The Corps was originally formed before the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 by combining Daniel Ruggles' Alabama Division and Braxton Bragg's Army of Pensacola.[1] The Corps was forming in Corinth, Mississippi, when it was made the II Corps, Army of the Mississippi. It contained two divisions; the first one was under Jones Withers and the second was under Daniel Ruggles. The II Corps numbered 22,000 men, making it the largest in the Confederate Army, and was placed under command of Braxton Bragg.
At its first battle (Shiloh), the Corps initially drove Benjamin Prentiss's Union division from their camps. But when Prentiss, W. H. L. Wallace and their divisions dug in at the Hornet's Nest, Bragg assaulted the position from all sides for hours without dislodging them. Suffering heavily, the Second Corps was completely disorganized by the time they forced Prentiss out and was held in reserve for the rest of the battle, briefly fighting on the second day.
With many line officers killed or wounded, the Corps took months to refit. Fighting in the Corinth Campaign, the Corps was later re-organized for its next operation in September 1862, the invasion of Kentucky.
Service and reorganization
The II Corps after Corinth was again reorganized with two divisions, the first under Patton Anderson and the second under Simon Buckner. The Corps was now led by William Hardee, and Braxton Bragg was promoted to army command.[2] The Corps was only lightly engaged at Perryville, however, and the entire Army wasn't even present.
The Corps and the entire Army were re-organized again. John Breckinridge and his division, who had fought at Shiloh but were absent at Perryville, were now attached. Numbering 11,000 men, his division boosted the strength of the corps by 40%. Anderson's division was dispersed between Buckner and the I Corps, but to replace him was a division from Kirby Smith's Army under John McCown. Buckner was sent to Knoxville, but his division was then placed under the brilliant commander Patrick Cleburne. The Corps all in all numbered approximately 25,000 men; McCown's division had 5,000, Breckinridge had 11,000 and Cleburne had 9,000.
Stones River and middle Tennessee
After the reorganization in the fall of 1862, the Army of Tennessee was ready for action, as was the Second Corps. This action took place at Murfreesboro, in the Battle of Stones River. The battle began when William Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland marched south from Nashville against Bragg at Murfreesboro.[2] Bragg ordered an assault on the Union right flank, where George Thomas and Alexander McCook's corps were stationed. In a pre-dawn assault similar to Shiloh, Hardee's Corps was the spearhead when McCown's division attacked at 5:30 am. His attack, as well as Cleburne's, threw the entire Union force in flight, pushing both corps back over a mile. Weary and exhausted, they stopped as Polk and his Corps were to finish the job. Leonidas Polk mismanaged his assaults, and all Confederate gains by the II Corps were squandered and not exploited. Eventually, it fell to the II Corps to do the work again, and they eventually drove Phil Sheridan's division, who kept Polk stopped all afternoon. The battle otherwise was a Confederate success so far, mainly due to Hardee and the II corps. The next two days decided the final outcome.
Rather than following up on victory, Braxton Bragg waited a day, then on January 2 attacked Rosecrans with the reserve of the army, Breckinridge's division from the II corps. Breckinridge was ordered to assault the Union left, Thomas Crittenden's Corps over open ground and a river. Breckinridge, Hardee, Cleburne and the other officers protested, but Bragg didn't listen. Breckinridge drove the first Union division at the river in a suicidal charge, but was bloodied once he attacked the main line. Bragg retreated the next day, with the II Corps as the rear guard.
Chickamauga-Chattanooga
The Corps was reorganized yet again after Stones River. Alexander P. Stewart and his division of 6,000 were attached to the II Corps, but Breckinridge and his division were sent to help the Siege of Vicksburg. The Confederate Army was idle for the next few months, until Breckinridge returned. When he did, due to arguments with Bragg, Hardee and McCown were relieved and the Corps was again reorganized. Daniel Harvey Hill was sent from the Army of Northern Virginia to take command. The Corps was re-organized with divisions under Stewart, Cleburne and Breckinridge, all in all 20,000 men. McCown's old division was now placed under St. John Liddell, and moved to the reserve Corps under William H.T. Walker.
After campaigning for a few months in Tennessee, Bragg was driven out to Chattanooga, and then lost that city. In north Georgia, however, he re-formed for a counterstrike. Troops from Mississippi came under Walker and Nathan B. Forrest, soldiers from east Tennessee under Buckner, troops from Georgia, Kentucky, east Tennessee and Mississippi under Bushrod Johnson and troops from Virginia under James Longstreet.
The army was again re-organized; Hill lost Stewart's division, which was sent to Buckner's Corps, but he still had Cleburne and Breckinridge. The corps was heavily engaged at Chickamauga, assaulting the Union left. After the Confederates broke through on the left, the II Corps did the same on the right, securing the Confederate victory. The Corps suffered heavily in the battle however, and was exhausted. Hill, as well as many other officers, wished to pursue the broken enemy, but Bragg declined and in turn relieved Hill, Polk, Walker, Forrest and other officers from command.
At Chattanooga, the Corps was re-organized. Breckinridge took command of the Corps with his old division under William B. Bate, Cleburne's division though, the pride of the II Corps, was transferred to the I Corps. Buckner's division from his old Corps was sent to the II only to be transferred up to Knoxville with James Longstreet. Thomas Hindman's division was transferred to the II from the I, and lastly, on a brighter note, Stewart and his division were returned to the II from Buckner's old corps. All in all between Bate, Stewart, Buckner and Hindman, the Corps numbered close to 28,000 men. Once Buckner left it was down to 23,000 men.
At the battle itself, the II Corps was stationed in the center on Missionary Ridge as well as Orchard Knob in a salient. When Orchard Knob was taken, the Union force under George Thomas attacked the center and broke the II Corps, sending them fleeing in confusion. But with light casualties on both sides, the battle didn't inflict much damage, other than damaging Confederate morale.
Atlanta
The Corps was reorganized again in December when Joseph Johnston took command from the incompetent Braxton Bragg. Although he had nothing to be blamed for at Chattanooga, John Breckinridge was relieved of command and replaced by John Bell Hood; who had come from the east with Longstreet's Corps. The corps was the same as it was at Chattanooga, except that Bate and his division were traded in for Carter Stevenson's division of the I corps. By that time, none of the units originally in the II were still in it.
The corps fought in all the engagements of the campaign, and at Resaca and New Hope Church they played key roles. At Kennesaw Mountain, its soldiers disobeyed orders to attack the flanking columns of John Schofield's Army of the Ohio and drove them back in a decisive manner.
Once Hood took command of the Army, there was another reorganization. Stewart took command, but was transferred to the III Corps, then Stevenson took command, then Cheatham, then Stewart again, then Hindman, and finally Stephen D. Lee. All of these changes took place within a time span of three months. The Corps was heavily engaged at Atlanta and at Ezra Church, where they suffered heavy losses.
Invasion of Tennessee
After Atlanta fell to William T. Sherman, Hood went north with his army, but made a few changes. In the II corps, easterner S.D. Lee was still in command, but his division commanders were different. Stevenson was at his usual post, but H.D. Clayton took over Stewart's division, the latter taking command of the III Corps. Hindman was relieved and in his place was a newly exchanged former prison-of-war, Edward Johnson, an easterner.
The Corps marched north into Tennessee, but missed the bloodbath at Franklin, and cost Hood the battle. Like d'Erlon'sI Corps at Ligny and Quatre Bras in the Waterloo campaign, the Corps never advanced on Schofield's rear by seizing his line of retreat on the Cumberland. Thus, for the first time in its history, the II Corps cost their commander the battle. At Nashville, however, the Corps took the center when they were assaulted by an old nemesis, George Thomas. They were pushed back, and the II corps then was transferred to the right flank. The starving Confederates fled without much defense, and cost Hood another battle.
In the Carolinas
After Nashville in the early spring of 1865, the Confederate Army was discouraged; there was no hope for the cause. Hood resigned, and the Army went to Joseph Johnston again. The corps was re-organized again, with Stevenson, Clayton and M.A. Stovall in command of the divisions, and Johnson had been captured once again. The remnants of the Army were transferred to stop Sherman in the Carolinas. In this campaign the corps was commanded by D. H. Hill again. At Bentonville, the Confederates were to assault an isolated Union force under Slocum, and the II Corps was to lead the spearhead in a flank attack. As a result of the overwhelming Union strength and the heavy casualties his army suffered in the battle, Johnston surrendered to Sherman little more than a month later at Bennett Place, near Durham Station.[3] Coupled with Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, Johnston's surrender represented the effective end of the war.[4]
Related Research Articles
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 18–20, 1863, between the United States Army and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a U.S. Army offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It was the first major battle of the war fought in Georgia and the most significant US defeat in the Western Theater, and it involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg.
Braxton Bragg was an American army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving in the Western Theater. His most important role was as commander of the Army of Mississippi, later renamed the Army of Tennessee, from June 1862 until December 1863.
Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was a senior officer in the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
Thomas Carmichael Hindman Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and a senior officer of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he later moved to Mississippi and became involved in politics. He served in the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848. Hindman practiced law and in 1853 was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. After his term expired in 1854, he moved to Helena, Arkansas where there were more opportunities for his political ambitions. Hindman opposed the Know-Nothing party and Arkansas's ruling Conway-Johnson dynasty. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1858, and supported slavery and secession. He was assassinated during the Reconstruction era.
The Battle of Lookout Mountain also known as the Battle Above the Clouds was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and defeated Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Lookout Mountain was one engagement in the Chattanooga battles between Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Military Division of the Mississippi and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg. It drove in the Confederate left flank and allowed Hooker's men to assist in the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day, which routed Bragg's army, lifting the siege of Union forces in Chattanooga, and opening the gateway into the Deep South.
The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the war, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. The battle ended in Union victory after the Confederate army's withdrawal on January 3, largely due to a series of tactical miscalculations by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, but the victory was costly for the Union army. Nevertheless, it was an important victory for the Union because it provided a much-needed boost in morale after the Union's recent defeat at Fredericksburg and also reinforced President Abraham Lincoln's foundation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ultimately discouraged European powers from intervening on the Confederacy's behalf.
William Joseph Hardee was a career U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. For the U.S. Army, he served in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was captured and exchanged. In the American Civil War, he sided with the South and became a general. Hardee served in the Western Theater and quarreled sharply with two of his commanding officers, Braxton Bragg and John Bell Hood. He served in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 and the Carolinas Campaign of 1865, where he surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston to William Tecumseh Sherman in April. Hardee's writings about military tactics were widely used on both sides in the conflict.
The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. Named for the State of Tennessee, It was formed in the same state in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating in most of the significant battles in the Western Theater.
The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi initially won a tactical victory against primarily a single corps of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Union Army of the Ohio. The battle is considered a strategic Union victory, sometimes called the Battle for Kentucky, since Bragg withdrew to Tennessee soon thereafter. The Union retained control of the critical border state of Kentucky for the remainder of the war.
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Bushrod Rust Johnson was a Confederate general in the American Civil War and an officer in the United States Army. As a university professor he had been active in the state militias of Kentucky and Tennessee and on the outbreak of hostilities he sided with the South, despite having been born in the North into a family of abolitionist Quakers. As a divisional commander he managed to evade capture at the Battle of Fort Donelson, but was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. He served under Robert E. Lee throughout the 10-month Siege of Petersburg, and surrendered with him at Appomattox.
The Chickamauga campaign of the American Civil War was a series of battles fought in northwestern Georgia from August 21 to September 20, 1863, between the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee. The campaign started successfully for Union commander William S. Rosecrans, with the Union army occupying the vital city of Chattanooga and forcing the Confederates to retreat into northern Georgia. But a Confederate attack at the Battle of Chickamauga forced Rosecrans to retreat back into Chattanooga and allowed the Confederates to lay siege to the Union forces.
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The following Confederate States Army units and commanders fought in the Battle of Chickamauga of the American Civil War. The Union order of battle is listed separately. Order of battle compiled from the army organization during the campaign.
The Third Corps was a designation used by several military formations in the Army of Tennessee during the American Civil War. In practice, most Confederate corps were referred to by their commanders' name and not by numerical designation. In its various forms, the Third Corps served under William J. Hardee, Edmund Kirby Smith, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Leonidas Polk, and Alexander P. Stewart.
The Chattanooga campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg besieged Rosecrans and his men by occupying key high terrain around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Union forces in the West which was now consolidated under the Division of the Mississippi. Significant reinforcements also began to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater. On October 18, Grant removed Rosecrans from command of the Army of the Cumberland and replaced him with Major General George Henry Thomas.
The 1st Florida Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised by the Confederate state of Florida during the American Civil War. Raised for 12 months of service its remaining veterans served in the 1st (McDonell's) Battalion, Florida Infantry from April 1862 on. In August the depleted battalion was consolidated with the 3rd (Miller's) Battalion into the reorganized 1st Florida Infantry Regiment again. In December 1862 it merged with the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment and received the form it kept till the war's end as the 1st and 3rd Consolidated Florida Infantry Regiment. Fighting as part of the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater of the American Civil War it was surrendered on April 26, 1865.
The Helena Artillery (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. The unit was known by several other designations during the war including Clarkson's Battery, Company A, Shoup's Artillery Battalion, Calvert's Battery, and Key's Battery. The unit was occasionally assigned to artillery battalions from other states, so the Arkansas unit was at various times designated as Company C, 20th Alabama Light Artillery Battalion and later as Company H, 28th Georgia Artillery Battalion.
The 20th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The unit began its existence as the 6th Louisiana Battalion in September 1861. The battalion was augmented to regimental strength in January 1862 at New Orleans and served during the war in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Farmington, and Perryville in 1862. After being reduced in numbers, the regiment was consolidated with the 13th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and served at Stones River, Jackson, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge in 1863. The 13th-20th Consolidated Louisiana fought at Resaca, New Hope Church, Ezra Church, and Nashville in 1864. The consolidation with the 13th Louisiana was discontinued in February 1865 and the regiment was re-consolidated with other units. It fought its final battle at Spanish Fort one month before surrendering in May 1865.
Hughes, Nathaniel Cheairs, Jr. Bentonville: The Final Battle of Sherman and Johnston. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. ISBN0-8078-2281-7.
Bradley, Mark L. Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville. Campbell, California: Savas Publishing Co., 1995. ISBN1-882810-02-3.
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