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Army of Northern Virginia
was wounded at
Seven Pines, May 31, 1862, and
Major-General G. W. Smith took command of the Army of Northern Virginia.
On June 1st,
General Robert E. Lee assumed command.
In April, the forces on the
Peninsula had been included in this army, and now the troops in
eastern Virginia and
North Carolina were made part of it. By the end of July, 1862, the division organization had been further concentrated into three commands, or corps, headed by
Major-Generals T. J. Jackson,
James Longstreet, and
D. H. Hill, with cavalry under
Brigadier-General J. E. B. Stuart, and artillery under
Brigadier-General W. N. Pendleton.
There was an aggregate present of about ninety-five thousand.
Subsequently, the army took a more permanent form in two corps commanded by
Jackson and
Longstreet, with cavalry corps and artillery separate.
Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill was given the Second Corps after
Jackson's death, and on May 30, 1863, this was divided, with additions from the First Corps, into the Second and Third corps, commanded by
Lieutenant-Generals R. S. Ewell and
A. P. Hill respectively.
The army numbered about seventy thousand in the
Gettysburg campaign.
This organization of the main body of the army continued throughout the war, although other generals, for various reasons, commanded the corps from time to time.
A new corps of
North Carolina and
Virginia troops under
Lieutenant-General R. H. Anderson was added at the end of 1864.
Longstreet's corps, with the exception of
Pickett's division, was with the Army of Tennessee, and in
eastern Tennessee, for a short period in 1863 and 1864, at and after the
battle of Chickamauga.
The last report of the army, February, 1865, showed an aggregate present of over seventy-three thousand.
The Army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865.
First Corps—Army of Northern Virginia
The organization of the volunteer Confederate forces under
Brigadier-General Beauregard into the First Corps, Army of the Potomac, was announced on June 20, 1861.
There were then six brigades, which number was increased later to eight.
The strength of the corps was about thirty thousand.
A division organization was afterward adopted, and one of these divisions, commanded by
Major-General Longstreet, was denominated the Center of Position, Army of Northern Virginia, at the opening of the
Peninsula campaign.
It contained about fourteen thousand men. As the Second Division (or Corps) of the army, the troops fought from
Fair Oaks, where they were known as the Right Wing, through the Seven Days battles.
Toward the end of July, the army was further concentrated into commands of which one, consisting of six divisions, was headed by
Longstreet, and this, during the campaign against
Pope, was called the Right Wing or
Longstreet's Corps.
After the
battle of Antietam, the corps was designated the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
In September, 1863,
Lee sent the corps, with the exception of
Pickett's division, to assist
Bragg, and, as
Longstreet's Corps, fought in the Army of Tennessee at
Chickamauga and remained in
East Tennessee until April, 1864, when it rejoined the Army of Virginia.
Major-General R. H. Anderson succeeded to the command of the corps after
Longstreet was wounded at the
battle of the Wilderness, day 6th.
The latter returned to his corps, October 19th, and continued at the head until the surrender at
Appomattox.
(U. S. M.A. 1842) was born in
Edgefield District, South Carolina, January 8, 1821, and served in the
Mexican War, where he was severely wounded.
In June, 1861, he resigned as major in the army and was appointed brigadier-general in the
Confederate service.
As
major-general, he had a division, and, later, as lieutenant-general, the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia.
In September, 1863, he was sent with part of his corps to
Tennessee and took command of the left wing at the
battle of Chickamauga.
He was then placed at the head of the Department of East
Tennessee and returned to
Virginia in April, 1864.
He was severely wounded at the
battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, but resumed command of the corps in October.
After the war, he engaged in business in New Orleans and held several political offices.
In 1880– 81 he was American minister to
Turkey, and in 1898 he was appointed
United States railway commissioner.
He died at
Gainesville, Georgia, January 2, 1904.
