First Bull Run The Army of the Potomac/ The Army of the Shenandoah – A most unexpected victory? Part One

In regards to organizational structure:
Yes, there should have been intermediate commands, most likely divisions-level organizations.
Some hypothetical orgaizations of these commands:
-AoP
- Longstreet's Division; with Fourth Brigade (Either Garland or Corse, whoever has seniority, i do not recall), Fifth Brigade (Cocke), and Second Brigade (Ewell);
- D. R. Jones' Division; First Brigade (Bonham), Third Brigade (Either Featherston or Jenkins)
- Evan's Demi-Brigade; independent command
- AoS (Already a large division)
- Bee's Division; Second Brigade (Bartow), and Third Brigade (Gist)
- Jackson's Division; First "Stonewall" Brigade (Rodes; transferred from 5th Alabama, Ewell's Second Brigade, AoP) and Fourth Brigade (Smith/Elzey)

Of course, I do not know the correct seniority of certain individuals within the ranks at the time, of who outranked who. Maybe Kirby Smith should be in command of Bee's division instead of Bee? Maybe Ewell should be in command of Jones' division instead of Jones?
 
Army Seniorities:

AoP


Bonham - Lt Col March 1847. Colonel - August 1847. Major General of South Carolina militia. Major General of the Army of South Carolina - February 1861. Brigadier General CSA - April 19 1861.
Ewell - Captain 1847. Colonel CSA - May 9th. Brigadier General June 17th.
D.R. Jones - Lieutenant/ Brevet Captain USA? [Don't have full details] Brigadier General CSA - June 17th.
Longstreet - Brevet Major - Molino Del Ray - 8th September 1847. Full promotion to Major - July 1858 - 8th Infantry. Lt. Col CSA June 22 1861... except appointed Brigadier General dated as of June 17th.
Cocke - Lieutenant USA. Brigadier General - Commonwealth of Virginia - April 21st. Colonel CSA - May 1861.
Early - Major - 1st Virginia Volunteers 1847. (Briefly Brigadier General Virginia Volunteers May (?) 1861) Colonel CSA June 19th 1861.
Evans - Captain USA 1856. Major CSA - date unknown. Promoted to Colonel 'July' 1861.
Holmes - Major USA 1855. Colonel CSA - March. Brigadier General - NC Forces - Then Brigadier General CSA June 5th.

AoS

Jackson - 1st Lieut 1847. April 27 'Colonel' CSA. Brigadier General June 17th 1861.
Bartow - Colonel CSA 1st June 1861.
Bee - Captain USA 1855. Lt. Col CSA March 3rd 1861. Brigadier General June 17th 1861.
Elzey - Captain USA 1849. Colonel CSA - early May (?)
Kirby Smith - Major USA - Date uncertain - c. 1859. Lt.Col CSA March 16 1861. Brigadier General June 17th 1861.


So, other than the profusion with Seniority dated June 17th 1861 what we can tell is:

AoP

Bonham is senior. Then Holmes, Ewell, Longstreet and Jones are all June 17th and from what I can see it is in that order (but accept I could be wrong). Next comes Cocke, Early and finally Evans.

AoS

Jackson, Bee, Smith, Elzey, Bartow - in that order.

That means that I think your hypothetical ordering of the AoS is absolutely fine. Unfortunately by Seniority if the AoP has two divisions then that's Bonham and Holmes! One political appointee who will show a distinct lack of aggression in the battle to come (and whose Official Report may well be a fine work of fiction in places) and one who is elderly, profoundly deaf and won't come through the war with a great record.
 
Longstreet - Brevet Major - Molino Del Ray - 8th September 1847. Full promotion to Major - July 1858 - 8th Infantry. Lt. Col CSA June 22 1861... except appointed Brigadier General dated as of June 17th.

Lt Col in the Army of the Confederate States of America (ACSA, the regular army), and BG in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS, the volunteer force).

All BG's at this time were PACS. There were only 5 regular (ACSA) generals of any grade (and all of them BG), and two of them (JEJ and Beauregard) were at 1st BR. All the initial crop of BG's were dated with seniority to 17th June, but not all had received the rank by the time of Bull Run. For example - Jackson was a Colonel of Virginia Militia initially and on 3rd July he received a covering letter from RE Lee and his Commission as a BG in PACS. I'm not sure he ever received a regular ACSA Commission.

There is some mixing of ACSA and PACS/ Militia rank in this chart - Kirby Smith's Lt Colonelcy for example was regular (he was on paper Lt Col of the 1st CS Cavalry).

Brigade numberings were on the fly, and do not reflect seniority.

Army of Shenandoah
BG (ACSA) JE Johnston
1st: Jackson, entered as Colonel in the Va Militia (27th April) and one of the initial crop of PACS BGs
2nd: Bartow, Colonel of Georgia Militia
3rd: Bee, entered service as a regular (ACSA) Major (in one of the infantry regiments), and fought at BR as a BG. He ranked Jackson, having been appointed in June.
4th: EK Smith: Smith was Johnston's AAG and was Lt Col in the regulars. He received a BG Commission before Jackson, it being in place on 2nd July when JEJ complains this deprives him.

Given their regular ranks I believe the order in the AoS goes:

BG (ACSA) JE Johnston
BG (PACS) EK Smith
BG (PACS) BE Bee
BG (PACS) TJ Jackson
and then the Colonels

Army of the Potomac
BG (ACSA) PGT Beauregard
1st: BG (PACS) ML Bonham, entered service commanding the 1st SC Bde, and was made a PACS BG back on 23rd May.
2nd: BG (PACS) RS Ewell, entered service as a ACSA Major
3rd: BG (PACS) DR Jones, entered service as a ACSA Major and Beauregard's COS.
4th: BG (PACS) Longstreet, entered service as a ACSA Lt Col
5th: Col PStG Cocke - Va Militia
6th Col JA Early - Va Militia
7th: Col NG Evans - SC Militia
BG (PACS) TH Holmes, entered service as a regular (ACSA) Colonel, and is certainly the senior PACS BG in either army.

I believe the order will be:

BG (ACSA) Beauregard
BG (PACS) Bonham
BG (PACS) Holmes
BG (PACS) Longstreet
BG (PACS) Ewell
BG (PACS) DR Jones

and combined:

BG (ACSA) JE Johnston
BG (ACSA) Beauregard
BG (PACS) Bonham
BG (PACS) Holmes
BG (PACS) EK Smith
BG (PACS) Longstreet
BG (PACS) Ewell*
BG (PACS) BE Bee*
BG (PACS) DR Jones*
BG (PACS) TJ Jackson

* based on US Army seniority
 
Thank you @67th Tigers. Given I know all about the Regular/ Volunteer issues in the US Army I should have remembered that it was the same in the CSA.

Sigh.

My bad. That said I'm not quite sure about a couple of your dates but my slight variances don't change the absolute seniority with one exception. You have Ewell entering CSA service as a Major. I have him entering as a Lt Col on May 9th. If this is true then he predates Longstreet's Lt Col of June 22nd. This of course still leaves Bonham and Holmes as Senior which is not a great situation for the AoP to be in...

[Incidentally I also had difficulty finding a regular CSA Colonel's commision for Jackson. Indeed I have difficulty with his rank as a Virginia Colonel. Certainly when the VMI cadets go to war he is their Major. Then there are various letters written to 'Colonel' Jackson (including from Governor Letcher - who really ought to have known!) but this seems an honorary rank before he very quickly gets CSA Brigadier General]
 
Thank you @67th Tigers. Given I know all about the Regular/ Volunteer issues in the US Army I should have remembered that it was the same in the CSA.

Sigh.

My bad. That said I'm not quite sure about a couple of your dates but my slight variances don't change the absolute seniority with one exception. You have Ewell entering CSA service as a Major. I have him entering as a Lt Col on May 9th. If this is true then he predates Longstreet's Lt Col of June 22nd. This of course still leaves Bonham and Holmes as Senior which is not a great situation for the AoP to be in...

[Incidentally I also had difficulty finding a regular CSA Colonel's commision for Jackson. Indeed I have difficulty with his rank as a Virginia Colonel. Certainly when the VMI cadets go to war he is their Major. Then there are various letters written to 'Colonel' Jackson (including from Governor Letcher - who really ought to have known!) but this seems an honorary rank before he very quickly gets CSA Brigadier General]
Its understandable one would forget the existance of the ASCA Regulars. They were at most a paper force. I believe the only units formed under this organization were Engineers, and I doubt even those count to the organization. E. K. Smith was officially appointed the Colonel of the 1st Confederate States Cavalry Regiment, but this unit never formed.
 
Its understandable one would forget the existance of the ASCA Regulars. They were at most a paper force. I believe the only units formed under this organization were Engineers, and I doubt even those count to the organization. E. K. Smith was officially appointed the Colonel of the 1st Confederate States Cavalry Regiment, but this unit never formed.

Thankfully I'm not alone in doing so. Samuel Cooper, ranking CSA General, Adjutant General and Inspector General in something like 1863 (I would have to go hunting for the reference) replied to a letter requesting that someone be made a Regular rather than a Volunteer Officer explaining that this was not possible because there weren't any and never had been...
 
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