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112-597: Between August and December, 1863, the firm delivered 2323 rounds of shot and shell to the Confederate Atlanta Arsenal. At that time the plant employed seventeen men of military age. One source states that cannon were produced here and rifled at the roundhouse of the Western & Atlantic Railroad . The name of the company owning the Works changed several times; one name was Porter & Davis. By

224-609: A higher rate than poor men because they had more to lose. Slavery helped provide them with wealth and power, and they felt that the Civil War would destroy everything that they had if they lost because they saw slavery as the foundation of their wealth, which was under threat and caused them to fight hard. At many points during the war, and especially near the end, the Confederate armies were very poorly fed. At home their families were in worsening condition and faced starvation and

336-663: A less-than-inspiring performance in the Seven Days Battles, including John Magruder and Benjamin Huger . Jackson had five divisions, the commands of A.P. Hill, Ewell, D.H. Hill, and Winder. Longstreet had six divisions commanded by Richard Anderson (formerly Benjamin Huger's division), Cadmus M. Wilcox , James L. Kemper (each commanding half of Longstreet's former division), John Bell Hood (formerly William Whiting's division), David Rumph Jones , and Lafayette McLaws . D.H. Hill's and McLaws's divisions were left behind in

448-420: A letter written to President Davis. Lee even questioned his own plan, as he wrote, "I am aware that the movement is attended with much risk, yet I do not consider success impossible..." In addition, historians question Lee's aggressiveness to move his army to Maryland. "There can be no sort of doubt that Lee underestimated the exhaustion of his army after Second Manassas. That is, in reality, the major criticism of

560-547: A lower grade officer. Barring the same type of circumstances that might leave a lower grade officer in temporary command, divisions were commanded by major generals and corps were commanded by lieutenant generals. A few corps commanders were never confirmed as lieutenant generals and exercised corps command for varying periods as major generals. Armies of more than one corps were commanded by (full) generals. There were four grades of general officer ( general , lieutenant general , major general , and brigadier general ), but all wore

672-583: A month later in May 1865. By the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4, 1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States . They seized federal property, including nearly all U.S. Army forts, within their borders. Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U.S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in

784-528: A nervous breakdown at the Battle of Seven Pines . William Whiting received permanent command of Smith's division, while Richard Anderson reverted to brigade command. Longstreet served as a wing commander for part of the Seven Days Battles and Anderson had operational command of the division at Glendale. The cavalry, organized into a division on August 17, 1862, and into a corps on September 9, 1863,

896-493: A soldier, and his rejection of a Southern identity as a professional author. Because of the destruction of any central repository of records in the capital at Richmond in 1865 and the comparatively poor record-keeping of the time, there can be no definitive number that represents the strength of the Confederate States Army. Estimates range from 500,000 to 2,000,000 soldiers who were involved at any time during

1008-589: A squad or platoon, the smallest infantry maneuver unit in the Army was a company of 100 soldiers. Ten companies were organized into an infantry regiment, which theoretically had 1,000 men. In reality, as disease, desertions and casualties took their toll, and the common practice of sending replacements to form new regiments took hold, most regiments were greatly reduced in strength. By the mid-war, most regiments averaged 300–400 men, with Confederate units slightly smaller on average than their U.S. counterparts. For example, at

1120-583: A turning point in the war for the Union. After the costly victories during the Seven Days Battles and at Second Manassas in August 1862, Lee had now lost a total of 30,000 of his approximately 92,000 troops within three months of becoming the Confederate's top general. Lee then planned to take his troops north into Maryland to destroy a critical railroad bridge across the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg in

1232-534: A wound sustained at the Battle of Gaines's Mill . Jackson had the divisions of D.H. Hill, A.P. Hill, Jubal Early, and Elisha Paxton. Robert Ransom's division returned to North Carolina after Fredericksburg. D.H. Hill also departed after quarreling with Lee. In the Chancellorsville Campaign, Longstreet was sent with Pickett and Hood to the Richmond area. His other two divisions remained with

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1344-546: A year of recovering from the loss of a leg at Second Bull Run) got the divisions of Robert Rodes, Jubal Early, and Edward "Allegheny" Johnson . A Fourth Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson , was organized on October 19, 1864; on April 8, 1865, it was merged into the Second Corps. The commanders of the first three corps changed frequently in 1864 and 1865. By the time of the Pennsylvania invasion, Lee had fixed

1456-481: Is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it. Continuing, retired Professor McPherson also stated that of

1568-574: Is generally referred to today as the Army of Northern Virginia, even if that is correct only in retrospect. In addition to Virginians, it included regiments from all over the Confederacy, some from as far away as Georgia , Texas , and Arkansas . One of the most well known was the Texas Brigade , made up of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas, and the 3rd Arkansas , which distinguished themselves in numerous battles, such as during their fight for

1680-576: The Army of Tennessee and various other units under General Joseph E. Johnston , surrendered to the U.S. on April 9, 1865 (officially April 12), and April 18, 1865 (officially April 26). Other Confederate forces further south and west surrendered between April 16, 1865, and June 28, 1865. By the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted , and some estimates put the number as high as one-third of all Confederate soldiers. The Confederacy's government effectively dissolved when it evacuated

1792-728: The Army of the Potomac , which was organized on June 20, 1861, from all operational forces in Northern Virginia . On July 20 and July 21, the Army of the Shenandoah and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the Army of the Northwest were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17, 1862. The Army of the Potomac was renamed the Army of Northern Virginia on March 14. The Army of

1904-836: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, and Shenandoah Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. The Army reorganized on January 31, 1865 because 69,659 soldiers were fit for battle, but 4,500 or more had no rifles. Following Lieutenant General A.P. Hill's death on April 2, 1865, the Third Corps was dissolved and assigned to the First Corps. On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered. One day later he thanked his men and his officers for their bravery and sturdiness and announced

2016-473: The Battle of New Market in 1864. The first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia was General P. G. T. Beauregard , under its previous name, the Confederate Army of the Potomac, from June 20 to July 20, 1861. His forces consisted of six brigades, with various militia and artillery from the former Department of Alexandria. During his command, Beauregard is noted for creating the battle flag of

2128-491: The Devil's Den at the Battle of Gettysburg . Although West Virginia became a Union state in 1863, Virginia's western counties had contributed between 20,000 and 22,000 men. They greatly outnumbered their Union counterparts at Gettysburg, though the latter received four monuments from West Virginia. Missouri was also represented by a company of cavalry known as the 1st Missouri Cavalry, Co. A. They suffered heavy casualties at

2240-867: The Potomac River in his first invasion of the North in the Antietam campaign in Maryland in September 1862. The Confederate States Army did not have a formal overall military commander, or general in chief, until late in the war. The Confederate President, Jefferson Davis , himself a former U.S. Army officer and U.S. Secretary of War , served as commander-in-chief and provided the overall strategic direction for Confederate land and naval forces in both eastern and western theaters. The following men had varying degrees of control: The lack of centralized control

2352-558: The United States Army (established 1775 / 1789). It was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. The provisional, volunteer army was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress passed on February 28, 1861, one week before the act which established the permanent regular army organization, passed on March 6. Although

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2464-502: The "flimsy and abstract idea that a negro is equal to an Anglo American". One Louisianan artilleryman stated, "I never want to see the day when a negro is put on an equality with a white person. There is too many free niggers ... now to suit me, let alone having four millions." A North Carolinian soldier stated, "[A] white man is better than a nigger." Decades later in 1894 , Virginian and former famous Confederate cavalry leader, John S. Mosby (1833-1916), reflecting on his role in

2576-809: The American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription as a means to supplement the volunteer soldiers. Although exact records are unavailable, estimates of the percentage of Confederate Army soldiers who were drafted are about double the 6 percent of Union Army soldiers who were drafted. According to the National Park Service, "Soldier demographics for the Confederate Army are not available due to incomplete and destroyed enlistment records." Their estimates of Confederate military personnel deaths are about 94,000 killed in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease, and between 25,976 deaths in Union prison camps. One estimate of

2688-494: The American Civil War's soldiers, noted Princeton University war historian and author James M. McPherson (born 1936), contrasts the views of Confederate soldiers regarding slavery with those of the colonial American revolutionaries of the earlier 18th century . He stated that while the American rebel colonists of the 1770s saw an incongruity between owning slaves on the one hand, and proclaiming to be fighting for liberty on

2800-535: The Army as well as the Reserve Artillery with six battalions and the cavalry with six regiments. The army's complete strength was about 90,000 soldiers. The exact strength cannot be determined, because only a few notes for actual provisionings survived. The estimated strength results, if not explicitly noted, from in-battle dispatches. The Seven Days Battle showed the Army still suffered from insufficient organization in army command. General Lee subdivided

2912-404: The Army of Northern Virginia could muster over 72,497 soldiers not counting other personnel. Not figuring into this overall number is the fact that Lee had made the decision to station a whole division and a single cavalry brigade at Shenandoah Valley for protection at this time and these troops are missing from the total estimates. During the autumn of 1862 lasting throughout the following winter

3024-444: The Army of Northern Virginia on May 31, 1862, following the wounding of Gen. J. E. Johnston during the Battle of Seven Pines . With Smith seemingly having a nervous breakdown, President Jefferson Davis drafted orders to place Gen. Robert E. Lee in command the following day. On June 1, 1862, General Robert E. Lee , its final and best known leader historically, took command after Johnston was wounded and Smith suffered what may have been

3136-494: The Army. Major General Hill's Division also remained in the eastern parts of Richmond with the order to bind McClellan's attention as long as possible. As it became predictable that the Army of the Potomac would soon be transferred to support Pope, Lee ordered the Division north. Hill never entered battle in the campaign. A total of about 54,000 soldiers saw action throughout the campaign. The Army's losses before and following

3248-592: The Battle of Second Manassas needed to be replaced before the Maryland Campaign could commence. While fundamental changes in the Army's command structure were not necessary, General Lee exchanged divisions and brigades or added additional strength to some. The wings of the Army were now officially called 'Corps'. In the Maryland Campaign the Army was subdivided as follows. While organization of

3360-461: The Civil War, with General Lee signing the papers of surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant . The day after his surrender, Lee issued his Farewell Address to the Army of Northern Virginia. The Military Department of Northern Virginia was embattled on October 22, 1861. The department initially consisted of three districts under the overall command of General Joseph E. Johnston . On February 28, 1862, there were 47,617 soldiers present for duty to

3472-534: The Confederacy passed the first conscription law in either Confederate or Union history, the Conscription Act, which made all able bodied white men between the ages of 18 and 35 liable for a three-year term of service in the Provisional Army. It also extended the terms of enlistment for all one-year soldiers to three years. Men employed in certain occupations considered to be most valuable for

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3584-821: The Confederacy: Control and operation of the Confederate army were administered by the Confederate States War Department , which was established by the Confederate Provisional Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. The Confederate Congress gave control over military operations, and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the President of the Confederate States of America on February 28, 1861, and March 6, 1861. On March 8,

3696-589: The Confederate Congress passed a law that authorized President Davis to issue proclamations to call up no more than 100,000 men. The C.S. War Department asked for 8,000 volunteers on March 9, 20,000 on April 8, and 49,000 on and after April 16. Davis proposed an army of 100,000 soldiers in his message to Congress on April 29. On August 8, 1861, the Confederacy called for 400,000 volunteers to serve for one or three years. Eight months later in April 1862,

3808-558: The Confederate sample. Indeed, while about one-third of all Confederate soldiers belonged to slaveholding families, slightly more than two-thirds of the sample whose slaveholding status is known did so. In some cases, Confederate men were motivated to join the army in response to the United States' actions regarding its opposition to slavery. After the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 - 1863 , some Confederate soldiers welcomed

3920-534: The Episcopalians, Methodists, and Lutherans. One result was wave after wave of religious revivals in the Army, religion playing a major part in the lives of Confederate soldiers. Some men with a weak religious affiliation became committed Christians, and saw their military service in terms of satisfying God's wishes. Religion strengthened the soldiers' loyalty to their comrades and the Confederacy. Military historian Samuel J. Watson argues that Christian faith

4032-402: The Maryland Campaign. In the days following the Battle of Chancellorsville there were no changes in the army's command structure or hierarchy. The army replaced its own losses with new recruits and soldiers returning to duty. Lee made demands that all regiments had to be consolidated solely with recruits originating from their corresponding home states. Following the Battle of Fredericksburg

4144-577: The Maryland operation: he carried worn-out men across the Potomac." His men were also underarmed and underfed, so the journey to Maryland added to the overall exhaustion. Once Lee arrived in Maryland and was preparing for Antietam, he made another controversial decision. Against the advice from General Longstreet and Jackson, Lee split his troops into four parts to attack the Union from different fronts. Clearly outnumbered and opposed to Lee's plan, Longstreet stated, "General, I wish we could stand still and let

4256-482: The Peninsula was merged into it on April 12, 1862. Robert E. Lee 's biographer, Douglas S. Freeman , asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1, 1862. However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Joseph E. Johnston , his predecessor in army command, prior to that date and referred to Johnston's command as the Army of Northern Virginia. Part of

4368-538: The Peninsula Campaign, where it conducted delay and defend tactics until Johnston was severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines . During the months after the First Battle of Bull Run , Johnston organized his Shenandoah Army and Beauregard's Potomac Army into two divisions under a unified command with Gustavus Smith and James Longstreet as division commanders. Beauregard quarreled with Johnston and

4480-470: The Richmond area and did not participate in the Northern Virginia campaign. The army was also joined for the Northern Virginia and Maryland Campaigns by Nathan G. Evans 's independent South Carolina brigade and a North Carolina brigade led by Brig. Gen Thomas Drayton . During the Maryland campaign , D.H. Hill rejoined the main army along with Lafayette McLaws. Kemper's division was merged with

4592-402: The Union in Maryland. Although the Army of Northern Virginia swelled and shrank over time, its units of organization consisted primarily of corps, earlier referred to as "wings" or "commands": The Army fought in a number of campaigns and battles, including: On April 9, 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Court House , effectively ending

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4704-407: The Union. They felt that they had no choice but to help defend their homes. President Abraham Lincoln was exasperated to hear of such men who professed to love their country but were willing to fight against it. As in the U.S. Army , the Confederate Army's soldiers were organized by military specialty. The combat arms included infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Although fewer soldiers might comprise

4816-412: The United States forces to win the independence of the Southern states and uphold and expand the institution of slavery . On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate States president, Jefferson Davis (1808-1889),. Davis

4928-446: The army again, but this time only with single commands. He introduced a corps-like structure of command, and as an intermediate army management he named the left and right wing. The Army was organized on August 28, 1862, as follows. The Army's Reserve Artillery consisted of one regiment and two battalions. They stayed in the area of Richmond in the course of the whole Northern Virginia Campaign and only returned on September 3, 1862, to

5040-402: The army faced the Army of the Potomac at Rappahannock. Thereout arose a new problem: Because of the necessity to always show its presence to the enemy there were only limited supplies available for the army from the surrounding villages and towns. Any army at these times supplied itself along the way while moving across the theater of war. Even ordering supplies through the use of the rail, if it

5152-444: The army was resubordinated again. Changes were not significant; only the cavalry saw important reorganization. The Army's strength was then 55,221 soldiers. The changes in command until December 31, 1863, were only minor. Cooke's Brigade was assigned to serve with Heth's Division, Hampton's Division grew by a cavalry brigade and the Third Corps gained an additional artillery battalion. Imboden's Command remained at Shenandoah Valley and

5264-474: The army, such as the construction of fortifications and defenses or driving wagons. Since these figures include estimates of the total number of soldiers who served at any time during the war, they do not represent the size of the army at any given date. These numbers also do not include sailors / marines who served in the Confederate States Navy . Although most of the soldiers who fought in

5376-487: The army, which came to be the primary battle flag for all corps and forces under the Army of Northern Virginia. The flag was designed due to confusion during battle between the Confederate Stars and Bars flag and the flag of the United States . Beauregard continued commanding these troops as the new First Corps under Gen. J. E. Johnston as it was joined by the Army of the Shenandoah on July 20, 1861, when command

5488-551: The artillery battalions of the Reserve Artillery to serve directly with the Corps for the duration of the Gettysburg Campaign . The Army of Northern Virginia now comprised a total of 75,054 soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg . The army fielded more than 241 cannons following the Battle of Gettysburg. On September 9, General Lee had to dispatch the First Corps to Braxton Bragg 's Army of Tennessee . Following this

5600-489: The assigned divisions only returned to join the Army of Northern Virginia again following the Battle of Chancellorsville . The army was composed at this battle out of over 61.500 soldiers. Lee took Jackson's death as an opportunity to subdivide the North Virginia Corps again. President Jefferson Davis agreed to the subdivision and ordered Lee in his Special Order Nr. 146 to reorganize the Army. Lee ordered

5712-454: The city harbor began bombarding bombarding Fort Sumter on April 12–13, 1861 and forced its capitulation on April 14. The remaining loyal United States in the North, outraged by the Confederacy's attack, demanded war. It rallied behind new 16th President Lincoln's call on April 15 for all the loyal states to send their state militia units avolunteer troops to reinforce and protect the national federal capital of Washington, D.C. , to recapture

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5824-474: The confusion results from the fact that Johnston commanded the Department of Northern Virginia (as of October 22, 1861) and the name Army of Northern Virginia can be seen as an informal consequence of its parent department's name. Jefferson Davis and Johnston did not adopt the name, but it is clear that the organization of units as of March 14 was the same organization that Lee received on June 1, and thus it

5936-651: The corps was found to be generally reliable, the corps' subdivision into four or five divisions hampered overall ease of command. General Lee had already considered before the Battle of Antietam to slim down the overall structure, but intended there be no changes in leadership. The Confederate Congress authorized the establishment of the Corps, and President Davis affirmed the assignment of the commanders and promoted Major Generals Longstreet and Jackson to Lieutenant Generals. General Lee announced this in Special Order 234 on November 6, 1862. About 60,000 soldiers served at

6048-542: The course of the Peninsula Campaign. The corps-like structure was rearranged before the Seven Days Battle to converge with the requirements of actual command. In the course of this battle the Army featured two Corps; Jackson's and Magruder's, with four and three divisions respectively, and three actual divisions with five to six brigades. Also the Defense District of North Carolina answered directly to

6160-436: The damned Yankees come to us!" As the fighting played out on September 17, 1862, known as the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, the battles at Dunker Church and Burnside's Bridge proved to be too much for Lee and his Confederate army. Luckily for Lee, the arrival of A.P. Hill's troops and the mixture of McClellan's and Burnside's sluggishness, saved Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and allowed them to barely hold off

6272-559: The depredations of roving bands of marauders. Many soldiers went home temporarily (A.W.O.L. - " Absent Without Official Leave ") and quietly returned when their family problems had been resolved. By September 1864, however, President Davis publicly admitted that two-thirds of the soldiers were absent, "most of them without leave". The problem escalated rapidly after that, and fewer and fewer men returned. Soldiers who were fighting in defense of their homes realized that they had to desert to fulfill that duty. Historian Mark Weitz argues that

6384-463: The division of David R. Jones, a more senior, experienced officer, and Kemper reverted to brigade command. In addition, Robert Ransom commanded two brigades from the Department of North Carolina. At Antietam, Longstreet commanded the divisions of Anderson, McLaws, Jones, Hood, and Ransom while Jackson had the divisions of John R. Jones, Alexander Lawton, A.P. Hill, and D.H. Hill. The Northern Virginia and Maryland Campaigns still showed numerous defects in

6496-458: The extent the word " battalion " was used to describe a military unit, it referred to a multi-company task force of a regiment or a near-regimental size unit. Throughout the war, the Confederacy raised the equivalent of 1,010 regiments in all branches, including militias, versus 2,050 regiments for the U.S. Army. Four regiments usually formed a brigade , although as the number of soldiers in many regiments became greatly reduced, especially later in

6608-500: The four-year old capital of Richmond, Virginia on April 3, 1865, and fled southwest by railroad train with the President Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet gradually continuing moving southwestward first to Lynchburg, Virginia and lost communication to its remaining military commanders, and soon exerted no control over the remaining armies. They were eventually caught and captured near Irwinville, Georgia

6720-422: The harbor of Charleston, South Carolina . On February 28, shortly before Lincoln was sworn in as president, the Provisional Confederate Congress had authorized the organization of a large Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS). Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis , C.S. troops under the command of General Pierre Gustave Toutant / P. G. T. Beauregard military forces surrounding

6832-407: The heritage of 1776 in opposite ways. Confederates professed to fight for liberty and independence from a too radical government; Unionists said they fought to preserve the nation conceived in liberty from dismemberment and destruction ... The rhetoric of liberty that had permeated the letters of Confederate volunteers in 1861, grew even stronger as the war progressed. Before and during the Civil War,

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6944-618: The home front (such as railroad and river workers, civil officials, telegraph operators, miners, druggists and teachers) were exempt from the draft. The act was amended twice in 1862. On September 27, the maximum age of conscription was extended to 45. On October 11, the Confederate States Congress passed the so-called " Twenty Negro Law ", which exempted anyone who owned 20 or more slaves, a move that caused deep resentment among conscripts who did not own slaves. The C.S. Congress enacted several more amendments throughout

7056-446: The hundreds of Confederate soldiers' letters he had examined, none of them contained any anti-slavery sentiment whatsoever: Although only 20 percent of the soldiers avowed explicit proslavery purposes in their letters and diaries, none at all dissented from that view. McPherson admits some flaws in his sampling of letters. Soldiers from slaveholding families were overrepresented by 100%: Nonslaveholding farmers are underrepresented in

7168-453: The main army; they were directly commanded by Lee during this time. Robert Rodes took over D.H. Hill's division. Jackson was mortally wounded during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Afterwards, Lee divided the army into three corps with three divisions each. Longstreet got the divisions of Pickett, McLaws, and Hood; A.P. Hill got the divisions of Harry Heth, William D. Pender, and Richard Anderson; and Richard Ewell (returning to action after almost

7280-401: The military district. The Cavalry Brigade was provided from the Potomac's Military District and under direct control from the Defense District. The artillery formed an Artillery Corps with 109 cannons. The Army of Northern Virginia was established on March 14, 1862, again under Johnston. Though the military department stayed existent its role changed into an administrative division for most of

7392-602: The military situation at Charleston Harbor in Charleston, South Carolina , where South Carolina state militia had besieged the longtime Federal Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U.S. Army garrison under the command of Major Robert Anderson . (1805-1871). By March 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States meeting in the temporary capital of Montgomery, Alabama , expanded

7504-511: The move, as they believed it would strengthen pro-slavery sentiment in the Confederacy, and thus lead to greater enlistment of soldiers in the Confederate armies. One Confederate soldier from the West in Texas gave his reasons for fighting for the Confederacy, stating that "we are fighting for our property", contrasting this with the motivations of Union soldiers, who, he claimed, were fighting for

7616-592: The need to protect or to destroy slavery. Others point to less overtly political reasons to fight, such as the defense of one's home and family, or the honor and brotherhood to be preserved when fighting alongside other men. Most historians agree that, no matter what he thought about when he went into the war, the experience of combat affected him profoundly and sometimes affected his reasons for continuing to fight. Educated soldiers drew upon their knowledge of American history to justify their costs. Historian James M. McPherson says: Confederate and Union soldiers interpreted

7728-464: The official count of 103,400 deserters is too low. He concludes that most of the desertions came because the soldier felt he owed a higher duty to his own family than to the Confederacy. Confederate policies regarding desertion generally were severe. For example, on August 19, 1862, famed General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863), approved the court-martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion, rejecting pleas for clemency from

7840-609: The organization and leadership of the Army of Northern Virginia, particularly the high rate of straggling and desertion during the invasion of Maryland. Lee had fewer than 40,000 men on the field at Antietam, the smallest his army would be until the Appomattox Campaign. During the Fredericksburg Campaign, Longstreet had the divisions of Anderson, Hood, McLaws, Ransom, and George Pickett , who had just returned to action after months of convalescence from

7952-414: The organizational defects that plagued the army during its early campaigns and the straggling problems of the Maryland Campaign did not repeat themselves. After taking over command in mid-1862, Lee began preparing to lead the Army of Northern Virginia for the first time. However, his aggressiveness to attack the Union led to the loss of many troops especially at the Battle of Antietam , which ended up being

8064-454: The original core army that had been led by Johnston, there were assorted other commands from the Richmond area and North Carolina, as well as Jackson's Valley Army. The inexperience and poor coordination of the army led to the failure of Lee's plans to destroy the Army of the Potomac. As soon as the Seven Days Battles were over, Lee reorganized his army into two corps commanded by Jackson and Longstreet. He removed several generals who had turned in

8176-464: The other, the later Confederacy's soldiers did not, as the Confederate ideology of white supremacy negated any contradiction between the two: Unlike many slaveholders in the age of Thomas Jefferson, Confederate soldiers from slaveholding families expressed no feelings of embarrassment or inconsistency in fighting for their liberty while holding other people in slavery. Indeed, white supremacy and

8288-451: The pivotal Battle of Chancellorsville , the average U.S. Army infantry regiment's strength was 433 men, versus 409 for Confederate infantry regiments. Rough unit sizes for CSA combat units during the war: Regiments, which were the basic units of army organization through which soldiers were supplied and deployed, were raised by individual states. They were generally referred by number and state, for example 1st Texas , 12th Virginia . To

8400-469: The popular press of Richmond, including its five major newspapers, sought to inspire a sense of patriotism, Confederate identity, and the moral high ground in the southern population. The southern churches met the shortage of Army chaplains by sending missionaries. The Southern Baptists sent a total of 78 missionaries, starting in 1862. Presbyterians were even more active, with 112 missionaries sent in early 1865. Other missionaries were funded and supported by

8512-613: The provisional military forces and established a more permanent regular Confederate States Army. An accurate count of the total number of individuals who served in the Military forces of the Confederate States (Army, Navy and Marine Corps) is not possible due to incomplete and destroyed / burned Confederate records; and archives. Estimates of the number of Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 troops. This does not include an unknown number of Negro slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for

8624-404: The rank of (full) general; the highest-ranking (earliest date of rank) was Samuel Cooper , Adjutant General and Inspector General of the Confederate States Army. Officers' uniforms bore a braided design on the sleeves and kepi , the number of adjacent strips (and therefore the width of the lines of the design) denoting rank. The color of the piping and kepi denoted the military branch. The braid

8736-546: The reserve was composed out of two more battalions. The Confederate War Department strongly suggested in position papers to Lee dating from the February 18th, 1862 to station two divisions at the Atlantic coast. Lee was not averse to any such demands, probably very much on the contrary, because of the tight position he was in with the general lack of provisions, so he gave orders to General Longstreet to have it done so. Both of

8848-443: The right of property in slaves were at the core of the ideology for which Confederate soldiers fought. McPherson states that Confederate States Army soldiers did not discuss the issue of slavery as often as the opposing United States Army soldiers did, because most Confederate soldiers readily accepted as an obvious fact that they were fighting to perpetuate slavery and thus did not feel the need to debate over it: [O]nly 20 percent of

8960-409: The same insignia regardless of grade. This was a decision made early in the conflict. The Confederate Congress initially made the rank of brigadier general the highest rank. As the war progressed, the other general-officer ranks were quickly added, but no insignia for them was created. (Robert E. Lee was a notable exception to this. He chose to wear the rank insignia of a colonel.) Only seven men achieved

9072-422: The sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from non-slaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent. Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater, as the next chapter will show. There

9184-459: The soldiers' regimental commander. General Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation. Historians of the Civil War have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home. Local pressures mounted as Union forces occupied more and more Confederate territory, putting more and more families at risk of hardship. One Confederate Army officer at

9296-488: The solidarity of the Confederacy was dissatisfaction in the Appalachian Mountains districts caused by lingering Unionism and a distrust of the power wielded by the slave-holding class. Many of their soldiers deserted, returned home, and formed a military force that fought off Regular Army units trying to capture and punish them. North Carolina lost nearly a quarter of its soldiers (24,122) to desertion. This

9408-453: The state capital of Virginia in Richmond. Both the United States and the Confederate States began in earnest to raise large, mostly volunteer, armies, with the opposing objectives: putting down the rebellion and preserving the Union on the one hand, and establishing Southern independence from the northern United States on the other. The Confederate States Congress provided for a regular Confederate States Army, patterned after its parent in

9520-455: The subsequent acts came before five state supreme courts; all five upheld them. In his 2010 book Major Problems in the Civil War , historian Michael Perman says that historians are of two minds on why millions of men seemed so eager to fight, suffer and die over four years: Some historians emphasize that Civil War soldiers were driven by political ideology, holding firm beliefs about the importance of liberty, Union, or state rights, or about

9632-456: The time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non-slave-holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable. It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances." Some soldiers also deserted from ideological motivations. A growing threat to

9744-401: The total Confederate wounded is 194,026. In comparison, the best estimates of the number of Union military personnel deaths are 110,100 killed in battle, 224,580 deaths from disease, and 30,218 deaths in Confederate prison camps. The estimated figure for Union Army wounded is 275,174. The main Confederate armies, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee and the remnants of

9856-748: The turn of the 20th century, the Atlanta Machine Works was producing agricultural and mining equipment as well as mills. Confederate Army The Confederate States Army , also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army , was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against

9968-400: The two forces were to exist concurrently, little was done to organize the Confederate regular army. Members of all the military forces of the Confederate States (the army, the navy, and the marine corps) are often referred to as "Confederates", and members of the Confederate army were referred to as "Confederate soldiers". Supplementing the Confederate army were the various state militias of

10080-443: The various forts, arsenals, shipyards and other seized federal installations from the secessionists, to put down and suppress the rebellion and to save the Union. Four more upper border slave states (North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and finally Virginia) then joined the Confederacy, making eleven seceded states rather than fight fellow Southerners. The Confederacy then moved its national capital from temporary Montgomery, Alabama to

10192-436: The war to address losses suffered in battle as well as the United States' greater supply of manpower. In December 1863, it abolished the previous practice of allowing a rich drafted man to hire a substitute to take his place in the ranks. Substitution had also been practiced in the United States, leading to similar resentment from the lower classes. In February 1864, the age limits were extended to between 17 and 50. Challenges to

10304-488: The war, more than four were often assigned to a brigade. Occasionally, regiments would be transferred between brigades. Two to four brigades usually formed a division . Two to four divisions usually formed a corps . Two to four corps usually formed an army. Occasionally, a single corps might operate independently as if it were a small army. The Confederate States Army consisted of several field armies, named after their primary area of operation. The largest Confederate field army

10416-590: The war, stated in a letter to a friend that "I've always understood that we went to war on account of the thing we quarreled with the North about. I've never heard of any other cause than slavery." As stated by researcher / authors Andrew Hall, Connor Huff and Shiro Kuriwaki in the article Wealth, Slaveownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: An Empirical Study of the American Civil War , research done using an 1862 Georgia lottery showed that rich white Southern men actually enlisted at

10528-608: The war. At the outset of the Peninsula Campaign the Army of Northern Virginia had more than 55,633 soldiers. The cannon was assigned to the brigades, as well as the Reserve's artillery. Nominally, Jackson's Corps in the Shenandoah Valley, was subordinate to the Army. Since Jackson led his own campaign at the time of the Peninsula Campaign and was not under Lee's direct command this overview does not include his three divisions. The Army's organization soon proved inept in

10640-486: The war. Reports from the C.S. War Department beginning at the end of 1861 indicated 326,768 men that year, 449,439 in 1862, 464,646 in 1863, 400,787 in 1864, and "last reports" showed 358,692. Estimates of enlistments throughout the war range from 1,227,890 to 1,406,180. The following calls for soldiers were issued: The C.S.A. was initially a (strategically) defensive army, and many soldiers were resentful when General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia across

10752-680: Was a graduate of the United States Military Academy , on the Hudson River at West Point, New York , colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War (1846-1848). He had also been a United States senator from Mississippi and served as U.S. Secretary of War under 14th President Franklin Pierce . On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the new Confederate States government, Davis assumed control of

10864-410: Was a major factor in combat motivation. According to his analysis, the soldiers' faith was consoling for the loss of comrades; it was a shield against fear; it helped reduce drinking and fighting in the ranks; it enlarged the soldiers' community of close friends and helped compensate for their long-term separation from home. In his 1997 book For Cause and Comrades , which examines the motivations of

10976-449: Was a strategic weakness for the Confederacy, and there are only a few examples of its armies acting in concert across multiple theaters to achieve a common objective. One instance occurred in late 1862 with Lee's invasion of Maryland , coincident with two other actions: Bragg's invasion of Kentucky and Earl Van Dorn 's advance against Corinth, Mississippi . All three initiatives were unsuccessful, however. Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown

11088-505: Was an available option at all, took up considerable time and efforts and supply treks by wagons were potentially prone to enemy assaults. This left Lee with few options and therefore he gave the special order on December 24, 1862, to move half of his artillery into the hinterlands to have his horses better supplied. He forbade to assign all of the horses to any other task than official assignments. On February 15, 1863, Lee rearranged his artillery. Six battalions were assigned to both corps, and

11200-845: Was an extreme case of a Southern States Rights advocate asserting control over Confederate soldiers: he defied the Confederate government's wartime policies and resisted the military draft. Believing that local troops should be used only for the defense of Georgia, Brown tried to stop Colonel Francis Bartow from taking Georgia troops out of the state to the First Battle of Bull Run. Many of the Confederacy's senior military leaders (including Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston , and James Longstreet ) and even President Jefferson Davis, were former U.S. Army and, in smaller numbers, U.S. Navy officers who had been opposed to, disapproved of, or were at least unenthusiastic about secession, but resigned their U.S. commissions upon hearing that their states had left

11312-638: Was assigned in July to the Defense District of North Carolina and Richmond. In the course of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign the number of soldiers temporarily grew to 82,633 while parts of the Army were under the command by Lieutenant General Early in Shenandoah Valley. In 1864, the Army of Northern Virginia fought forces over twice as strong as that of the Potomac, James and Shenandoah Army in Grant's Overland Campaign , Early's Raid against

11424-436: Was commanded by Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart until May 11, 1864 (the day he was mortally wounded). The cavalry corps was then temporarily split into divisions, but was merged again on August 11, 1864, under command of Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton III . The Reserve Artillery was commanded by Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton for most of the war. During the Seven Days Battles, Lee had eleven separate divisions under his command. Aside from

11536-475: Was created and led by A.P. Hill consisting of several new brigades from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia, soon augmented with James Archer's brigade from Smith's division. At Seven Pines, Longstreet and Smith served as temporary wing commanders, and operational control of their divisions went to Brig. Gen William H.C. Whiting and Brig. Gen Richard H. Anderson . Maj. Gen. Gustavus Woodson Smith commanded

11648-518: Was merged with several smaller Confederate commands, including a division led by D.H. Hill as well as Benjamin Huger 's Department of Norfolk, John Magruder's Army of the Peninsula, and miscellaneous brigades and regiments pulled from various Southern states. Richard Ewell was elevated to division command in the spring of 1862 and sent to join Jackson in the Valley. On May 27, an additional new division

11760-524: Was officially created, officially ending the Army of the Potomac. The department comprised three districts: Aquia District, Potomac District, and the Valley District . In April 1862, the department was expanded to include the Departments of Norfolk and the Peninsula (of Virginia). Johnston was eventually forced into maneuvering the Army southward to the defenses of Richmond during the opening of

11872-424: Was relinquished to General J. E. Johnston. The following day this army fought its first major engagement in the First Battle of Manassas. With the merging of the Army of the Shenandoah, General Joseph E. Johnston took command from July 20, 1861, until May 31, 1862. Under the command of Johnston, the Army immediately entered into the First Battle of Manassas . On October 22, 1861, the Department of Northern Virginia

11984-595: Was sometimes left off by officers since it made them conspicuous targets. The kepi was rarely used, the common slouch hat being preferred for its practicality in the Southern climate. Branch colors were used for the color of chevrons—blue for infantry, yellow for cavalry, and red for artillery. This could differ with some units, however, depending on available resources or the unit commander's desire. Cavalry regiments from Texas, for example, often used red insignia and at least one Texas infantry regiment used black. Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia

12096-453: Was taken over by Major General Early as the Defense District of Shenandoah Valley. The strength of the army was 54,715 men on December 31. The organization of the Army of Northern Virginia did not change until the end of the war. The Army featured several corps, the corps featured several divisions, and the artillery was divided between the corps. The strength of the Army grew in the first six months from about 46,380 to 62,230 soldiers. The army

12208-509: Was the Army of Northern Virginia , whose surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865 marked the end of major combat operations in the U.S. Civil War. Companies were commanded by captains and had two or more lieutenants. Regiments were commanded by colonels. Lieutenant colonels were second in command. At least one major was next in command. Brigades were commanded by brigadier generals although casualties or other attrition sometimes meant that brigades would be commanded by senior colonels or even

12320-439: Was the highest rate of desertion of any Confederate state. Young Samuel Clemens (1835-1910, later to be known as Mark Twain ) soon deserted the Southern army long before he became a world-famous writer, journalist and lecturer, but he often commented upon that episode in his life comically, even writing a book about it. Author Neil Schmitz has examined the deep unease Twain felt about losing his honor, his fear of facing death as

12432-558: Was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War . It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac . The name Army of Northern Virginia referred to its primary area of operation, which was typical of most Confederate States Army names. The Army originated as

12544-518: Was transferred to the Western theater over the winter months. Jackson was sent to the Shenandoah Valley in October 1861, initially with his own old Stonewall Brigade and later with two other brigades from Western Virginia. Several newly arrived brigades were added to Johnston's army in late 1861-early 1862. When the Peninsula Campaign began, Johnston took his army down to the Richmond environs where it

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