Major-General Henry Wager Halleck, "Old Brains," is appointed to head the new Union Department of the Missouri

Major-General Henry W. Halleck was a studious West Point graduate, known as "Old Brains" in the Army, who General Scott had favored to replace him as general-in-chief.  After President Lincoln appointed George B. McClellan to that post, he assigned Halleck to command the newly created Department of the Missouri, which replaced the old Department of the West and included operations in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and western Kentucky. Halleck later did become general-in-chief in July 1862.  (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Stephen D. Engle, Struggle For the Heartland: The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 20-21. 
    Date Certainty
    Exact
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    Battles/Soldiers
    How to Cite This Page: "Major-General Henry Wager Halleck, "Old Brains," is appointed to head the new Union Department of the Missouri," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/38220.