Confederate Army of the Shenandoah Harpers Ferry, Virginia (modern day West Virginia). To organize and train the companies, Virginia state commander Robert E. Lee initially appointed Thomas J. Jackson to command the post. Jackson formed five regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery from the various companies, forming the basis of the Stonewall Brigade. On May 15, Joseph E. Johnston replaced Jackson as commander of Harpers Ferry and continued to receive additional regiments from throughout the Confederacy. He would eventually have four brigades of infantry and an independent regiment of cavalry, the 1st Virginia Cavalry commanded by J. E. B. Stuart. In mid-June, forces
USS Azalea (1864) President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet retired into the Deep South in the hope of continuing the struggle. However, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia on the 9th and General Joseph E. Johnston realized that his army, the only significant body of Confederate troops left in the field, could not prevail. On the 25th, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman informed Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren that he expected General Johnston to surrender the next day and asked the commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to ". . . watch the east coast and send word round to the west