O n July 6, 1864, a large contingent of Union soldiers, many hefting picks and shovels, marched to a point just west of Jerusalem Plank Road, a mile south of the Confederate earthworks protecting Petersburg, Virginia. List of Confederate Regular Army officers, Economy of the Confederate States of America, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2009, Articles with invalid date parameter in template, Armies of the Confederate States of America, American Civil War unit and formation stubs, https://civilwar.wikia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_West?oldid=17572. Van Dorn then informed Price of his plans to capture Corinth: first the Confederates would march to Pocahontas, northwest of Corinth, in order to confuse the Union high command, then turn around and attack Corinth from the north and northwest. [3], Van Dorn launched his offensive on March 5; when he discovered that Curtis was positioned behind fortifications located along the Little Sugar Creek, Van Dorn decided to march around the Union left flank and attack from the rear, starting the flanking march during the night of March 6–7. Linger's "Confederate Military Units of West Virginia", 2002. Earl Van Dorn. For the first year and a half of the Civil War, Southern spirits rode high. During the following month, it was reorganized under the name of the Army of Tennessee. Price also started the process of enlisting his men from the Missouri State Guard into the Confederate volunteer army but the process was slow and only one brigade was organized onto complete regiments by March; another brigade was composed only of battalions and a third of partial organized battalions and companies. It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Battle of Corinth and Battle of Iuka and consisted of about 20,000 men. [9], Following the transfer of the Army of the West to Corinth, part of the army was incorporated into the Army of Mississippi. The Army of the West was a military force within the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War that the was part of the Trans-Mississippi Department and was composed primarily of members of the old Missouri State Guard. The Confederates settled into winter quarters in the northern Boston Mountains, where Price immediately started feuding with McCulloch again. Major General Sterling Price was a Confederate commander during the American Civil War. Confederate generals served in the Confederate States Army on behalf of the Confederate States of America.. Would the war never end? As brigadier-general, he commanded a division in the Army at the battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861. at New Madrid, he had a division in the Army of the West, and was temporarily at the head of that force in June, 1862. Price was ordered to hold the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and prevent the Union forces in western Tennessee, commanded by U. S. Grant and William S. Rosecrans, from reinforcing the Union army in Kentucky, with Van Dorn to cooperate with Price. (39) Thirty-seven of the matriculants became Confederate generals, about 8 … The Army of the West was redesignated Price's Corps, which with Mansfield Lovell's division from the District of the Mississippi, formed Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. Maury formed a line on the west side of the creek but the line was overrun with the loss of 300 prisoners. [11], Uniting with Van Dorn at Ripley, Mississippi on September 28, Price placed himself under Van Dorn's command. First came the loss of Kentucky in late 1862. Price's troops were formally reconstituted as the Army of Missouri when they began Price's Raid in an 1864 attempt to recapture Missouri. Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 at Stratford, Virginia, the youngest son in a wealthy family. He also ordered Brigadier General Albert Pike to bring his brigade from the Indian Territory to Arkansas but only two regiments (the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles) reached Van Dorn's army before the campaign started. The company's filing status is listed as Active and its File Number is C4137287. Confederate Army of the West (16,000) Major General Earl Van Dorn Right Wing McCulloch’s Division - Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch (killed) The Armies of the Confederate States in the Civil War The permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America provided that the President should be commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service. It was manned by approximately 200 troops, about half of which would have included artillerymen managing a … Van Dorn ordered his army to retreat towards the east before moving southwards. [6] During the night, the remains of McCulloch's division arrived at Elkhorn Tavern but no supplies came, since the supply train was located several miles away at the initial Confederate positions and Van Dorn failed to order it to follow the army; as a result, the Confederates were low on ammunition. How would they be living — if, indeed, they were still alive — when Christmas came again? This enabled Price to concentrate on Rosecrans, resulting in the Battle of Iuka; the Confederates overpowered the initial Union line and held it against Union counterattacks. Once he arrived in Arkansas, Van Dorn designated each command a division and enlisted additional troops, organizing them into the 19th and 20th Arkansas Infantry regiments. Price deployed the State Guard on his left and the Missouri Confederate brigades on the right; following an artillery bombardment, he ordered a charge. The Army was reorganized in late 1862 but the troops that followed Price[clarification needed] in his other commands continued to be popularly called the Army of the West. The two columns reached Iuka on September 19 but due to poor communications and misunderstanding, Grant failed to attack as planned. West Virginia did not organize any confederate regiments. Editor’s note: The following is extracted from The Southern Christmas Book, by Harnett T. Kane (published 1958). On the morning of October 6, Van Dorn learned that another Union force commanded by Stephen Hulbut was approaching from the west; he assigned Maury's division to hold the Davis Bridge over the Hatchie River until the army could reach another crossing six miles to the south. With the Confederacy sliced in two by the loss of the Mississippi River, and the repu… The Army of Tennessee, the primary Confederate army of the Western front during the American Civil War, was formed in 1861 as the Provisional Army of Tennessee, which was the core of a force known variously as the Army of the West and the Army of the Mississippi before being ultimately renamed in … At this time, McCulloch received permission to head around the southern shoulder of Big Mountain and meet up with Price near Elkhorn Tavern, since this would shorten the distance he would travel. Once a temporary bridge was built across the Hatchie, the Confederate army retreated to Holly Springs. The next day Union troops counterattacked and broke through the Confederate lines. [8], Once the army arrived at Van Buren, Van Dorn reorganized it into a single division under Price, with four infantry brigades, two cavalry brigades, and an artillery brigade. During 1861, Confederate forces in Missouri and Arkansas were divided into two independent commands: Major General Stirling Price's pro–Confederate Missouri State Guard, based in southwestern Missouri, and Major General Benjamen McCulloh's Confederate volunteers, based in northwestern Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Van Dorn was appointed commander of the District of the Mississippi, centered around Vicksburg; Price was given the District of the Tennessee, covering northwestern Mississippi and northeastern Alabama, with the Army of the West as his field army. Organization of the army of Tennessee . 50, 56–57, 63–65, 70, 74–115, 133. . When General Earl Van Dorn was detached to assume command of the Confederate forces previously commanded by General Mansfield Lovell, Major-General McCown was elevated to command the Army of the West. The Confederates were able to drive back the Union line and capture a cannon but couldn't rout Carr's division; one of Price's brigade commanders was killed and Price himself was wounded twice but not seriously enough to leave the field. Cozzens, pp. (37) And whereas 304 West Point graduates joined the Southern army,(38) at least 12,000, and possibly many more, matriculants of ninety-six Southern military schools donned the Rebel gray and filled the highest ranks of command. The Army of the Peninsula was established May 26, 1861. Initially, Van Dorn refused to unite his force with Price's, instead concentrating on recapturing Baton Rogue, Louisiana; when that attack failed, Van Dorn reconsidered Price's proposal of invading the Union held territory. While an attack by Pike's brigade and Brigadier General James McIntosh's cavalry brigade drove back the Union forces from their initial positions, McCulloch was killed while scouting the second Union line, McIntosh was killed while leading a regiment into position, and Union reinforcements routed McCulloch's infantry brigade and captured its leader, Colonel Louis Hebert. Upon learning of Grant's approach, Price decided to retreat to avoid being surrounded; total Confederate casualties were 652, with Little killed and succeeded by Brigadier General Louis Hebert. 2, General Braxton Bragg, divided Mississippi into several commands to defend the state in his absence. The Confederate Army of the Shenandoah, after the First Battle of Bull Run it became part of the Confederate Army of the Potomac. But by the fall of 1863, the Confederacy found itself against the ropes. Colonel Elkanah Greer of the 3rd Texas Cavalry took command of another portion of the division and, after holding his position until after dark, also marched around Big Mountain to the tavern. During both days, Lovell failed to fully support Price's attacks, which may have been due to his opposition to attacking Corinth at all. Shea & Hess, p. 87; Josephy, pp. Price's troops were formally reconstituted as the Army of Missouri when they began Price's Raid in an 1864 attempt to recapture Missouri. The army was organized from elements of the Army of the West on September 28, 1862, with Earl Van Dorn its first and only commander. West explained that as a young officer in the U.S. Army he had served at places like Fort Bragg -- named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg -- and … He was groomed for a military career from an early age, as his father was a general in the American army. His army retreated west towards Alabama. Neither Van Dorn nor Price remained behind to supervise the retreat, so the units left the field chaotically, with the artillery batteries leaving as they ran out of ammunition and the infantry and cavalry regiments following. The Diaries Left Behind by Confederate Soldiers Reveal the True Role of Enslaved Labor at Gettysburg Even as some enslaved men escaped North, the retreat by the Army … Battle lines are beginning to take shape, as the Confederate army, occupied the ground from just west of Hagerstown, all the way down to Downsville, east of Williamsport. Grant and Rosecrans immediately formed a plan of trapping Price, with Grant moving in from the northwest to hold Price's attention, while Rosecrans attacked from the south and southwest to cut off Price's lines of retreat. At this time, General P. G. T. Beauregard, acting for Johnston, ordered Van Dorn to bring his army to Corinth, Mississippi to join Johnston's force for an attack on the Union army at Shiloh. Most of the men whose names appear in this index served with units from 15 different states or territories; others were soldiers raised directly by the Confederate government, generals and staff officers, and other enlisted men not associated with a regiment. Beauregard, a West Point graduate and former West Point Superintendent, opened fire on Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor, under the command of Major Robert Anderson, a West Point graduate and Beauregard’s artillery instructor. As his men fell back, Hood realized that the cause was lost and began evacuating Atlanta on the night of September 1. Hulbut then crossed several regiments to the east bank, which suffered 570 casualties, mostly due to sharpshooters and artillery fire. Then the stunning Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863, and by September Confederate morale was at its lowest ebb since the beginning of the war. During the two–day Battle of Corinth, Price's corps did much of the fighting. Army engineers had been busy laying out … Both Price's and Van Dorn's districts were merged into the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, commanded by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, who took over the Army of West Tennessee. Our 40+ members come from throughout southwest Iowa. Grant’s offensive had battered his Army of Northern Virginia back into defensive positions around the Confederate capital of Richmond and its main rail center, Petersburg. Approximately 9,000 West Virginians chose to fight for the Confederate States of America and generally joined the confederate regiments o… [2], To solve the problem of having two feuding commanders in Arkansas, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Major General Earl Van Dorn to command the District of the Trans–Mississippi, which covered Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and northern Louisiana; the district was part of the Confederate Department No. (1/2017) On July 11, 1863, the Army of the Potomac was closing in on the Confederate army near Williamsport. 2, commanded by General Albert Johnston. Although the majority of these generals were from the south, a handful of them were also from the north. The troops which formed Price's command in Arkansas and Missouri from 1863 to 1865 continued to be popularly called the Army of the West. Both Price and McCulloch feuded with each other concerning the proper Confederate strategy in the Trans–Mississippi area, and cooperated only once, during the Wilson's Creek campaign in August 1861. (Lovell's division remained separate from Price's corps and reported directly to Van Dorn.) Maj. Gen. Earl van Dorn. The Army of West Tennessee was a short-lived Confederate army led by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, which fought principally in the Second Battle of Corinth. [4] Pike was able to rally a portion of the division and lead it back to the Bentonville Detour, where it marched around the northern end of Big Mountain and to Elkhorn Tavern. He resigned from the service in May, 1861, and entered the Confederate army, taking charge of the artillery in the provisional army of the State of Tennessee. This database contains an index to compiled service records (CSRs) for soldiers who served with units in the Confederate army. The Army of the West was a military force within the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War that the was part of the Trans-Mississippi Department and was composed primarily of members of the old Missouri State Guard. On the first day, Price's troops drove the Union troops from their lines north of Corinth into their second line of fortifications; on the second, his divisions overran several parts of the Union line and briefly entered into Corinth but had to fall back due to lack of support. [7], Curtis concentrated his army around the Confederate positions near Elkhorn Tavern during the night; at dawn he started an artillery bombardment which lasted two hours. With the coming of spring, Grant feared that Confederate General Robert E. Lee would attempt to slip his army west out of the tightening Federal lines at Petersburg and head south to join General Joseph Johnston’s battered Confederate forces at Raleigh, North Carolina. Notably, Hood was the Confederate commander in the Battle of Franklin in Tennessee. However, due to bad roads Van Dorn failed to reach Corinth until a week after the Battle of Shiloh; in addition, Van Dorn brought all supplies he could, including the machinery and stores at the Little Rock arsenal, to northern Mississippi with him, and left few men behind. The Confederate Roster is a state by state compilation of soldiers who served the Confederacy. Taken from official documents, tombstones, genalogical records and historical references, this work is an ongoing project of this website. Price was reassigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department in February 1863 but the Missouri regiments were not transferred with him as he had requested.[14]. On 19 February 1861, President Jefferson Davis appointed Leroy P. Walker of Alabama secretary of war of the newly formed Confederate States of America—the first of the five men to serve in that troubled office—and on 6 March, the Confederate Congress authorized an army of 100,000 volunteers to serve for twelve months. On April 12, 1862, it was merged into the Army of Northern Virginia. Sterling Price led Confederate forces in the west during the early years of the conflict. Hebert reported himself sick on the morning of the second day and was replaced by Brigadier General Martin E. Green; in addition, several field officers were killed or wounded during the battle. However, a portion of the Union army, commanded by Brigadier General Franz Sigel intercepted McCulloch's men near the southwest corner of Big Mountain. The Army of the South was a Confederate field army during the final months of the American Civil War.Formed from a collection of Confederate commands during the Carolinas Campaign, it was engaged in only one major battle, the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865. , June 30 , 1862 . It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Battle of Corinth and Battle of Iuka and consisted of about 20,000 men. For four harsh years most Southerners approached the holidays with mixed feelings. Known in official reports as Redoubt H, it was a key part of the Union’s plan to push the Confederate army to the breaking point. [5], Meanwhile, Price's force, accompanied by Van Dorn, arrived near Elkhorn Tavern to find Colonel Eugene Carr's Union division defending the crest. Leading an invasion of Missouri in 1864, Sterling Price was defeated by Union forces. Although opposed to the plan, Price went along with it. Standing army of only one small undermanned regiment for the border regions, and started off with veteran officers from the war-time CS Army. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Mario Scott Peca and is located at 662 Darrell St, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. There was a delay as the Confederates had to construct a bridge over the Little Sugar Creek; by morning Price's division arrived at the Telegraph Road north of Curtis's fortifications, with McCulloch behind him and a rocky ridge called Big Mountain between the Confederates and the Union army. The remaining units were reorganized by Price into two divisions commanded by Brigadier Generals Henry Little and Dabney Maury, with a cavalry brigade commanded by Colonel Frank Armstrong. Lee entered officer training at the West Point Academy at the age of 18 in 1825. 343–344. Army of the West . The Army of West Tennessee was a short-lived Confederate army led by Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, which fought principally in the Second Battle of Corinth . On August 31, Confederate troops attacked the Union position but were easily driven away. Almost to a man, the cadets, former and present, joined the Southern armies. Rucker, born in Tennessee in 1835, enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private and rose to the rank of colonel, serving under Nathan Bedford Forrest and leading troops in a number of battles. It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Battle of Corinth and Battle of Iuka and consisted of about 20,000 men. Here is his breakdown by county of enlistment, the total of which he estimates to be over 21,770 soldiers. This promotion severely irritated Army of the Mississippi commander, Braxton Bragg, who blamed McCown for the loss of New Madrid and Island No. This area of the Confederate line was under the command of Maj. Gen. William Loring, commanding a division of Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Corps. 136–140, 175–193, 203–213, 237–268, 271, 306. The Army of the Southwest is a group of Iowa Civil War Reenactors dedicated to educating people of all ages about the Civil War through reenactments, school programs, and historical events. The remaining units were reorganized by Price into two divisions commanded by Brigadier Generals Henry Little and Dabney Maury, with a cavalry brigade commanded by Colonel Frank Armstron… Organization of the Confederate States Forces stationed near Tupelo, Miss. Cozzens, pp. He captured without a fight the town of Iuka on September 14, along with many supplies abandoned by the Union garrison. For the Union, West Virginia mustered between 22,000 and 25,000 menin 20 infantry units, 7 cavalry units, 1 artillery unit and 3 other types of units. The Civil War began when Confederate General P.G.T. Following the transfer of the Army of the West to Corinth, part of the army was incorporated into the Army of Mississippi. West Virginia divided from Virginia and became a state June 20, 1863 because of the Civil War. [13], Price's force lost 35 percent of its strength, with most of the casualties in Maury's division (2,500 men out of 3,900, with another 600 desertions during the retreat). Army of the Valley 1864 By the end of Spring in 1864 Robert E. Lee was in a serious situation. [1] During February 1862, the Union Army of the Southwest commanded by Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis drove the Missouri State Guard out of the state and into northwestern Arkansas, where Price united with McCulloch's forces. Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Armies of the Confederate States of America, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Second Corinth Confederate order of battle, List of Missouri Civil War Confederate units, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_West_(1862)?oldid=4685999. These generals were often military professionals who were trained at military academies like West … Confederate Army. Due to having no ammunition reserves nearby, the Confederates soon ran very low on artillery shells and couldn't resupply for at least five or six hours. The Army of the West was a military force within the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War that the was part of the Trans-Mississippi Department and was composed primarily of members of the old Missouri State Guard. 10. [10], In the meantime, Price launched an offensive without waiting for Van Dorn's forces, mostly due to pressure from Bragg. The Confederate Army of the Northwest was an army early in the war. The retreat continued westward, with Lovell's division serving as a rearguard against Rosecrans and Price's divisions in front. The unit consists of Confederate and Union infantry, artillery, and cavalry. 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