ARMIES were the largest of the "operational organizations." In the case of the Federal forces, these generally took their name from their department. "The Federals followed a general policy of naming their armies for the rivers near which they operated; the Confederates named theirs from the states or regions in which they were active. Thus the Federals had an Army of the Tennessee -not to be confused with the Confederate Army of Tennessee." Actually, it would appear that the armies took their names from the departments in which they operated (or were originally formed), and these departments took their names from rivers in the case of the Federals and from states or regions in the case of the Confederates. There were no firm rules on this matter of names, however: there was a Confederate Army of the Potomac; and the Confederate Army of (the) Mississippi is referred to in the Official Records about as often with "the" as without. These armies were at least 16 on the Union side and 23 on the Confederate side.
CORPS: The term corps comes from the French corps d'armee. Although corps d'armee existed in the French army before Napoleon, he revamped them and popularized the phrase. A corps was composed of 2 or more divisions and, except for Cavalry corps, included all arms of service.
Corps were established in the Union army in March 1862 by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. A major general commanded each of the 43 corps that were established in the Union army before the end of the war. Each corps was designated by a number, I to XXV. Corps badges such as triangles, crescents, arrows, and acorns were adopted by most corps and worn by officers and enlisted men. Of the Union corps 2 were noted for their failures: the XI Corps, which took flight after a surprise attack by Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's men at Chancellorsville and the IX Corps, which bungled the opportunity of the Crater at Petersburg. More successful corps included the I and II/ Army of the Potomac, known for their bravery; the XXV, composed entirely of black troops and the XXII corps, which garrisoned the fortifications around Washington, D.C. during most of the war and guarded the Union capital.
Corps were organized in the Confederate army November, 1862 and were designated by numbers duplicated in the East and West but were often referred to by the name of their commander. Thus, the II Corps in the East was called Jackson's Corps, even after he was killed. This corps endured some of the hardest marching and heaviest fighting of the war.
After their initial trial in the Civil War, corps became an integral part of the organization of the U.S. Army in wartime.
DIVISIONS: In field armies on both sides in the Civil War, the division was the second largest unit. In ascending order of size, units were: company, regiment brigade, division, corps. Theoretically, company strength was 100; regiment, 1,000; brigade, 4,000; and division, 12,000. Occasionally, more often in the Confederate army battalions of 2 to 10 companies were accepted into the ranks. In the Union army, the actual numbers, by the attrition of war, were only 40-50% of those figures by 1863; the percentage was higher in the Confederate army, thanks to its system of assigning recruits to existing regiments instead of creating new regiments.
In the Union armies the number of division in a corps varied from 2 to 4, though usually there were 3. In spring 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker ordered the army of the Potomac to wear Corps Badges, which led to designating divisions by badges and by flags in red, white, and blue, for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, divisions, respectively; the few 4th divisions had green badges and flags; 5th divisions, orange. Without uniform badges and flags, the Confederates used a less complicated system. Though they began by numbering their divisions, in a short time divisions, as well as other army units, come to be known by their commanders' name.
Union division were commanded by brigadier or major generals, and the frontage of an average 1863 Union division, drawn up in double-rank line of battle with no skirmishers deployed, would have been just short of a mile. The Confederates were more logical: with rare exceptions, brigadiers commanded brigades and major generals led division, and these units were usually numerically superior to their Union counterparts. An extreme example: at one time Confederate Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill's famous Light Division had 7 brigades, giving it a strength of about 17,000.
BRIGADES: The tactical infantry unit of the Civil War, the brigade generally consisted of 4-6 regiments. However, it could have as few as 2 and later in the war, when consolidation of Confederate regiments became common, some brigades contained remnants of as many as 15 regiments. There were 3 or 4 brigades to a division and several divisions to a Corps. By definition, a brigadier general commanded a brigade. But colonels were often in charge of brigades too small to justify a brigadier, and if the brigadier was absent, the senior colonel would act in his stead; on occasion, temporary brigades organized for special purposes were commanded by colonels. The brigade's staff usually comprised the brigadier general, his aide, the quartermaster, ordnance and commissary officers, and inspector, and one or more clerks.
The brigade's effectiveness depended on regimental and company commanders instructing their 1,000-1,500 men in the complicated maneuvers of the period, and on each regiment coordinating its movements with the others under the brigade commander commander. A poor commander might watch his brigade's actions dissolve into regimental or company-level conflicts coordinated loose, if at all, by the brigadier.
Confederate brigades were known by the names of their commanders or former commanders, a much less prosaic system than that of the Federals, but a very confusing one. For example. the unit of "Pickett's Charge" at Gettysburg shown in Steele's American Campaigns as "McGowan's Brigade" was commanded by Pettigrew until 1 July '62 and then by Marshall. In this attack Pettigrew is commanding "Heth's Division," Trimble is commanding "Pender's Division," Mayo is commanding "Brockenbrough's Brigade," Marshall is commanding "McGowan's" or "Pettigrew's Brigade," Fry is commanding "Archer's Brigade," and Lowrance is commanding "Scales's Brigade."
Some of the brigades became justly famous during the war. The Stonewall Brigade was one of Gen. R.E. Lee's best units, as was Hood's Texas Brigade. Western Confederate brigades included the Orphan Brigade of Kentucky and the 1st Missouri Brigade. On the Union side, the Iron Brigade earned fame in the Army of the Potomac, as did the Philadelphia Brigade. Wilder's Lightning Brigade of mounted infantry combined infantry and cavalry tactics to become one of the best Union units.
INFANTRY REGIMENTS were composed of 10 companies, except in the case of the 12-company heavy artillery regiments that had been retrained as infantry. Cavalry regiments also had 12 companies. These companies were lettered in alphabetical order, with the letter "J" omitted. There has been much erroneous theorizing as to why the US Army has never had a J Company. Battalions did not exist in the infantry regiments, but the "heavies" were composed of three four company battalions, each commanded by a major.
Confederate regiments were organized in generally the same manner as the Federal, although some had battalions (e.g., the 55th Ala.) and the 7th Ala. had two cavalry companies initially.
In the Union Army an infantry company had a maximum authorized strength of 101 officers and men, and a minimum strength of 83. The company was allowed to recruit a minimum of 64 or a maximum of 82 privates. Other company positions were fixed as follows: one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, four sergeants, eight corporals, two musicians, and one wagoner. Company officers were elected in most volunteer units.
As Schiebert, the Prussian observer, points out, this was the only possible way of getting rapidly the large number of troop leaders needed. By the second year of the war a system of examinations was instituted by both armies, and incompetent officers could be eliminated (Schiebert, 39-40).
Regimental headquarters consisted of a colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, adjutant, quartermaster, surgeon (major), two assistant surgeons, and a chaplain. Regimental headquarters noncommissioned officers were the sergeant major, quartermaster sergeant, commissary sergeant, hospital steward, and two principal musicians. Authorized strength of an infantry regiment was a maximum of 1,025 and a minimum of 845. Since it was the Civil War practice to organize recruits into new regiments rather than to send them to replace losses in veteran units, regimental strengths steadily declined. According to Fiebeger the average company strength at Gettysburg was 32 officers and men per company. Livermore gives these average regimental strengths in the Union army at various periods: Shiloh, 560; Fair Oaks, 650; Chancellorsville, 530; Gettysburg, 375; Chickamauga and the Wilderness, 440; and in Sherman's battles of May '64, 305. According to Bigelow the average strength of Federal regiments at Chancellorsville was 433 and of Confederate regiments 409.
The North raised the equivalent of 2,047 regiments during the war of which 1,696 were infantry, 272 were cavalry, and 78 were artillery. Allowing for the fact that nine infantry regiments of the Regular Army had 24 instead of the normal 10 companies, the total number of regiments would come to about 2,050, not including the Veteran Reserve Corps. (Above figures from Phisterer, 23.) According to the computations of Fox, made before the Official Records had all been published, the South raised the equivalent of 764 regiments that served all or most of the war. Using later data, and including militia and other irregular organizations, Col. Henry Stone estimated an equivalent of 1,009 ˝ Confederate regiments. (For exhaustive study of Confederate strengths see Livermore.)
Source: "Civil War Dictionary" By Mark M. Boatner III and "The Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricial L. Faust.
Organization of the armies in the civil war
Forrest said something about killing a Yankee for each of his horses that they shot. In the last days of the war, Forrest had killed 30 of the enemy and had 30 horses shot from under him. In a brief but savage conflict, a Yankee soldier "saw glory for himself" with an opportunity to kill the famous Confederate General... Forrest killed the fellow. Making 31 Yankees personally killed, and 30 horses lost...
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
Another good text
To the non-military buff, the organization and terminology used for Civil War armies can be very confusing. The "Army of the Potomac" was the main Union army in the eastern theater of the war and the "Army of Northern Virginia" was the main Confederate force. Remarkably, both of the armies that fought the Battle of Gettysburg were organized in a similar fashion including a structure of corps, divisions, and brigades. But what were these different organizations and how did they all fit in to one huge force?
The Federal government and the Confederate government both had war departments, which oversaw the organization, supply, and movements of their respective armies. Civil War-era armies were organized according to military manuals including those adopted by the Federal War Department prior to 1861. Because the war had to be fought over a large area of the South, the Union and the Confederacy both had several armies, each fighting in different "theaters" or sections of the country. Each army was a structured organization that included a general headquarters, infantry, artillery, cavalry, signalmen, engineers, quartermaster and commissary departments. The largest single organization of an army was a corps (pronounced "core"). The Union Army at Gettysburg had seven infantry corps and a cavalry corps, each commanded by a major general. The Confederate Army had three infantry corps, each commanded by a lieutenant general. Typically, a Confederate corps was much larger than a Union corps. A corps included three infantry divisions and an artillery brigade in the Union army or an artillery battalion in the Confederate Army. The Army of the Potomac had distinguishing symbols called corps badges to signify one corps from another. The badges were actually small cloth cut-outs shaped like crosses, spheres, stars, and quarter moons, and made in three different colors- red, white, and blue, each color specific to a division of the corps. Confederates had no corps badges or particular symbols for their organizations.
The infantry division was commanded by a major or a brigadier general and composed of two to four infantry brigades. The brigade, commanded by a brigadier general, was composed of four to six regiments, and was the primary organization used by commanders in battle. A brigade with good officers and good training was a formidable fighting force and often advanced or defended positions in cooperation with fellow brigades. It was common practice for a brigade commander to send forward most of his regiments and hold one in reserve. The Confederate War Department made attempts to have brigades composed of regiments from one singular state or state affiliation, such as General Joseph Kershaw's brigade which was all South Carolina regiments. The Union Army did not always make such conscious choices, though there were some brigades which acquired interesting nick names due to their ethnic origin or locality from which they hailed.
For the infantryman, his regiment was the most important unit. Led by a colonel, lt. colonel and major, a full strength regiment numbered over 1,000 officers and men. Attrition due to disease and battle losses meant considerably lower personnel in each regiment by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, where some regiments mustered only about two-hundred. A regiment was divided into ten companies of 100 men each at full strength. One company was divided in half as two platoons. One company was led by a captain with two lieutenants who each commanded a platoon. Platoons were divided into squads, led by a sergeant or corporal. Regiments fought in a "battle line" or in some cases a "skirmish line", which was a general open rank tactic used to feel out the strength of an enemy force.
Army Organization Comparison Chart:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
1 Corps = 3 Divisions
1 Division = 3 Brigades
1 Brigade = 4 to 5 Regiments
1 Regiment = 10 Companies (1,100 officers and men)
1 Company = 2 to 3 Platoons* (100 officers and men)
(* depending on military organization manual)
1 Platoon = 5 Squads (1 officer & 50 men)
ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
1 Corps = 3 Divisions
1 Division = 4 to 5 Brigades
1 Brigade = 4 to 6 Regiments
1 Regiment = 10 Companies (1,100 officers and men)
1 Company = 2 to 3 Platoons* (100 officers and men) (* depending on military organization manual)
1 Platoon = 5 Squads (1 officer & 50 men)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the infantryman, his regiment was the most important unit. Led by a colonel, lt. colonel and major, a full strength regiment numbered over 1,000 officers and men. Attrition due to disease and battle losses meant considerably lower personnel in each regiment by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, where some regiments mustered only about two-hundred. A regiment was divided into ten companies of 100 men each at full strength. One company was divided in half as two platoons. One company was led by a captain with two lieutenants who each commanded a platoon. Platoons were divided into squads, led by a sergeant or corporal. Regiments fought in a "battle line" or in some cases a "skirmish line", which was a general open rank tactic used to feel out the strength of an enemy force.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, there was a standing force of "regular" units in the United States Army. State militias were called into service, but there was a need to Federalize these units so that they could muster pay from the United States government and serve outside of state borders. Each state was given a quota of "volunteer regiments" to be raised for service lasting from three months to three years. The South faced a similar dilemma. Southern states raised and supplied the Confederate armies with volunteer regiments. By 1863, many of the regiments in both armies had been in service since 1861 and were still composed of mostly volunteer soldiers, though the first "conscripts" or men required by state law to serve in the military defense of a state, had begun to appear in Southern units. A regiment's flag, or "regimental colors", were painted with the regiment's number and state affiliation, usually followed by "VOLUNTEER INFANTRY". The term volunteer was a symbol of pride for soldiers on both sides.
The most widely used manual for small units (regiments) was Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics For The Exercise and Maneuvers of Troops When Acting As Light Infantry Or Riflemen, written by William J. Hardee. The manual specified the proper placement of officers, the rank and file, the manual of arms, basic marching orders, and other requirements. His manual was re-written for Confederate use in 1861 when Hardee resigned his commission from the United States Army and joined the Confederacy. Other manuals of organization and drill were used, but "Hardee's Tactics" continued to be the most popular and widely used manual throughout the war.
The artillery was usually organized by regiments as well, except that each company was called a battery. A battery consisted of over 100 soldiers, armed with six cannon per battery. Confederate batteries were smaller, some having only four cannon. Batteries were assigned independently from their regiments to specific artillery brigades (Union) or battalions (Confederate) or to the artillery reserve of an army. Both of the armies had an artillery reserve which was an organization of extra batteries to be placed where needed. The Union army had one large artillery reserve force. The Confederate army had one reserve group per corps, but the number of guns was still smaller than the number of Union cannon.
A cavalry regiment was organized in a similar fashion to the infantry and artillery. Ten to twelve companies or "troops", made up one regiment. The regiment was divided into three battalions, each composed of four companies. A company was divided into "squadrons" for easy maneuvering on the field. The cavalry regiment was much more expensive to sustain while in service due to the amount of equipment carried by each cavalryman (carbine, saber, pistol, belt set, and equipment for the soldier's mount) and the requirement for horses and their care.
Both armies also had a compliment of quartermaster, engineer, and signal units as well as supply wagons organized as "trains". An army on the march was usually followed by miles and miles of wagons loaded with the equipments of war including food, ammunition, and medical supplies. At the top of the organizational list was the Army Headquarters. The commanding general required a personal staff to dictate orders and keep records of army movement. There were also clerks and assistants. The commanders of armies also had the privilege of a headquarters cook. Every army headquarters usually had a large compliment of staff officers, couriers, and a headquarters guard, which included an infantry battalion and a cavalry escort.
To the non-military buff, the organization and terminology used for Civil War armies can be very confusing. The "Army of the Potomac" was the main Union army in the eastern theater of the war and the "Army of Northern Virginia" was the main Confederate force. Remarkably, both of the armies that fought the Battle of Gettysburg were organized in a similar fashion including a structure of corps, divisions, and brigades. But what were these different organizations and how did they all fit in to one huge force?
The Federal government and the Confederate government both had war departments, which oversaw the organization, supply, and movements of their respective armies. Civil War-era armies were organized according to military manuals including those adopted by the Federal War Department prior to 1861. Because the war had to be fought over a large area of the South, the Union and the Confederacy both had several armies, each fighting in different "theaters" or sections of the country. Each army was a structured organization that included a general headquarters, infantry, artillery, cavalry, signalmen, engineers, quartermaster and commissary departments. The largest single organization of an army was a corps (pronounced "core"). The Union Army at Gettysburg had seven infantry corps and a cavalry corps, each commanded by a major general. The Confederate Army had three infantry corps, each commanded by a lieutenant general. Typically, a Confederate corps was much larger than a Union corps. A corps included three infantry divisions and an artillery brigade in the Union army or an artillery battalion in the Confederate Army. The Army of the Potomac had distinguishing symbols called corps badges to signify one corps from another. The badges were actually small cloth cut-outs shaped like crosses, spheres, stars, and quarter moons, and made in three different colors- red, white, and blue, each color specific to a division of the corps. Confederates had no corps badges or particular symbols for their organizations.
The infantry division was commanded by a major or a brigadier general and composed of two to four infantry brigades. The brigade, commanded by a brigadier general, was composed of four to six regiments, and was the primary organization used by commanders in battle. A brigade with good officers and good training was a formidable fighting force and often advanced or defended positions in cooperation with fellow brigades. It was common practice for a brigade commander to send forward most of his regiments and hold one in reserve. The Confederate War Department made attempts to have brigades composed of regiments from one singular state or state affiliation, such as General Joseph Kershaw's brigade which was all South Carolina regiments. The Union Army did not always make such conscious choices, though there were some brigades which acquired interesting nick names due to their ethnic origin or locality from which they hailed.
For the infantryman, his regiment was the most important unit. Led by a colonel, lt. colonel and major, a full strength regiment numbered over 1,000 officers and men. Attrition due to disease and battle losses meant considerably lower personnel in each regiment by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, where some regiments mustered only about two-hundred. A regiment was divided into ten companies of 100 men each at full strength. One company was divided in half as two platoons. One company was led by a captain with two lieutenants who each commanded a platoon. Platoons were divided into squads, led by a sergeant or corporal. Regiments fought in a "battle line" or in some cases a "skirmish line", which was a general open rank tactic used to feel out the strength of an enemy force.
Army Organization Comparison Chart:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
1 Corps = 3 Divisions
1 Division = 3 Brigades
1 Brigade = 4 to 5 Regiments
1 Regiment = 10 Companies (1,100 officers and men)
1 Company = 2 to 3 Platoons* (100 officers and men)
(* depending on military organization manual)
1 Platoon = 5 Squads (1 officer & 50 men)
ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
1 Corps = 3 Divisions
1 Division = 4 to 5 Brigades
1 Brigade = 4 to 6 Regiments
1 Regiment = 10 Companies (1,100 officers and men)
1 Company = 2 to 3 Platoons* (100 officers and men) (* depending on military organization manual)
1 Platoon = 5 Squads (1 officer & 50 men)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the infantryman, his regiment was the most important unit. Led by a colonel, lt. colonel and major, a full strength regiment numbered over 1,000 officers and men. Attrition due to disease and battle losses meant considerably lower personnel in each regiment by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, where some regiments mustered only about two-hundred. A regiment was divided into ten companies of 100 men each at full strength. One company was divided in half as two platoons. One company was led by a captain with two lieutenants who each commanded a platoon. Platoons were divided into squads, led by a sergeant or corporal. Regiments fought in a "battle line" or in some cases a "skirmish line", which was a general open rank tactic used to feel out the strength of an enemy force.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, there was a standing force of "regular" units in the United States Army. State militias were called into service, but there was a need to Federalize these units so that they could muster pay from the United States government and serve outside of state borders. Each state was given a quota of "volunteer regiments" to be raised for service lasting from three months to three years. The South faced a similar dilemma. Southern states raised and supplied the Confederate armies with volunteer regiments. By 1863, many of the regiments in both armies had been in service since 1861 and were still composed of mostly volunteer soldiers, though the first "conscripts" or men required by state law to serve in the military defense of a state, had begun to appear in Southern units. A regiment's flag, or "regimental colors", were painted with the regiment's number and state affiliation, usually followed by "VOLUNTEER INFANTRY". The term volunteer was a symbol of pride for soldiers on both sides.
The most widely used manual for small units (regiments) was Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics For The Exercise and Maneuvers of Troops When Acting As Light Infantry Or Riflemen, written by William J. Hardee. The manual specified the proper placement of officers, the rank and file, the manual of arms, basic marching orders, and other requirements. His manual was re-written for Confederate use in 1861 when Hardee resigned his commission from the United States Army and joined the Confederacy. Other manuals of organization and drill were used, but "Hardee's Tactics" continued to be the most popular and widely used manual throughout the war.
The artillery was usually organized by regiments as well, except that each company was called a battery. A battery consisted of over 100 soldiers, armed with six cannon per battery. Confederate batteries were smaller, some having only four cannon. Batteries were assigned independently from their regiments to specific artillery brigades (Union) or battalions (Confederate) or to the artillery reserve of an army. Both of the armies had an artillery reserve which was an organization of extra batteries to be placed where needed. The Union army had one large artillery reserve force. The Confederate army had one reserve group per corps, but the number of guns was still smaller than the number of Union cannon.
A cavalry regiment was organized in a similar fashion to the infantry and artillery. Ten to twelve companies or "troops", made up one regiment. The regiment was divided into three battalions, each composed of four companies. A company was divided into "squadrons" for easy maneuvering on the field. The cavalry regiment was much more expensive to sustain while in service due to the amount of equipment carried by each cavalryman (carbine, saber, pistol, belt set, and equipment for the soldier's mount) and the requirement for horses and their care.
Both armies also had a compliment of quartermaster, engineer, and signal units as well as supply wagons organized as "trains". An army on the march was usually followed by miles and miles of wagons loaded with the equipments of war including food, ammunition, and medical supplies. At the top of the organizational list was the Army Headquarters. The commanding general required a personal staff to dictate orders and keep records of army movement. There were also clerks and assistants. The commanders of armies also had the privilege of a headquarters cook. Every army headquarters usually had a large compliment of staff officers, couriers, and a headquarters guard, which included an infantry battalion and a cavalry escort.
Forrest said something about killing a Yankee for each of his horses that they shot. In the last days of the war, Forrest had killed 30 of the enemy and had 30 horses shot from under him. In a brief but savage conflict, a Yankee soldier "saw glory for himself" with an opportunity to kill the famous Confederate General... Forrest killed the fellow. Making 31 Yankees personally killed, and 30 horses lost...
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
Introduction To Civil War Infantry Organization
The smallest fighting unit for the infantry during the Civil War was the company. Companies generally consisted of 100 men on paper but were seldom up to strength due to casualties and illnesses. The staff of a company comprised of a Captain, who commanded, a 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant and two Sergeants, and several Corporals. While the company was the smallest unit, it would at times be split up into platoons, sections, and squads, but not for extended periods of time and rarely, if ever, acting as independent commands.
Infantry companies were banded together with other companies to form battalions or regiments. Generally, there were eight companies to a battalion and ten companies to a regiment (the Union sometimes used twelve) and were designated with letters from the alphabet such as "A", "B", "C", "D", etc. (The letter "J" was not used because it looked too much like the letter "I".) Companies often carried the name of the individual or individuals who organized the company or for the place from where they came. For example, Company "M" of the second Florida Infantry Regiment was also known as the Howell Guards or the Dennison Guard from Ohio, organized at Camp Dennison. The staff of a regiment included a Colonel who commanded, a Lieutenant Colonel, Major, 1st Lieutenant (acted as an Adjutant), a surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, Quartermaster, Commissary Officer, and a Sergeant Major. The regiment was the primary fighting force for both the Union and the Confederacy.
Regiments were usually grouped together with other regiments to form a brigade. Brigades were commanded by a Brigadier General, and usually, but not always, regiments from the same state were brigaded together. Confederate Brigades were generally known by the name of the Brigadier General who commanded it, such as Wilcox's Brigade. Wilcox's Brigade was commanded by Cadmus M. Wilcox and was comprised of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th Alabama Infantry Regiments. Union Brigades were usually numbered.
When several brigades were grouped together, they formed a division. Major Generals led divisions with Confederate divisions being named for the general who commanded it, such as Cheatham's Division in the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign. Union divisions were numbered with Roman numerals.
When several divisions were organized together, they formed a corps. A corps was commanded by a Lieutenant General and could operate independently or operate as part of the larger army, which was their usual role. Like other large Confederate units, Confederate corps were named for their commander, such as Longstreet's Corps. Union Corps were numbered as were the rest of military organizations, except for Armies.
Armies were the largest of all the fighting units during the Civil War and were composed of corps, divisions, brigades, and regiments and included artillery, cavalry, signal corps, and various other units. A Lieutenant General or a General generally led armies.
Infantry companies were banded together with other companies to form battalions or regiments. Generally, there were eight companies to a battalion and ten companies to a regiment (the Union sometimes used twelve) and were designated with letters from the alphabet such as "A", "B", "C", "D", etc. (The letter "J" was not used because it looked too much like the letter "I".) Companies often carried the name of the individual or individuals who organized the company or for the place from where they came. For example, Company "M" of the second Florida Infantry Regiment was also known as the Howell Guards or the Dennison Guard from Ohio, organized at Camp Dennison. The staff of a regiment included a Colonel who commanded, a Lieutenant Colonel, Major, 1st Lieutenant (acted as an Adjutant), a surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, Quartermaster, Commissary Officer, and a Sergeant Major. The regiment was the primary fighting force for both the Union and the Confederacy.
Regiments were usually grouped together with other regiments to form a brigade. Brigades were commanded by a Brigadier General, and usually, but not always, regiments from the same state were brigaded together. Confederate Brigades were generally known by the name of the Brigadier General who commanded it, such as Wilcox's Brigade. Wilcox's Brigade was commanded by Cadmus M. Wilcox and was comprised of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th Alabama Infantry Regiments. Union Brigades were usually numbered.
When several brigades were grouped together, they formed a division. Major Generals led divisions with Confederate divisions being named for the general who commanded it, such as Cheatham's Division in the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign. Union divisions were numbered with Roman numerals.
When several divisions were organized together, they formed a corps. A corps was commanded by a Lieutenant General and could operate independently or operate as part of the larger army, which was their usual role. Like other large Confederate units, Confederate corps were named for their commander, such as Longstreet's Corps. Union Corps were numbered as were the rest of military organizations, except for Armies.
Armies were the largest of all the fighting units during the Civil War and were composed of corps, divisions, brigades, and regiments and included artillery, cavalry, signal corps, and various other units. A Lieutenant General or a General generally led armies.
Introduction To Civil War Artillery
At the onset of the Civil War, the Confederacy had to scramble to meet the demands of the need for artillery and ammunition in the field. The Union had on hand 4,167 pieces of artillery, of which 163 were field guns and howitzers. "When the Confederates took over Federal arsenals, they acquired a considerable amount of heavy guns, but only 35 field pieces." (Boatners -121) Most of the country's powder mills were located in the North, and little ammunition had been made in the South for some fifty years. Starting almost from scratch, the South built some remarkably efficient mills and arsenals in places such as Augusta, Georgia; Nashville and Manchester, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Marshall, Texas; and Petersburg, Virginia. The mill in Augusta didn't go into production until September of 1862, but managed to produce a total of two and three-quarter million pounds of fine quality powder. (Coggins-65)
Artillery was generally classed by its weight and caliber. Also taken into consideration was its mobility and the form of its carriage or mounting. "Field" artillery was the class name for ordnance light and mobile enough to move with the army, and to be maneuvered during battle. "Mountain" artillery was included in this class, as these guns had to be exceptionally light to be manhandled or transported over steep and rough terrain. "Heavy" artillery included siege guns and mortars. Although these guns were considered mobile, they were slow and unwieldy. Weighing up to 117,000 pounds, the Rodmans were considered the largest of these guns, firing a 1080-pound projectile.
After being divided into classes, ordnance was again divided into types. Those types were "Guns," "Howitzers" and "Mortars." A rare exception to these types was the 12-pound Napoleon model of 1857, which was a gun-howitzer. Guns were fairly heavy, had a long range and flat trajectory, while Howitzers were lighter, shorter and fired a heavy shell. Mortars were the shortest of the three, heavy and fired large projectiles with high trajectory.
Guns were either smoothbore or rifled, firing solid shot, shell, spherical, grapeshot and canister (or "case" shot). The smoothbore Howitzers fired shell and case, while the smoothbore mortars fired only shell and spherical case. Few guns during the Civil War, were breechloaders, since they could be loaded "down the spout" just as fast as operating a breech mechanism.
In this period there were no recoil mechanisms, and when guns were fired they would leap back in recoil and have to be redirected for the next round. Gunners had to push their pieces back into position after each round, a tiring process. Aiming, rather than loading the gun, was the most time consuming of the process. Accuracy degenerated over time as cannoneers got tired and smoke blotted the battlefield.
The most lethal load of a field artilleryman was canister. Canister consisted of tin cylinders filled with iron shot, or musket balls, which would explode into a mass of troops, wreaking devastation.
To be effective on the battlefield, gunners had to get the piece within range of the enemy. Rarely though was an artillery battery ordered to gallop up at close range and unlimber their gun. Officers, knowing this was suicidal for the gun crews and their horses, did so only in moments of absolute necessity.
At the Bloody Angle, Spotsylvania, an artilleryman of Battery C, 5th U. S. Artillery, recounted an episode where just such an order was given. "...We were a considerable distance in front of our infantry, and of course artillery could not live long under such a fire as the enemy were putting through there. Our men went down in short order...Our men went into action with 23 men and one officer. The only ones who came out sound were the lieutenant and myself. Every horse was killed, 7 of the men were killed outright, 16 wounded; the gun carriages were so cut with bullets as to be of no further service... 27 balls passed through the lid of the limber chest..."
Many of the larger guns in both North and South were tied up in permanent fortifications. The Washington defense alone contained 807 guns and 98 mortars. (Coggins-63) A majority of these fortification guns never fired a shot at the enemy through the entire war.
FIELD ARTILLERY
Field guns were grouped into batteries. Although six guns to a battery was considered ideal, it wasn't uncommon for a battery to have only four guns. The organization of field artillery often differed within the two armies. The battery was usually commanded by a captain, while two guns formed a section commanded by a lieutenant. When on the move, each gun or "piece" was hooked up behind a limber, which carried the ammunition chest, and was drawn by six horses. Each gun had its caisson, carrying three ammunition chests, and also drawn by six horses. These two units made up a platoon, which was commanded by a sergeant (Chief of Piece) and two corporals. A battery was also accompanied by a forge, a wagon carrying the tents and supplies, and generally six additional caissons with reserve ammunition.
There were three drivers for each six-horse team, who rode the horses on the left side. A typical gun crew was made up of nine men. Where the artillery was designated as light artillery, the cannoneers either rode on the ammunition chests or walked beside their piece. With horse artillery (sometimes called flying artillery), the cannoneers each rode a horse, with two additional men acting as horse-holders in action.
In addition to the lieutenants commanding each section, another lieutenant usually commanded the line of caissons. There was also an orderly and quartermaster sergeant, five artificers, two buglers, and a guidon-bearer.
Four batteries were usually assigned to a division. When several divisions were organized into a corps, half of the divisional artillery was generally grouped as corps reserve. There was an army reserve of some one-hundred guns. (Coggins-63) When the horse artillery wasn't attached to the cavalry corps it was held in the army reserve.
Up until 1863, the Confederate armies and the western army of the Union assigned a battery to each infantry brigade. This was found to be a bad system since it eliminated the concentration of fire that was needed to beat back an attack. A good example of the effectiveness of the Federal divisional and reserve system was Malvern Hill, where 60 pieces of Federal artillery were amassed to smash one Southern battery after another as it was thrown piecemeal into action.
The composition of the individual batteries themselves varied in both armies and there was no set standard for either. Initially, a six-gun battery would have two howitzers; a 12-pounder battery thus had four 12-pound guns and two 24-pounder howitzers. A 6-pounder battery would have four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers. The 6-pounder was used mainly by the South, and was later replaced by 3-inch rifles and 12-pounder smoothbores. There wasn’t much extra metal needed to make a 12-pounder, and over the winter of 1862-63 the Tredegar Works in Richmond (among others) was busy melting and re-casting guns.
Since Confederate batteries were often made up of captured pieces, and a mixture of types of weapons, the work of the ordnance department to supply ammunition became a complex one.
The Northern armies, more uniformly equipped, were usually armed with the 3-inch rifle, the 10-pounder parrot, the 20-pounder parrot, or the 12-pounder Napoleon. However, artillery batteries on both sides often had a few non-standard rifles, and all guns required several types of ammunition.
Among artillerists, there was a difference of opinion as to which weapon was more effective, rifled guns or smoothbores. While the rifled gun had longer range and far greater accuracy, the smoothbore was thought to be more effective in wooded and broken country, its larger bore inflicting more damage at close range. The large windage and loss of velocity of the smoothbore’s roundshot made long-range accuracy impossible. Some artillerists reported that a disadvantage with the rifled gun was the fact its projectile would burrow itself into the ground if it had the slightest angle on it, yet it had a slightly higher rate of fire than the smoothbore.
The ammunition used for a smoothbore varied from solid shot to cannister. Solid shot was used for battering and against massed troops, while shell was used against earthworks and troops under cover. Spherical case, or shrapnel, was used against bodies of troops at a distance, usually from 500 to 1500 yards, while canister was used at close range, usually 350 yards or less. In some instances, double-canister with a single charge was used.
The most commonly used ammunition for the rifled gun was the 3-inch Parrot Shell, 3-inch Reed Shell, 3-inch Confederate Shell, 3-inch Absterdam Shot, the 12-pounder Blakely, Whitworth 12-pounder shot (also referred to as "bolts"), 4-inch Hotchkiss Shell, the James Shell, the 2.4 inch Pattison Shot, 3-inch Schenkl Shell, 2.25-inch Confederate Shell, 3.75-inch Sawyer Shell, 24-pound Dyer Shell and the Confederate 3.5-inch Winged Shot. Also used was the Confederate 4.2-inch Flanged Percussion Shell.
Fuses were used to explode shell and spherical case shot. These fuses were either ignited by the flash of the discharge, timed to set off the bursting on or near the target, or fired by the impact of the projectile striking the target (percussion). The majority of the smoothbores used the first type of fuse, as the percussion fuse only worked if the projectile struck the target nose-first. The rifled guns used either the timed or percussion fuse, and sometimes both. Neither kind of fuse was very reliable since black powder doesn’t burn at an entirely reliable rate, but they improved during the war.
During the Civil War, few breechloaders were used, as their breech mechanisms were thought to be clumsy and complicated. However, two of the breechloaders that did see usage were the Armstrong and the Whitworth. Both of these guns proved to have a far better accuracy than any of the muzzle-loading smoothbores.
SIEGE AND GARRISON ARTILLERY
Heavy artillery was divided into two classes -- siege and garrison, and seacoast. The siege and garrison pieces could be moved on carriages by road, while the seacoast artillery was much heavier and had to be moved on special carriages. There were times where siege guns were brought into action and used on the battlefield, such as Shiloh and Malvern Hill.
As a siege gun, the smoothbores were eventually replaced or rifled, due to the greater accuracy of the rifled gun. Their destructive firepower also made the old brick and stone forts of a thing of the past. Although attempts were made to convert some of these smoothbores to rifled guns by reinforcing them with wrought-iron rings, the cast iron of the gun was not strong enough to stand the increased pressures. Many of these converted guns burst, proving deadlier to the crew than their enemies.
As in heavy artillery, mortars were classed as "siege" or "seacoast" guns. The 8-inch and light model 10-inch mortar siege guns, while cumbersome, could be transported on mortar wagons. The longer and heavier models of the 10-inch and the giant 13-inch mortars were classified as "seacoast," as they could only be moved with great difficulty by rail or ship. Mortars typically used spherical shells, and both timed and percussion fuses. Although experiments were made using canister shot as shells, the gun crews were unable to remain at their guns under the shower of metal.
Although there was great technological advances made during the Civil War, such as the improved casting method by Major Rodman, real progress would come along later with the introduction of nitroglycerin-based propellants. Still, the artillery proved pivotal and deadly in almost every major engagement during the war. From the massed Union batteries at Stones River and Malvern Hill, to the work of a few guns during Hood's 1864 Campaign, the cannoneers bravely and laboriously performed their work.
Coggins, Jack "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," Double Day & Company, New York, 1962
Boatner, Mark M III., "The Civil War Dictionary," David McKay Company, Inc, New York 1959
Article written by: Alethea D. Sayers
Artillery was generally classed by its weight and caliber. Also taken into consideration was its mobility and the form of its carriage or mounting. "Field" artillery was the class name for ordnance light and mobile enough to move with the army, and to be maneuvered during battle. "Mountain" artillery was included in this class, as these guns had to be exceptionally light to be manhandled or transported over steep and rough terrain. "Heavy" artillery included siege guns and mortars. Although these guns were considered mobile, they were slow and unwieldy. Weighing up to 117,000 pounds, the Rodmans were considered the largest of these guns, firing a 1080-pound projectile.
After being divided into classes, ordnance was again divided into types. Those types were "Guns," "Howitzers" and "Mortars." A rare exception to these types was the 12-pound Napoleon model of 1857, which was a gun-howitzer. Guns were fairly heavy, had a long range and flat trajectory, while Howitzers were lighter, shorter and fired a heavy shell. Mortars were the shortest of the three, heavy and fired large projectiles with high trajectory.
Guns were either smoothbore or rifled, firing solid shot, shell, spherical, grapeshot and canister (or "case" shot). The smoothbore Howitzers fired shell and case, while the smoothbore mortars fired only shell and spherical case. Few guns during the Civil War, were breechloaders, since they could be loaded "down the spout" just as fast as operating a breech mechanism.
In this period there were no recoil mechanisms, and when guns were fired they would leap back in recoil and have to be redirected for the next round. Gunners had to push their pieces back into position after each round, a tiring process. Aiming, rather than loading the gun, was the most time consuming of the process. Accuracy degenerated over time as cannoneers got tired and smoke blotted the battlefield.
The most lethal load of a field artilleryman was canister. Canister consisted of tin cylinders filled with iron shot, or musket balls, which would explode into a mass of troops, wreaking devastation.
To be effective on the battlefield, gunners had to get the piece within range of the enemy. Rarely though was an artillery battery ordered to gallop up at close range and unlimber their gun. Officers, knowing this was suicidal for the gun crews and their horses, did so only in moments of absolute necessity.
At the Bloody Angle, Spotsylvania, an artilleryman of Battery C, 5th U. S. Artillery, recounted an episode where just such an order was given. "...We were a considerable distance in front of our infantry, and of course artillery could not live long under such a fire as the enemy were putting through there. Our men went down in short order...Our men went into action with 23 men and one officer. The only ones who came out sound were the lieutenant and myself. Every horse was killed, 7 of the men were killed outright, 16 wounded; the gun carriages were so cut with bullets as to be of no further service... 27 balls passed through the lid of the limber chest..."
Many of the larger guns in both North and South were tied up in permanent fortifications. The Washington defense alone contained 807 guns and 98 mortars. (Coggins-63) A majority of these fortification guns never fired a shot at the enemy through the entire war.
FIELD ARTILLERY
Field guns were grouped into batteries. Although six guns to a battery was considered ideal, it wasn't uncommon for a battery to have only four guns. The organization of field artillery often differed within the two armies. The battery was usually commanded by a captain, while two guns formed a section commanded by a lieutenant. When on the move, each gun or "piece" was hooked up behind a limber, which carried the ammunition chest, and was drawn by six horses. Each gun had its caisson, carrying three ammunition chests, and also drawn by six horses. These two units made up a platoon, which was commanded by a sergeant (Chief of Piece) and two corporals. A battery was also accompanied by a forge, a wagon carrying the tents and supplies, and generally six additional caissons with reserve ammunition.
There were three drivers for each six-horse team, who rode the horses on the left side. A typical gun crew was made up of nine men. Where the artillery was designated as light artillery, the cannoneers either rode on the ammunition chests or walked beside their piece. With horse artillery (sometimes called flying artillery), the cannoneers each rode a horse, with two additional men acting as horse-holders in action.
In addition to the lieutenants commanding each section, another lieutenant usually commanded the line of caissons. There was also an orderly and quartermaster sergeant, five artificers, two buglers, and a guidon-bearer.
Four batteries were usually assigned to a division. When several divisions were organized into a corps, half of the divisional artillery was generally grouped as corps reserve. There was an army reserve of some one-hundred guns. (Coggins-63) When the horse artillery wasn't attached to the cavalry corps it was held in the army reserve.
Up until 1863, the Confederate armies and the western army of the Union assigned a battery to each infantry brigade. This was found to be a bad system since it eliminated the concentration of fire that was needed to beat back an attack. A good example of the effectiveness of the Federal divisional and reserve system was Malvern Hill, where 60 pieces of Federal artillery were amassed to smash one Southern battery after another as it was thrown piecemeal into action.
The composition of the individual batteries themselves varied in both armies and there was no set standard for either. Initially, a six-gun battery would have two howitzers; a 12-pounder battery thus had four 12-pound guns and two 24-pounder howitzers. A 6-pounder battery would have four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers. The 6-pounder was used mainly by the South, and was later replaced by 3-inch rifles and 12-pounder smoothbores. There wasn’t much extra metal needed to make a 12-pounder, and over the winter of 1862-63 the Tredegar Works in Richmond (among others) was busy melting and re-casting guns.
Since Confederate batteries were often made up of captured pieces, and a mixture of types of weapons, the work of the ordnance department to supply ammunition became a complex one.
The Northern armies, more uniformly equipped, were usually armed with the 3-inch rifle, the 10-pounder parrot, the 20-pounder parrot, or the 12-pounder Napoleon. However, artillery batteries on both sides often had a few non-standard rifles, and all guns required several types of ammunition.
Among artillerists, there was a difference of opinion as to which weapon was more effective, rifled guns or smoothbores. While the rifled gun had longer range and far greater accuracy, the smoothbore was thought to be more effective in wooded and broken country, its larger bore inflicting more damage at close range. The large windage and loss of velocity of the smoothbore’s roundshot made long-range accuracy impossible. Some artillerists reported that a disadvantage with the rifled gun was the fact its projectile would burrow itself into the ground if it had the slightest angle on it, yet it had a slightly higher rate of fire than the smoothbore.
The ammunition used for a smoothbore varied from solid shot to cannister. Solid shot was used for battering and against massed troops, while shell was used against earthworks and troops under cover. Spherical case, or shrapnel, was used against bodies of troops at a distance, usually from 500 to 1500 yards, while canister was used at close range, usually 350 yards or less. In some instances, double-canister with a single charge was used.
The most commonly used ammunition for the rifled gun was the 3-inch Parrot Shell, 3-inch Reed Shell, 3-inch Confederate Shell, 3-inch Absterdam Shot, the 12-pounder Blakely, Whitworth 12-pounder shot (also referred to as "bolts"), 4-inch Hotchkiss Shell, the James Shell, the 2.4 inch Pattison Shot, 3-inch Schenkl Shell, 2.25-inch Confederate Shell, 3.75-inch Sawyer Shell, 24-pound Dyer Shell and the Confederate 3.5-inch Winged Shot. Also used was the Confederate 4.2-inch Flanged Percussion Shell.
Fuses were used to explode shell and spherical case shot. These fuses were either ignited by the flash of the discharge, timed to set off the bursting on or near the target, or fired by the impact of the projectile striking the target (percussion). The majority of the smoothbores used the first type of fuse, as the percussion fuse only worked if the projectile struck the target nose-first. The rifled guns used either the timed or percussion fuse, and sometimes both. Neither kind of fuse was very reliable since black powder doesn’t burn at an entirely reliable rate, but they improved during the war.
During the Civil War, few breechloaders were used, as their breech mechanisms were thought to be clumsy and complicated. However, two of the breechloaders that did see usage were the Armstrong and the Whitworth. Both of these guns proved to have a far better accuracy than any of the muzzle-loading smoothbores.
SIEGE AND GARRISON ARTILLERY
Heavy artillery was divided into two classes -- siege and garrison, and seacoast. The siege and garrison pieces could be moved on carriages by road, while the seacoast artillery was much heavier and had to be moved on special carriages. There were times where siege guns were brought into action and used on the battlefield, such as Shiloh and Malvern Hill.
As a siege gun, the smoothbores were eventually replaced or rifled, due to the greater accuracy of the rifled gun. Their destructive firepower also made the old brick and stone forts of a thing of the past. Although attempts were made to convert some of these smoothbores to rifled guns by reinforcing them with wrought-iron rings, the cast iron of the gun was not strong enough to stand the increased pressures. Many of these converted guns burst, proving deadlier to the crew than their enemies.
As in heavy artillery, mortars were classed as "siege" or "seacoast" guns. The 8-inch and light model 10-inch mortar siege guns, while cumbersome, could be transported on mortar wagons. The longer and heavier models of the 10-inch and the giant 13-inch mortars were classified as "seacoast," as they could only be moved with great difficulty by rail or ship. Mortars typically used spherical shells, and both timed and percussion fuses. Although experiments were made using canister shot as shells, the gun crews were unable to remain at their guns under the shower of metal.
Although there was great technological advances made during the Civil War, such as the improved casting method by Major Rodman, real progress would come along later with the introduction of nitroglycerin-based propellants. Still, the artillery proved pivotal and deadly in almost every major engagement during the war. From the massed Union batteries at Stones River and Malvern Hill, to the work of a few guns during Hood's 1864 Campaign, the cannoneers bravely and laboriously performed their work.
Coggins, Jack "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," Double Day & Company, New York, 1962
Boatner, Mark M III., "The Civil War Dictionary," David McKay Company, Inc, New York 1959
Article written by: Alethea D. Sayers
Introduction To Civil War Cavalry
The History
On March 2, 1833, acting on a measure presented by Richard Johnson, Congress created the United States Regiment of Dragoons. With the creation of this unit, the U. S. Cavalry was born.(Urwin, 54)
The size of the U. S. Regiment of Dragoons was fixed by Congress, at 34 officers and 1,715 men. Henry Dodge was appointed the colonel in command. Other noteworthy officers were Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny, Captain Edwin V. Sumner, First Lieutenant Philip St. George Cooke, and Second Lieutenant Jefferson Davis.(Urwin, 55)
For the Mexican War it was clear that the US needed more mounted troops: the distances in Mexico were so great. There was some expansion in the Regulars, but many of the units were volunteers that were dissolved at the end of the war. In 1850 the Federal Government followed suit. Only two Dragoon regiments and one regiment of Mounted Riflemen (created in 1846) survived the government postwar reductions. But five years later, on March 3, 1855, Congress authorized the raising of two regiments of horse. These were needed to handle the expanding western frontier, especially as settlers pushed more and more against the Indians.
The 1st and 2nd U. S. Cavalry were the first regular American military organizations to bear the title of "cavalry".(Urwin, 96) It was rumored among the Dragoons and Mounted Riflemen that Secretary of War Jefferson Davis purposely received this special designation to enable him to appoint many of his Southern friends while disregarding seniority among the older mounted units. Whether this rumor was true or not, the disproportionate number of Southern officers in the new units would definitely affect the forming of the Union cavalry in the Civil War six years later.
The 1st Cavalry was assembled at Fort Leavenworth and commanded by Colonel Edwin V. Sumner. Five of his officers were later to play a significant role in the Civil War: Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston, Maj. John Sedgwick, Maj. William H. Emory, Capt. George B. McClellan, and Lt. J. E. B. Stuart. (Urwin, 96)
The 2nd Cavalry was trained at Jefferson Barracks. Albert Sidney Johnston was the Colonel, and some of his officers were: Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee, Maj. William J. Hardee, Maj. George H. Thomas, Captains Earl Van Dorn, George Stoneman, Edmund Kirby Smith, Lieutenants John Bell Hood, and Fitzhugh Lee. The 2nd was nicknamed 'Jeff Davis's Own,' and over the next four years clashed with hostiles nearly forty times. The regiment's most successful sorties were directed by its senior captain, Brev. Maj. Earl Van Dorn. (Urwin, 96-7)
At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, there were five regiments of U. S. cavalry: the 1st and 2nd Dragoons, the 1st Mounted Rifles, and the 1st and 2nd Cavalry. Shortly after the 3rd Cavalry was organized in 1861, all the regiments were renumbered from one to six and the twelve troops organization adopted. (Coggins, 48)
Out of the 176 officers of the five original regiments, 104 cast their lot with their native Southern states when the Civil War broke. As a result of this, not only did the Union cavalry have many green and untested troops, their officers were inexperienced too. In contrast, the Confederate cavalry had more experienced leadership which contributed to several years of battlefield superiority.
Cavalry Organization
U. S. cavalry regiments were organized as follows: each regiment contained 12 troops, each troop consisting of 100 men, commanded by a Captain, a 1st Lieutenant, a 2nd Lieutenant, and a Supernumerary Lieutenant. In 1863, changes were made to create a more flexible cavalry. The squadron was dropped, along with the supernumerary Lieutenant, and battalions, usually of four troops, were formed. These were handier on the march (shorter columns) and were a better size to detach than a full regiment.
A regiment was commanded by a Colonel, and had a Lieutenant Colonel, 3 Majors, and staff of an Adjutant, a Quartermaster, a Commissary, and a regimental Surgeon and assistant. The noncoms included: one Sergeant-Major, one Quartermaster Sergeant., one Commissary Sergeant, one saddler Sergeant, a chief farrier or blacksmith, and two hospital stewards.
Each troop, which now numbered 82-100 men, had its 1st Sergeant., Quartermaster Sergeant., a Commissary Sergeant., in addition to five Sergeants., eight Corporals, two teamsters, two farriers, one saddler, one waggoner, and two musicians.
The Southern cavalry regiment was organized along the same lines. On paper, it consisted of ten companies or squadrons, each numbering 60 to 80 privates. Each company was officered by a Captain, a 1st and 2nd Lieutenant, and included five Sergeants, four Corporals, a farrier and a blacksmith. The regimental officers were a Colonel, with a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and an Adjutant. (Coggins, 49) This was the organization on paper; rarely were units up to strength.
In both Confederate and Union armies, the regiments were formed into brigades; brigades into divisions; divisions into corps. A Confederate cavalry division might have up six brigades, while a Union division typically had two or three brigades. The number of regiments in each brigade varied from two to six, depending on the strength of the units. A corps contained two or three divisions.
Whenever possible, horse artillery was attached to the cavalry, and was followed by its own train of ammunition, supply wagons and rolling forage.
Role of the Cavalry
During the Civil War the cavalry reached its zenith, marking the highest position the horse soldier would ever hold in the American military. Between 1861-1865, 272 full regiments of cavalry were raised to preserve the Union, 137 for the South. This number does not include the separate battalions nor the independent companies raised.
Traditionally, cavalry was considered the "eyes" of the army, keeping their commander informed of the enemy’s movements. They also screened their own army, covered flanks, disrupted enemy communication and supply lines, and provided a mobile striking force when needed.
Initially, the U. S. government saw the cavalry as extravagant and needless spending, turning away many units that were offered by individual states for service. Northern politicians subscribed to the theory that it took a good two years to train an efficient cavalryman, and thought the rebellious Southerners would be crushed long before any Federal cavalry could take to the field. For this reason, only seven troops of regular cavalry were available for the first battle of Bull Run.
After that, the opinions of the Union high command regarding cavalry altered significantly. The eyewitness accounts of a full regiment of gray-clad horseman pursuing the routed Federals most likely was crucial to the turnaround. Not only did Lt. Col. J. E. B. Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry support the Confederates, but also the four-company mounted battalion of Col. Wade Hampton's Legion and several independent companies.(Urwin, 110) However, both sides split their cavalry up, using troops here and there attached to most of the infantry brigades.
By the end of August 1861, thirty-one volunteer cavalry regiments had been raised for the Union Army. When the first year of the Civil War came to a close, the North had eighty-two new regiments of cavalry. (Urwin, 112)
Cavalry Tactics
While it is often maintained that cavalry was little more than mounted infantry, testimony by participants proves the contrary. General Early reported in 1864:
"...but the fact is, the enemy's cavalry is much superior to ours, both in numbers and equipment, and the country is so favorable to the operations of cavalry, that it is impossible for ours to compete with his. Lomax's cavalry is armed entirely with rifles and has no sabers, and the consequence is they cannot fight on horseback, and in this open country they cannot successfully fight on foot against large bodies of cavalry." (Coggins, 49)
Sir Henry Havelock, speaking of Sheridan's attack at Sayler's Creek, said:
"The mode in which Sheridan, from the special arming and training of his cavalry, was able to deal with this rear guard, first to overtake it in retreat, then to pass completely beyond it, to turn to face it, and take up at leisure a position strong enough to enable him to detain it in spite of its naturally fierce and determined efforts to break through, is highly characteristic of the self reliant, all-sufficing efficiency to which at this time the Northern horseman had been brought..." (Coggins, 49)
Due to the increased performance of the rifled musket, charges against infantry were rare, and often scoffed at by the foot soldier. When charged by Union cavalry, a Southern general said his men would respond with the cry; "Boys, here are those fools coming again with their sabers; give it to them." (Coggins, 50)
Some horsemen developed their own tactics, freeing themselves of the unsound traditions of European cavalry. Such was the case with the raider, General John Hunt Morgan. General Basil W. Duke, Morgan’s brother-in-law and author of "History of Morgan's Cavalry," noted the following:
"Exactly the same evolutions were applicable for horseback or foot fighting, but the latter method was much practiced—we were in fact not cavalry, but mounted riflemen. A small body of mounted men was usually kept in reserve to act on the flanks, cover the retreat or press a victory, but otherwise our men fought very little on horseback, except on scouting expeditions." (Coggins, 50)
Generally, troops were maneuvered in columns of fours, which were flexible and easier to deploy. While older army drill books called for deploying into two ranks for a charge, General St. George Cooke's drill book of '62, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's, called for a single rank. (Coggins, 51) Charges were also made in columns of fours, or double columns of fours. The ideal position from which to launch an attack was from the flank.
In many instances troopers fought dismounted, particularly in the latter part of the war when remounts became scarce, and the mounted cavalry charge was looked upon as reckless. Some circumstances which called for dismounting were: to seize and hold ground until infantry arrived, to fill gaps in lines of battle, covering the retreat of infantry, or where the ground was impractical for mounted cavalry.
On the march, cavalry could cover some thirty-five miles in an eight-hour day under good conditions. However, some raids and expeditions pushed man and beast to the limits. During Stuart's raid on Chambersburg in 1862, his command marched eighty miles in twenty-seven hours; in 1864, Wilson's & Kautz's divisions marched 300 miles in ten days. On Morgan's great raid, his troopers were in the saddle for an average of twenty hours a day.
Troopers often slept in their saddles on such long marches, and the horses would plod along in a somnambulist state. When there were large bodies of cavalry, the took up a great distance of the road. Jack Coggins, author of "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," estimates distances thusly; "A horse occupies approximately three yards, and there was a distance of about one yard between ranks. A troop of ninety-six men in columns of fours would be ninety-five yards long." Colonel Kidd of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry noted that Sheridan's column of ten thousand troopers stretched for thirteen miles.
At a walk, cavalry could cover four miles in an hour; at a slow trot, six; at a maneuvering trot, eight; at an alternate trot and walk, five; at a maneuvering gallop, twelve; and at a full extended gallop, sixteen.
Veteran troopers learned to travel as light as possible, living off of the countryside. This practice not only spared the mount but enabled the troops to cover ground more rapidly.
Cavalry Weapons
The Federal Volunteer cavalrymen were armed with sabers and revolvers. Initially, some carried carbines or rifles. But as the war progressed, the carbine became the standard issued weapon. A light, curved, cavalry saber eventually replaced the heavier, straight, Prussian type saber. Common models of revolvers carried were percussion Army or Navy model, or a Remington.
The Southern cavalryman also carried saber, revolver and carbine, though some carried a rifle or a muzzle-loading shotgun. The Sharps carbine was often preferred due to its advantage of firing a linen cartridge, whereas others required metallic cartridges.
It wasn't uncommon to find a cavalryman sporting two revolvers, and some, like Mosby's men, carried four. In the latter part of the war, some Union regiments were armed with the Henry rifle, an improvement over the Sharps and Spencer, as it fired up to sixteen shots with great accuracy.
Though the South had enjoyed superiority within the cavalry branch for the first two years of the war, the tables would be turned by 1863. Southern shortages of manpower, horseflesh and arms, along with vast improvements in weaponry for the North, resulted in a formidable foe on the battlefields.
In 1865, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, depleted and starving, was hounded by Federal cavalry as it headed west from Richmond. Federal troopers overran twenty-four Confederate cannon, holding Lee in place until Federal infantry could arrive, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate Army at Appomattox Court House on April 9.
Appomattox must have been a victory for Federal cavalrymen to savor, no longer the laughing stocks of the Army of the Potomac, but one of the most efficient bodies of soldiers on earth.
Reference sources: "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," Coggins, Jack, Doubleday & Company, New York 1962
"The United States Cavalry; An Illustrated History," Urwin, Gergory J. W., Blandford Press, Poole Dorset, 1983
"The Cavalry, Part IV, A photographic History of the Civil War," Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Castle Books, New York, 1957
Article written by: Alethea D. Sayers
On March 2, 1833, acting on a measure presented by Richard Johnson, Congress created the United States Regiment of Dragoons. With the creation of this unit, the U. S. Cavalry was born.(Urwin, 54)
The size of the U. S. Regiment of Dragoons was fixed by Congress, at 34 officers and 1,715 men. Henry Dodge was appointed the colonel in command. Other noteworthy officers were Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny, Captain Edwin V. Sumner, First Lieutenant Philip St. George Cooke, and Second Lieutenant Jefferson Davis.(Urwin, 55)
For the Mexican War it was clear that the US needed more mounted troops: the distances in Mexico were so great. There was some expansion in the Regulars, but many of the units were volunteers that were dissolved at the end of the war. In 1850 the Federal Government followed suit. Only two Dragoon regiments and one regiment of Mounted Riflemen (created in 1846) survived the government postwar reductions. But five years later, on March 3, 1855, Congress authorized the raising of two regiments of horse. These were needed to handle the expanding western frontier, especially as settlers pushed more and more against the Indians.
The 1st and 2nd U. S. Cavalry were the first regular American military organizations to bear the title of "cavalry".(Urwin, 96) It was rumored among the Dragoons and Mounted Riflemen that Secretary of War Jefferson Davis purposely received this special designation to enable him to appoint many of his Southern friends while disregarding seniority among the older mounted units. Whether this rumor was true or not, the disproportionate number of Southern officers in the new units would definitely affect the forming of the Union cavalry in the Civil War six years later.
The 1st Cavalry was assembled at Fort Leavenworth and commanded by Colonel Edwin V. Sumner. Five of his officers were later to play a significant role in the Civil War: Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston, Maj. John Sedgwick, Maj. William H. Emory, Capt. George B. McClellan, and Lt. J. E. B. Stuart. (Urwin, 96)
The 2nd Cavalry was trained at Jefferson Barracks. Albert Sidney Johnston was the Colonel, and some of his officers were: Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee, Maj. William J. Hardee, Maj. George H. Thomas, Captains Earl Van Dorn, George Stoneman, Edmund Kirby Smith, Lieutenants John Bell Hood, and Fitzhugh Lee. The 2nd was nicknamed 'Jeff Davis's Own,' and over the next four years clashed with hostiles nearly forty times. The regiment's most successful sorties were directed by its senior captain, Brev. Maj. Earl Van Dorn. (Urwin, 96-7)
At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, there were five regiments of U. S. cavalry: the 1st and 2nd Dragoons, the 1st Mounted Rifles, and the 1st and 2nd Cavalry. Shortly after the 3rd Cavalry was organized in 1861, all the regiments were renumbered from one to six and the twelve troops organization adopted. (Coggins, 48)
Out of the 176 officers of the five original regiments, 104 cast their lot with their native Southern states when the Civil War broke. As a result of this, not only did the Union cavalry have many green and untested troops, their officers were inexperienced too. In contrast, the Confederate cavalry had more experienced leadership which contributed to several years of battlefield superiority.
Cavalry Organization
U. S. cavalry regiments were organized as follows: each regiment contained 12 troops, each troop consisting of 100 men, commanded by a Captain, a 1st Lieutenant, a 2nd Lieutenant, and a Supernumerary Lieutenant. In 1863, changes were made to create a more flexible cavalry. The squadron was dropped, along with the supernumerary Lieutenant, and battalions, usually of four troops, were formed. These were handier on the march (shorter columns) and were a better size to detach than a full regiment.
A regiment was commanded by a Colonel, and had a Lieutenant Colonel, 3 Majors, and staff of an Adjutant, a Quartermaster, a Commissary, and a regimental Surgeon and assistant. The noncoms included: one Sergeant-Major, one Quartermaster Sergeant., one Commissary Sergeant, one saddler Sergeant, a chief farrier or blacksmith, and two hospital stewards.
Each troop, which now numbered 82-100 men, had its 1st Sergeant., Quartermaster Sergeant., a Commissary Sergeant., in addition to five Sergeants., eight Corporals, two teamsters, two farriers, one saddler, one waggoner, and two musicians.
The Southern cavalry regiment was organized along the same lines. On paper, it consisted of ten companies or squadrons, each numbering 60 to 80 privates. Each company was officered by a Captain, a 1st and 2nd Lieutenant, and included five Sergeants, four Corporals, a farrier and a blacksmith. The regimental officers were a Colonel, with a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and an Adjutant. (Coggins, 49) This was the organization on paper; rarely were units up to strength.
In both Confederate and Union armies, the regiments were formed into brigades; brigades into divisions; divisions into corps. A Confederate cavalry division might have up six brigades, while a Union division typically had two or three brigades. The number of regiments in each brigade varied from two to six, depending on the strength of the units. A corps contained two or three divisions.
Whenever possible, horse artillery was attached to the cavalry, and was followed by its own train of ammunition, supply wagons and rolling forage.
Role of the Cavalry
During the Civil War the cavalry reached its zenith, marking the highest position the horse soldier would ever hold in the American military. Between 1861-1865, 272 full regiments of cavalry were raised to preserve the Union, 137 for the South. This number does not include the separate battalions nor the independent companies raised.
Traditionally, cavalry was considered the "eyes" of the army, keeping their commander informed of the enemy’s movements. They also screened their own army, covered flanks, disrupted enemy communication and supply lines, and provided a mobile striking force when needed.
Initially, the U. S. government saw the cavalry as extravagant and needless spending, turning away many units that were offered by individual states for service. Northern politicians subscribed to the theory that it took a good two years to train an efficient cavalryman, and thought the rebellious Southerners would be crushed long before any Federal cavalry could take to the field. For this reason, only seven troops of regular cavalry were available for the first battle of Bull Run.
After that, the opinions of the Union high command regarding cavalry altered significantly. The eyewitness accounts of a full regiment of gray-clad horseman pursuing the routed Federals most likely was crucial to the turnaround. Not only did Lt. Col. J. E. B. Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry support the Confederates, but also the four-company mounted battalion of Col. Wade Hampton's Legion and several independent companies.(Urwin, 110) However, both sides split their cavalry up, using troops here and there attached to most of the infantry brigades.
By the end of August 1861, thirty-one volunteer cavalry regiments had been raised for the Union Army. When the first year of the Civil War came to a close, the North had eighty-two new regiments of cavalry. (Urwin, 112)
Cavalry Tactics
While it is often maintained that cavalry was little more than mounted infantry, testimony by participants proves the contrary. General Early reported in 1864:
"...but the fact is, the enemy's cavalry is much superior to ours, both in numbers and equipment, and the country is so favorable to the operations of cavalry, that it is impossible for ours to compete with his. Lomax's cavalry is armed entirely with rifles and has no sabers, and the consequence is they cannot fight on horseback, and in this open country they cannot successfully fight on foot against large bodies of cavalry." (Coggins, 49)
Sir Henry Havelock, speaking of Sheridan's attack at Sayler's Creek, said:
"The mode in which Sheridan, from the special arming and training of his cavalry, was able to deal with this rear guard, first to overtake it in retreat, then to pass completely beyond it, to turn to face it, and take up at leisure a position strong enough to enable him to detain it in spite of its naturally fierce and determined efforts to break through, is highly characteristic of the self reliant, all-sufficing efficiency to which at this time the Northern horseman had been brought..." (Coggins, 49)
Due to the increased performance of the rifled musket, charges against infantry were rare, and often scoffed at by the foot soldier. When charged by Union cavalry, a Southern general said his men would respond with the cry; "Boys, here are those fools coming again with their sabers; give it to them." (Coggins, 50)
Some horsemen developed their own tactics, freeing themselves of the unsound traditions of European cavalry. Such was the case with the raider, General John Hunt Morgan. General Basil W. Duke, Morgan’s brother-in-law and author of "History of Morgan's Cavalry," noted the following:
"Exactly the same evolutions were applicable for horseback or foot fighting, but the latter method was much practiced—we were in fact not cavalry, but mounted riflemen. A small body of mounted men was usually kept in reserve to act on the flanks, cover the retreat or press a victory, but otherwise our men fought very little on horseback, except on scouting expeditions." (Coggins, 50)
Generally, troops were maneuvered in columns of fours, which were flexible and easier to deploy. While older army drill books called for deploying into two ranks for a charge, General St. George Cooke's drill book of '62, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's, called for a single rank. (Coggins, 51) Charges were also made in columns of fours, or double columns of fours. The ideal position from which to launch an attack was from the flank.
In many instances troopers fought dismounted, particularly in the latter part of the war when remounts became scarce, and the mounted cavalry charge was looked upon as reckless. Some circumstances which called for dismounting were: to seize and hold ground until infantry arrived, to fill gaps in lines of battle, covering the retreat of infantry, or where the ground was impractical for mounted cavalry.
On the march, cavalry could cover some thirty-five miles in an eight-hour day under good conditions. However, some raids and expeditions pushed man and beast to the limits. During Stuart's raid on Chambersburg in 1862, his command marched eighty miles in twenty-seven hours; in 1864, Wilson's & Kautz's divisions marched 300 miles in ten days. On Morgan's great raid, his troopers were in the saddle for an average of twenty hours a day.
Troopers often slept in their saddles on such long marches, and the horses would plod along in a somnambulist state. When there were large bodies of cavalry, the took up a great distance of the road. Jack Coggins, author of "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," estimates distances thusly; "A horse occupies approximately three yards, and there was a distance of about one yard between ranks. A troop of ninety-six men in columns of fours would be ninety-five yards long." Colonel Kidd of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry noted that Sheridan's column of ten thousand troopers stretched for thirteen miles.
At a walk, cavalry could cover four miles in an hour; at a slow trot, six; at a maneuvering trot, eight; at an alternate trot and walk, five; at a maneuvering gallop, twelve; and at a full extended gallop, sixteen.
Veteran troopers learned to travel as light as possible, living off of the countryside. This practice not only spared the mount but enabled the troops to cover ground more rapidly.
Cavalry Weapons
The Federal Volunteer cavalrymen were armed with sabers and revolvers. Initially, some carried carbines or rifles. But as the war progressed, the carbine became the standard issued weapon. A light, curved, cavalry saber eventually replaced the heavier, straight, Prussian type saber. Common models of revolvers carried were percussion Army or Navy model, or a Remington.
The Southern cavalryman also carried saber, revolver and carbine, though some carried a rifle or a muzzle-loading shotgun. The Sharps carbine was often preferred due to its advantage of firing a linen cartridge, whereas others required metallic cartridges.
It wasn't uncommon to find a cavalryman sporting two revolvers, and some, like Mosby's men, carried four. In the latter part of the war, some Union regiments were armed with the Henry rifle, an improvement over the Sharps and Spencer, as it fired up to sixteen shots with great accuracy.
Though the South had enjoyed superiority within the cavalry branch for the first two years of the war, the tables would be turned by 1863. Southern shortages of manpower, horseflesh and arms, along with vast improvements in weaponry for the North, resulted in a formidable foe on the battlefields.
In 1865, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, depleted and starving, was hounded by Federal cavalry as it headed west from Richmond. Federal troopers overran twenty-four Confederate cannon, holding Lee in place until Federal infantry could arrive, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate Army at Appomattox Court House on April 9.
Appomattox must have been a victory for Federal cavalrymen to savor, no longer the laughing stocks of the Army of the Potomac, but one of the most efficient bodies of soldiers on earth.
Reference sources: "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," Coggins, Jack, Doubleday & Company, New York 1962
"The United States Cavalry; An Illustrated History," Urwin, Gergory J. W., Blandford Press, Poole Dorset, 1983
"The Cavalry, Part IV, A photographic History of the Civil War," Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Castle Books, New York, 1957
Article written by: Alethea D. Sayers
Return to “ACW History Club / Histoire de la Guerre de Sécession”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest