In May 1861, Colonel John B. Magruder was assigned to command operations on the lower Virginia Peninsula with Yorktown as headquarters.

Magruder fought a portion of his command to good effect at Big Bethel, an early Confederate victory.

[1] By year's end, the force had swollen to 13,000 men, still commanded by Magruder, now major general.

In April 1862 Magruder's army was incorporated into the right wing of the larger army of Joseph E. Johnston, preparing defenses against an expected attack by George B. McClellan in what would become the Peninsula Campaign.

This article about a specific military unit of the American Civil War is a stub.