Department of the Gulf

The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.

History

United States Army (Civil War)

Creation

The department was constituted on 23 February 1862 when the United States War Department issued General Orders No. 20; the department consisted of "...all of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico west of Pensacola harbor, and so much of the Gulf States as may be occupied by the forces under Major General B.F. Butler." On 20 March 1862, Butler activated his command at Ship Island, Mississippi by issuing General Orders No. 1 (Department of the Gulf) assuming his new command.[1]

Activities

United States Navy's West Gulf Blockading Squadron captured New Orleans, Louisiana on 29 April 1862, Butler moved his headquarters to New Orleans on 1 May. The department, sometimes referred to as the Army of the Gulf, became a union occupying force in the region.[1]

Commanders

Confederate States Army

Organization

The department, frequently referred to as the Gulf District, was established on 2 July 1862 as a part of Department No. 2; its area was defined as the coast from the Pearl River to the Apalachicola River northward to latitude 32° north. On 3 November 1863, the northern boundary was extended to latitude 33° north. On 25 July 1863, the department/district was transferred to the Department of Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana.[3] It remained in that department only until 28 January 1864, when it was transferred to the Department of Alabama and Eastern Mississippi.[3] Upon being transferred, the department/district boundaries were redefined as beginning at the mouth of the Pearl River, running north to latitude 32° north, east to the Georgia State line and south to the Gulf of Mexico.[3] On 8 May 1864, the boundary was again modified to define the eastern edgbe as being the intersection of latitude 32° north with a line running from the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa to point where the Choctawhatchee River entered Florida then following the Choctawhatchee to its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico.[3] The department/district surrendered on 4 May 1865.[3]

Commanders

United States Army (Spanish-American War era)

Creation

The department was constituted by General Order 7, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, dated 11 March 1898. The order specified that the department was to include the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. All of the named states had previously been included in the Department of the East except Texas which had been the sole state in the Department of Texas. The depart was redesignated as the Department of the South on 12 March 1898 and back to the Department of the Gulf on 18 March 1898. Brigadier General William M. Graham assumed command of the department on 14 March 1898. The department was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.[4]

Commanders

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References

  1. 1 2 Searles, Harry; Mangus, Mike. "Army of the Gulf (1862 - 1865)". Ohio Civil War Central. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dyer's Compendium (Union) Western Departments and Armies". The Civil War Home Page. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Eicher, John H.; Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 871. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Annual Report of the Major-General Commanding the Army to the Secretary of War. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1899. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Cullum, George Washington (1901). Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., from its establishment, in 1802 : [Supplement, volume IV 1890-1900]. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. p. 119. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  6. ↑ War Department Annual Reports. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1905. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 War Department Annual Reports. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1909. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

Further reading

External links


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