United States Armies in the East
| 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 |
Organization of the Department of the Shenandoah, April-June 1862 |
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| Department of the Shenandoah, April 1862 Department of the Shenandoah, May 1862 Department of the Shenandoah, June 1862 |
Timeline of the Army of the Shenandoah in 1862 |
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| April 4 | The Department was 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 forded Stony Creek, surprising Turner Ashby’s Confederate cavalry |
| April 19 | Banks occupied New Market |
| May 10 | Lincoln ordered Banks to transfer Shield’s Division to McDowell’s Department of the Rappahannock, retreat to Strasburg and go on the defensive. |
| May 23 | Battle of Front Royal. Banks’ outpost at Front Royal was almost wiped out |
| May 24 | Banks retreated from Strasburg, causing Lincoln to halt McDowell’s planed movement to join McClellan around Richmond. |
| May 25 | Battle of Winchester. Banks lost 2,000 casualties, mostly as prisoners, vs. 400 Confederate casualties, and retreated to Williamsport and across the Potomac. |
| June 26 | The Department was merged into Major General John Pope’s Army of Virginia as its Third Army Corps |