1864 May 6th

May 6 1864 Friday

Battle of the Wilderness, VA (CWSAC Decisive Battle – Inconclusive)
Battle of Port Walthall Junction, VA

Red River Campaign
James River Campaign
Virginia Overland Campaign – Wilderness
Hoke’s North Carolina Operations
Crook’s West Virginia Raid
Averell’s Second West Virginia Raid
Kautz’s Weldon Railroad Raid

Go to May 7 1864

California. After a skirmish at Boynton’s Prairie, fifteen Indians surrendered to the Union forces.

Florida. Expedition from Jacksonville to Lake Monroe ended.

Florida. USS Sunflower, Acting Master Edward Van Sice, USS Honduras, Acting Master John H Platt, and the bark USS J L Davis, Acting Master William Fales, captured the blockade-running sloop Neptune near Tampa with a cargo of cotton. Expedition to Tampa.

Florida. Skirmish at Tampa and temporary occupation of the town by a Union expeditionary force.

Georgia. Skirmish at Tunnel Hill.

Georgia. Union Major-General George Henry Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland approached Tunnel Hill where a fortified Confederate outpost defended the point where the Western & Atlantic Railroad passed underground on its way towards Rocky Face Ridge.

Georgia. USS Grand Gulf, Commander George M Ransom, captured the blockade-running British steamer Young Republic east of Savannah with a cargo of cotton and tobacco.

Kentucky. Skirmish near Morganfield.

Louisiana. Operation at Calcasieu Pass began.

Louisiana. Confederate raid to Napoleonville.

Louisiana. Incidents at Bayou Teche, Muddy Bayou, Red River Road, and Alexandria.

Louisiana. Skirmish at Bayou Lamourie.

Louisiana. Skirmish at Wells’ Plantation.

Louisiana. Skirmish at Boyce’s Bridge (Boyce’s Plantation).

Louisiana. USS Granite City, Acting Master C W Lamson, and USS Wave, Acting Lieutenant Benjamin A Loring, were captured by Confederate troops in the Calcasieu River. They had been dispatched to Calcasieu Pass to pick up refugees on 28 April. The ships and a small army detachment on shore were captured by about 350 Confederate riflemen and artillery sent from Sabine Pass. They overwhelmed the Union landing party and took the ships under fire during the morning. After an hour’s engagement, USS Granite City surrendered. USS Wave shortly followed suit after receiving a shot in her boiler and steam drum. The Union reported 174 men killed, wounded, or missing while the Confederate lost 21 men.

Missouri. Union reconnaissance from Bloomfield.

Missouri. Union reconnaissance from Patterson began.

North Carolina. Operation at Albemarle Sound and New Bern ended.

North Carolina. Early in the evening, CSS Raleigh, Captain William F Lynch, steamed over the bar at New Inlet and engaged USS Britannia and USS Nansemond, forcing them to withdraw temporarily and enabling a blockade runner to escape.

Virginia. USS Eutaw, USS Osceola, USS Pequot, USS Shokokon, and USS General Putnam supported the landing of Union troops at Bermuda Hundred.

Virginia. Engagements in and around the Wilderness took place at Parker’s Store, Craig’s Meeting House, Todd’s Tavern, Brock Road, and the Furnaces. Incidents at Brock Road, The Furnaces, Blackwater River, Todd’s Tavern, and Chester Station.

Virginia. USS Commodore Jones, Acting Lieutenant Thomas Wade, was dragging the James River for torpedoes with USS Mackinaw and USS Commodore Morris when a huge Confederate electric torpedo with 2,000 pounds of powder was detonated at 2 pm. The shock destroyed the USS Commodore Jones, tearing the ship to pieces and claiming 69 lives. A Union landing party went ashore immediately and captured the two Confederate torpedo operators who had detonated the mine with their apparatus and galvanic batteries. The captives refused to reveal the position of more torpedoes until one man called Jeffries Johnson was placed in the bow of a ship as it ascended further upriver. His sudden loquacity ended the immediate threat of another similar disaster.

Virginia. USS Dawn, Acting Lieutenant John W Simmons, transported soldiers to capture a signal station at Wilson’s Wharf. After landing the troops two miles above the station, the ship proceeded to Sandy Point to cover the attack. When the soldiers were momentarily halted, a boat crew from USS Dawn spearheaded the successful assault.

Virginia. The Confederate brigade of Brigadier-General Archibald Gracie joined Major-General Robert Ransom. along with two of Major-General George Edward Pickett’s brigades, to strengthen the garrison at Drewry’s Bluff. These 4,500 men raised the Confederate strength between the James River and Appomattox River to about 8,000 men, facing a Union force of triple their numbers gathering in the Bermuda Hundred lines.

Port Walthall Junction, Virginia also known as Chester Station. While the main body of the Army of the James continued to improve its entrenchments west of Bermuda Hundred, Union Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler sent Brigadier-General Charles Adam Heckman’s brigade (1/2/XVIII) to reconnoitre towards Port Walthall Junction on the railroad between Richmond and Petersburg. The Confederate opposition was light. The 21^st North Carolina Infantry under Colonel Charles Graham was the first regiment of Confederate Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood’s brigade to arrive via Petersburg from South Carolina. They moved along the turnpike to reinforce the 750 local defence troops commanded by Major-General George Edward Pickett. These 600 men of the 21^st North Carolina and the next regiment to detrain advanced alone, stopping two initial Union probing attacks in the late afternoon.
Heckman’s brigade of 2,700 men easily pushed back the Confederates, who took cover along a sunken section of the Old Stage Road. They were reinforced there by a brigade of 800 men under Brigadier-General Bushrod Rust Johnson sent urgently from the Richmond defences. Johnson had brought his two brigades from eastern Tennessee as part of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet’s command but his second brigade under Brigadier-General Archibald Gracie was diverted from Richmond to garrison Drewry’s Bluff. The remainder of Hagood’s brigade arrived after dark to raise the defenders’ numbers to between 2,600 and 3,000 men. Pickett began to dig in across the turnpike while he awaited further help. The strength of the Confederate position and approaching darkness brought the Union advance to an end, short of the railroad. Heckman advised Butler that the way was open to the railroad if a larger force was employed, and Butler decided to make a stronger effort in the morning. Casualties at Port Walthall were estimated at 550 for both sides combined.

ORDER OF BATTLE: PORT WALTHALL JUNCTION, VA

Union Department of Virginia and North Carolina: Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler
Army of the James: Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler
XVIII Corps (James): Major-General William Farrar Smith
2^nd Division, XVIII Corps (James): Brigadier-General Godfrey Weitzel
1^st Brigade, 2^nd Division, XVIII Corps (James): Brigadier-General Charles Adam Heckman

Confederate Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia: Major-General George Edward Pickett vice General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Pickett’s Division, North Carolina and Southern Virginia: Major-General George Edward Pickett
Hagood’s Brigade, Pickett’s Division, North Carolina and Southern Virginia: Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood
Johnson’s Brigade, Hoke’s Division, North Carolina and Southern Virginia attached: Brigadier-General Bushrod Rust Johnson

The Wilderness, Virginia. At dawn around 5 am, Union Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps attacked the lines of Confederate Lieutenant-General Ambrose Powell Hill’s III Corps along the Orange Plank Road, as planned during the night. Hancock deployed Major-General David Bell Birney’s division (3/II), two brigades from Brigadier-General John Gibbon’s division (2/II), and Brigadier-General George Washington Getty’s 2^nd Division from VI Corps. Brigadier-General Gershom Mott’s Division (4/II) advanced on the left flank and Brigadier-General James Samuel Wadsworth’s Division (4/V) was expected to attack on the right flank after finally contacting the Confederates during the night. Two of Gibbon’s three brigades were to support Brigadier-General Francis Channing Barlow’s Division (1/II) as it attacked the Union southern flank and they were to gain contact with Mott’s division. Firing around Todd’s Tavern led Union Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock to believe incorrectly that Confederate Lieutenant-General James Longstreet’s I Corps was approaching from this area to the southwest, so Gibbon was left with one of his own brigades and Colonel Paul Frank’s brigade (3/1/II) to guard that direction on the Brock Road.
The Union skirmishers quickly scattered the engineers working on the Confederate defences and surged ahead against an unprepared line. Birney was halted initially but then made a successful envelopment from the south. Even Wadsworth made progress on the opposite flank although his direction of approach compressed the attack towards the Widow Tapp clearing rather than turning the Confederate left. Both Confederate divisions of Major-General Henry Heth and Major-General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox broke under the threat of greatly superior numbers advancing irresistibly forward in the early daylight.
Confederate Lieutenant-General Richard Stoddert Ewell’s II Corps on the Turnpike had attacked earlier at 4:45 am further north, but they were pinned down by the counter-attacks of Major-General John Sedgwick’s VI Corps and Major-General Gouverneur Kemble Warren’s V Corps. They were, therefore, unavailable to assist Hill at the decisive point of the Union attack.
Union Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside’s XI Corps had one division in reserve behind Hancock’s Corps, but two more of his divisions were ordered to penetrate the woods north of Hancock to find the open Confederate interior flank. At 8am, Brigadier-General Thomas Greeley Stevenson reported to Hancock with the fourth of Burnside’s division (1/XI) and Hancock learned from him that Burnside’s two divisions would also soon be in a position to extend the attack on his right. Hancock urged their rapid advance as their arrival would seal the destruction of Hill’s Confederates. In fact, they were not ready to attack until 2 pm due to slow and difficult progress in the dense terrain. They were drawn towards the firing to the north on the Orange Turnpike and then south to the Orange Plank Road and failed to orientate themselves in the trackless woods.
Stevenson’s arrival enabled Hancock to resume his advance with part of this fresh division, Birney’s division, Mott’s division, Wadsworth’s division, and three of Gibbon’s brigades. Hancock pressed forward until he could see the white covers of the Confederate supply trains and he believed he was on the point of a victory. Burnside’s force was needed urgently to intervene, to turn the enemy flank but the advance faltered when he did not appear.
Confederate General Robert Edward Lee arrived in person to try to bring sufficient order to the wreck for Hill’s two divisions to survive the hour it would take for Longstreet’s first troops to arrive. Lee anxiously ordered the supply trains to the rear to withdraw. Even the veteran brigade of Brigadier-General Samuel McGowan, Wilcox’s best brigade, was in disorder but they began to rally behind the artillery battalion of Lieutenant-Colonel William Poague, whose sixteen guns lined along the western edge of the Widow Tapp clearing. They held out desperately with point-blank fire, but the Confederate line was on the verge of an utter rout.
The first of Longstreet’s reinforcements arrived at the run around 6 am, in the form of Confederate Brigadier-General John Gregg’s 800-man Texas Brigade, the vanguard of Longstreet’s column. Caught up in the excitement, Lee began to move forward in person with the advancing brigade, but Longstreet was able to convince Lee that he had matters well in hand and the Commanding General relented. Longstreet counterattacked with the divisions of Major-General Charles William Field on the left and Brigadier-General Joseph Brevard Kershaw on the right. The Union troops, somewhat disorganised from their assault earlier that morning, could not resist the surprise attack and fell back a few hundred yards from the Widow Tapp farm. Wadsworth’s division fell to pieces after their commander was mortally wounded by a bullet to the brain. The Texans leading the charge north of the road paid a heavy price, with only 250 of the 800 men emerging unscathed. Field and Kershaw formed a new line around Poague’s gun line with their 10,000 fresh men and saved Hill’s Corps from destruction. Longstreet’s troops stabilised the line and then pushed Hancock’s disorganised and exhausted troops slowly back to their line of departure within half a mile of the Brock Road by 9.45 am. Hill rallied Heth’s and Wilcox’s divisions and led them into the woods between Hill’s Corps and Ewell’s Corps, sealing the gap that should have been ripped open by Burnside’s advance. Longstreet then began to entrench, and a lull ensued as both sides consolidated their lines.
On the Union side, Hancock was anxious about the impending arrival of more of Longstreet’s Confederates and reinforced Gibbon’s flank on the Brock Road with Brigadier-General John Rutter Brooke’s brigade (4/1/II) and then the whole of Brigadier-General Francis Channing Barlow’s division (1/II). Hancock’s anxiety was not misplaced as Union intelligence had not yet located Anderson’s division (the third division of Hill’s Corps) or that of Major-General Edward Pickett (Longstreet’s third division). Anderson’s division was still distant on the march from Gordonsville, and Pickett was even further away in Richmond although he was reported erroneously to be with Longstreet. The firing that Hancock heard to the south was the sound of a cavalry action at Todd’s Tavern and not the mass of 10,000 Confederates who remained unaccounted for. Hancock determined that the distant firing must be a skirmish with the head of Pickett’s troops on the Catharpin Road. The rapid fire of the Union cavalry troopers’ repeating carbines sounded like a much larger engagement, but the opponents were the Confederate cavalry of Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart screening the flank. A column of Union wounded men approaching on the Brock Road also caused confusion when they were first described as a mass of enemy infantry.
At 10 am, the Confederate Chief Engineer (Major-General Martin Luther Smith) reported to Longstreet that he had explored an unfinished railroad bed south of the Plank Road and suggested that it offered easy access past the Union left flank. Looking for a way to resume the counterattack, Longstreet assigned his aide Lieutenant-Colonel Moxley Sorrel the task of leading three fresh brigades along the railroad bed for a surprise attack. The brigades were a mixed force commanded by Brigadier-General William Tatum Wofford, Brigadier-General George Thomas Anderson, and Brigadier-General William Mahone. At the last minute, Colonel John M Stone, commanding Brigadier-General Joseph Davis’ brigade of Heth’s division, asked to join the attack and his offer was approved. Sorrel, before handing over to Mahone for the final assault, led the column and formed the lines for an attack at about 11 am. Wofford’s brigade and Mahone’s brigade were to the left and right in the front line, with G T Anderson and Stone behind them.
Longstreet held the main line with his other eleven brigades as Sorrel’s force marched. He contemplated how he could extend the turning movement even further to the east if it was successful. Distracted by Wadsworth’s collapse, Burnside’s meandering absence, and the racket to the southwest, Hancock had not noticed the extraction of the four Confederate brigades from the Orange Plank Road to the west.
The Confederate attack was undetected when it exploded at about 11 am, surprising and overwhelming the jittery Union left flank. Hancock wrote later that the flanking attack rolled up his line “like a wet blanket.” Frank’s unsupported brigade (3/1/II) had only just arrived as reinforcements for the flank guard and was already short of ammunition. It withdrew immediately and then scattered under pressure. The left of Mott’s division fell back in conformity and the whole of Barlow’s division was panicked. Birney suggested a general retreat back to the Brock Road and this was accomplished successfully. The Confederate advance pushed on relentlessly as far as the Plank Road and Wofford’s men even crossed to the north side of the road. Sorrel’s success prompted Longstreet to send forward the brigades of Brigadier-General Henry Lewis Benning, Brigadier-General Evander McIvor Law, and Brigadier-General John Gregg against the main Union line to exploit the advantage.
Longstreet rode forward on the Plank Road with several of his officers to commence another flanking attack along another covered route found by the Chief Engineer, which led even further beyond the Union flank. The officers encountered some of Mahone’s men who were returning from their successful attack. They were already firing dangerously into some friendly troops when the ill-disciplined Virginians spotted the mounted party. Believing they were Union troops, they opened fire on them, wounding Longstreet severely and killing Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins.
With Longstreet’s fall, the Confederate attack fell into confusion and the impending new flank attack through Hamilton’s Thicket sputtered to a halt. Coincidentally, Longstreet was shot and wounded by mistake in a very similar way and very near to where his close comrade Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson was fatally hit a year before. Longstreet turned over his command directly to Field and told him to press on with the attack and to seize the Brock Road. Field attempted to comply but his forces were disorganised and tired. Disturbed by rumours that Longstreet was dead, Lee countermanded the orders for further attacks for a time so that the disorganised command could regain some cohesion. This took several hours to achieve, and the fighting died down from 12 noon until around 4 pm, allowing Hancock’s Union troops the time to consolidate and build defensive works.
Meanwhile, at about 4 pm, the bulk of Burnside’s IX Corps finally arrived after its lengthy detours and made early progress against the Confederate centre at the Tapp House. Wofford’s brigade and part of Heth’s division counterattacked and regained the lost ground. Hancock and Burnside agreed to make a combined advance at 6 pm but they were beaten to the punch by Lee, who sent his reformed lines forward at 4.15 pm. The Confederates occupied the abattis within a hundred yards of the Union line and commenced a destructive fire. After half an hour, Brigadier-General John Henry Hobart Ward’s brigade (1/3/II) gave way and part of Mott’s division also broke. Brush fires broke out and the burning extended to parts of the Union breastworks, rendering them indefensible. The Confederates advanced to the Union line but were then repelled by a counterattack of Colonel Samuel Sprigg Carroll’s brigade (3/2/II), supported by Dow’s battery. Burnside also fought back and prevented Confederates reinforcements from being sent across by Heth and Wilcox.
Three Confederate divisions, even when elated by their previous success, could not make progress against the eleven Union divisions that had gravitated to this sector during the extended lull. Further north on the Orange Turnpike, Warren’s Union V Corps and Sedgwick’s VI Corps attacked Ewell’s II Corps sporadically throughout the day to keep them pinned in place. Repeated Union efforts to advance were repelled. When Confederate Brigadier-General John Brown Gordon reported that he had found an exposed section of the enemy’s right flank he was denied permission to attack by division commander Major-General Jubal Anderson Early. The venture was deemed too risky until Burnside’s Union Corps had been accounted for. When Lee visited this section of the line at 5.30 pm, he heard Gordon’s report, stated that Burnside’s whereabouts had been established, and overruled both Ewell’s and Early’s caution. He approved Gordon’s attack although the time available was brief as sunset would begin at 6.45 pm. At 6 pm, Gordon’s brigade and part of Brigadier-General Robert Daniel Johnston’s brigade went forward on the Confederate extreme left flank, while Brigadier-General John Pegram distracted the front of VI Corps. Brigadier-General Alexander Shaler’s brigade (4/1/VI) was pushed back, into and through Brigadier-General Truman Seymour’s brigade (2/3/VI), once known disparagingly as “Milroy’s weary boys”. Seymour was captured alongside several hundred of his men. Johnston’s brigade pushed right through Brigadier-General James Brewerton Ricketts’ division and into the Union rear, where they disrupted Brigadier-General Horatio Gouverneur Wright’s division before being ejected. In some areas, Gordon’s veterans encountered inexperienced heavy artillery troops who had spent the war manning the artillery defences of Washington, DC, and made good progress. Shaler was captured in the gloomy maelstrom. Aside from losing two generals, Sedgwick’s Corps lost a thousand men in less than an hour, six hundred of them as prisoners.
Eventually, the darkness and the dense terrain took their toll. The Union right flank had fallen back for a mile almost to the Germanna Plank Road. They received reinforcements and recovered their ground as the over-extended Confederates pulled out with their prisoners. By nightfall, Sedgwick’s line was stabilised about half a mile to the south of east of the position where it had first been attacked by Gordon. It was extended overnight and the men entrenched the line as far as the Germanna Plank Road. Lee later observed that if Longstreet’s flank attack had occurred simultaneously when Gordon broke through on the opposite flank, he could have shattered the Army of the Potomac.
Both forces entrenched in their positions but fierce brush fires became a serious problem at various points of the line, stopping the fighting as troops sought to extinguish or avoid them. An estimated two hundred wounded men were thought to have been burned to death overnight in the fires.
Reports of the problems on the right flank of the Union line caused great consternation at Union army headquarters but their commander was calm. Grant dismissed the growing anxiety and, unlike some of his predecessors, he refused to be deflected from his offensive plan. He prepared for a resumption of the advance in the morning. Grant decided not to retreat out of contact but ordered the Army of the Potomac to march onwards in the morning by the left flank toward the crossroads of Spotsylvania Courthouse.
Losses among senior commanders in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia were severe. Major-General Richard Heron Anderson took temporary command of I Corps from Field, who had stood in temporarily for Longstreet. Anderson’s division of III Corps passed to Brigadier-General William Mahone. Estimates of the casualties in the Wilderness vary but the outcome strongly favoured the Confederates. Union casualty figures range from 13,948 to 18,400, with the most reliable being 2,246 killed, 12,037 wounded and 3,383 missing and captured, for a total of 17,666 men. Similarly, Confederate estimates of losses vary from 7,500 to 7,800, or even as high as 11,400 (possibly 1,495 men killed, 7,928 wounded and 1,702 captured and missing). Union forces engaged were 101,895 while the Confederates had 61,205 men engaged. (CWSAC Decisive Battle – Inconclusive)

Virginia. Union Brigadier-General August Valentine Kautz’s raiders were involved in a skirmish at the Birch Island Bridges on the Blackwater River,

West Virginia. Skirmish at Princeton.

Union Organisation

USA: Major-General William Henry French resigned his commission in the US Volunteers and resumed service as Lieutenant-Colonel USA (2nd US Artillery).

USA: Major-General Erasmus Darwin Keyes resigned from the US Volunteers and US Regular Army to begin business interests in San Francisco.

USA: Brigadier-General James Samuel Wadsworth was mortally wounded at the Wilderness, Virginia.

USA: Brigadier-General Truman Seymour was captured at the Wilderness, Virginia.

USA: Brigadier-General Alexander Shaler was captured at the Wilderness, 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

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 East: John Adams Dix

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: Michael Kelly Lawler
  • XIX Corps Gulf: William Hemsley Emory

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: John Sedgwick
  • 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: Brigadier-General Beverley Holcombe Robertson assumed command of the Second Sub-District of the District of South Carolina, succeeding Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood.

CSA: Brigadier-General William Booth Taliaferro assumed command of the Seventh Sub-District of South Carolina, succeeding Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood.

CSA: Major-General Charles William Field assumed temporary command of I Corps (Northern Virginia), succeeding Lieutenant-General James Longstreet.

CSA: Stand Watie promoted Brigadier-General PACS 6 May 1864.

CSA: Samuel Jameson Gholson promoted Brigadier-General PACS 25 May 1864 to rank from 6 May 1864.

CSA: John Bratton promoted Brigadier-General PACS 1 June 1864 to rank from 6 May 1864.

CSA: Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins was killed at the Wilderness, 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: Leonidas Polk interim Stephen Dill Lee awaited

• 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: George Edward Pickett interim Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard awaited

Department of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee

• Army of Northern Virginia: Robert Edward Lee
  • I Corps Northern Virginia: Charles William Field temporary
  • II Corps Northern Virginia: Richard Stoddert Ewell
  • III Corps Northern Virginia: Ambrose Powell Hill
  • 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
  • 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: Douglas Hancock Cooper temporary
• 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
Erasmus Darwin Keyes RES
Joseph Hooker*
Silas Casey
William Buel Franklin
Darius Nash Couch
Henry Warner Slocum
John James Peck
John Sedgwick
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
William Henry French RES
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

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
James Samuel Wadsworth
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
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby
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
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
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

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
John Clifford Pemberton
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
Micah Jenkins KIA
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
Leroy Augustus Stafford
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
Richard Waterhouse