General officers in the Confederate States Army Edmund Kirby Smith, who was appointed general late in the war and into the PACS. Pierre G.T. Beauregard, had also initially been appointed a PACS general but was elevated to ACSA two months later with the same date of rank. These generals outranked all other grades of generals, as well as all lesser officers in the Confederate States Army. The first group of officers appointed to general were Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and Pierre G.T. Beauregard, with their seniority in that order. This ordering caused Cooper, a staff officer who would not see
Confederate Army of the Potomac advisor, Robert E. Lee, rejected these plans as being impractical. On July 18, as forces from the Union Department of Northeastern Virginia commanded by Irvin McDowell advanced to within a few miles of Beauregard's positions, the Confederate War Department ordered Johnston to transfer his army to reinforce Beauregard; his army arrived by rail over the next few days. Johnston was the senior officer present and had overall command of the combined Confederate armies. Beauregard had drawn up plans for an attack on the Union left wing across Bull Run and convinced Johnston to approve the plan. Johnston deferred the issuing