1864 May 10th

May 10 1864 Tuesday

Battle of Spotsylvania, VA
Battle of Cove Mountain, VA (CWSAC Limited Battle Union Victory)
Battle of Chester Station, VA (CWSAC Limited Battle – Inconclusive)
Ny River, VA
Beaver Dam Station, VA

Red River Campaign
Atlanta Campaign – Dalton
James River Campaign
Virginia Overland Campaign – Spotsylvania
Sheridan’s Richmond Raid
Crook’s West Virginia Raid
Averell’s Second West Virginia Raid
Kautz’s Weldon Railroad Raid

Go to May 11 1864

Arkansas. Reconnaissance to Gainesville began.

Arkansas. Skirmish at Dardanelle.

Colorado Territory. Reconnaissance from American Ranch to Cedar Bluffs ended.

Florida. The Union transport Harriet A Weed, supporting troop movements in the St John’s River, was destroyed by a torpedo. Sinking in less than a minute, the steamer became the third victim of torpedo warfare in the St John’s River in less than six weeks. While scouting the river near Harriet A Weed’s hulk, USS Vixen recovered a torpedo of the same type that destroyed the transport. The keg torpedo was simple but effective, showing signs of progress and innovation in Confederate naval defences.

Georgia. Union demonstration at Rocky Face Ridge.

Georgia. Union demonstration at Resaca.

Georgia. Union demonstration at Dalton.

Georgia. Skirmish at Sugar Valley.

Georgia. Skirmish at Resaca.

Georgia. Union Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman decided to concentrate his armies at Snake Creek Gap, where Major-General James Birdseye McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee had advanced to within striking distance of Resaca and then withdrawn away from an undetermined Confederate force. Sherman left one Corps from the Army of the Cumberland and a cavalry division to face the Confederates at Rocky Face Ridge and to protect his communications with Chattanooga. The other three divisions of the Army of the Cumberland began to move down the valley west of Rocky Face Ridge, and they were followed in turn by the Army of the Ohio from Varnell’s Station. Sherman’s aim was to throw the mass of his armies through Snake Creek Gap and to capture Resaca, taking the crossings of the Oostenaula River, and severing the railroad behind the Confederate army at Dalton. It took a full day for the columns to disengage secretly and to prepare their march to Snake Creek Gap. If the operation was successful, the Confederate Army of Tennessee would be cut off from its main supply line back to Atlanta.

Georgia. During the afternoon, Confederate Lieutenant-General John Bell Hood investigated the Union presence near Resaca. He found that the Union force had withdrawn to Snake Creek Gap and this timidity persuaded Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston that the movement was n more than a feint, distracting him from the defence of Rocky Face Ridge near Dalton. Johnston recalled Hood and his three divisions towards Dalton but ordered him to leave there the two divisions taken from Lieutenant-General William Joseph Hardee’s Corps at Tilton. Tilton was a station between Dalton and Resaca, making them ready to move in either direction. Hardee remained at Rocky Face Ridge with his other two divisions, confused by the apparent passivity of the Union Army of the Cumberland facing him.

Kentucky. Incident at Greasy Creek.

Louisiana. Incident at Yellow Bayou.

Louisiana. Operation at Calcasieu Pass ended. The USS New London, Acting Master Lyman Wells, unaware that the Confederates had surprised and taken the Union USS Granite City and USS Wave on 6 May, arrived off Calcasieu Pass. A boat was sent across to USS Granite City but it did not return. During the morning, another boat rowed toward USS Granite City under a flag of truce. Seeing a Confederate flag flying from her, Acting Ensign Henry Jackson tried to shoot it down and was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter.

Louisiana. The Union Red River expedition completed the wing dams to permit the passage of the river at Alexandria. USS Mound City, Acting Lieutenant Amos R Langthorne, and USS Carondelet, Lieutenant-Commander John G Mitchell, ran aground near where work was proceeding on the wing dams across above Alexandria.

Missouri. Union reconnaissance from Pilot Knob to Gainesville began.

North Carolina. USS Connecticut, Commander John J Almy, captured the blockade-running British steamer Greyhound with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and turpentine.

South Carolina. Skirmish on Pine Island in Charleston Harbour.

Virginia. Confederate Lieutenant-Colonel John Singleton Mosby attacked a Union cavalry outpost near Front Royal, capturing sixteen men and 75 horses without loss.

Virginia. Union troops destroyed a Confederate torpedo station on the James River.

Virginia. Skirmishes at Ingle, Arrowfield Church, Drewry’s Bluff, Ware Bottom Church, Richmond and Petersburg Turnpike, and Brock’s Gap.

Virginia. Skirmish at the Po River.

Virginia. Skirmish with Confederate guerrillas at Winchester.

Virginia. A skirmish at Davenport Ford on the North Anna River involved Union Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan’s cavalry.

Chester Station, Virginia. Elements of Confederate Major-General Robert Ransom’s division conducted a reconnaissance-in-force against a portion of Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler’s army that was destroying the railroad at Chester Station. The Confederates also attacked a lone Ohio regiment near the Winfree House. Union reinforcements came in from the rest of Union brigade and then more men from Colonel Joseph Roswell Hawley’s brigade. The Confederates captured one gun before withdrawing. After noon, the Union forces started a retirement to their Bermuda Hundred lines. Total casualties were estimated at 569 men. (CWSAC Limited Battle – Inconclusive)

Virginia. After his advance to Petersburg was blocked by Confederate defences along Swift Creek, Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler decided to abandon the attempt to capture Petersburg. He was confident that the destruction of the long railroad bridges south of Petersburg by the cavalry division of Brigadier-General August Valentine Kautz had already severed the line for Confederate supplies and reinforcements. He ordered his forces back into the entrenched camp at Bermuda Hundred, while he planned a new advance towards Richmond instead. Kautz’s cavalry reached City Point after its raid from Suffolk against the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad.

Virginia. Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard arrived to take command of operations at Richmond and Petersburg. By nightfall, five more brigades of reinforcements had arrived in Petersburg. Two were sent from Charleston, South Carolina, and three more arrived with Major-General Robert Frederick Hoke from North Carolina to join the two brigades already there. They had to march around the five-mile gap in the Weldon Railroad caused by the destruction of the Nottoway and Stony Creek Bridges but completed the last twenty miles by train. The nervous anxiety of the past five days had taken their toll on Confederate Major-General George Edward Pickett and he collapsed with fever and fatigue. Beauregard sent for Major-General William Chase Whiting to come from Wilmington to take his place. Beauregard now had 20,000 men in twelve brigades south of the James and he reorganised them into four divisions.

Beaver Dam Station, Virginia. Union Brigadier-General George Armstrong Custer’s cavalry continued to skirmish at Beaver Dam Station while the remainder of Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan’s cavalrymen wrecked ten miles of track along the Virginia Central Railroad. Sheridan then concentrated his three divisions again and resumed his relentless advance towards Richmond. By late afternoon, the head of the Union column reached Ground Squirrel Bridge on the South Anna River. Sheridan halted for the night to feed and water his horses and for the men to rest. He was in no hurry since he intended to provoke a heavy battle with the trailing Confederate cavalry before he reached Richmond.
Confederate Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart Stuart spent the night riding on a westerly circuit toward Beaver Dam Station, arriving there on the morning of 10 May. By that time, Sheridan’s force had resumed its march and was closer to Richmond but Stuart anticipated that he was opposing only a limited cavalry raid. He did not wish to deprive his own army entirely of its cavalry. He committed only three of his six brigades (about 4,500 men) to the pursuit of Sheridan. Now that Sheridan was too far from the armies locked in battle at Spotsylvania to attack the Confederate rear, Stuart decided that he could ride around to head off the Union march towards Richmond. His intention was to ride east along the Virginia Central Railroad to rejoin the Telegraph Railroad near Hanover Junction and then to follow it until he could combine with part of the city garrison north of Richmond. Confederate Brigadier-General James Byron Gordon’s brigade joined Major-General Fitzhugh Lee’s division to intercept the Union column. Gordon’s cavalry pressed the Union rear-guard while Stuart and Fitzhugh Lee led the brigades of Brigadier-General Williams Wickham and Brigadier-General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax on the hard ride south to intercept the head of the main column. Arriving near Hanover Junction, twenty-five miles from Richmond, Stuart heard from Gordon that Sheridan had camped early for the night at Ground Squirrel Bridge, only twenty miles from Richmond. Fitzhugh Lee persuaded Stuart to let his men rest for a time so that they would be in good condition for the inevitable battle. Stuart relented but insisted that Lee must have his men back in the saddle by 1 am.

Ny River, Virginia. Union Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside’s IX Corps was located on a quiet sector at the northern end of the Union line at the Ny River. He made a reconnaissance towards Spotsylvania Court House during the morning. The Corps moved forward and dug in about 1,000 yards northeast of and parallel to the Confederate lines of Major-General Jubal Anderson Early. Union division commander Brigadier-General Thomas Greeley Stevenson (1/IX) was killed by a long-range sharpshooter.

Spotsylvania, Virginia, also known as Spotsylvania Court House, Waite’s Shop, or Laurel Hill. Confederate General Robert Edward Lee’s men had dug an impregnable trench line stretching for more than four miles around the Spotsylvania Courthouse and its critical crossroads. The earthworks were reinforced with timber and guarded by artillery placed to allow enfilade fire on any attacking force. There was only one weak point in Lee’s line, an exposed salient known as the “Mule Shoe” extending more than a mile in front of the main trench line to defend a section of dominant higher ground.
Following orders to attack the Confederate left flank across the Ny River, Union Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock sent Colonel John Rutter Brooke’s brigade (4/1/II) at dawn to reconnoitre the open Confederate left flank at the Block House Bridge. He had only three divisions with him after his 4^th Division under Brigadier-General Gershom Mott had already been sent to reinforce VI Corps the previous day. To Brooke’s surprise, the scouts found that Confederate Major-General William Mahone’s division was guarding the Bridge and had begun to entrench. Assisted by efficient cavalry scouting, Lee had foreseen the danger and once again blocked the Union advance. The Confederates also sent Major-General Henry Heth’s division southwards via the Old Court House to come in beyond Hancock’s right flank if he attempted to approach the bridge. Hancock did not give up the plan and decided to send one of his three divisions (Brigadier-General Francis Channing Barlow’s 1st Division) to an alternative crossing half a mile downriver. Meanwhile, farther to the east, Union Major-General Gouverneur Kemble Warren had been reconnoitring the Confederate centre and advised Grant that he felt that there was a chance of success if enough troops were assigned to the attack.
As the correct positions and intentions of the Confederates became clearer, Union Lieutenant-General Ulysses Simpson Grant concluded that the infantry reported yesterday to be moving towards Fredericksburg must have only been cavalry. That meant the Confederates in his front had not been divided or weakened. He abandoned his attempt to outflank the Confederate left flank and decided to consolidate his own army again. Trusting Warren’s judgment as an engineer, his suggestion precipitated Hancock’s recall from the left. Hancock was recalled by Major-General George Gordon Meade from Block House Bridge, where only Barlow’s 1st Division was left on guard. Hancock pulled back two divisions (Major-General David Bell Birney’s 3^rd Division and Brigadier-General John Gibbon’s 2nd Division) to their starting point on the right of V Corps. Hancock was ordered to accompany them personally and to lead these two divisions as well as those of Warren’s V Corps in the proposed attack against the Confederate centre.
Hancock’s main attack began just as the first brigade of Barlow’s 1^st Division, which had already crossed south of the Po at the Block House Bridge, reported that the Confederate left flank may well be open after all. Hancock recalled that most advanced brigade and left Barlow to maintain the outpost while he pulled back over his three pontoon bridges to comply with Grant’s order to recall them. Late in the evening, after the assault on the salient by V Corps, Heth’s Confederate division hit Barlow’s isolated division near the Block House from the flank while Mahone’s division advanced from the front. Brooke’s brigade and Colonel Hiram Loomis Brown’s brigade (3/1/II) fought off Mahone’s initial attack but were then pushed back at Waite’s Shop. Colonel Nelson Appleton Miles’ brigade (1/1/II) managed to stop Heth’s efforts to cross the Ny River.
Grant proposed that Hancock and Warren, also to be supported by part of VI Corps (now under Major-General Horatio Gouverneur Wright), would go forward at about 5 pm. However, Warren suggested beginning the attack earlier at about 3.30 pm before the whole of Hancock’s reinforcements returned, in order not to waste the opportunity that he had discovered. Grant approved, glad to see aggressive spirit among his commanders. The attack was launched at 4 pm by Brigadier-General Samuel Wylie Crawford’s division (3/V), Brigadier-General Lysander Cutler’s division (4/V), and the brigades of Colonel Samuel Sprigg Carroll (3/2/II) and Brigadier-General Alexander Stewart Webb (1/2/II) from Brigadier-General John Gibbon’s division (2/II), which were the first of Hancock’s troops to arrive. They struck Major-General Richard Heron Anderson’s I Corps around the Alsop House. This attack was characterised by uncoordinated frontal assaults and it failed after suffering heavy losses to artillery fire. Very few men got near to the enemy fortifications. Repeated attacks were particularly futile along the Confederate left, where the V Corps failed many times to storm positions on Laurel Hill, where Union Brigadier-General James Clay Rice was killed. The attackers gave up the hopeless task and Warren awaited the arrival around 5 pm of the rest of Hancock’s men to resume the advance. Hancock was assigned to take command of another attack at 6.30 pm.
During the disastrous assaults by V Corps, Colonel Emory Upton (2/1/VI) got close enough to identify an opportunity. He reported to his division commander, Brigadier-General David Allen Russell, that he had devised a tactic to make a sudden surprise attack in force at a vulnerable point. He would attack a very narrow front, formed closely in four lines, without halting to fire. Once the first line broke through it would widen the breach for the second line to press onwards, while the third and fourth lines came up as reserves to exploit wherever progress had been made. Russell agreed that the novel approach had merit and the VI Corps commander Wright also gave it his approval. Wright even reinforced Upton’s brigade with an additional four regiments from Brigadier-General Thomas Hewson Neill’s brigade (3/2/VI), and then put a whole division in support behind the point of attack.
Speed, precision, and coordination were essential to Upton’s tactic and he briefed each of the twelve regimental commanders in detail from a concealed position just 200 yards from the objective. Every regiment was given a specific objective, which was about midway along the front of Confederate Lieutenant-General Richard Stoddert Ewell’s II Corps. The attack would converge on the western face of a salient, which protruded from the Confederate lines to hold a patch of high ground in advance of the main to deny its occupation by Union guns. The salient was termed the “Mule Shoe” because of its curved shape and the wings or flanks that slanted sharply back to the main line. It was packed densely with Confederate guns but Upton hoped that a rapid charge would overwhelm the guns before they could cause serious damage. The attack was set for 6 pm, an hour before sunset and two hours before nightfall.
After a brief bombardment, Upton launched the assault at 6.10 pm. Within five minutes the first line of three regiments had pushed through the obstacles, and despite heavy losses from the Confederate guns, overran the defences. Reinforced rapidly from behind, they encountered fierce Confederate resistance but when those defenders fell back 200 yards to the second line of works, the second Union line passed through the first wave and took over the onslaught. The Confederate line of Brigadier-General George Pierce Doles’ brigade in Major-General Robert Emmett Rodes’ division was broken, and a shallow penetration was achieved exactly according to Upton’s plan.
Further success was dependent on the arrival of the reserve division allocated by Wright. This was Hancock’s 4^th Division under Brigadier-General Gershom Mott, which had been supporting VI Corps for two days. Mott deployed his two brigades against the apex of the Confederate “Angle” to act as a diversion from Upton’s assault. They attracted the attention of the 22 Confederate guns crowded into the salient. At a range of half a mile they had suffered badly, and within minutes there were broken up and scattered by heavy shell fire. Demoralised by the fighting in the Wilderness and now shattered by this close-range bombardment, the division was rendered ineffective and within three days it would be broken up to reinforce other units in II Corps. Despite the success of Upton’s men, the collapse of Mott’s division forced their withdrawal. They were pressed in by Confederates arriving on all sides to pinch out the breakthrough. They fought their way back to the Union lines, bringing over a thousand Confederate prisoners with them.
Grant was particularly impressed by Upton’s tactics and decided to resume the offensive in the morning at the weak spot and with an even larger force. He expected the fall of night to permit the commitment of Confederates reserves and further reflection led him to postpone the attack until first light the day after on 12 May, so that the enemy’s line could be observed, preparations properly made, and Upton’s new tactical formation explained.
The Union lost 4,100 men killed and wounded out of 37,822 engaged in the various engagements at Spotsylvania.

West Virginia. Skirmish at Princeton.

West Virginia. Skirmish at Lost River Gap between Union Brigadier-General Benjamin Franklin Kelley and Confederate Brigadier-General John Daniel Imboden

New River Bridge, West Virginia. Union Brigadier-General George Crook left Dublin Station at first light in order to destroy the important 400-foot bridge over the New River eight miles to the east. This was accomplished by midday. He then awaited the arrival of the cavalry of Brigadier-General William Woods Averell. The combined force was to head eastwards along the railroad to Salem, wrecking the tracks along the way, and then north through the Shenandoah Valley past Lexington to join Major-General Franz Sigel at Staunton. However, Crook decided neither to wait for Averell’s 2,000 cavalrymen nor to head eastwards as planned. Instead, he chose to go north, aiming for Meadow Bluff on the Greenbrier River near Lewisburg. This was a good place to draw supplies from his base at Gauley Bridge forty miles to the northwest. He had been misled by dispatches suggesting that the campaign in Virginia had failed and he feared that his isolated command was now in danger of being assailed by Confederates released from that sector. He heard from messengers sent by Averell that he had attempted to attack the salt works at Saltville but had abandoned the effort as they were too well-defended. Averell said that he was heading for Wytheville and was on his way to unite with Crook’s larger force. Crook disregarded the danger to Averell’s command and headed north, leaving Averell with instructions to continue eastwards, fulfilling with just 2,000 men what he and Crook had been expected to achieve with their combined force of 8,000 men. Crook’s men crossed the New River and withdrew to Meadow Bluff, destroying several more railroad bridges in the early going. Meanwhile, Averell was opposed briefly by Confederate Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan and Brigadier-General William Edmondson Jones at Rocky Gap.

Cove Mountain, West Virginia, also known as Crockett’s Cove, or Grassy Lick. Union Brigadier-General William Woods Averell’s cavalry was heading to destroy the Confederate lead works at Wytheville. At Crockett’s Cove, they found the way barred by a Confederate cavalry brigade commanded by Brigadier-General William Edmondson Jones. Averell attacked the Confederate positions but was repulsed. The Confederates then received reinforcements from Cove Mountain led by Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan, who took command. Morgan counterattacked ferociously with relentless cavalry charges, chasing the Union forces back through Wythe County until they could take shelter at Crockett’s Cove Presbyterian Church. The running battle ended after nightfall four miles east of Wytheville. Averell’s men later escaped towards Dublin Station. Total casualties were estimated as about 300, 114 of them on the Union side. (CWSAC Limited Battle Union Victory)

Union Organisation

USA: Francis Fessenden promoted Brigadier-General USV 13 May 1864 to rank from 10 May 1864.

USA: Brigadier-General Thomas Greely Stevenson was killed by a sharpshooter at the Ny River, Virginia.

USA: Brigadier-General James Clay Rice was killed at Laurel Hill, Virginia.

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: John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren
West Gulf Blockading Squadron: David Glasgow Farragut
East Gulf Blockading Squadron: Theodorus Bailey
Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery
Mississippi River Squadron: David Dixon Porter
Potomac Flotilla: Andrew Allen Harwood

General–in-Chief: Ulysses Simpson Grant

Military Division of the Mississippi: William Tecumseh Sherman

• Department of the Cumberland: George Henry Thomas
  • District of Nashville: Lovell Harrison Rousseau
  • District of Western Kentucky: Eleazer Arthur Paine
  • Army of the Cumberland: George Henry Thomas
    • IV Corps Cumberland: Oliver Otis Howard
    • XIV Corps Cumberland: John McAuley Palmer
    • XX Corps Cumberland: Joseph Hooker
    • Cavalry Corps Cumberland: Washington Lafayette Elliott
• Department of the Ohio: John McAllister Schofield
  • District of East Tennessee: Jacob Ammen
  • District of Kentucky: Stephen Gano Burbridge
  • Army of the Ohio: John McAllister Schofield
    • XXIII Corps Ohio: John McAllister Schofield
• Department of the Tennessee: James Birdseye McPherson
  • District of West Tennessee: Cadwallader Colden Washburn
    • Sub-District of Memphis: Ralph Pomeroy Buckland
  • District of Vicksburg: Henry Warner Slocum
  • Army of the Tennessee: James Birdseye McPherson
    • XV Corps Tennessee: John Alexander Logan
    • XVI Corps Tennessee: vacant
      • Right Wing XVI Corps Tennessee: Andrew Jackson Smith
      • Left Wing XVI Corps Tennessee: Grenville Mellen Dodge
    • XVII Corps Tennessee: Francis Preston Blair

Military Division of West Mississippi: Edward Richard Sprigg Canby awaited

• Department of Arkansas: Nathan Kimball temporary
  • District of Eastern Arkansas: Napoleon Bonaparte Buford
  • District of Northern Arkansas: Robert Ramsey Livingston
  • District of the Frontier: James Gilpatrick Blunt
  • Army of Arkansas: Frederick Steele
    • VII Corps Arkansas: Nathan Kimball temporary
• Department of the Gulf: Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
  • District of Baton Rouge: Henry Warner Birge
  • District of Port Hudson: Daniel Ullmann
  • District of La Fourche: John McNeil
  • District of Carrollton: Nelson B Bartram
  • District of Key West and Tortugas: Daniel Phineas Woodbury
  • Defences of New Orleans: Joseph Jones Reynolds
  • Army of the Gulf: Nathaniel Prentiss Banks
    • XIII Corps Gulf: William Plummer Benton
    • XIX Corps Gulf: William Hemsley Emory

Department of the East: John Adams Dix

Department of Kansas: George Sykes

• District of Nebraska Territory: Robert Byington Mitchell
• District of North Kansas: Thomas Alfred Davies
• District of South Kansas: Thomas Jefferson McKean
• District of the Border: William Russell Judson
• District of Colorado Territory: John Milton Chivington

Middle Department: Lewis Wallace

• District of Delaware: John Reese Kenly
• District of the Eastern Shore of Maryland: Henry Hayes Lockwood
• VIII Corps Middle: Lewis Wallace

Department of the Missouri: William Starke Rosecrans

• District of St Louis: vacant
• District of Southwest Missouri: John Benjamin Sanborn
• District of North Missouri: Clinton Bowen Fisk
• District of Central Missouri: Egbert Benson Brown
• District of Rolla: Odon Guitar

Department of New Mexico: James Henry Carleton

• District of Arizona: George Washington Bowie

Northern Department: Samuel Peter Heintzelman

• District of Indiana: John Smith Simonson

Department of the Northwest: John Pope

• District of Minnesota: Henry Hastings Sibley
• District of Wisconsin: Thomas Church Haskell Smith
• District of Iowa: Alfred Sully

Department of the Pacific: George Wright

• District of the Humboldt: Henry M Black
• District of Oregon: Benjamin Alvord
• District of Southern California: James Freeman Curtis
• District of Utah: Patrick Edward Connor

Department of the Potomac: George Gordon Meade

• IX Corps Potomac: Ambrose Everett Burnside
• Army of the Potomac: George Gordon Meade
  • II Corps Potomac: Winfield Scott Hancock
  • V Corps Potomac: Gouverneur Kemble Warren
  • VI Corps Potomac: Horatio Gouverneur Wright
  • Cavalry Corps Potomac: Philip Henry Sheridan

Department of the South: John Porter Hatch interim John Gray Foster awaited

• Northern District (South): Alexander Schimmelfennig
• District of Beaufort (SC): Rufus Saxton
• District of Hilton Head: William Watts Hart Davis
• District of Florida: William Birney
• District of West Florida: Alexander Asboth

Department of the Susquehanna: Darius Nash Couch

• Lehigh District: Franz Sigel

Department of Virginia and North Carolina: Benjamin Franklin Butler

• District of St Mary’s: Alonzo Granville Draper
• District of Currituck: Samuel Henry Roberts
• District of North Carolina: Innis Newton Palmer
  • Sub-District of Beaufort NC: James Jourdan
  • Sub-District of New Bern: Edward Harland
• District of Yorktown: Joseph Bradford Carr
• Army of the James: Benjamin Franklin Butler
  • X Corps James: Quincy Adams Gillmore
  • XVIII Corps James: William Farrar Smith

Department of Washington: Christopher Columbus Augur

• District of Alexandria: John Potts Slough
• District of Washington: Moses N Wisewell
• XXII Corps Washington: Christopher Columbus Augur

Department of Western Virginia: Franz Sigel

• Army of the Kanawha: George Crook

Confederate Organisation

CSA: General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard arrived to command the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, succeeding Major-General George Edward Pickett.

CSA: The First District of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia was established, comprising the right bank of the Appomattox River.
CSA: Brigadier-General Henry Alexander Wise was appointed to command the First District of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, arriving on 1 June 1864.

CSA: Colonel William Butler (1st South Carolina Regular Infantry) assumed temporary command of the First District of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia.

CSA: Thomas Moore Scott promoted Brigadier-General PACS 21 May 1864 to rank from 10 May 1864.

Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: James Alexander Seddon
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory

Military Adviser to the President: Braxton Bragg

Department of Alabama and East Mississippi: Stephen Dill Lee

• District of Mississippi and East Louisiana: John S Scott
• Gulf District: Dabney Herndon Maury
• District of Northern Alabama: Jones Mitchell Withers
• District of West Tennessee: Nathan Bedford Forrest

Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

• First District of North Carolina and Southern Virginia: William B Butler interim Henry Alexander Wise awaited

Department of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee

• Army of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee
  • I Corps Northern Virginia: Richard Heron Anderson temporary
  • II Corps Northern Virginia: Richard Stoddert Ewell
  • III Corps Northern Virginia: Jubal Anderson Early temporary
  • Cavalry Corps Northern Virginia: James Ewell Brown Stuart
• Valley District: Jubal Anderson Early

Department of Richmond: Robert Ransom

Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida: Samuel Jones

• District of Georgia: Hugh Weedon Mercer interim Henry Rootes Jackson awaited
• District of South Carolina: Roswell Sabine Ripley
  • 1^st Sub-District of South Carolina: Nathan George Evans
  • 2^nd Sub-District of South Carolina: Beverley Holcombe Robertson
  • 3^rd Sub-District of South Carolina: William Stephen Walker interim Thomas Jordan awaited
  • 4^th Sub-District of South Carolina: James Heyward Trapier
  • 5^th Sub-District of South Carolina: Alfred Moore Rhett
  • 6^th Sub-District of South Carolina: Henry Alexander Wise
  • 7^th Sub-District of South Carolina: William Booth Taliaferro
• District of Florida: James Patton Anderson
• Defences of Savannah: Samuel Jones

Department of Tennessee: Joseph Eggleston Johnston

• District of Western North Carolina: James Green Martin
• Army of Tennessee: Joseph Eggleston Johnston
  • I Corps Tennessee: William Joseph Hardee
  • II Corps Tennessee: John Bell Hood
  • III Corps Tennessee: Leonidas Polk
  • Cavalry Corps Tennessee: Joseph Wheeler

Trans-Allegheny Department: John Cabell Breckinridge

Trans-Mississippi Department: Edmund Kirby Smith

• District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona: John Bankhead Magruder
  • Western Sub-District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona: Hamilton Prioleau Bee
    • Sub-District of the Rio Grande: Hamilton Prioleau Bee
  • Eastern Sub-District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona: William Steele
  • Sub-District of Houston: Xavier Blanchard Debray
  • Northern Sub-District Texas, New Mexico and Arizona: Henry Eustace McCullough
• District of Arkansas: Sterling Price
• District of West Louisiana: Richard Taylor
• District of Indian Territory: Samuel Bell Maxey
• Trans-Mississippi Army: Edmund Kirby Smith

Reserve Forces of Alabama: Jones Mitchell Withers

Reserve Forces of Florida: John King Jackson

Reserve Forces of Georgia: Thomas Howell Cobb

Reserve Forces of North Carolina: Theophilus Hunter Holmes awaited

Reserve Forces of South Carolina: James Chesnut

Reserve Forces of Virginia: James Lawson Kemper

Union Generals

Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission

Lieutenant-General USA

Ulysses Simpson Grant

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
Ethan Allen Hitchcock
Irvin McDowell*
Ambrose Everett Burnside
William Starke Rosecrans*
Don Carlos Buell
John Pope*
Samuel Ryan Curtis
Franz Sigel
John Alexander McClernand
Lewis Wallace
George Henry Thomas*
George Cadwalader
William Tecumseh Sherman*
Edward Otho Cresap Ord
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Joseph Hooker*
Silas Casey
William Buel Franklin
Darius Nash Couch
Henry Warner Slocum
John James Peck
Alexander McDowell McCook
Thomas Leonidas Crittenden
John Gray Foster
John Grubb Parke
Christopher Columbus Augur
Stephen Augustus Hurlbut
Gordon Granger
Lovell Harrison Rousseau
James Birdseye McPherson*
George Stoneman
George Gordon Meade*
Oliver Otis Howard
Daniel Edgar Sickles
Robert Huston Milroy
Daniel Butterfield
Winfield Scott Hancock
George Sykes
David Sloane Stanley
James Scott Negley
John McAllister Schofield
John McAuley Palmer
Frederick Steele
Abner Doubleday
Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana
Richard James Oglesby
John Alexander Logan
James Gilpatrick Blunt
George Lucas Hartsuff
Cadwallader Colden Washburn
Francis Jay Herron
Francis Preston Blair
Joseph Jones Reynolds
Philip Henry Sheridan
Julius Stahel
Carl Schurz
Gouverneur Kemble Warren
David Bell Birney
Alfred Pleasonton
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys
Quincy Adams Gillmore
William Farrar Smith
James Blair Steedman
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby

Brigadier-General USA

Brackets indicates concurrently Major-General USV

(Irvin McDowell)
(William Starke Rosecrans)
Philip St George Cooke
(John Pope)
(Joseph Hooker)
(George Gordon Meade)
(William Tecumseh Sherman)
(James Birdseye McPherson)
(George Henry Thomas)

Brigadier-General USV

Thomas West Sherman
Benjamin Franklin Kelley
Jacob Dolson Cox
Alpheus Starkey Williams
James Brewerton Ricketts
Orlando Bolivar Willcox
Henry Hayes Lockwood
George Webb Morell
John Henry Martindale
Samuel Davis Sturgis
Henry Washington Benham
William Farquhar Barry
John Joseph Abercrombie
Lawrence Pike Graham
Eleazar Arthur Paine
Horatio Gouverneur Wright
William Thomas Ward
John Gross Barnard
Innis Newton Palmer
Seth Williams
John Newton
George Wright
William Thomas Harbaugh Brooks
John Milton Brannan
John Porter Hatch
Albin Francisco Schoepf
Thomas John Wood
Richard W Johnson
Adolph Wilhelm August Friedrich Von Steinwehr
George Washington Cullum
Thomas Jefferson McKean
Zealous Bates Tower
Jefferson Columbus Davis
James Henry Lane
William Scott Ketchum
John Wynn Davidson
James Gallant Spears
Eugene Asa Carr
Thomas Alfred Davies
William Hemsley Emory
Andrew Jackson Smith
Marsena Rudolph Patrick
Orris Sanford Ferry
Daniel Phineas Woodbury
Henry Moses Judah
John Cook
John McArthur
Jacob Gartner Lauman
Horatio Phillips Van Cleve
Speed Smith Fry
Alexander Asboth
James Craig
Mahlon Dickerson Manson
Grenville Mellen Dodge
Robert Byington Mitchell
Cuvier Grover
Rufus Saxton
Benjamin Alvord
Napoleon Bonaparte Buford
William Sooy Smith
Nathan Kimball
Charles Devens
Samuel Wylie Crawford
Henry Walton Wessells
Milo Smith Hascall
John White Geary
Alfred Howe Terry
James Henry Carleton
Absalom Baird
John Cleveland Robinson
Truman Seymour
Henry Prince
Maximilian Weber
Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan
Alvin Peterson Hovey
James Clifford Veatch
William Plummer Benton
John Curtis Caldwell
Neal Dow
George Sears Greene
Samuel Powhatan Carter
John Gibbon
Erastus Barnard Tyler
Charles Griffin
George Henry Gordon
James Madison Tuttle
Julius White
Peter Joseph Osterhaus
Stephen Gano Burbridge
Washington Lafayette Elliott
Albion Parris Howe
Benjamin Stone Roberts
Jacob Ammen
Fitz-Henry Warren
Morgan Lewis Smith
Charles Cruft
Frederick Salomon
John Basil Turchin
Henry Shaw Briggs
James Dada Morgan
Johann August Ernst Willich
Henry Dwight Terry
George Foster Shepley
John Reese Kenly
John Potts Slough
Godfrey Weitzel
George Crook
Gershom Mott
Henry Jackson Hunt
Francis Channing Barlow
Mason Brayman
Nathaniel James Jackson
George Washington Getty
Alfred Sully
William Woods Averell
Francis Barretto Spinola
John Henry Hobart Ward
Solomon Meredith
James Bowen
Eliakim Parker Scammon
Robert Seaman Granger
Joseph Rodman West
Alfred Washington Ellet
George Leonard Andrews
Clinton Bowen Fisk
William Hays
Israel Vogdes
David Allen Russell
Lewis Cass Hunt
Frank Wheaton
John Sanford Mason
David McMurtrie Gregg
Robert Ogden Tyler
Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert
Gilman Marston
William Dwight
Sullivan Amory Meredith
Nathaniel Collins McLean
William Vandever
Alexander Schimmelfennig
Charles Kinnaird Graham
John Eugene Smith
Joseph Tarr Copeland
Charles Adam Heckman
Edward Elmer Potter
Henry Beebee Carrington
John Haskell King
Adam Jacoby Slemmer
Thomas Hewson Neill
Thomas Gamble Pitcher
Thomas William Sweeny
William Passmore Carlin
Romeyn Beck Ayres
William Babcock Hazen
Joseph Anthony Mower
Richard Arnold
Edward Winslow Hinks
Michael Kelly Lawler
George Day Wagner
Lysander Cutler
Joseph Farmer Knipe
James Barnes
Edward Harland
Samuel Beatty
Isaac Jones Wistar
Franklin Stillman Nickerson
Edward Henry Hobson
Ralph Pomeroy Buckland
Joseph Dana Webster
William Harrow
William Hopkins Morris
Thomas Howard Ruger
Thomas Edward Greenfield Ransom
Elias Smith Dennis
Thomas Church Haskell Smith
Mortimer Dormer Leggett
Davis Tillson
Hector Tyndale
Albert Lindley Lee
Charles Leopold Matthies
Marcellus Monroe Crocker
Egbert Benson Brown
John McNeil
George Francis McGinnis
Hugh Boyle Ewing
James Winning McMillan
Daniel Ullmann
George Jerrison Stannard
Henry Baxter
John Milton Thayer
Charles Thomas Campbell
Halbert Eleazer Paine
Robert Brown Potter
Thomas Ewing
Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn
Thomas Greely Stevenson KIA
Henry Hastings Sibley
Joseph Bradford Carr
Joseph Jackson Bartlett
Joshua Thomas Owen
Patrick Edward Connor
John Parker Hawkins
Gabriel René Paul
Edward Augustus Wild
Edward Ferrero
Adelbert Ames
William Birney
Daniel Henry Rucker
Robert Allen
Rufus Ingalls
Gustavus Adolphus De Russy
Alexander Shaler
Benjamin Henry Grierson
Robert Sanford Foster
Hugh Judson Kilpatrick
Alexander Stewart Webb
Alfred Napoleon Alexander Duffié
Walter Chiles Whitaker
Wesley Merritt
George Armstrong Custer
William Denison Whipple
John Converse Starkweather
Kenner Garrard
Charles Robert Woods
John Benjamin Sanborn
Giles Alexander Smith
Samuel Allen Rice
Jasper Adalmorn Maltby
Thomas Kilby Smith
Walter Quintin Gresham
Manning Ferguson Force
Robert Alexander Cameron
John Murray Corse
John Aaron Rawlins
Alvan Cullem Gillem
James Clay Rice KIA
John Wesley Turner
Henry Lawrence Eustis
Henry Eugene Davies
Andrew Jackson Hamilton
Henry Warner Birge
Charles Garrison Harker
James Hewitt Ledlie
James Harrison Wilson
Adin Ballou Underwood
Augustus Louis Chetlain
Thomas Francis Meagher
William Anderson Pile
John Wallace Fuller
John Franklin Miller
Philippe Régis Dénis de Keredern De Trobriand
Cyrus Bussey
Christopher Columbus Andrews
Hiram Burnham
Edward Moody McCook
Lewis Addison Grant
Edward Hatch
August Valentine Kautz
Francis Fessenden

Brigadier-General USA (Staff)

Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (Quartermaster-General)
Lorenzo Thomas
William Alexander Hammond (Surgeon-General)
Joseph Pannell Taylor (Commissary-General of Subsistence
George Douglas Ramsay (Ordnance)
James Barnet Fry (Provost Marshal)
Richard Delafield (Engineers)

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
Edmund Kirby Smith

Lieutenant-General PACS

James Longstreet
Leonidas Polk
Theophilus Hunter Holmes
William Joseph Hardee
Richard Stoddert Ewell
Ambrose Powell Hill
John Bell Hood
Richard Taylor

Major-General PACS

Benjamin Huger
John Bankhead Magruder
Mansfield Lovell
William Wing Loring
Sterling Price
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham
Samuel Jones
John Porter McCown
Daniel Harvey Hill
Thomas Carmichael Hindman
John Cabell Breckinridge
Lafayette McLaws
Richard Heron Anderson
James Ewell Brown Stuart
Simon Bolivar Buckner
Samuel Gibbs French
George Edward Pickett
Carter Littlepage Stevenson
John Horace Forney
Dabney Herndon Maury
Martin Luther Smith
John George Walker
Arnold Elzey
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
Franklin Gardner
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble
Jubal Anderson Early
Joseph Wheeler
Edward Johnson
William Henry Chase Whiting
Robert Emmett Rodes
William Henry Talbot Walker
Henry Heth
Robert Ransom
Alexander Peter Stewart
Jones Mitchell Withers
Stephen Dill Lee
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox
Wade Hampton
Fitzhugh Lee
Howell Cobb
John Austin Wharton
William Thompson Martin
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Charles William Field
James Patton Anderson
William Brimage Bate
Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac
Robert Frederick Hoke
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee
James Fleming Fagan

Brigadier-General PACS

Alexander Robert Lawton
Henry Alexander Wise
Henry Hopkins Sibley
John Henry Winder
Gideon Johnson Pillow
Daniel Ruggles
Roswell Sabine Ripley
Paul Octave Hébert
Albert Gallatin Blanchard
Gabriel James Rains
Thomas Fenwick Drayton
Nathan George Evans
James Heyward Trapier
Hugh Weedon Mercer
William Montgomery Gardner
William Mahone
Raleigh Edward Colston
John King Jackson
Bushrod Rust Johnson
George Wythe Randolph
Joseph Brevard Kershaw
James Ronald Chalmers
Daniel Leadbetter
William Whann Mackall
Winfield Scott Featherston
Thomas James Churchill
William Booth Taliaferro
Albert Rust
Samuel Bell Maxey
Hamilton Prioleau Bee
James Morrison Hawes
George Hume Steuart
James Edwin Slaughter
Seth Maxwell Barton
Henry Eustace McCullough
John Selden Roane
States Rights Gist
William Nelson Pendleton
Joseph Finegan
William Nelson Rector Beall
Thomas Jordan
William Preston
John Echols
George Earl Maney
John Stuart Williams
James Green Martin
Thomas Lanier Clingman
Daniel Weisiger Adams
Louis Hébert
Ambrose Ransom Wright
James Lawson Kemper
James Jay Archer
Beverley Holcombe Robertson
St John Richardson Liddell
Johnson Hagood
Harry Thompson Hays
Albert Gallatin Jenkins
Matthew Duncan Ector
Edward Aylesworth Perry
John Gregg
John Calvin Brown
Alfred Holt Colquitt
Junius Daniel
Abraham Buford
William Steele
Francis Asbury Shoup
Joseph Robert Davis
William Edmondson Jones
John Crawford Vaughn
Evander McIvor Law
Elkanah Brackin Greer
Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls
Alfred Cumming
William Stephen Walker
George Pierce Doles
Montgomery Dent Corse
George Thomas Anderson
Alfred Iverson
James Henry Lane
Edward Lloyd Thomas
Stephen Dodson Ramseur
John Rogers Cooke
Jerome Bonaparte Robertson
Evander McNair
Archibald Gracie
William Robertson Boggs
James Camp Tappan
Dandridge McRae
Mosby Monroe Parsons
John Pegram
John Sappington Marmaduke
John Hunt Morgan
Marcus Joseph Wright
Zachariah Cantey Deas
Lucius Eugene Polk
Edward Cary Walthall
John Adams
William Hicks Jackson
James Cantey
Henry Lewis Benning
William Tatum Wofford
Samuel McGowan
Marcellus Augustus Stovall
George Blake Cosby
Francis Crawford Armstrong
William Lewis Cabell
John Daniel Imboden
Alfred Eugene Jackson
Robert Brank Vance
Henry Delamar Clayton
Arthur Middleton Manigault
Douglas Hancock Cooper
John Brown Gordon
John Wilkins Whitfield
James Alexander Walker
Matthew Whitaker Ransom
Alfred Moore Scales
George Washington Custis Lee
Henry Harrison Walker
Gabriel Colvin Wharton
Francis Marion Cockrell
James Patrick Major
Samuel Wragg Ferguson
Lunsford Lindsay Lomax
Laurence Simmons Baker
Otho French Strahl
Philip Dale Roddey
Eppa Hunton
Thomas Pleasant Dockery
Benjamin Grubb Humphreys
Henry Brevard Davidson
Cullen Andrews Battle
William Andrew Quarles
William Whedbee Kirkland
Goode Bryan
Matthew Calbraith Butler
Williams Carter Wickham
Robert Daniel Johnston
Abner Monroe Perrin
Alexander Welch Reynolds
Thomas Neville Waul
Edmund Winston Pettus
Armistead Lindsay Long
Henry Rootes Jackson
William Wirt Adams
Thomas Lafayette Rosser
Pierce Manning Butler Young
James Byron Gordon
James Argyle Smith
Joseph Horace Lewis
Mark Perrin Lowrey
Edward Higgins
John Tyler Morgan
John Herbert Kelly
William Young Conn Humes
Jesse Johnson Finley
James Holt Clanton
Alfred Jefferson Vaughan
Joseph Orville Shelby
John Randolph Chambliss
Lawrence Sullivan Ross
Daniel Chevilette Govan
Randall Lee Gibson
Clement Hoffman Stevens
Nathaniel Harrison Harris
Allen Thomas
Alexander Travis Hawthorn
Robert Charles Tyler
Edward Porter Alexander
William Wirt Allen
Hiram Bronson Granbury
Claudius Wistar Sears
William Feimster Tucker
Richard Lucian Page
Alpheus Baker
Daniel Harris Reynolds
James Chesnut
Stand Watie
Samuel Jameson Gholson
John Bratton
Thomas Moore Scott
Richard Waterhouse