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[[File:The Army of the Potomac -- Our Outlying Picket in the Woods.jpg|thumb|''The Army of the Potomac – Our Outlying Picket in the Woods'', an illustration of the Army of the Potomac by [[Winslow Homer]] published in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' on June 7, 1862]]
[[File:Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac – Drawn by Mr. Thomas Nast (from Harper's Weekly) MET DP831348.jpg|thumb|''Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac'', an October 1863 illustration by [[Thomas Nast]] in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'']]
The Army of the Potomac
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, [[Department of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], and the Shenandoah. The men under Banks's command became an infantry division in the Army of the Potomac.<ref>Beatie, p. 480.</ref> The army started with four corps, but these were divided during the [[Peninsula Campaign]] to produce two more. After the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]], the Army of the Potomac absorbed the units that had served under Maj. Gen. [[John Pope (military officer)|John Pope]].
The belief that [[John Pope (military officer)|John Pope]] commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellan's unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign is mistaken. On the contrary, Pope's [[Army of Virginia]] was built around different units, although three corps of the Army of the Potomac were sent to northern Virginia and were under Pope's operational control during the [[Northern Virginia Campaign]]. During the time that the Army of Virginia existed, the Army of the Potomac was headquartered on the [[Virginia Peninsula]], and then outside Washington, D.C., with McClellan still in command, although most of his troops had been temporarily
The Army of the Potomac underwent many structural changes during its existence. The army was divided by [[Ambrose Burnside]] into three grand divisions of two corps each with a Reserve composed of two more. Hooker abolished the grand divisions. Thereafter the individual corps, seven of which remained in Virginia, reported directly to army headquarters. Hooker also created a Cavalry Corps by combining units that previously had served as smaller formations. In late 1863, two corps were sent West, and{{snd}}in 1864{{snd}}the remaining five corps were recombined into three. Burnside's [[IX Corps (ACW)|IX Corps]], which accompanied the army at the start of [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s [[Overland Campaign]], rejoined the army later. For more detail, see the section '''Corps''' below.
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==Noted units==
[[File:Civil War steeplechase2.jpg|thumb|
Because of its proximity to the nation's largest cities at the time, [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Philadelphia]], and [[New York City]], the Army of the Potomac received more contemporary media coverage than the other Union field armies. Such coverage produced fame for a number of this army's units. Individual brigades, such as the [[Irish Brigade (U.S.)|Irish Brigade]], the [[Philadelphia Brigade]], the [[First New Jersey Brigade]], the [[Vermont Brigade]], and the [[Iron Brigade]], were well known to the general public, both during and after the Civil War.
===Corps===
[[File:Scouts and guides Army of the Potomac.jpg|thumb|Scouts and guides of the Army of the Potomac, photographed by [[Mathew Brady]]]]
[[File:Headquarters of the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac, at the home of Col. Avery near Petersburg, Virginia) - Brady, Washington LCCN2017660615 crop.jpg|thumb|Headquarters staff of the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac at the home of Col. [[Isaac E. Avery]] near [[Petersburg, Virginia]], photographed by [[Matthew Brady]] in June 1864; the following month, on July 3, Avery was
The army originally consisted of fifteen divisions, the Artillery Reserve and the Cavalry Command. Commanded by [[Edwin Vose Sumner|Edwin V. Sumner]], [[William B. Franklin]], [[Louis Blenker]], [[Nathaniel P. Banks]], [[Frederick W. Lander]] (replaced by [[James Shields (politician, born 1806)|James Shields]] after Lander's death on March 2, 1862, [[Silas Casey]], [[Irvin McDowell]], [[Fitz John Porter]], [[Samuel P. Heintzelman]], [[Don Carlos Buell]] (replaced by [[Erasmus D. Keyes]] in November, 1861), [[William Farrar Smith|William F. Smith]], [[Joseph Hooker]], [[John Adams Dix|John A. Dix]], [[Charles Pomeroy Stone|Charles P. Stone]] (replaced by [[John Sedgwick]] in February, 1862), [[George A. McCall]], [[George Stoneman]] (replaced by [[Philip St. George Cooke]] in January, 1862) and [[Henry Jackson Hunt|Henry J. Hunt]].
Because this arrangement would be too hard to control in battle, [[Abraham Lincoln|President Lincoln]] issued an order on March 13, 1862, dividing the army into five corps headed by MG [[Irvin McDowell]] ([[I Corps (Union Army)|I Corps]]; Franklin's Division: BG [[William B. Franklin]], McCall's "[[Pennsylvania Reserves]]" Division: BG [[George A. McCall]] and McDowell's old Division under BG [[Rufus King (general)|Rufus King]].), BG [[Edwin Vose Sumner|Edwin V. Sumner]] ([[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]]; Sumner's old Division under BG [[Israel B. Richardson]], Sedgwick's Division: BG [[John Sedgwick]] and Blenker's Division: [[Louis Blenker]].), BG [[Samuel P. Heintzelman]] ([[III Corps (Union Army)|III Corps]]; Porter's Division: BG [[Fitz John Porter]], Hooker's Division: BG [[Joseph Hooker]] and Heintzelman's old Division under BG [[Charles Smith Hamilton|Charles S. Hamilton]]), BG [[Erasmus D. Keyes]] ([[IV Corps (Union Army)|IV Corps]]; Keyes' old Division under BG [[Darius N. Couch]], Smith's Division: BG [[William Farrar Smith|William F. Smith]] and Casey's Division: BG [[Silas Casey]]), MG [[Nathaniel P. Banks]] ([[V Corps (Union Army)|V Corps]], which later became the [[XII Corps (Union Army)|XII Corps]]; Banks' old Division under BG [[Alpheus S. Williams]], Shield's Division: BG [[James Shields (politician, born 1806)|James Shields]] and a Cavalry Division under BG [[John Porter Hatch|John P. Hatch]]).
Lincoln named as corps commanders the five highest-ranking division commanders in the army. McClellan was unhappy with this, as he had intended to wait until the army had been tested in battle before judging which generals were suitable for corps command.
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After the [[Battle of Williamsburg]] on May 5, McClellan requested and obtained permission to create two additions corps; these became the V Corps, headed by BG Fitz-John Porter, and the VI Corps, headed by BG William B. Franklin, both personal favorites of his. After the [[First Battle of Kernstown]] in the Valley on March 23, the administration feared the threat to the national capital in [[Washington, D.C.]] from [[Stonewall Jackson|"Stonewall" Jackson]]'s force. To McClellan's displeasure, it detached Blenker's division from the II Corps and sent it to [[West Virginia]], where it served under [[John C. Fremont]]'s command. McDowell's I Corps was detached as well and stationed in the Rappahannock area.
In June 1862, George McCall's division from I Corps (the [[Pennsylvania Reserves]] Division) was sent down to the Peninsula and temporarily attached to the V Corps. In the Seven Days Battles, the V Corps was heavily engaged. The Pennsylvania Reserves, in particular, suffered heavy losses including its division commander, who was captured by the Confederates, and two of its three brigadiers,
The Army of the Potomac remained on the Virginia Peninsula until August, when it was recalled back to Washington D.C. Keyes and one of the two IV Corps divisions were left behind permanently as part of the newly created Department of the James, while the other division, commanded by Brig. Gen Darius Couch, was attached to the VI Corps.
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[[George Meade]] was suddenly appointed the commander of the army on June 28, a mere three days before the battle of Gettysburg. At the battle, the I, II, and III Corps suffered such severe losses that they were almost nonfunctional as fighting units at the end. One corps commander (Reynolds) was killed, another (Sickles) lost a leg and was permanently out of the war, and a third (Hancock) was badly wounded and never completely recovered from his injuries. The VI Corps had not been significantly engaged and was mostly used to plug up holes in the line during the battle.
For the remainder of the war, corps were added and subtracted from the army. IV Corps was broken up after the Peninsula Campaign, with its headquarters and 2nd Division left behind in Yorktown, while its 1st Division moved north, attached to the VI Corps, in the Maryland Campaign. Those parts of the IV Corps that remained on the Peninsula were reassigned to the Department of Virginia and disbanded on October 1, 1863.<ref>Welcher, pp. 361–362.</ref> Those added to the Army of the Potomac were [[IX Corps (Union Army)|IX Corps]], [[XI Corps (Union Army)|XI Corps]] ([[Franz Sigel|Sigel's]] I Corps in the former [[Army of Virginia]]), [[XII Corps (Union Army)|XII Corps]] ([[Nathaniel P. Banks|Banks's]] II Corps from the [[Army of Virginia]]), added in 1862; and the [[Cavalry Corps (Union Army)#Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac|Cavalry Corps]], created in 1863.
Eight of these corps (seven infantry, one cavalry) served in the army during 1863, but due to attrition and transfers, the army was reorganized in March 1864 with only four corps: II, V, VI, and Cavalry. Of the original eight, I and III Corps were disbanded due to heavy casualties and their units combined into other corps. The XI and XII Corps were ordered to the West in late 1863 to support the [[Chattanooga Campaign]], and while there were combined into the XX Corps, never returning to the East.
The IX Corps returned to the army in 1864, after being assigned to the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|West]] in 1863 and then served alongside, but not as part of, the Army of the Potomac from March to May 24, 1864. On that latter date, IX Corps was formally added to the Army of the Potomac.<ref>Welcher, pp. 428, 431.</ref> Two divisions of the Cavalry Corps have transferred in August 1864 to Maj. Gen. [[Philip Sheridan]]'s [[Union Army of the Shenandoah|Army of the Shenandoah]], and the 2nd Division alone remained under Meade's command.
On March 26, 1865, that division was also assigned to Sheridan for the closing campaigns of the war.<ref>Welcher, pp. 536, 540.</ref>
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==Casualties breakdown==
{{See also|List of costliest American Civil War land battles}}
==References==
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