Naming The Battles and Armies
Civil War Battle Names | ||
---|---|---|
Date | Southern name | Northern name |
July 21, 1861 | First Manassas | First Bull Run |
August 10, 1861 | Oak Hills | Wilson's Creek |
October 21, 1861 | Leesburg | Ball's Bluff |
January 19, 1862 | Mill Springs | Logan's Cross Roads |
March 7–8, 1862 | Elkhorn Tavern | Pea Ridge |
April 6–7, 1862 | Shiloh | Pittsburg Landing |
May 31 – June 1, 1862 | Seven Pines | Fair Oaks |
June 26, 1862 | Mechanicsville | Beaver Dam Creek |
June 27, 1862 | Gaines's Mill | Chickahominy River |
August 29–30, 1862 | Second Manassas | Second Bull Run |
September 1, 1862 | Ox Hill | Chantilly |
September 14, 1862 | Boonsboro | South Mountain |
September 14, 1862 | Burkittsville | Crampton's Gap |
September 17, 1862 | Sharpsburg | Antietam |
October 8, 1862 | Perryville | Chaplin Hills |
December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863 |
Murfreesboro | Stones River |
April 8, 1864 | Mansfield | Sabine Cross Roads |
September 19, 1864 | Winchester | Opequon |
There is a disparity between the sides in naming some of the battles of the war. The Union forces frequently named battles for bodies of water or other natural features that were prominent on or near the battlefield; Confederates most often used the name of the nearest town or man-made landmark. Because of this, many battles actually have two widely used names. However, not all of the disparities are based on these naming conventions. Many modern accounts of Civil War battles use the names established by the North. However, for some battles, the Southern name has become the standard. The National Park Service occasionally uses the Southern names for their battlefield parks located in the South, such as Manassas and Shiloh. In general, naming conventions were determined by the victor of the battle. Examples of battles with dual names are shown in the table.
Historian Shelby Foote explains that many Northerners were urban and regarded bodies of water as noteworthy; many Southerners were rural and regarded towns as noteworthy.
Civil War armies were also named in a manner reminiscent of the battlefields: Northern armies were frequently named for major rivers (Army of the Potomac, Army of the Tennessee, Army of the Mississippi), Southern armies for states or geographic regions (Army of Northern Virginia, Army of Tennessee, Army of Mississippi).
Units smaller than armies were named differently in many cases. Corps were usually written out (First Army Corps or more simply, First Corps), although a post-war convention developed to designate Union corps using Roman numerals (XI Corps). Often, particularly with Southern armies, corps were more commonly known by the name of the leader (Hardee's Corps, Polk's Corps).
Union brigades were given numeric designations (1st, 2nd, ...), whereas Confederate brigades were frequently named after their commanding general (Hood's Brigade, Gordon's Brigade, ...). Confederate brigades so-named retained the name of the original commander even when commanded temporarily by another man; for example, at the Battle of Gettysburg, Hoke's Brigade was commanded by Isaac Avery and Nicholl's Brigade by Jesse Williams. Nicknames were common in both armies, such as the Iron Brigade and the Stonewall Brigade.
Union artillery batteries were generally named numerically; Confederate batteries by the name of the town or county in which they were recruited (Fluvanna Artillery). Again, they were often simply referred to by their commander's name (Moody's Battery, Parker's Battery).
Read more about this topic: Naming The American Civil War
Famous quotes containing the words naming, battles and/or armies:
“Husband,
who am I to reject the naming of foods
in a time of famine?”
—Anne Sexton (19281974)
“Elections and politics in this country correspond with battles and war in other times and countries. Whatever of departing evils remains is sure to show itself last in the excitement of political contests.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (18221893)
“In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things.”
—Edmund Burke (17291797)