Department of the Shenandoah 1862

With McClellan and the main part of the Army of the Potomac shifted to the Virginia Peninsula, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks' Fifth Corps was detatched and returned to its status as an independent department that it had briefly enjoyed in July and August of 1861.

But the administration realized that the patchwork of departments that it had created in northern Virginia needed central direction, and at the end of June they were merged into the Army of Virginia under Major General John Pope.

Major General
Nathaniel P. Banks

Order of Battle of the Department of the Shenandoah, April-June 1862

Department of the Shenandoah Order of Battlle, April 1862
Department of the Shenandoah Order of Battlle, May 1862

Department of the Shenandoah Order of Battlle, June 1862

Timeline of the Army of the Shenandoah in 1862
April 4	Department re-created, consisting of the Valley of Virginia, the Counties of Washington and Allegheny in Maryland and such parts of Virginia "as may be covered by the army in its operations."
April 16	Banks fords Stony Creek, surprising Ashby
April 19	Banks occupies New Market
May 10	Lincoln orders Banks to transfer Shield's Division to McDowell's Department of the Rappahannock, retreat to Strasburg and go on the defensive.
May 23	Banks' outpost at Front Royal is almost wiped out
May 24	Banks retreats from Strasburg, causing Lincoln to halt McDowell's planed movement to join McClellan around Richmond.
May 25	Battle of Winchester. Banks loses 2,000 casualties, mostly as prisoners, vs. 400 Confederate casualties, and retreats to Williamsport and across the Potomac.
June 26	Merged into Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia as its Third Army Corps

Department of the Shenandoah 1862

Order of Battle of the Department of the Shenandoah, April-June 1862

Timeline of the Army of the Shenandoah in 1862