The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April.
Generals of the Army of the Potomac at Culpeper, Virginia in September 1863, including (from left to right): Gouverneur K. Warren, William H. French, George G. Meade, Henry J. Hunt, Andrew A. Humphreys, and George Sykes
The Army of the Potomac – Our Outlying Picket in the Woods, an illustration of the Army of the Potomac by Winslow Homer published in Harper's Weekly on June 7, 1862
Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac, an October 1863 illustration by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly
An illustration of the Army of the Potomac celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with a steeplechase race among the Irish Brigade, drawn by Edwin Forbes on March 17, 1863
Irvin McDowell was an American army officer. He is best known for his defeat in the First Battle of Bull Run, the first large-scale battle of the American Civil War. In 1862, he was given command of the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He fought unsuccessfully against Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's troops during the Valley Campaign of 1862 and was blamed for contributing to the defeat of United States troops at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August.
General Irvin McDowell (left) with General George B. McClellan