1864 May 12th

May 12 1864 Thursday

Battle of Spotsylvania, VA
Meadow Bridge, 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

Go to May 13 1864

Alabama. Skirmish at Hallowell’s Landing (Jackson’s Ferry).

Florida. A Union boat expedition under Acting Lieutenant William Budd from USS Somerset transported a detachment of troops to Apalachicola to disperse a Confederate force. After disembarking, a group of Confederate sailors embarking on a boat expedition was driven into the town and captured. The Confederates, led by Lieutenant Gift CSN, were planning to board and capture USS Adela.

Florida. USS Beauregard, Acting Master Edward C Mealy, seized the blockade-running sloop Resolute off Indian River.

Georgia. Union demonstration at Resaca.

Georgia. Union demonstration at Dalton.

Georgia. Skirmishes at Varnell’s Station and Sugar Valley.

Georgia. Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston had detected the danger to the rear of his army from the Union troops concentrating at Snake Creek Gap and threatening Resaca. The Confederate Army of Tennessee retreated during the early morning from Dalton and Rocky Face Ridge, to escape a potential encirclement by Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman’s armies.
The three Union armies continued to concentrate at Snake Creek Gap after a long march down the rugged western side of Rocky Face Ridge. By midnight the Confederates had occupied prepared positions near Resaca and were concentrated for the first time as a force of three Corps, including Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk’s Corps from Alabama. The position at Resaca was not geographically strong and offered little prospect of striking an effective counter-blow against the Union advance, but at least the army had been rescued from disaster at Rocky Face Ridge.

Louisiana. Incidents at Alexandria

Louisiana. Skirmish at Bayou Lamourie (Bayou La Mourie).

Louisiana. The monitor USS Ozark, the gunboat USS Louisville, and the armoured steamer USS Chillicothe passed safely through the dams and falls at Alexandria. This completed the extrication of the fleet of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter from the shallow waters of the Red River. All credit was given to Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey who, amongst other rewards and plaudits for his feats of improvised engineering, eventually received a promotion to Brigadier-General.

Mississippi. Incident at the Big Black River Bridge.

Nebraska Territory. Skirmish at Smith’s Station.

Oregon Territory. Expedition to Coos Bay ended.

Tennessee. Reconnaissance to Hickman County and Maury County ended.

Virginia. Skirmish at Strasburg involving Confederate Lieutenant-Colonel John Singleton Mosby’s raiders.

Virginia. Incidents at Lynchburg and Dublin Station

Virginia. Skirmish at Todd’s Tavern.

Virginia. Union expedition to James River ended after skirmishes at Drewry’s Bluff, Fort Darling, and Proctor’s Creek involving Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard and Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler.

Virginia. Skirmishes involving Union Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan’s cavalry at Meadow Bridge, Mechanicsville, Strawberry Hill, Brook Church (Richmond Fortifications), Jones Bridge, Mattapony Church, Haxall’s Landing, White House Landing, and Hanover Court-House.

Virginia. Following the death of Confederate Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart, Major-General Wade Hampton assumed command of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. Hampton reported directly to the army headquarters but did not take command of the Cavalry Corps (Northern Virginia). This Corps ceased to exist formally and the cavalry of the army continued to operate as three independent divisions under Hampton’s direction.

Virginia. Confederate Major-General John Cabell Breckinridge reached Staunton with all the available forces he could collect from southwestern Virginia for operations in the Shenandoah Valley. He left Brigadier-General Albert Gallatin Jenkins and Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan to defend southwestern Virginia with their improvised forces. Breckinridge had 2,500 men in two veteran infantry brigades to oppose the advance of Union Major-General Franz Sigel and his 8,000 men. Breckinridge set off along the turnpike to join Brigadier-General John Daniel Imboden and his 1,500 men who were skirmishing with Sigel’s vanguard forty miles to the north near New Market. On the way, Breckinridge drew in every available man, including about 750 militiamen and 247 young cadets from the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington.

Virginia. The recent loss of the USS Commodore Jones and USS Shawsheen to torpedoes in the James River prompted Union Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee to form a special “torpedo and picket division”. The force was commanded by Lieutenant Roswell H Lamson and comprised the side-wheelers USS Stepping Stones, USS Delaware, and USS Tritonia. In addition to patrolling and scouting the river banks and dragging the river for torpedoes, the picket vessels patrolled to prevent surprise attacks by Confederate rivercraft, rams, torpedo boats, and fire rafts.

Virginia. Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler left the Bermuda Hundred lines again, aiming for Richmond with Major-General Quincy Adams Gillmore’s X Corps advancing on the left and Major-General William Farrar Smith’s XVIII Corps on the right. Meanwhile, Brigadier-General Edward Ward Hinks’ 3^rd Division of US Colored Troops held the supply base at City Point, while Brigadier-General Adelbert Ames’ Division (3/X) held Port Walthall Junction against any advance from Petersburg. Butler intended to attack the Confederate fortifications at Drewry’s Bluff but called off the plan when expected support from gunboats in the James River was not forthcoming.
Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard had anticipated Butler’s advance and relocated his four divisions to oppose it. Major-General Robert Frederick Hoke was sent with seven brigades to reinforce Major-General Robert Ransom’s three brigades at Drewry’s Bluff, while Major-General William Henry Chase Whiting was left to defend Petersburg with two brigades. Whiting was soon strengthened by a small cavalry brigade from North Carolina. Confederate Major-General Robert Ransom’s division returned to Drewry’s Bluff after being diverted briefly to oppose the Union cavalry raiders in the defences north of Richmond.

Virginia. Union Brigadier-General August Valentine Kautz’s cavalry division left Chester Station to begin a raid on the Richmond & Danville Railroad and the Petersburg & Lynchburg Railroad.

Spotsylvania, Virginia, also known as Spotsylvania Court House, The Mule Shoe, The Angle, The Bloody Angle, or The Salient. After a cold night of heavy rain, Union Lieutenant-General Ulysses Simpson Grant ordered Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock to mass his II Corps for a carefully-planned dawn attack on the “Mule Shoe” salient at Spotsylvania held by Lieutenant-General Richard Stoddert Ewell’s II Corps. Hancock’s troops had massed in the Union centre and Hancock aimed an assault at the narrow apex of the salient. This was near the point where Colonel Emory Upton had achieved a surprisingly successful breakthrough two days earlier, employing a new tactical approach of a concentrated and rapid assault without firing or pause for alignment.
The Confederates were uneasy at the muffled sounds of movement in the woods in front of the salient and Brigadier-General George Hume Steuart sent a patrol forward to investigate. He soon decided that an attack was imminent, but he was disconcerted by the empty gun pits along his line, from which the supporting artillery had been pulled out late the evening before in anticipation of a withdrawal. Steuart requested the return of the guns from his division commander, Major-General Edward Johnson. Johnson agreed and passed on the request to Ewell who replied that the guns would be brought back by 2 am. They had not arrived by 3 am and Steuart sent another desperate message to Ewell to request their return. Between 4 am and 4.30 am, the first guns were arriving from the rear, ready to re-occupy their powerful defences, but they were too late.
At 4.30 am, Union Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside’s IX Corps attacked the eastern shoulder of the salient and Hancock’s massed force of 20,000 Union troops emerged from the morning mist and swarmed rapidly forward towards the apex of the salient. The Union troops surged forward in a concentrated mass, covering the three hundred yards to the Confederate line without pausing to fire or reform. The Confederate infantry fired as quickly as they could but without point-blank artillery support, they could not hope to withstand such a heavy assault. The first Confederate battery to return unlimbered two guns in the toe of the salient but they fired only one round each before they were overrun. Within fifteen minutes, the Union attackers were pouring through gaps torn in the nose of the Confederate salient.
After forty-five minutes the Union tide was halted by a second incomplete line of works built across the base of the salient but in the interim they had captured between 2,000 and 4,000 prisoners, and 20 guns that were overwhelmed as they queued in limber along the forest tracks, waiting to return to their gun positions. Only two guns were drawn away ahead of the Union wave. The attack decimated the Confederate division of Major-General Edward Johnson, reducing it from 5,000 men to little more than 2,000 in half an hour, and half of its regimental flags were lost. Some Confederate troops were overrun and surrounded almost before they could fire a shot while others failed to fire because of wet powder caused by the night’s heavy rainfall. Johnson and Steuart were among the prisoners surrounded during the sudden onslaught.
On the western face of the salient, Major-General Robert Emmett Rodes’ Confederate division was not engaged from in front and Rodes was able to refuse his right flank to hold on to most of his positions. Major-General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox’s division (of Major-General Jubal Anderson Early’s III Corps) clung to his defences to the east of the salient against the more conventional attack by Burnside’s IX Corps.
Confederate Brigadier-General John Brown Gordon’s division occupied the reserve line across the base of the salient that had stalled the Union attack. He managed to withstand any further advance out of the captured salient by the jubilant Union regiments. Gordon pushed out a whole brigade of skirmishers to harass the Union approach while his other two brigades prepared to counterattack. Lee rode up and agreed to Gordon making a sacrificial attack, assuring him that only such a desperate move would save the army from being cut in two. Gordon insisted that Lee must retire out of the relentless rifle fire before he would lead the deadly advance. Sending a staff officer to lead whatever could be collected from Johnson’s remnants, Lee then sent word for Major-General William Mahone to leave just one brigade to defend the Block House Bridge and to bring his other three brigades to strengthen Gordon’s attack. Before Mahone could arrive, Gordon counter-attacked ferociously with his own three brigades and with elements of brigades from Rodes’ and Wilcox’s neighbouring divisions, and as many of Johnson’s survivors that could be rallied.
Gordon’s counterattack was aided by the sheer density of Union troops thrusting into the salient. The salient was crisscrossed by trenches, traverses, and obstacles and the Union troops lost momentum and direction as more and more men piled in. Thousands of men were now jammed into a salient of one square mile in area. The dense mob of Union soldiers was a perfect target for Gordon’s determined troops. The Union front lines were forced back in panic and the rearmost troops could not see the threat that was overtaking the front ranks. Hancock held on to most of his captured ground but took heavy losses in the process. Gordon’s fierce counterattack deterred any thought of resuming the offensive. As the pitched battle over the Mule Shoe continued without respite, the Union men fell back and took cover, from where they maintained a long-range rifle fire. This fire was so ineffective that Wilcox was able to lend his aid to Gordon’s growing counter-attack on his left.
Meanwhile, to the east of the salient, Burnside’s three divisions attacked the Confederate III Corps on a wide front, but they recoiled before they could even reach the Confederate lines. The closest struggle occurred in an area known as Seth’s Salient just north of Spotsylvania, but the fight was short, bloody, and inconclusive.
On the western face of the salient, Rodes’ Confederate division had not been engaged from in front when Hancock’s avalanche struck to his right. Rodes had been able to refuse his right flank to assist in repelling the attack through the Mule Shoe. Then, at 6 pm, Union Major-General Horatio Gouverneur Wright’s VI Corps smashed into Rodes’ division on the northwest face of the salient. Wright threw in his entire 20,000 men and Rodes was heavily outnumbered. His line began to crack and presented a new opportunity for the Union army to split the Confederate line in two. Rodes demanded reinforcements from Lee and, only just in time, the three brigades Lee had summoned from Malone’s division approached from the Block House to the west. Lee rode to meet them and urged them to hurry to Rodes’ aid now that Gordon had sealed off the main penetration. The leading brigade of Brigadier-General Nathaniel Harrison Harris hurried forward through long-range artillery fire from Warren’s front. Lee was among them and barely avoided being hit by an artillery shot. His courage steeled Harris’ men for a fierce confrontation. Soon the other two of Mahone’s brigades also reinforced Rodes and they provided enough strength for the line to hold and to prevent a serious Union lodgement. The Confederates gradually won back some ground and then fought desperately as the ruined remnants of the Confederate II Corps began the construction of a new third line of defences behind them.
Grant then shifted three brigades from VI Corps, led by Colonel Oliver Edwards, Brigadier-General Daniel Davidson Bidwell, and Brigadier-General Frank Wheaton, to reinforce the II Corps in their attack on the western section of the fortifications. Natural ditches in the surrounding terrain provided some covered approaches for the lines of attackers to approach the battle. Although the Confederate line was now stabilised to the left, rear, and right of the Mule Shoe, there was no end to the conflict. All along the fortified front Wright’s and Hancock’s men drove right up to the parapets and fought desperately at close quarters with the Confederates. On the western face, a new name was ascribed to the salient and this part of the Mule Shoe was renamed the Bloody Angle as Rodes’ and Wright’s men fought relentlessly. The struggle at point-blank range endured for sixteen hours but neither side would give up the struggle. Although attacks and counterattacks were repeated endlessly, it was described as one continuous fight by those involved. Both sides were intermittently attacker and defender. The fight at Spotsylvania was characterized by an intensity of firepower rarely seen before or since and a berserk fighting frenzy consumed both sides. The rain teemed down but did not dampen the insane ardour on either side. Fighting raged back and forth over the same corpse-strewn trenches for hours on end, and the contending troops were reduced in places to brutal hand-to-hand combat. It was said that an oak tree two feet thick was actually severed by the bullets that struck it.
At around 9 am, Warren’s V Corps launched an attack further west of the salient, hitting Anderson’s Confederate I Corps. Concentrated artillery and rifle fire flailed the assault and the Union lines did not reach the breastworks at any point. Warren’s men subsided back to their own works, allowing Anderson to detach a brigade from each of his two divisions to feed into the carnage at the salient. They arrived near noon to replace the most exhausted and traumatised troops who were reeling out of the fight.
Sunset, twilight, and darkness did not halt the struggle. Behind the firing lines to the south Confederate engineers toiled to build the new series of defences half a mile to the rear so that their frontline men could disengage and reform along a shorter line. The fighting persisted past 9 pm, and then past 11 pm. At midnight, word came that the new defensive position was ready, and the Confederates disengaged as stealthily as they could, using darkness to shield their escape to the new line. The retrograde movement was difficult and slow and was not finally completed until dawn.
The Union lost 6,820 men killed and wounded out of 65,785 men engaged in this single day of the Spotsylvania assault. The Confederates, fighting from their fortifications, lost half as many men but they had nevertheless lost a third of their Corps, Division, and Brigade commanders, 20 out of 57 of these being killed, captured or severely wounded. The Union lost 10 of their senior unit commanders out of 69. Additionally, Union Brigadier-General John Henry Hobart Ward was removed from brigade command by Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock for “misbehaviour and intoxication in the presence of the enemy”. He was later mustered out honourably because of his prior good service.

Meadow Bridge, Virginia. Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan’s Union cavalry reached Meadow Bridge over the Chickahominy River at daylight after riding from Yellow Tavern through torrential rainstorms. They found that the highway bridge and railroad bridge had been set on fire by Confederates. Most of the flames had been doused by the downpour, leaving the stringers and ties of the railroad line largely intact. The 5^th Michigan Cavalry from Brigadier-General George Armstrong Custer’s brigade was ordered to cross by the rickety trestles and they drove the Confederate outposts on the far side into their entrenchments on a nearby hill. Repairs were begun after the dismounted troopers had secured the far bank. As Sheridan had anticipated, Confederate forces soon caught up and attacked his flanks and rear. Confederate troops from General Braxton Bragg’s Richmond garrison attempted to trap him against the river and cavalry was also descending on his left flank.
Union Brigadier-General David McMurtrie Gregg’s 2^nd Division and Brigadier-General James Harrison Wilson’s 3^rd Division held off the harassment of Confederate cavalry while troopers from Brigadier-General Wesley Merritt’s 1st Division joined Custer’s men in repairing the bridge. Just as the repairs were being completed, Confederate Brigadier-General James Byron Gordon led a charge against Gregg’s rear guard, but the attack faltered when Gordon fell mortally wounded. Merritt’s men completed the bridge sufficiently for Sheridan’s three divisions to cross safely and with few losses. They wrecked the rickety structure behind them and followed the Chickahominy to the vicinity of Gaines’ Mill, where they camped overnight. Later, they resumed their ride to Haxall’s Landing on the James River, where they found safety in the lines of the Union Army of the James.

West Virginia. Skirmishes near Newport, at Brown’s Ferry, Salt Ponds (Salt Pond Mountain), and Gap Mountain.

Union Organisation

USA: Horatio Gouverneur Wright reappointed Major-General USV 14 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

Wright, Horatio Gouverneur / Connecticut / Born 6 March 1820 Clinton, Connecticut / Died

USA: Andrew Jackson Smith promoted Major-General USV 14 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: John Rutter Brooke promoted Brigadier-General USV 7 June 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: John Frederick Hartranft promoted Brigadier-General USV 14 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: Samuel Sprigg Carroll promoted Brigadier-General USV 23 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: Simon Goodell Griffin promoted Brigadier-General USV 30 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: Emory Upton promoted Brigadier-General USV 30 May 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: Nelson Appleton Miles promoted Brigadier-General USV 9 June 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

USA: Joseph Hayes promoted Brigadier-General USV 9 June 1864 to rank from 12 May 1864.

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

• Department of Arkansas: Nathan Kimball temporary
  • District of Eastern Arkansas: Napoleon Bonaparte Buford
  • District of Northern Arkansas: Robert Ramsey Livingston
  • District of Little Rock: Eugene Asa Carr
  • 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: The First District of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia was extended north of the Appomattox River to Swift Creek.

CSA: Cavalry Corps (Northern Virginia) was discontinued and Cavalry (Northern Virginia) continued to operate without the formal designation of Corps being assigned.
CSA: Major-General Wade Hampton assumed command of the Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, succeeding Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart.

CSA: Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart died of wounds received at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.

CSA: Major-General Edward Johnson was captured at Spotsylvania, Virginia.

CSA: Brigadier-General George Thomas Anderson was captured at Spotsylvania, Virginia.

CSA: Brigadier-General George Hume Steuart was captured at Spotsylvania, Virginia.

CSA: Brigadier-General Junius Daniel was mortally wounded at Spotsylvania.

CSA: Brigadier-General Abner Monroe Perrin was killed at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia.

CSA: Brigadier-General James Byron Gordon was mortally wounded at Meadow Bridge, Virginia.

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 Northern Virginia: Wade Hampton
• 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
Horatio Gouverneur Wright
Andrew Jackson Smith

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
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
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
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
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
John Rutter Brooke
John Frederick Hartranft
Samuel Sprigg Carroll
Simon Goodell Griffin
Emory Upton
Nelson Appleton Miles
Joseph Hayes

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 DOW
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 KIA
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