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Military units and formations established in 1861

  • Army of the Shenandoah (Confederate)The Confederate Army of the Shenandoah was born at Harpers Ferry in the spring of 1861, a makeshift force assembled from militia companies and volunteers…
  • Army of the PeninsulaThe Army of the Peninsula began with a single colonel and a stretch of Virginia coast that could not be surrendered. John B.
  • Army of the PotomacThe Army of the Potomac was born out of disaster. In the summer of 1861, a raw Union force marched out of Washington, D.C., under Brigadier General Irvin…
  • Quantrill's RaidersQuantrill's Raiders, led by William Quantrill, attacked Lawrence, Kansas in August 1863 and killed more than 180 civilians.
  • Army of Northern VirginiaThe Army of Northern Virginia entered the 17th of September 1862 with fewer than 40,000 soldiers on the field. That date would become the bloodiest single…
  • Army of the TennesseeThe Army of the Tennessee took its name from a river, and even that name took months to settle on. A 2005 study calls this Union force present at "most of…
  • Confederate States ArmyThe Confederate States Army came into existence on the 28th of February 1861, when a provisional congress authorized a volunteer force and handed command…
  • Regia MarinaThe Regia Marina, Italy's Royal Navy, was born on the 17th of March 1861 from the wreckage of rival kingdoms. It entered its first major battle just five…
  • Stonewall BrigadeThe Stonewall Brigade earned its name on a single afternoon in July 1861, and would carry it through three more years of some of the bloodiest fighting of…
  • Missouri State GuardThe Missouri State Guard was born on the 11th of May 1861, not in a battlefield but in a legislative chamber, when the Missouri General Assembly passed what…