Contibuted To Loss At First Bull Run

Major General Robert Patterson

The Union Department of Pennsylvania was merged into the Department of the Shenandoah August 24^th 1861, following the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.

The Department of Pennsylvania was established April 27^th 1861, and covered the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  The Department was under the command of Union Major General Robert Patterson.  The force was made up of mostly of three month troops from New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  The men of the Department achieved an early tactical victory at the Battle of Hoke’s Run July 2^nd 1861.  Patterson and his Department of Pennsylvania was held as indirectly contributing to the Union loss at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21^st 1861.

The Department was disbanded August 24^th 1861.  Any of the regiments whose terms of enlistments weren’t up, and their commanders were merged into the Department of the Shenandoah under the command of Union Major General Nathaniel P Banks.  Patterson received an honorable discharge from the Union Army July 27^th 1861.

Before He Was The Stonewall

A part of the Manassas Campaign the Battle of Hoke’s Run or the Battle of Falling Waters as it is also known was fought July 2^nd 1861 in Berkeley County, Virginia by Confederate then Colonel Thomas J Jackson’s and Union General Robert Patterson’s forces.

Union General Robert Patterson’s division crossed the Potomac marching for Martinsburg, Virginia on July 2^nd 1861.  Two of his Brigades under the command of Colonel John Joseph Abercrombie and Colonel George Henry Thomas ran into some of Colonel Thomas J Jackson’s men near Hoke’s Run.  The Union troops slowly pushed Jackson’s men back.  Jackson’s orders were to delay any Union advances, which he accomplished in the face of Patterson’s much large force.

Patterson continued his move toward Martinsburg, occupying the city on July 3^rd 1861.  This small battle produced about 23 Union casualties and about 91 Confederate ones.

Another web site about this battle can be found at Falling Waters Battlefield Association

Failure In The Shenandoah

Robert Patterson was mustered into service and given command of the districts of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Pennsylvania April 15th 1861.


Robert Patterson was born January 12th 1792 in Cappagh, Tyrone, Ireland. His family emigrated to the United States in 1799. He attended local schools and then clerked in a Philadelphia counting house. Volunteering for service, Patterson rose in rank during the War of 1812 to Colonel in the 2nd Pennsylvania Militia. With the Mexican-American war he was commissioned a Major General, and saw action at the Battle of Cerro Gordo and Veracruz. Following the war he returned to Pennsylvania where he joined in politics and became quite wealthy because of his cotton mills and a Louisiana sugar plantation.

When the Civil War started Patterson was appointed Major General of Pennsylvania volunteers. He was given the command of the Department of Pennsylvania and the Army of the Shenandoah on April 15th 1861. Ordered to re-take the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Patterson failed, and was then outmaneuvered at the Battle of Hoke’s Run, and by Confederate Brigadier General Joseph E Johnston at Winchester Virginia. Due to Patterson’s failure with Johnston, the Confederate leader was able to be at First Bull Run. Patterson was honorably discharged from the Army July 27th 1861.

Patterson returned to his cotton mills and wrote the book “A Narrative of the Campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah in 1861” which was published in 1865. He was the President of the Aztec Club from 1867 to 1881. Patterson died August 7th 1881 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and is buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery there.