Army of the Potomac
The
Army of the Potomac was the major
Union Army in the
Eastern Theater of the
American Civil War.
The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was only the size of a corps (relatively speaking). Its nucleus was called the
Army of Northeastern Virginia, under
Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, and it was the army that fought (and lost) the war's first major battle, the
First Battle of Bull Run. The arrival in
Washington, D.C., of
Major General George B. McClellan dramatically changed the makeup of that army. McClellan's original assignment was to command the Division of the Potomac, which included the Department of Northeast Virginia under McDowell and the Department of Washington under Brig. Gen.
Joseph K. Mansfield. On
July 26,
1861, the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Maj. Gen.
Nathaniel P. Banks, was merged with McClellan's departments and on that day, McClellan formed the Army of the Potomac, which was composed of all military forces in the former Departments of Northeastern Virginia, Washington,
Baltimore, and the
Shenandoah. The men under Banks's command became an infantry division in the Army of the Potomac.
[Beatie, p. 480.]The
Army of the Potomac was also the name given to General
P.G.T. Beauregard's
Confederate army during the early stages of the war (namely, First Bull Run; thus, the losing Union Army ended up adopting the name of the winning Confederate army). However, the name was eventually changed to the
Army of Northern Virginia, which became famous under General
Robert E. Lee.
It is a popular, but mistaken, belief that Maj. Gen.
John Pope commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellan's unsuccessful
Peninsula Campaign. However, Pope's army consisted of different units and was named the
Army of Virginia. During the time that the Army of Virginia existed, the Army of the Potomac was headquartered on the
Virginia Peninsula, with McClellan still in command, although three corps of the Army of the Potomac were sent to northern Virginia and were under Pope's operational control during the
Second Battle of Bull Run.
The Army of the Potomac underwent many structural changes during its existence. It fought in most of the Eastern Theater campaigns, primarily in (Eastern) Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It was disbanded on
June 28,
1865, after the end of the war.
*Brigadier General
Irvin McDowell: Commander of the Army and Department of Northeastern Virginia (
May 27 –
July 25,
1861)
*Major General
George B. McClellan: Commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, and later, the Army and Department of the Potomac (
July 26,
1861 –
November 9,
1862)
*Major General
Ambrose E. Burnside: Commander of the Army of the Potomac (
November 9,
1862 –
January 26,
1863)
*Major General
Joseph Hooker: Commander of the Army and Department of the Potomac (
January 26 –
June 28,
1863)
*Major General
George G. Meade: Commander of the Army of the Potomac (
June 28,
1863 –
June 28,
1865; Major General
John G. Parke took brief temporary command during Meade's absences on four occasions during this period)
*
First Bull Run Campaign or First Manassas: McDowell
*
Peninsula Campaign, including the
Seven Days Battles: McClellan
*
Northern Virginia Campaign, including the
Second Battle of Bull Run (three corps participated under the control of the
Army of Virginia)
*
Maryland Campaign, including the
Battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg: McClellan
*
Fredericksburg Campaign: Burnside
*
Chancellorsville Campaign: Hooker
*
Gettysburg Campaign: Hooker, then Meade from
June 28,
1863*
Bristoe Campaign: Meade
*
Mine Run Campaign: Meade
*
Overland Campaign: Meade
*
Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, including the
Battle of the Crater: Meade
*
Appomattox Campaign, including Lee's surrender at
Appomattox Court House: Meade
From the
Overland Campaign to the end of the war,
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant accompanied Meade's headquarters and supervised the actions of the Army of the Potomac along with all other forces in the
Union Army, but Meade retained formal command.
* Beatie, Russel H.,
Army of the Potomac: Birth of Command, November 1860 – September 1861, Da Capo Press, 2002, ISBN 0-306-81141-3.
* Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J.,
Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
}}}
*
Chamberlain, Joshua L. The Passing of the Armies: An Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Bantam reprint, 1992, ISBN 0553299921.
* Taaffe, Stephen R.
Commanding the Army of the Potomac, University of Kansas Press, 2006, ISBN 0700614516.
*
Army Organization during the Civil War
