Commissioned changing sides??

[caller]

I was reading an article in <u>America's Civil War</u> that had a subtitle that started "The former commander of the Army of the Potomac's cavalry..." about Alfred Pleasonton. Misreading the subtitle the first time around (or misunderstanding its context), I got to wondering, if any and/or how many commissioned officers switched sides during the Civil War itself.
I'm aware that many commissions were political appointments and not necessarily as a result of one's military knowledge or allegiance, North or South. And I'm also aware that a person changing sides in any war isn't necessarily a unique event. But I would think that it would be a more likely event in the enlisted ranks than the officer ranks. So I put the question to you all: Were there any transfers of allegiance by an officer from one side to the other (either direction)? And if yes, was it "common"? And more importantly, if yes, were they typically those who had received political appointments in return for getting a brigade together or were they usually one's who were West Point educated (or professional US military) that fought for one side for a period of time and then had a change of heart? Thanks. (Hope I covered all my questions.)

[gary]

Darn good question, but I'm not aware of any commissioned officer from either side who deserted and joined the enemy's ranks. Benedict Arnold was a bit too early to count.

[bill_torrens]

Some officers who come to mind are:

Frank Crawford Armstrong, a regular army officer who, according to his sketch in Warner’s “Generals In Gray”, fought on the Union side at 1st Manassas. He resigned his commission on 13th August 1861 and, of course, ended up as a Confederate brigadier.

Manning Marius Kimmel, of Missouri, was a West Point Graduate who also fought for the Union at 1st Manassas before becoming a staff officer with Ben McCulloch, Van Dorn &amp; Magruder. I have just read that his son commanded Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack.

In the Time-Life volume “Brother Against Brother: The War Begins” [p.143] it also mentions another West Pointer, Lafayette Peck, who served in the Union Army before swapping sides. I don’t know anything else about him at present.

And then there is the slightly different case of Richard Kidder Meade. He was an officer in the garrison that surrendered at Sumter and subsequently became a Confederate staff officer. But he was a Virginian and, as his country (as he would have seen it) was still part of the Union when he served under Major Anderson, he could have claimed to have acted consistently by subsequently following the Old Dominion out of the Union.