Battle of Fort Stevens order of battle: Union

The following Union Army units and commanders fought in the Battle of Fort Stevens of the American Civil War on July 11–12, 1864. The Confederate order of battle is listed separately.

Abbreviations used

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Military rank

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Other

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Defenses of the Potomac River & Washington

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MG Alexander McDowell McCook

Division Brigade Regiments and Other

Emergency Division[2]
   BG Montgomery C. Meigs

First Brigade


BG Daniel H. Rucker

  • Quartermaster's employees
  • Detachment from Provisional Brigade
Second Brigade


BG Halbert E. Paine

  • 2nd District of Columbia: Col Charles Madison Alexander
  • 12th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • Quartermaster's employees, three companies
3rd Brigade


Col Richard Butler Price
Col Addison Farnsworth, July 12[3]

  • Quartermaster's employees
  • Convalescents
Cavalry


  • Dismounted cavalry detachment: Maj George G. Briggs[4]
  • 25th New York Cavalry (dismounted): Maj Charles J. Seymour

VI Corps

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MG Horatio G. Wright[5]

Division Brigade Regiments and Others

First Division
   BG David A. Russell

1st Brigade


Col William H. Penrose

2nd Brigade


BG Emory Upton

3rd Brigade


Col Oliver Edwards

Second Division
   BG George W. Getty

1st Brigade


BG Frank Wheaton

2nd Brigade (Vermont Brigade)


BG Lewis A. Grant

3rd Brigade


Col Daniel Bidwell

Artillery Artillery Brigade


Col Charles H. Tompkins

XIX Corps (Detachment)

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MG Quincy A. Gillmore[6][7]

Division Brigade Regiments and Others

First Division
   BG William Dwight[8]

1st Brigade


Col George L. Beal

2nd Brigade


BG James W. McMillan

3rd Brigade


Col Leonard D. H. Currie

Division Artillery

Second Division
   BG Cuvier Grover[10]

3rd Brigade


Col Jacob Sharpe

4th Brigade


Col David Shunk

XXII Corps and Department of Washington

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MG Christopher C. Augur

Division Brigade Regiments and Others

Defenses North of the Potomac[11]
   BG Martin D. Hardin

1st Brigade


Col James M. Warner

2nd Brigade


Ltc Joseph A. Haskin

  • 150th Ohio: Col William H. Hayward
  • 170th Ohio: Col Miles J. Saunders
  • New Hampshire Heavy Artillery, 1st Company: Cpt Charles H. Long
  • 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery L: Cpt Franklin C. Gibbs
  • 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery: Cpt John Norris
  • 2nd U.S. Artillery, Battery I: Lt William P. Graves
  • 7th Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 21st Veteran Reserve Corps
3rd Brigade


Ltc John H. Oberteuffer

  • Massachusetts Heavy Artillery (detachment)
  • 3rd U.S. Artillery, Battery G: Lt Herbert F. Guthrie
  • 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery

Defenses South of the Potomac[12]
   BG Gustavus A. DeRussy

1st Brigade


Col Joseph N. G. Whistler

2nd Brigade


Col Thomas Wilhelm[13]

  • Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, 15th Company
  • 16th Massachusetts Independent Battery
  • Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery C: Capt James Thompson
  • Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery I: Cpt Robert J. Nevin
  • 1st New York Heavy Artillery, Battery K
  • 17th New York Artillery, Independent Battery
  • 169th Ohio: Col Nathaniel Haynes
  • 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery H: Cpt Crawford Allen
  • 1st U.S. Artillery, Battery E: Lt Frank S. French
3rd Brigade created 10 July


Col William Smith Irwin

  • Maryland Artillery, Battery D
  • 136th Ohio: Col William Smith Irwin
  • 142nd Ohio (detachment)
  • 166th Ohio: Col Harrison G. Blake
  • 16th Indiana Battery: Cpt Charles R. Deming
  • Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, 15th Company: Cpt Joseph M. Parsons
  • 1st New York Heavy Artillery, Battery F: Cpt William R. Wilson
  • 1st Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Independent Battery
  • 72nd Pennsylvania (detachment)
  • 106th Pennsylvania (detachment)
4th Brigade created 2 July


Maj. Charles C. Meservey

Cavalry


Col Charles Russell Lowell

District of Washington
   Col Moses N. Wisewell[14]

1st Veteran Reserve Brigade


Col George W. Gile
(attached to Hardin's Division)

  • 1st Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 9th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 6th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 19th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 20th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
  • 22nd Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps
Not brigaded[15]


  • 27th Pennsylvania, Company F
  • 150th Pennsylvania, Company K
  • Union Light Guard (Ohio Cavalry)
  • U.S. Ordnance Detachment

Cavalry Division[16]
   Col William Gamble
  

1st Division


Cpt Benjamin Rockafellow

  • 1st Brigade: Lt Charles Parker (Detachments of 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Michigan cavalry regiments)
  • 2nd Brigade: Lt William J. Allen (Detachments of 4th, 6th and 9th New York and 17th Pennsylvania cavalry regiments)
  • Reserve Brigade: Lt Marcellus E. Jones (Detachments of 19th New York, 6th Pennsylvania, 1st Rhode Island, 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th U.S. cavalry regiments)
2nd Division


Cpt James T. Peale

  • 1st Brigade: Lt George W. Brooks (Detachments of 1st Massachusetts , 1st New Jersey, 10th New York, 6th Ohio, 1st and 3rd Pennsylvania cavalry regiments)
  • 2nd Brigade: Cpt Robert A. Robinson (Detachments of 1st Maine, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 13th and 16th Pennsylvania cavalry regiments)
3rd Division


Maj Henry W. Sawyer

  • 1st Brigade: Cpt Robert Loudon (Detachments of 1st Connecticut, 2nd Ohio, 18th Pennsylvania, 2nd, 3rd and 5th New York cavalry regiments)
  • 2nd Brigade: Lt George W. Byard (Detachments of 8th Illinois, 3rd Indiana, 1st Ohio, 1st Vermont, 8th, 22nd and 25th New York cavalry regiments)

District of Alexandria[17]
   BG John P. Slough
   (not engaged)

2nd Veteran Reserve Brigade


Col William H. Browne

  • 3rd Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps: Ltc John Spiedel
  • 12th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps: Col Addison Farnsworth
Not brigaded
  • 1st District of Columbia: Ltc Robert Boyd
  • Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery H: Cpt William Borrowe
  • 8th Illinois Cavalry, Company D: Cpt Henry J. Hotop
  • 1st Michigan Cavalry, Company D: Cpt Thurlow W. Lusk

Front Line Commanders

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In addition to their own commands these officers supervised a section of Washington's fortifications during the battle.[18]

Commander Line
Alexander M. McCook Defenses of the Potomac River & Washington
(overall command)
Quincy A. Gillmore Northeast Line: Fort Lincoln to Fort Totten
(XIX Corps, Detachment)
Montgomery C. Meigs Northern Line: Fort Totten to Fort DeRussy (including Fort Stevens)
(Quartermaster Corps)
Martin D. Hardin Northwest Line: Fort DeRussy to Fort Sumner
(1st Division, XXII Corps)
Horatio G. Wright Reserve troops
(VI Corps)

References

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  • Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
  1. ^ Official Records p.234
  2. ^ Meigs' Official Report p. 255
  3. ^ Eicher p. 231
  4. ^ Briggs commanded about 600 troopers from the 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac (Official Records)
  5. ^ Official Records p. 550
  6. ^ Gillmore commanded the XIX Corps detachment until July 13 when Brig. Gen. William H. Emory was assigned to command. Eicher p255.
  7. ^ Official Records page 551
  8. ^ Roughly 70 percent of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry (companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I under Col. Tilghman H. Good) was stationed at Fort Stevens long enough to see President Lincoln during his visit, but appears not to have been involved in the actual battle due to the timing of its arrival from Louisiana and quick re-direct to join the Union forces pursuing BG Jubal Early's Confederate troops in Maryland and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, according to later recollections by John Peter Shindel Gobin, the 47th's final commanding officer (who was Company C's captain at the time the 47th was at Fort Stevens; see "A Voyage North and a Memorable Encounter with Abraham Lincoln," in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story). The bulk of the 47th fought under MG David Hunter in and around Snicker's Gap (Battle of Cool Spring, Virginia on July 18) while the 47th's other companies remained in Louisiana awaiting transport to the Eastern Theater. (Companies B, G and K did not arrive in Washington until July 28, and did not reconnect with the main part of the regiment until August 2 in Maryland at Monocacy.)
  9. ^ While the 47th Pennsylvania was briefly stationed at Fort Stevens, this regiment was redirected toward the Union's effort to stop BG Jubal Early's Confederate advances in Maryland and Virginia and was, therefore, likely not involved in the actual battle of Fort Stevens; see "From Louisiana to Virginia: The Battle of Snicker's Gap and Service with the Army of the Shenandoah," in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story.
  10. ^ First Brigade (BG Henry W. Birge) and Second Brigade (Col Edward Molineux) detached for duty in Virginia. The First Brigade participating in the First Battle of Deep Bottom (see First Deep Bottom Union order of battle)
  11. ^ Official Records page 698
  12. ^ Official Records page 700
  13. ^ Official Records Chap XLIX p. 141
  14. ^ Official Records page 568
  15. ^ Official Records page 568
  16. ^ Cavalry Division consisted of detachments belonging to the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac and Middle Military Division. Composition taken from August 1864 organization (Official Records Chap LV p.978)
  17. ^ Official Records page 699
  18. ^ Official Records page 232