South: Ormsby McKnight Mitchel
Department of Texas: Vacant
Department of Virginia: John Adams Dix
- IV Corps Virginia: Erasmus Darwin Keyes
- VII Corps Virginia: John Adams Dix
District of the Ohio: Don Carlos Buell
Military District of Washington: Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
Confederate Organisation
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: John Porter McCown
- 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
- Army of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee
- Longstreet’s Command Northern Virginia: James Longstreet
- Jackson’s Command Northern Virginia: Thomas Jonathan Jackson
- Valley District: Daniel Harvey Hill temporary
Department of Richmond: Gustavus Woodson Smith
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
- 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: Daniel Ruggles temporary
- District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: vacant
- 1st Sub-District of Southern Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana: vacant
- 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
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
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* DOW
John Gray Foster
John Grubb Parke
Christopher Columbus Augur
Robert Cumming Schenck
Stephen Augustus Hurlbut
Gordon Granger
Brigadier-General USA
Brackets indicates concurrently Major-General USV
William Selby Harney
(Edwin Vose Sumner)
(Joseph King Fenno Mansfield) DOW
(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
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
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
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
Gabriel René Paul
George Crook
Thomas Leiper Kane
Gershom Mott
William Rufus Terrill
Edward Ferrero
Henry Jackson Hunt
Joseph Jones Reynolds
Calvin Edward Pratt
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
Samuel Gibbs French
Brigadier-General PACS
Alexander Robert Lawton
Charles Clark
John Buchanan Floyd
Henry Alexander Wise
David Rumph Jones
Henry Hopkins Sibley
John Henry Winder
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
William Henry Carroll
Hugh Weedon Mercer
Alexander Peter Stewart
William Montgomery Gardner
Richard Brooke Garnett
William Mahone
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
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 Barksdale
Edward Dorr Tracy
Matthew Duncan Ector
Edward Aylesworth Perry
John Gregg
John Calvin Brown
Alfred Holt Colquitt
Junius Daniel
Abraham Buford
William Steele
James Fleming Fagan
William Read Scurry
Allison Nelson
Francis Asbury Shoup
Joseph Robert Davis
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee
American Civil War High Command 