1.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Caroline County, Virginia
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Caroline County is a United States county located on the Eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Northern boundary of the county borders on the Rappahannock River, the Caroline county seat is Bowling Green. Caroline County was established in 1728 and was named in honor of Caroline of Ansbach, wife of the then reigning King and it is the birthplace of the renowned racehorse Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, the Triple Crown. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 28,545, Caroline is part of the Greater Richmond Region. Caroline County was established in the British Colony of Virginia in 1727 from Essex, King and Queen and it was named for Caroline of Ansbach, the wife of King George II of Great Britain, who had recently taken the British throne at the time. During the Colonial Period, Caroline County was the birthplace of Thoroughbred horse racing in North America, arabian horses were imported from England to provide the basis for American breeding stock. Patriot Edmund Pendleton played a role in the Virginia Resolution for Independence. Caroline native John Penn was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, both were born near what is now Ladysmith. He was to become prominent as a builder and developer, Confederate General, leader of Virginias short-lived Readjuster Party. The Chandler residence is now known as the Jackson Shrine, during Union General Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign, Confederate troops under General George E. Pickett fought Union troops near Milford. Just as the Civil War was concluding in April 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, as the conspirators fled, a manhunt was launched. After 10 days, in the wee hours of April 26, federal troops tracked down John Wilkes Booth, Lincolns assassin, Booth was fatally shot during their capture by federal troops. Herold was returned to Washington, where he was executed by hanging with 3 co-conspirators on July 7,1865, in 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving challenged miscegenation laws in the state when they married. Although they married in Washington, DC, they returned to live in Caroline County, where they were arrested and charged under the states anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Their case went to the Supreme Court of the United States, at the southern edge of the county, The Meadow, a farm originally established in 1810, became a premier facility for breeding, raising and training Thoroughbred race horses. In 1972, Riva Ridge, raised at The Meadow, won the Kentucky Derby, the following year, Secretariat, born at The Meadow, won the famous Triple Crown for the Chenery familys Meadow Stable. In 2003, The State Fair of Virginia purchased Meadow Farm for development as a new site for the annual Virginia State Fair. Long held at locations in the capital of Richmond and Henrico County, the fair was increasingly squeezed out by expanding development around it, most recently, it was held at Strawberry Hill in central Henrico County, at the facility which became the Richmond International Raceway
3.
Hanover County, Virginia
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Hanover County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 99,863 and its county seat is Hanover Courthouse. Hanover County is included in the Greater Richmond Region, located in the Piedmont of Virginia, Hanover County was created on November 26,1719, from the area of New Kent County called St. Pauls Parish. It was named for the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, because King George I of Great Britain was Elector of Hanover at the time, the county was developed by planters moving west from the Virginia tidewater, where soils had been exhausted by tobacco monoculture. Hanover County was the birthplace and home of noted American statesman Patrick Henry and he reportedly married Sarah Shelton in the parlor of her familys house, Rural Plains, also known as Shelton House. The historic Hanover Courthouse is pictured in the county seal, Hanover County was also the birthplace of Henry Clay, who became known as a politician in Kentucky, author of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and Secretary of State. At one point, Hanover County is only 5 miles from the current city limits of Richmond, the Chickahominy River forms the border of the county in the Mechanicsville area. During the American Civil War and the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, the Union Army approached the river, but they learned that the river was a major obstacle. Union General George B. McClellan failed in his attempt to get all his troops across it and his failure to take Richmond, the Confederate capital, has been said to have prolonged the war by almost 3 years. Hanover County was the site of a number of Civil War battles, including the Seven Days Battles of the Peninsula Campaign, the incorporated town of Ashland is located within Hanover County. Ashland is the second and current home of Randolph-Macon College, in 1953, Barksdale Theatre was founded at the historic Hanover Tavern. It was the nations first dinner theater and central Virginias first professional theatre organization, the Barksdale company continues to produce live theatre at the Tavern, as well as at several locations in Richmond. It is recognized today as Central Virginias leading professional theatre, kings Dominion amusement park opened in 1975 in Doswell and added to the countys economy. In January 2007, Americas Promise named Hanover County as one of the top 100 communities for youth. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 474 square miles. Hanover County is about 90 miles south of Washington, D. C. and about 12 miles north of Richmond, Virginia. 86. 7% were White,9. 3% Black or African American,1. 4% Asian,0. 4% Native American,0. 8% of some other race and 1. 5% of two or more races,2. 1% were Hispanic or Latino. As of the census of 2000, there were 86,320 people,31,121 households, the population density was 183 people per square mile
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
7.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
8.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
9.
George Meade
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George Gordon Meade was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in the coastal construction of several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War, during the American Civil War he served as a Union general, rising from command of a brigade to command of the Army of the Potomac. He is best known for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Meades Civil War combat experience started as a brigade commander in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, including the Battle of Glendale, where he was wounded severely. As a division commander, he had success at the Battle of South Mountain. His division was arguably the most successful during the assaults at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who accompanied him throughout these campaigns. He also suffered from a reputation as a man of short, violent temper who was hostile toward the press, after the war, he commanded several important departments during Reconstruction. George Gordon Meade was born in 1815 in Cádiz, Spain and his father, a wealthy Philadelphian merchant, was serving in Spain as a naval agent for the U. S. government. He was ruined financially because of his support of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and his family returned to the United States in 1817, in precarious financial straits. Young George attended the Mount Hope Institution in Baltimore and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1831 and he graduated 19th in his class of 56 cadets in 1835. His brother, Richard Worsam Meade II, became a naval officer, for a year, he served with the 3rd U. S. Artillery in Florida, fighting against the Seminole Indians, before resigning from the Army and he worked as a civil engineer for the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida Railroad and for the War Department. On December 31,1840, he married Margaretta Sergeant, daughter of John Sergeant, finding steady civilian employment was difficult for the newly married man, so he reentered the army in 1842 as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. After that war he was involved in lighthouse and breakwater construction and coastal surveying in Florida. He designed Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, Absecon Light in Atlantic City, Cape May Light in Cape May, Jupiter Inlet Light in Jupiter, Florida and he also designed a hydraulic lamp that was adopted by the Lighthouse Board for use in American lighthouses. He was promoted to captain in 1856, in 1857, Meade relieved Lt. Col. James Kearney on the Lakes Survey mission of the Great Lakes. Completion of the survey of Lake Huron and extension of the surveys of Lake Michigan down to Grand, prior to Captain Meades command, Great Lakes water level readings were taken locally with temporary gauges, a uniform plane of reference had not been established. In 1858, based on his recommendation, instrumentation was set in place for the tabulation of records across the basin, in 1860, the first detailed report of Great Lakes was published. Meade stayed with the Lakes Survey until the 1861 outbreak of the Civil War and he was assigned command of the 2nd Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited early in the war, which he led competently, initially in the construction of defenses around Washington, D. C
10.
Robert E. Lee
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Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, during the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the field army in 1862 he soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles. Lees strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat, Lees aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865. By this time, Lee had assumed command of the remaining Southern armies. Lee rejected the proposal of an insurgency against the Union. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, an icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy to some. But his popularity even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. Barracks at West Point built in 1962 are named after him, Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III, Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter. His birth date has traditionally been recorded as January 19,1807, one of Lees great grandparents, Henry Lee I, was a prominent Virginian colonist of English descent. Lees family is one of Virginias first families, descended from Richard Lee I, Esq. the Immigrant, Lees mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. Lees father, a planter, suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments. Little is known of Lee as a child, he spoke of his boyhood as an adult. Nothing is known of his relationship with his father who, after leaving his family, mentioned Robert only once in a letter. In 1811, the family, including the newly born child, Mildred, moved to a house on Oronoco Street, still close to the center of town. In 1812, Harry Lee was badly injured in a riot in Baltimore
11.
Army of the Potomac
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The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April. The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was only the size of a corps. Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, and it was the army fought the wars first major battle. The arrival in Washington, D. C. of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan dramatically changed the makeup of that army, on July 26,1861, the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. The men under Bankss command became a division in the Army of the Potomac. The army started with four corps, but these were divided during the Peninsula Campaign to produce two more, after the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Army of the Potomac absorbed the units that had served under Maj. Gen. John Pope. It is a popular, but mistaken, belief that John Pope commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellans unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign, on the contrary, Popes army consisted of different units, and was named the Army of Virginia. The Army of the Potomac underwent many changes during its existence. The army was divided by Ambrose Burnside into three divisions of two corps each with a Reserve composed of two more. Thereafter the individual corps, seven of which remained in Virginia, Hooker also created a Cavalry Corps by combining units that previously had served as smaller formations. In late 1863, two corps were sent West, and—in 1864—the remaining five corps were recombined into three, burnsides IX Corps, which accompanied the army at the start of Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign, rejoined the army later. For more detail, see the section Corps below, the Army of the Potomac fought in most of the Eastern Theater campaigns, primarily in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. After the end of the war, it was disbanded on June 28,1865, the Army of the Potomac was also the name given to General P. G. T. Beauregards Confederate army during the early stages of the war. However, the name was changed to the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1869 the Society of the Army of the Potomac was formed as a veterans association and it had its last reunion in 1929. Because of its proximity to the cities of the North, such as Washington. Philadelphia, and New York City, the Army of the Potomac received more media coverage than the other Union field armies
12.
IX Corps (Union Army)
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IX Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War that distinguished itself in combat in multiple theaters, the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The corps was assembled by Burnside at Newport News, Virginia, the corps consisted of three divisions, under Generals Stevens, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke. After a short stay at Newport News the corps was ordered to reinforce Maj. Gen. John Popes Army of Virginia, only the two divisions of Stevens and Reno were engaged in this action, they numbered 12 regiments and 2 batteries, fewer than 5,000 men. General Reno was in command of divisions in Burnsides absence. The losses in this small engagement amounted to 204 killed,1,000 wounded, some of the regiments encountered a severe fire, the 28th Massachusetts losing 234 men. General Stevens was killed at Chantilly, General Reno retained command of the corps on the Maryland Campaign, General Burnside having charge of the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, which was composed of the I and IX Corps. Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox was appointed to the command of Stevenss Division, while the 2nd and 3rd Divisions were commanded, respectively, by Generals Samuel D. Sturgis and Isaac P. Rodman. During this campaign Jacob D. Coxs Kanawha Division from western Virginia was temporarily attached to the corps, the Battle of South Mountain was fought wholly by Burnsides two corps, the IX Corps losing 157 killed,691 wounded, and 41 missing, total,889. The loss in the I Corps was about the same, General Reno was killed in this action, upon which General Cox succeeded to his command. At Antietam the corps lost 438 killed,1,796 wounded, General Rodman was among the mortally wounded. In October, Coxs Division returned to western Virginia and its connection with the corps terminated. This division had made a brilliant record by its gallant services at South Mountain, upon the departure of General Cox the command of the corps fell to General Willcox. General William W. Burns was appointed to fill the vacancy thus caused in the 1st Division, on November 5,1862, General Burnside was made commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. At Fredericksburg, the casualty lists indicate that the corps took into action 31 regiments and 5 batteries, with a loss of 111 killed,1,067 wounded, and 152 missing, total,1,330. Not long after this battle Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick was assigned to the command of the corps, General Smiths stay with the corps was of short duration, for he was succeeded in the following month by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke. While at Newport News, Gettys Division was detached and ordered to Suffolk, Virginia and it never rejoined its old command although, in 1864, one of its regiments, the 4th Rhode Island, was restored to the IX Corps. In the meantime, General Burnside had been assigned to the command of the Department of Ohio, just prior to the departure from Virginia, General Sturgis was relieved, and Brig. Gen. Robert B. Potter was assigned to the command of the 2nd Division. The IX Corps was stationed in Kentucky for two months, during which it served as an army of occupation
13.
Army of Northern Virginia
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It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac. The name Army of Northern Virginia referred to its area of operation. The Army originated as the Army of the Potomac, which was organized on June 20,1861, on July 20 and July 21, the Army of the Shenandoah and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the Army of the Northwest were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17,1862, the Army of the Potomac was renamed Army of Northern Virginia on March 14. The Army of the Peninsula was merged into it on April 12,1862, Robert E. Lees biographer, Douglas S. Freeman, asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1,1862. However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Joseph E. Johnston, his predecessor in command, prior to that date. In addition to Virginians, it included regiments from all over the Confederacy, some from as far away as Georgia, the first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia was General P. G. T. Beauregard from June 20 to July 20,1861 and his forces consisted of six brigades, with various militia and artillery from the former Department of Alexandria. During his command, Gen. Beauregard is noted for creating the flag of the army. The flag was designed due to confusion during battle between the Confederate Stars and Bars flag and the flag of the United States, the following day this army fought its first major engagement in the First Battle of Manassas. With the merging of the Army of the Shenandoah, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston took command from July 20,1861, First Corps – commanded by General P. G. T. Magruder Reserve – commanded by Maj. Gen. G. W. Smith Under the command of Johnston, on October 22,1861, the Department of Northern Virginia was officially created, officially ending the Army of the Potomac. The Department comprised three districts, Aquia District, Potomac District, and the Valley District, in April 1862 the Department was expanded to include the Departments of Norfolk and the Peninsula. Gen. Maj. Gen. Gustavus Woodson Smith commanded the ANV on May 31,1862, with Smith seemingly having a nervous breakdown, President Jefferson Davis drafted orders to place Gen. Robert E. Lee in command the following day. In the first year of his command, Lee had two principal subordinate commanders, the right wing of the army was under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet and the left wing under Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. These wings were redesignated as the First Corps and Second Corps on November 6,1862. Following Jacksons death after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee reorganized the army into three corps on May 30,1863, under Longstreet, Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, and Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill. A Fourth Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, was organized on October 19,1864, on April 8,1865, the commanders of the first three corps changed frequently in 1864 and 1865
14.
Overland Campaign
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The Overland Campaign, also known as Grants Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Although Grant suffered severe losses during the campaign, it was a strategic Union victory and it inflicted proportionately higher losses on Lees army and maneuvered it into a siege at Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, in just over eight weeks. Crossing the Rapidan River on May 4,1864, Grant sought to defeat Lees army by quickly placing his forces between Lee and Richmond and inviting an open battle. Lee surprised Grant by attacking the larger Union army aggressively in the Battle of the Wilderness, Lees army was able to get into position to block this movement. Grant maneuvered again, meeting Lee at the North Anna River, here, Lee held clever defensive positions that provided an opportunity to defeat portions of Grants army, but illness prevented Lee from attacking in time to trap Grant. Resorting to maneuver a final time, Grant surprised Lee by stealthily crossing the James River, threatening to capture the city of Petersburg, the resulting Siege of Petersburg led to the eventual surrender of Lees army in April 1865 and the effective end of the Civil War. The campaign included two long-range raids by Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, in a raid toward Richmond, legendary Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart was mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, in March 1864, Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies. Johnston, and capture Atlanta, George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia and this was the first time the Union armies would have a coordinated offensive strategy across a number of theaters. Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also, although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers, despite Grants superior numbers, he had manpower challenges. Furthermore, since many of his soldiers three-year enlistments were about to expire, to deal with these challenges, Grant supplemented his forces by reassigning soldiers manning the heavy artillery batteries around Washington, D. C. to infantry regiments. The Overland Campaign began as Grants forces crossed the Rapidan River on May 4,1864, Grants objective was to force an engagement with Lee, outside of his Mine Run fortifications, by either drawing his forces out or turning them. By forcing a fight here, Lee effectively neutralized the Unions advantage in artillery and he ordered Ewells Corps to advance on the Orange Turnpike, A. P. Hills in parallel on the Orange Plank Road, and Longstreets from the distant Gordonsville. Early on May 5, Warrens V Corps was advancing south toward the Plank Road when Ewells Corps appeared in the west on the Turnpike, Meade halted his army and directed Warren to attack if the Confederates were a small, isolated group. Ewells men erected earthworks on the end of the clearing known as Saunders Field
15.
Battle of the Wilderness
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Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lees army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive. Grant attempted to move quickly through the underbrush of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania. On the morning of May 5, the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren attacked the Confederate Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, on the Orange Turnpike. That afternoon the Third Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill, encountered Brig. Gen. George W. Gettys division, fighting until dark was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods. An evening attack by Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon against the Union right flank caused consternation at Union headquarters, but the lines stabilized and fighting ceased. On May 7, Grant disengaged and moved to the southeast, in March 1864, Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies. This was the first time the Union armies would have an offensive strategy across a number of theaters. Grants campaign objective was not the Confederate capital of Richmond, lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also, although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers, at the beginning of the campaign, Grants Union forces totaled 118,700 men and 316 guns. They consisted of the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, the five corps were, II Corps, under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, including the divisions of Maj. Gen. David B. Barlow, John Gibbon, and Gershom Mott, V Corps, under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, including the divisions of Brig. Robinson, Samuel W. Crawford, and James S. Wadsworth, VI Corps, under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, including the divisions of Brig. Horatio G. Wright, George W. Getty, and James B, IX Corps, under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, including the divisions of Brig. Cavalry Corps, under Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Second Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, including the divisions of Maj. Gens. Jubal A. Early, Edward Allegheny Johnson, and Robert E. Rodes, Third Corps, under Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill, including the divisions of Maj. Gens
16.
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
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Elements of Lees army beat the Union army to the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia and began entrenching. Fighting occurred on and off from May 8 through May 21,1864, in the end, the battle was tactically inconclusive, but with almost 32,000 casualties on both sides, it was the costliest battle of the campaign. On May 8, Union Maj. Gens, on May 10, Grant ordered attacks across the Confederate line of earthworks, which by now extended over 4 miles, including a prominent salient known as the Mule Shoe. Although the Union troops failed again at Laurel Hill, an innovative assault attempt by Col. Emory Upton against the Mule Shoe showed promise. Grant used Uptons assault technique on a larger scale on May 12 when he ordered the 15,000 men of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancocks corps to assault the Mule Shoe. Hancock was initially successful, but the Confederate leadership rallied and repulsed his incursion, supporting attacks by Warren and by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside were unsuccessful. Grant repositioned his lines in another attempt to engage Lee under more favorable conditions and launched an attack by Hancock on May 18. A reconnaissance in force by Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell at Harris farm on May 19 was a costly and pointless failure. On May 21, Grant disengaged from the Confederate Army and started southeast on another maneuver to turn Lees right flank, in March 1864, Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac and he left Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the western armies. This was the first time the Union armies would have an offensive strategy across a number of theaters. Grants campaign objective was not the Confederate capital of Richmond, Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also, although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had far greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment. On May 5, after Grants army crossed the Rapidan and entered the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, although Lee was outnumbered, about 60,000 to 100,000, his men fought fiercely and the dense foliage provided a terrain advantage. After two days of fighting and almost 29,000 casualties, the results were inconclusive and neither army was able to obtain an advantage, Lee had stopped Grant, but had not turned him back, and Grant had not destroyed Lees army. As of May 7, Grants Union forces totaled approximately 100,000 men and they consisted of the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and the IX Corps. The five corps were, II Corps, under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, Barlow, John Gibbon, and Gershom Mott
17.
Battle of Yellow Tavern
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The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11,1864, as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was detached from the Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate force was outnumbered and outgunned and Stuart was mortally wounded while attempting to rally his men, dying the next day. The Overland Campaign was Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants 1864 offensive against Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia, the two had fought an inconclusive battle at the Wilderness and were engaged in heavy fighting at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Up to this point, Union cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was dissatisfied with his role in the campaign and his Cavalry Corps was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who reported to Grant. On May 8,1864, Sheridan went over Meades head and told Grant that if his Cavalry Corps were let loose to operate as an independent unit, he could defeat Jeb Stuart, Grant was intrigued and convinced Meade of the value of Sheridans request. On May 9, the most powerful cavalry force ever seen in the Eastern Theater—over 10,000 troopers with 32 artillery pieces—rode to the southeast to move behind Lees army. The Union cavalry column, which at times stretched for over 13 miles, Stuart moved his 4,500 troopers to get between Sheridan and Richmond. The two forces met at noon on May 11 at Yellow Tavern, an inn located 6 miles north of Richmond. Not only did the Union outnumber the Confederates by three divisions to two brigades, it had superior firepower—all were armed with rapid-firing Spencer carbines, the Confederate troopers tenaciously resisted from the low ridgeline bordering the road to Richmond, fighting for over three hours. A countercharge by the 1st Virginia Cavalry pushed the advancing Union troopers back from the hilltop as Stuart, mounted on horseback, Stuart died in Richmond the following day. The fighting kept up for an hour after Stuart was wounded, the Union cavalrymen suffered 625 casualties, but they captured 300 Confederate prisoners and recovered almost 400 Union prisoners. Sheridan disengaged his men and headed south toward Richmond, although tempted to burst through the modest defenses to the north of the city, they continued south across the Chickahominy River to link up with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butlers force on the James River. After resupplying with Butler, Sheridans men returned to join Grant at Chesterfield Station on May 24, Sheridans raid achieved a victory against a numerically inferior opponent at Yellow Tavern, but accomplished little overall. The Longest Night, A Military History of the Civil War, new York, Simon & Schuster,2001. Longacre, Edward G. Lincolns Cavalrymen, A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac, the Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7–12,1864. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press,1997, the Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. The Gallant Dead, Union & Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War, the Union Cavalry in the Civil War. Vol.2, The War in the East from Gettysburg to Appomattox 1863–1865, baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press,1981
18.
Battle of Meadow Bridge
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The Battle of Meadow Bridge was an engagement on May 12,1864, in Henrico County, Virginia, during Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Following their victory at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11, on May 11,1864, Sheridan and his Union cavalry force, on the second day of a daring raid against Richmond, defeated Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, mortally wounding the storied Confederate cavalier, Sheridan led his troops southward towards Richmond, carefully feeling his way through the abandoned outer defensive works. As darkness fell, a severe thunderstorm drenched the column, but Sheridan kept up his movement down the Brook Pike, Confederates had left torpedoes in the road—many exploded during the passage, killing several horses but not delaying the column further. As dawn broke and the storm subsided, Sheridan found himself only two and half miles from his objective, however, to his dismay, the intermediate defenses in his front swarmed with enemy troops. His left flank was against the swollen Chickahominy, and Confederate cavalry threatened his rear, Sheridan decided to force a crossing of the river at Meadow Bridge, where the Virginia Central Railroad crossed the river. Confederates had earlier dismantled the flooring on the part of the bridge, rendering it temporarily useless. Sheridan assigned the Michigan brigade of Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, part of Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritts division, to seize the span, the rest of Sheridans command had to hold the Confederates at bay while Custer executed his orders. The other two brigades in Merritts division, commanded by Colonels Thomas C, devin and Alfred Gibbs, guarded the center of the Union line to protect against Confederate advances out of the Richmond fortifications. On the western end of the Union line, near Brook Church, on the eastern end, Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson was to oppose any Confederate advances along Meadow Bridge road and Mechanicsville Pike. The rearguard of the Greggs division was assailed on three sides as soon as it was enough for a brigade of Confederate infantry to sally forth from the fortifications. Soon, other Confederates, including Richmond citizens hastily pressed into military service, according to the regimental historian of the veteran 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, Every effort was made by the enemy to break the lines of our division and push us back into the river and swamp. But as often as he came up, he was back with heavy loss. The fighting continued thus, the charging, time after time, only to be hurled back, until about eleven A. M. when, apparently completely disheartened by his repeated repulses. Wilsons men were pushed back in some confusion, but Gregg had concealed a heavy line of skirmishers armed with repeating carbines in a brushy ravine. His men poured forth a destructive fire, halting the final Confederate advances, Brig. Gen. Gordon was mortally wounded in the fighting and died on May 18. Followed by the 6th Michigan, they succeeded in the afternoon in clearing the north bank of the Chickahominy. By mid-afternoon, Merritts entire division had crossed and engaged the hastily built Confederate works on Richmond Heights, by 4 p. m. the rest of Sheridans cavalry had crossed the river
19.
Battle of Haw's Shop
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Grant abandoned the stalemate following the Battle of North Anna by once again swinging widely around Lees right flank, using the Pamunkey River to screen his movements to the southwest. Lees army moved south and took up positions on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek. The Confederate general sent a force under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to collect intelligence about Grants next moves. On May 28, Hamptons troopers encountered Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. David McM, fighting predominately dismounted and utilizing earthworks for protection, neither side achieved an advantage. The seven-hour battle was inconclusive, but it was the significant cavalry engagement of the Overland Campaign. Union Cavalry Corps commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field, following the Battle of North Anna, Grant and Lee were again stalemated in their opposing earthworks. He chose to move directly east and cross the Pamunkey River, if he had moved directly south, he would have been forced to cross three rivers, the Little River, the New Found, and the South Anna, minor obstacles that Lee would have to navigate instead. Before he could move, however, Grant was faced with the problem of disengaging from Lees army, not only were the armies closely situated, Grants had to withdraw initially north over the North Anna, a situation in which it would be very vulnerable to attack. Grant decided on a series of measures to disguise his intentions. On May 26, he sent a division under Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson to Little River, probing the western end of the Confederate line. Alfred T. A. Torbert and David McM. Gregg were sent to the Little Page Bridge, the Union infantry withdrew stealthily after dark on May 26 and by the morning of May 27 all were safely north of the North Anna. Once Lee recognized that his opponent had departed, he moved his army swiftly in response and his three corps under Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson and Lt. Gens. There, his men would be well-positioned behind a stream known as Totopotomoy Creek to defend against Grant if he moved against the railroads or Richmond. He also sent a brigade of North Carolina cavalry down the southern bank of the Pamunkey to scout. During the march, Lees illness forced him to ride in a carriage, ewell was also laid up with a similar illness and rode in an ambulance, his condition was serious enough that he was temporarily replaced in command by Maj. Gen. Jubal Early. On May 27, Union cavalry established a bridgehead over Dabneys Ford on the side of the Pamunkey River. Brig. Gen. George A. Custers Michigan cavalry brigade scattered the mounted Confederate pickets guarding the ford, the Confederates withdrew under the pressure of superior numbers. The rest of Torberts division then crossed the river, followed by Greggs cavalry division, Lee ordered cavalry under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to make a reconnaissance in force, break through the Union cavalry screen, and find the Union infantry
20.
Battle of Totopotomoy Creek
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Robert E. Rodes and Stephen Dodson Ramseur drove the Union troops back to Shady Grove Road, but Ramseurs advance was stopped by a fierce stand of infantry and artillery fire. After the inconclusive battle, the Union army resumed its moves to the southeast and it traveled southeast on the north bank of the Pamunkey River, hoping to find the appropriate place to break through Lees lines. On May 27, Union cavalry established a bridgehead on the side of the river. As Grants infantry crossed, cavalry divisions from both armies fought to a standstill at the Battle of Haws Shop on May 28, Lees army was in precarious shape as it stood in entrenchments behind Totopotomoy Creek. They were also short on men, beauregard send him reinforcements from his 12, 000-man army, sitting relatively idle as they bottled up Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butlers army at Bermuda Hundred. Beauregard initially refused Lees request, citing the threat from Butler. Lee was determined despite this disappointment, and despite the persistence of his recent dysentery at North Anna and he wrote to President Davis, If General Grant advances tomorrow I will engage him with my present force. On May 29, Grants army advanced southwest to confront Lee, since most of his cavalry was occupied elsewhere, he decided to use infantry for a reconnaissance in force. The II Corps of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock followed the Richmond–Hanovertown Road to the creek, finding that Lee was firmly entrenched on the far bank, Hancocks men began digging in. The V Corps, under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, extended the II Corps line to the left, placing Brig. Gen. Charles Griffins division across the creek onto Shady Grove Road. Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wrights VI Corps was sent northwest from Hanovertown toward Hanover Court House, led by Brig. Gen. David A. Russells division. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsides IX Corps was in reserve near Haws Shop and Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridans Cavalry Corps was far to the Union left, near Old Church. The Confederate line, from left to right, consisted of the corps of Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill, the independent division of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, just returned from the Shenandoah Valley, and the corps of Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, no action beyond minor skirmishing occurred during the day. The battle would be fought along Totopotomoy Creek, near the 1862 battlefield of Gaines Mill, at Hanover, Grant began a general advance on May 30. Wrights advance became bogged down in the land near Crumps Creek. Hancocks skirmishers captured some of Breckinridges rifle pits, but made progress against the main Confederate line. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade ordered Burnsides reserve corps to assist Hancock, on the Union left, Warren moved the rest of his V Corps across the creek and deployed on Shady Grove Road
21.
Battle of Old Church
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After sharp dismounted fighting, the outnumbered Confederates were driven back to within 1.5 miles of Old Cold Harbor, which preceded the Union capture of that important crossroads the following day. Gen. William F. Baldy Smiths XVIII Corps were expected to travel, Sheridan initially paid little attention to Warrens requests because he still harbored ill feelings from arguments the two generals had at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, had also quarreled frequently with both Sheridan and Warren and therefore stayed out of this dispute between them. However, as Warrens requests became more urgent, Sheridan agreed to screen roads leading to Warrens left flank, Torbert delegated the responsibility to the brigade of Col. Thomas C. Devin, which was encamped at the Old Church crossroads, as instructions passed through this chain of command, they became garbled. Rather than patrolling the Old Church Road to the west as desired by Warren, meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sheridan, Robert E. Lee was concerned about the critical road intersection at Old Cold Harbor, only six miles from the Confederate capital of Richmond. He dispatched Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butlers brigade of 2,000 troopers from Mechanicsville to determine whether the intersection was threatened. Butler took with him the 4th and 5th South Carolina Cavalry regiments from his own brigade and the brigade of Brig. Gen. Martin W. Gary. Devin sent in two squadrons from the 17th Pennsylvania and Maj. Coe Durland led them in a charge that restored the original Union picket line position. Assuming that he faced only a force, Devin provided no more reinforcements. However, at 3 p. m. an attack by Butlers main force overwhelmed the Union pickets, Devin deployed two additional regiments on either side of the Pennsylvanians—the 6th New York to the right and the 9th New York to the left. Butler deployed the 4th South Carolina to the west of the road, facing the 6th New York, and he left the 7th South Carolina in reserve. As Torbert surveyed the scene, he realized that three regiments would be insufficient to resist the Confederate brigade, so he ordered the rest of his division to move up. Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritts reserve brigade was the first to arrive, and his 2nd U. S. Cavalry regiment replaced the 17th Pennsylvania, which had run low on ammunition, in the center of the line. On the right end of the Union line, the 6th New York and the 2nd U. S. pushed back the 4th South Carolina, the Confederates built breastworks out of logs from Liggans farm. On the left end, the 9th New York met heavy resistance from the 5th South Carolina, merritt attempted to outflank the Confederate position with the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanded by Capt. Charles L. Leiper. Although they managed to cross the creek to the left of the 9th New York, they were stopped in heavy combat with the South Carolinians. The stalemate was broken by the arrival of the Union brigade under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer and he deployed his 5th Michigan on the right of Bottoms Bridge Road, the 1st and 7th Michigan on the left, and the 6th Michigan in reserve
22.
Battle of Cold Harbor
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The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12,1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign during the American Civil War. Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees army. Both Grant and Lee, whose armies had suffered casualties in the Overland Campaign. On the evening of June 1, the Union VI Corps, on June 2, the remainder of both armies arrived and the Confederates built an elaborate series of fortifications 7 miles long. At dawn on June 3, three Union corps attacked the Confederate works on the end of the line and were easily repulsed with heavy casualties. Attempts to assault the northern end of the line and to resume the assaults on the southern were unsuccessful, Grant said of the battle in his memoirs, I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the loss we sustained. The armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of June 12 and it was an impressive defensive victory for Lee, but it was his last in the war. In the final stage, he alternated between digging into the trenches at Petersburg and fleeing westward across Virginia, Grants Overland Campaign was one of a series of simultaneous offensives the newly appointed general in chief launched against the Confederacy. Grants campaign objective was not the Confederate capital of Richmond, President Abraham Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also, although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers, on May 5, after Grants army crossed the Rapidan River and entered the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, it was attacked by Lees Army of Northern Virginia. Although Lee was outnumbered, about 60,000 to 100,000, his men fought fiercely, after two days of fighting and almost 29,000 casualties, the results were inconclusive and neither army was able to obtain an advantage. Lee had stopped Grant, but had not turned him back, elements of Lees army beat the Union army to the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House and began entrenching, a tactic that became increasingly essential for the outnumbered defenders. Near Spotsylvania Court House, fighting occurred on and off from May 8 through May 21, on May 8, Union Maj. Gens. On May 10, Grant ordered attacks across the Confederate line of earthworks, although the Union troops failed again at Laurel Hill, an innovative assault attempt by Col. Emory Upton against the Mule Shoe showed promise. Grant used Uptons assault technique on a larger scale on May 12 when he ordered the 15,000 men of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancocks corps to assault the Mule Shoe
23.
Battle of Trevilian Station
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The Battle of Trevilian Station was fought on June 11–12,1864, in Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan fought against Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gens, Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee in the bloodiest and largest all-cavalry battle of the war. Hamptons cavalry beat Sheridan to the railroad at Trevilian Station and on June 11 they fought to a standstill, Brig. Gen. George A. Custer entered the Confederate rear area and captured Hamptons supply train, but soon became surrounded and fought desperately to avoid destruction. On June 12, the forces clashed again to the northwest of Trevilian Station. Sheridan withdrew his force to rejoin Grants army, the battle was a tactical victory for the Confederates and Sheridan failed to achieve his goal of permanently destroying the Virginia Central Railroad or of linking up with Hunter. Its distraction, however, may have contributed to Grants successful crossing of the James River, following the bloody Union repulse at the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, Grant decided on a new strategy. Grants new strategy was to march his 100, 000-man army to the south, cross the James River, therefore, on June 5 Grant ordered a cavalry raid by the command of Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan northwest toward Charlottesville. The raid had two initial objectives, First, Sheridan would draw the Confederate cavalry away from Grants main army so his infantry corps could stealthily disengage from Lees army at Cold Harbor and move toward the James. Second, the Union cavalrymen would tear up the Virginia Central towards Richmond, Sheridan was ordered to destroy the railroad bridge on the Rivanna River, just east of Charlottesville, and destroy the tracks from there to Gordonsville. Then, his men would turn back and destroy the track all the way to Hanover Junction, near Richmond. Just after Grant issued the orders to Sheridan he learned of Maj. Gen. David Hunters Union victory at the Battle of Piedmont in the Shenandoah Valley against Brig. Gen. William E. Grumble Jones. He saw the opportunity that Hunter could travel east from Staunton to meet Sheridan at Charlottesville so that they could be a threat to Lees army from the west. Grant modified his orders, telling Sheridan to wait for Hunter near Charlottesville, George A. Custer and Wesley Merritt, and Col. Thomas C. Second Cavalry Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. David McM, Gregg, consisted of the brigades commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry E. Davies, Jr. and Col. J. Irvin Gregg. Horse Artillery Brigade, commanded by Capt. James M. Robertson, included six artillery batteries with 20 guns. Sheridans Third Cavalry Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson, remained at Cold Harbor with the Army of the Potomac and it accompanied the army on its march to Petersburg. Sheridan left behind with Wilson the men from his two divisions who did not have mounts. The Cavalry Corps of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was without a formal commander, the senior cavalry commander opposing Sheridans force was Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton
24.
Battle of Saint Mary's Church
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On June 24, the Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton attacked the column of Brig. Gen. David McM. Greggs division at St. Marys Church, following the Battle of Trevilian Station, Sheridans cavalry began to return on June 13 from their unsuccessful raid against the Virginia Central Railroad. They crossed the North Anna River at Carpenters Ford and then headed on the Catharpin Road in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House. On June 16 the column passed through Bowling Green and, traveling along the bank of the Mattaponi River, arrived at King. While Sheridans men were off on their raid, Grants army had begun moving from Cold Harbor to cross the James River for an attack against Petersburg. In conjunction with this move, Grant ordered that his supply base be moved from White House on the Pamunkey River to City Point on the James. Hamptons Confederate cavalry left Trevilian Station and followed Sheridan on roughly parallel roads to the south and his force consisted of Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butlers and Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Rossers brigades from his own division, Brig. Gen. Williams C. Wickhams brigade from Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lees division, and he added a newly formed cavalry brigade under Brig. Gen. Martin W. Gary. On June 20, Fitz Lee attempted to attack the Union supply depot at White House, on June 21, Sheridan crossed over the Pamunkey River, broke through the Confederate cordon at St. Peters Church, and led 900 wagons toward the James River. Sheridan headed toward Deep Bottom on his way to link up with Union infantry at Bermuda Hundred, near Westover Church, Union Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torberts division was stalled by Confederate resistance. On June 24, Brig. Gen. David McM, Greggs division occupied a covering position near Samaria Church, on the road to Charles City, while Sheridan ferried Torberts division and the supply train across the James at Douthats Landing. On June 24, Torberts division continued to escort the wagons toward Harrisons Landing on the James as Greggs division followed a parallel route, torbert encountered Brig. Gen. Lunsford L. Lomaxs brigade near the Charles City Court House and drove it back. Greggs brigade under Brig. Gen. Henry E. Davies, Jr. arrived in the vicinity of Samaria Church, a charge by the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry pushed the pickets to the north and Daviess brigade entrenched to the west of the intersection. Davies took up the flank of the line and Col. J. Irvin Gregg the left. Hamptons force approached and prepared to attack dismounted, while simultaneously entrenching, from 3 to 4 p. m. Hamptons five brigades attacked Greggs two. The pressure was too great on the Union cavalrymen and they began to withdraw down the road to Charles City Court House, one of the Confederates wrote, The enemy position was a strong one. Except for the men left behind, Greggs division escaped relatively intact, among the prisoners was Col. Pennock Huey of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Casualties were about 350 Union,250 Confederate, having been blocked by Hamptons cavalry, Sheridan withdrew on June 25 and moved through Charles City Court House to Douthats Landing, where the trains crossed the James on flatboats
25.
Union Army
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The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War,1861 to 1865. It included the permanent regular army of the United States, which was augmented by numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate Army during the war, at least two and a half million men served in the Union Army, almost all were volunteers. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes,280,000 were wounded and 200,000 deserted. When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U. S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate army. The U. S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, Lincolns call forced the border states to choose sides, and four seceded, making the Confederacy eleven states strong. The war proved to be longer and more extensive than anyone North or South had expected, the call for volunteers initially was easily met by patriotic Northerners, abolitionists, and even immigrants who enlisted for a steady income and meals. Over 10,000 Germans in New York and Pennsylvania immediately responded to Lincolns call, as more men were needed, however, the number of volunteers fell and both money bounties and forced conscription had to be turned to. Nevertheless, between April 1861 and April 1865, at least two and a million men served in the Union Army, of whom the majority were volunteers. It is a misconception that the South held an advantage because of the percentage of professional officers who resigned to join the Confederate army. At the start of the war, there were 824 graduates of the U. S, Military Academy on the active list, of these,296 resigned or were dismissed, and 184 of those became Confederate officers. Of the approximately 900 West Point graduates who were civilians,400 returned to the Union Army and 99 to the Confederate. Therefore, the ratio of Union to Confederate professional officers was 642 to 283, the South did have the advantage of other military colleges, such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, but they produced fewer officers. The Union Army was composed of numerous organizations, which were generally organized geographically, Military Division A collection of Departments reporting to one commander. Military Divisions were similar to the modern term Theater, and were modeled close to, though not synonymous with. Department An organization that covered a region, including responsibilities for the Federal installations therein. Those named for states usually referred to Southern states that had been occupied and it was more common to name departments for rivers or regions. District A subdivision of a Department, there were also Subdistricts for smaller regions
26.
Lieutenant general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general, Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of generals that may be concurrently active to 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the active duty general officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add three-star slots to one if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is almost always a U. S. Army lieutenant general, either upon appointment or shortly thereafter. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, the nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute, some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as staff officers at various major command headquarters and The Pentagon. Currently, five women serve as lieutenant generals in the US Army, in theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet. Douglas MacArthur, who served as general and Army Chief of Staff. Even with the status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade
27.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
28.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
29.
V Corps (Union Army)
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The V Corps was a unit of the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. The first unit designated as the V corps was organized briefly under Nathaniel P, banks The unit better known as V Corps was formed within the Army of the Potomac on May 18,1862 as V Corps Provisional, which was engaged in the Peninsula Campaign to seize Richmond. It was created by merging Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porters 3rd Division of the III Corps with Maj. Gen. George Sykes division of U. S, Regular troops, formerly in the Reserve. Porter became corps commander and his 1st Division was assigned to Brig. Gen. George W. Morell, on July 22,1862, provisional was dropped from the name as the U. S. War Department confirmed it as the V Corps, Army of the Potomac, the V Corps fought in several battles throughout the Peninsula Campaign, including Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Gainess Mill, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. The corps losses in the Seven Days Battles were 995 killed,3,805 wounded, of these casualties,6,837 occurred at Gainess Mill, the remainder at Mechanicsville, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. The corps was enlarged on June 14 by George A. McCalls division of Pennsylvania Reserves. Following the failure of the Peninsula Campaign, the Pennsylvania Reserves were reassigned to Irvin McDowells I Corps, the V Corps was reassigned to Maj. Gen. John Popes Army of Virginia, along with the III and IX Corps of George B. The general officers in the corps were all West Pointers and contained no political appointees or nonprofessionals, the presence of regular army troops added a more professional air to the V Corps than the others, and discipline and drills were typically stricter. In addition, the artillery reserve was attached to the corps. The V Corps saw action at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Losses of the small corps were 331 killed,1,364 wounded, and 456 missing, a total of 2,151, out of about 6,500 engaged. Two brigades, of six, were not engaged, one brigade, composed of two regiments under Gouverneur K. Warren, made a futile stand against the Confederate attack on the Union left flank. The corps saw action at the Battle of Antietam. The 1st Division was held in reserve in the center of the Union line. Elements of Sykess division engaged in skirmishing at the Upper Ford and it was after Antietam that a new 3rd Division was added under Andrew A. Humphreys, composed mostly of nine-month recruits from Pennsylvania. After Antietam, Fitz-John Porter was court martialed for disobeying orders at Second Bull Run, although Porter himself was not to blame, John Pope chose him as a scapegoat for that loss and his career was summarily ruined. Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield replaced Porter to command the V Corps at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and Generals Charles Griffin, Sykes, Losses were 206 killed,1,669 wounded, and 300 missing, total,2,175. When Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac in the spring, he did away with the grand divisions, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, formerly commanding the 3rd Division of the I Corps, took charge of the V Corps
30.
Major general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
31.
Gouverneur K. Warren
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Gouverneur Kemble Warren was a civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg and is referred to as the Hero of Little Round Top. Warren was born in Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York, and named for Gouverneur Kemble, a prominent local Congressman, diplomat, industrialist and his sister, Emily Warren Roebling, would later play a significant role in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. He entered the United States Military Academy at age 16 and graduated second in his class of 44 cadets in 1850 and he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the antebellum years he worked on the Mississippi River, on transcontinental railroad surveys and he served as the engineer on William S. Harneys Battle of Ash Hollow in the Nebraska Territory in 1855, where he saw his first combat. He took part in studies of possible railroad routes, creating the first comprehensive map of the United States west of the Mississippi in 1857. This required extensive explorations of the vast Nebraska Territory, including Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, part of Montana, one region he surveyed was the Minnesota River Valley, a valley much larger than what would be expected from the low-flow Minnesota River. In some places the valley is 5 miles wide and 250 feet deep, Warren first explained the hydrology of the region in 1868, attributing the gorge to a massive river, which drained Lake Agassiz between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago. The great river was named glacial River Warren in his honor after his death, at the start of the war, Warren was a first lieutenant and mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, across the Hudson River from his hometown. He helped raise a regiment for service in the Union Army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Infantry on May 14,1861. Warren and his regiment saw their first combat at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10 and he was promoted to colonel and regimental commander on September 10. He commanded a brigade during the Seven Days Battles and was wounded in the knee at the Battle of Gaines Mill, at the Battle of Malvern Hill, his brigade stopped the attack of a Confederate division. Warren was promoted to general on September 26,1862. When Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker reorganized the Army of the Potomac in February 1863, he named Warren his chief topographical engineer, as chief engineer, Warren was commended for his service in the Battle of Chancellorsville. At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, as Confederate General Robert E. Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania, Warren suffered a minor neck wound during the Confederate assault. On March 13,1865, he was brevetted to major general in the army for his actions at Bristoe Station. During the Mine Run Campaign, Warrens corps was ordered to attack Lees army, although initially angry at Warren, Meade acknowledged that he had been right. During these Virginia campaigns, Warren established a reputation of bringing his engineering traits of deliberation and caution to the role of infantry corps commander
32.
A. P. Hill
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Ambrose Powell Hill, Jr. was a Confederate army general who was killed in the American Civil War. A native Virginian, Hill was a career United States Army officer who had fought in the Mexican–American War, Hill is usually referred to as A. P. Hill, to differentiate him from another, unrelated Confederate general, D. H. Hill. Hill, known to his family as Powell, was born in Culpeper, Virginia, Hill was nominated to enter the United States Military Academy in 1842, in a class that started with 85 cadets. He made friends easily, including such prominent future generals as Darius N. Couch, George E. Pickett, Jesse L. Reno, George Stoneman, Truman Seymour, Cadmus M. Wilcox, and George B. McClellan. His future commander, Thomas J. Jackson, was in the same class, Hill had a higher social status in Virginia and valued having a good time in his off-hours, whereas Jackson scorned levity and practiced his religion more fervently than Hill could tolerate. In 1844, Hill returned from a furlough with a case of gonorrhea, reassigned to the class of 1847, he made new friendships in particular with Henry Heth and Ambrose E. Burnside. He graduated in 1847, ranking 15th of 38 and he was appointed to the 1st U. S. Artillery as a second lieutenant. He served in a company during the final months of the Mexican-American War. After some garrison assignments along the Atlantic seaboard, he served in the Seminole Wars, again arriving near the end of the war and he was promoted to first lieutenant in September 1851. From 1855 to 1860, Hill was employed on the United States coastal survey and he was once engaged to Ellen B. Marcy, the wife of Hills West Point roommate George B. McClellan, before her parents pressured her to break off the engagement, on July 18,1859, he married Kitty Morgan McClung, a young widow, thus becoming the brother-in-law of future Confederate cavalry generals John Hunt Morgan and Basil W. Duke. On March 1,1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, after Virginia seceded, he was appointed colonel of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment. The 13th Virginia was one of the regiments in Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Hill was promoted to general on February 26,1862. Hills division initially formed part of James Longstreets command and his division did not participate in the Battle of Seven Pines, the battle in which Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and replaced in command of the Army of Northern Virginia by Robert E. Lee. June 1 was the first day that Hill began using a nickname for his division and this contradictory name for the largest division in all of the Confederate armies may have been selected because Hill wished his men to have a reputation for speed and agility. Hill launched multiple attacks throughout the Seven Days Battles, including at Mechanicsville, Gainess Mill, and Glendale, his division was held in reserve at Malvern Hill
33.
II Corps (Union Army)
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There were five corps in the Union Army designated as II Corps during the American Civil War. Of these five, the one most widely known was the Army of the Potomac formation, the II Corps was prominent by reason of its longer and continuous service, larger organization, hardest fighting, and greatest number of casualties. Of the one hundred regiments in the Union Army that lost the most men in battle, the II Corps also fought in nearly every battle in the main eastern theater, from the 1862 Peninsula Campaign to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House. The corps was organized under General Orders No,101, March 21,1862, which assigned Brigadier General Edwin Vose Sumner to its command, and Brigadier Generals Israel B. Richardson, John Sedgwick, and Louis Blenker to the command of its divisions, within three weeks of its organization the corps moved with George B. McClellans Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula Campaign, except for Blenkers division, which was withdrawn on March 31 from McClellans command, Blenkers division never rejoined the corps. The remaining two divisions numbered 21,500 men, of whom 18,000 were present for duty, the casualties of the two divisions in that battle amounted to 196 killed,899 wounded, and 90 missing. In the Seven Days Battles the corps lost 201 killed,1,195 wounded, the corps then marched on the Maryland Campaign, during which Brigadier General William H. Frenchs 3rd Division was added on 10 September 1862. At the Battle of Antietam the corps was engaged, its casualties amounting to more than double that of any other corps on the field. Out of 15,000 effectives, it lost 883 killed,3,859 wounded, and 396 missing, total,5,138. The Irish Brigade, of Richardsons 1st Division, also sustained a loss in its fight at the Bloody Lane. Barlow to lead the 61st and 64th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments to break through the Confederate line, richardson was killed in this battle, and Sedgwick received three wounds. The next engagement was at the Battle of Fredericksburg, in the meantime Sumner had been promoted to the command of a Grand Division—II and IX Corps—and General Darius N. Couch, a division commander of the IV Corps, was appointed to his place. Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock succeeded to the command of Richardsons 1st Division, and Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard took Sedgwicks place, the percentage of loss in Hancocks Division was large, Caldwells Brigade losing 46 percent killed and wounded. After Fredericksburg, the Grand Divisions were discontinued and, Sumner retiring on account of age and physical disabilities, Couch led the corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville, with Hancock, John Gibbon, and French as his division commanders. Sedgwick had been promoted to the command of the VI Corps, and Howard, during the fighting at Chancellorsville, Gibbons 2nd Division remained at Fredericksburg, where it supported Sedgwicks operations, but with slight loss. Not long after Chancellorsville, Couch was relieved at his own request, Hancock succeeding to the command of the corps, Caldwell to that of Hancocks Division. At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, Brigadier General Alexander Hays brigade joined, the fighting was deadly in the extreme, the percentage of loss in the 1st Minnesota of Gibbons Division, being almost without an equal in the records of modern warfare
34.
Winfield Scott Hancock
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Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U. S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War, known to his Army colleagues as Hancock the Superb, he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. One military historian wrote, No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the force of their presence more completely than Hancock. As another wrote, his tactical skill had won him the admiration of adversaries who had come to know him as the Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South, Hancocks reputation as a war hero at Gettysburg, combined with his status as a Unionist and supporter of states rights, made him a potential presidential candidate. His noted integrity was a counterpoint to the corruption of the era, when the Democrats nominated him for President in 1880, he ran a strong campaign, but was narrowly defeated by Republican James A. Garfield. The twins were the sons of Benjamin Franklin Hancock and Elizabeth Hoxworth Hancock, Winfield was named after Winfield Scott, a prominent general in the War of 1812. The Hancock and Hoxworth families had lived in Montgomery County for several generations, Benjamin Hancock was a schoolteacher when his sons were born. A few years after their birth, he moved the family to Norristown, the county seat, Benjamin was also a deacon in the Baptist church and participated in municipal government. Hancock was at first educated at Norristown Academy, but removed to the schools when the first one opened in Norristown in the late 1830s. In 1840, Joseph Fornance, the local Congressman, nominated Hancock to the United States Military Academy at West Point, Hancocks progress at West Point was average. He graduated 18th in his class of 25 in 1844, Hancock was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 6th U. S. Infantry regiment, and initially was stationed in Indian Territory in the Red River Valley, the region was quiet at the time, and Hancocks time there was uneventful. Upon the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, Hancock worked to secure himself a place at the front, initially assigned to recruiting duties in Kentucky, he proved so adept at signing up soldiers that his superiors were reluctant to release him from his post. By July 1847, however, Hancock was permitted to join his regiment in Puebla, Mexico, scotts army moved farther inland from Puebla unopposed and attacked Mexico City from the south. During that campaign in 1847, Hancock first encountered battle at Contreras and he was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service in those actions. Hancock was wounded in the knee at Churubusco and developed a fever, although he was well enough to join his regiment at Molino del Rey, fever kept Hancock from participating in the final breakthrough to Mexico City, something he would regret for the rest of his life. After the final victory, Hancock remained in Mexico with the 6th Infantry until the treaty of peace was signed in 1848, Hancock served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and St. Louis, Missouri
35.
James H. Ledlie
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James Hewett Ledlie was a civil engineer for American railroads and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is best known for his dereliction of duty at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg, Ledlie was born in Utica, New York. His obituary in the New York Times claimed he graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York and he worked as a civil engineer on the Erie Canal and in railroad construction. Shortly after the start of the Civil War, Ledlie was appointed major of the 19th New York Infantry, the history of this regiment was marred by a mutiny at the expiration of its original term of service. Ledlie was promoted to colonel, in December 1861, and was promoted to general in command of the Artillery Brigade of the Department of North Carolina in December 1862. For the next year and a half, he served primarily in garrison positions with North Carolina coastal artillery emplacements and in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Just after the start of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign in 1864, Ledlie transferred to the Army of the Potomac and he assumed command of the 1st Division on June 9. It was in command that his brief military career was ruined. On July 30,1864, they detonated the explosives, creating a crater some 135 feet in diameter that remains visible to this day, some 250 to 350 Confederate soldiers were instantly killed in the blast. The plan was modified at the last minute, however, due to concerns about the effect the black troops would have on the Confederate soldiers. Burnside, despondent at the change in plans, resorted to a lottery to select a replacement division, Ledlie drew the short straw and disaster resulted. He did not brief his troops beforehand and they entered the crater out of curiosity instead of moving safely around its rim, unable to exit the steep sides of the crater, they were slaughtered by Confederates firing down on them. Over 5,300 Union troops were casualties in the battle that achieved none of its objectives. But most damning for Ledlies reputation was the fact that he did not lead, or even accompany and he and Ferrero were observed behind the lines in a bunker, drinking liquor. Ledlie was criticized by a court of inquiry into his conduct that September and, in December, he was dismissed from the service by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade. He formally resigned his commission on January 23,1865, Ledlie resumed his career as a railroad civil engineer in the West and South. He participated in the construction of the railroad as an employee of the Union Pacific. His crews got within 2 miles of the city limits of Austin before the deadline, Ledlie died in New Brighton, Staten Island, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, New York
36.
William Tecumseh Sherman
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William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. Sherman began his Civil War career serving in the First Battle of Bull Run and he served under General Ulysses S. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the Western Theater of the war and he proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Shermans subsequent march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the Confederacys ability to continue fighting and he accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865, after having been present at most major military engagements in the Western Theater. When Grant assumed the U. S. presidency in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of the Army, as such, he was responsible for the U. S. Armys engagement in the Indian Wars over the next 15 years. Sherman advocated total war against hostile Indians to force them back onto their reservations and he steadfastly refused to be drawn into politics and in 1875 published his Memoirs, one of the best-known first-hand accounts of the Civil War. British military historian B. H. Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was the first modern general, Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, near the banks of the Hocking River. His father Charles Robert Sherman, a lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children, Sherman was distantly related to American founding father Roger Sherman and grew to admire him. Shermans older brother Charles Taylor Sherman became a federal judge, one of his younger brothers, John Sherman, served as a U. S. senator and Cabinet secretary. Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman, was a successful banker, Sherman would marry his foster sister, Ellen Boyle Ewing, at age 30 and have eight children with her. Shermans unusual given name has attracted considerable attention. Sherman reported that his name came from his father having caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees. Since an account in a 1932 biography about Sherman, it has often reported that, as an infant. According to these accounts, Sherman only acquired the name William at age nine or ten and his foster mother, Maria Willis Boyle, was of Irish ancestry and a devout Roman Catholic. Sherman was raised in a Roman Catholic household, though he left the church. Sherman wrote in his Memoirs that his father named him William Tecumseh, Sherman was baptized by a Presbyterian minister as an infant, as an adult, Sherman signed all his correspondence – including to his wife – W. T. Sherman. His friends and family called him Cump
37.
Atlanta Campaign
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The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, Johnstons Army of Tennessee withdrew toward Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Shermans group of armies. In July, the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, replaced Johnston with the more aggressive John Bell Hood, Hoods army was eventually besieged in Atlanta and the city fell on September 2, setting the stage for Shermans March to the Sea and hastening the end of the war. The Atlanta Campaign followed the Union victory in the Battles for Chattanooga in November 1863, Chattanooga was known as the Gateway to the South, grants strategy was to apply pressure against the Confederacy in several coordinated offensives. While he, George G. Meade, Benjamin Butler, Franz Sigel, George Crook, at the start of the campaign, Shermans Military Division of the Mississippi consisted of three armies, Maj. Gen. James B. McPhersons Army of the Tennessee, including the corps of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, when McPherson was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard replaced him. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofields Army of the Ohio, consisting of Schofields XXIII Corps and a cavalry division commanded by Maj. Gen. George Stoneman. Maj. Gen. George H. Thomass Army of the Cumberland, including the corps of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, and Brig. Gen. Washington L. Elliott. After Howard took army command, David S. Stanley took over IV Corps, however, by June, a steady stream of reinforcements brought Shermans strength to 112,000. Opposing Sherman, the Army of Tennessee was commanded first by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the four corps in the 50, 000-man army were commanded by, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee. When Polk was killed on June 14, Loring briefly took over as commander of the corps but was replaced by Alexander P. Stewart on June 23. But in Georgia, he faced the more aggressive Sherman. Johnstons army repeatedly took up strongly entrenched defensive positions in the campaign, Sherman prudently avoided suicidal frontal assaults against most of these positions, instead maneuvering in flanking marches around the defenses as he advanced from Chattanooga towards Atlanta. Whenever Sherman flanked the defensive lines, Johnston would retreat to another prepared position, both armies took advantage of the railroads as supply lines, with Johnston shortening his supply lines as he drew closer to Atlanta, and Sherman lengthening his own. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge, the two columns engaged the enemy at Buzzard Roost and at Dug Gap. In the meantime, the column, under McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on May 9 advanced to the outskirts of Resaca. Fearing defeat, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap, on May 10, Sherman decided to take most of his men and join McPherson to take Resaca. The next morning, as he discovered Shermans army withdrawing from their positions in front of Rocky Face Ridge, Union troops tested the Confederate lines around Resaca to pinpoint their whereabouts
38.
Richmond, Virginia
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Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond Region and it was incorporated in 1742, and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the population was 204,214, in 2015, the population was estimated to be 220,289, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state. Richmond is located at the line of the James River,44 miles west of Williamsburg,66 miles east of Charlottesville. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast. The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737 and it became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, the city entered the 20th century with one of the worlds first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a hub of African-American commerce. Richmonds economy is driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state. Dominion Resources and MeadWestvaco, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, in 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. The settlement was laid out in April 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742, Richmond recovered quickly from the war, and by 1782 was once again a thriving city. A permanent home for the new government, the Virginia State Capitol building, was designed by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of Charles-Louis Clérisseau, after the American Revolutionary War, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center. The legacy of the canal boatmen is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag, on April 17,1861, five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the legislature voted to secede from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Official action came in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its capital to Richmond. It became the target of Union armies, especially in the campaigns of 1862. The Seven Days Battles followed in late June and early July 1862, during which Union General McClellan threatened to take Richmond, three years later, as March 1865 ended, the Confederate capitol became indefensible. On March 25, Confederate General John B, gordons desperate attack on Fort Stedman east of Petersburg failed
39.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
40.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
41.
Attrition warfare
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Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel. The war will usually be won by the side with such resources. The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere to rub against, military theorists and strategists have viewed attrition warfare as something to be avoided. On the other hand, a side that perceives itself to be at a disadvantage in manoeuvre warfare or unit tactics may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponents advantages. If the sides are evenly matched, the outcome of a war of attrition is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory. The difference between war of attrition and other forms of war is somewhat artificial since war always contains an element of attrition. That should be seen as opposed to other goals such as the conquest of some resource or territory or an attempt to cause the enemy great losses in a single stroke. Historically, attritional methods are tried only as a last resort, typically, when attritional methods have worn down the enemy sufficiently to make other methods feasible, attritional methods are abandoned in favor of other strategies. In World War I, improvements in firepower but not communications and mobility forced military commanders to rely on attrition, attritional methods are in themselves usually sufficient to cause a nation to give up a nonvital ambition, but other methods are generally necessary to achieve unconditional surrender. It is often argued that the example of attrition warfare was on the Western Front during World War I. Both military forces found themselves in static positions in trenches running from Switzerland to the English Channel. For years, without any opportunity for manoeuvres, the way the commanders thought that they could defeat the enemy was to repeatedly attack head on. One of the most enduring examples of attrition warfare on the Western Front is the Battle of Verdun, erich von Falkenhayn later claimed that his tactics at Verdun were designed not to take the city but rather to destroy the French Army in its defense. Falkenhayn is described as wanting to bleed France white and thus the attrition tactics were employed in the battle, attritional warfare in World War I has been shown by historians such as Hew Strachan to have been used as a post hoc ergo propter hoc excuse for failed offensives. Contemporary sources disagree with Strachans view on this, while the Christmas Memorandum is a post-war invention, the strategy of Bleeding France white was the original strategy for the battle. Attrition to the enemy was easy to assert and difficult to refute and that is not to say that a general will not be prepared to sustain high casualties while trying to reach an objective. The delaying tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus against Hannibal Barca during the Second Punic War, the Israeli–Egyptian War of Attrition from 1967–1970. The Soviet war in Afghanistan The later phases of the Iran–Iraq War The War in Afghanistan The Sri Lankan Civil War after 2005 The 2011 Libyan civil war is arguably an example of attrition warfare, the Syrian Civil War, in particular the Battle of Aleppo
42.
Rapidan River
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The Rapidan River, flowing 88 miles through north-central Virginia in the United States, is the largest tributary of the Rappahannock River. The two rivers converge just west of the city of Fredericksburg, the Rapidan River begins west of Doubletop Mountain in Shenandoah National Park where the Mill Prong meets the Laurel Prong at Rapidan Camp, approximately 3 miles south of Big Meadows. Sections of the lower Rapidan River are preserved by a conservation easement, the name is a combination of the word rapids with the name of Queen Anne of England. Originally, it was known as the Rapid Ann River, the Rapidan River ranks #38 in Trout Unlimiteds Guide to Americas 100 Best Trout Streams. In 2000, the upper Rapidan River was nominated for EPA designation as a Tier III Exceptional Waterway, in 2001, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality rejected the application, citing uncertainty about the impact of the designation. Mill Prong Trail to Rapidan,3.6 miles - Enjoyable hike to Rapidan Camp, the trail starts high in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Skyline Drive, goes southeast 1.8 miles to the headwaters of the Rapidan River and returns to the point of origin. Note, This trail will not take you to the Rapidan Canal of the Rappahannock Navigation, the Rapidan River is formed at the confluence. Note, This trail will not take you to the Rapidan Canal of the Rappahannock Navigation
43.
Philip Sheridan
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Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan fought in later years in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains. Both as a soldier and private citizen, he was instrumental in the development, in 1883, Sheridan was appointed general-in-chief of the U. S. Army, and in 1888 he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army during the term of President Grover Cleveland. Sheridan claimed he was born in Albany, New York, the child of six by John and Mary Meenagh Sheridan, Catholic immigrants from the parish of Killinkere, County Cavan. He grew up in Somerset, Ohio, fully grown, he reached only 165 cm tall, a stature that led to the nickname, Little Phil. Sheridan worked as a boy in general stores, and eventually as head clerk. In his third year at West Point, Sheridan was suspended for a year for fighting with a classmate, the previous day, Sheridan had threatened to run him through with a bayonet in reaction to a perceived insult on the parade ground. He graduated in 1853, 34th in his class of 52 cadets, Sheridan was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant and was assigned to the 1st U. S. Infantry regiment at Fort Duncan, Texas, then to the 4th U. S, most of his service with the 4th U. S. He lived with a mistress during part of his tour of duty and he was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1861, just before the Civil War, and to captain in May, immediately after Fort Sumter. In the fall of 1861, Sheridan was ordered to travel to Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, for assignment to the 13th U. S. Infantry. He departed from his command of Fort Yamhill, Oregon, by way of San Francisco, across the Isthmus of Panama, frémont, whose administration of the Department of the Missouri was tainted by charges of wasteful expenditures and fraud that left the status of $12 million in debt. Sheridan sorted out the mess, impressing Halleck in the process, much to Sheridans dismay, Hallecks vision for Sheridan consisted of a continuing role as a staff officer. Nevertheless, Sheridan performed the task assigned to him and entrenched himself as an excellent staff officer in Hallecks view, in January 1862, he reported for duty to Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis and served under him at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Sheridan soon discovered that officers were engaged in profiteering and they stole horses from civilians and demanded payment from Sheridan. He refused to pay for the property and confiscated the horses for the use of Curtiss army. When Curtis ordered him to pay the officers, Sheridan brusquely retorted, Curtis had Sheridan arrested for insubordination but Hallecks influence appears to have ended any formal proceedings. Gen. William T. Sherman, who offered him the colonelcy of an Ohio infantry regiment and this appointment fell through, but Sheridan was subsequently aided by friends, who petitioned Michigan Governor Austin Blair on his behalf
44.
J. E. B. Stuart
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James Ewell Brown Jeb Stuart was a United States Army officer from the U. S. state of Virginia, who later became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as Jeb, from the initials of his given names, Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations. While he cultivated an image, his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lees army. Stuart graduated from West Point in 1854, and served in Texas and Kansas with the U. S. Army. He was a veteran of the conflicts with Native Americans and the violence of Bleeding Kansas. He established a reputation as a cavalry commander and on two occasions circumnavigated the Union Army of the Potomac, bringing fame to himself and embarrassment to the North. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, he distinguished himself as a commander of the wounded Stonewall Jacksons infantry corps. During the 1864 Overland Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridans cavalry launched an offensive to defeat Stuart, Stuarts widow wore black for the rest of her life in remembrance of her deceased husband. Stuart was born at Laurel Hill Farm, a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia and he was of Scottish American and Scots-Irish background. He was the eighth of eleven children and the youngest of the five sons to survive past early age and his great-grandfather, Major Alexander Stuart, commanded a regiment at the Battle of Guilford Court House during the American Revolutionary War. Archibald was a cousin of Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart, elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart, Jebs mother, who was known as a strict religious woman with a good sense for business, ran the family farm. He entered Emory and Henry College when he was fifteen, during the summer of 1848, Stuart attempted to enlist in the U. S. Army, but was rejected as underaged. He obtained an appointment in 1850 to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from Representative Thomas Hamlet Averett, Stuart was a popular student and was happy at the Academy. Although not handsome in his teen years, his classmates called him by the nickname Beauty and he possessed a chin so short and retiring as positively to disfigure his otherwise fine countenance. He quickly grew a beard after graduation and a fellow officer remarked that he was the man he ever saw that beard improved. Robert E. Lee was appointed superintendent of the Academy in 1852, Lees nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, also arrived at the academy in 1852. In Stuarts final year, in addition to achieving the rank of second captain of the corps. Stuart graduated 13th in his class of 46 in 1854 and he ranked tenth in his class in cavalry tactics
45.
John Sedgwick
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John Sedgwick was a teacher, a career military officer, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was wounded three times at the Battle of Antietam while leading his division in an assault, causing him to miss the Battle of Fredericksburg. Under his command, the VI Corps played an important role in the Chancellorsville Campaign by engaging Confederate troops at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and his corps was the last to arrive at the Battle of Gettysburg, and thus did not see much action. He is well remembered for his ironic last words, They couldnt hit an elephant at this distance, Sedgwick was born in the Litchfield Hills town of Cornwall, Connecticut. He was named after his grandfather, John Sedgwick, an American Revolutionary War general who served with George Washington. S and he fought in the Seminole Wars and received two brevet promotions in the Mexican-American War, to captain for Contreras and Churubusco, and to major for Chapultepec. After returning from Mexico he transferred to the cavalry and served in Kansas, in the Utah War, in the summer and fall of 1860, Sedgwick commanded an expedition to establish a new fort on the Platte River in what is now Colorado. This was a location with no railroads, and all supplies having to be carried long distances by riverboat. Even though many of these failed to arrive, Sedgwick still managed to erect comfortable stone buildings for his men before the cold weather set in. At the start of the American Civil War, Sedgwick was serving as a colonel and he missed the early action of the war at the First Battle of Bull Run, recovering from cholera. In Virginia, he fought at Yorktown and Seven Pines and was wounded in the arm and he was promoted to major general on July 4,1862. In the Battle of Antietam, II Corps commander Maj. Gen. Edwin V, sumner impulsively sent Sedgwicks division in a mass assault without proper reconnaissance. His division was engaged by Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson from three sides, was routed, and fell back with half the men it had started with. Sedgwick himself was hit by three bullets, in the wrist, leg, and shoulder, and was out of action until after the Battle of Fredericksburg. From December 26,1862, he led the II Corps and the IX Corps, and then finally the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, his corps faced Fredericksburg in a holding action while Maj. Gen. Joseph Hookers other four corps maneuvered against Robert E. Lees left flank. He was slow to action, but eventually crossed the Rappahannock River. At the Battle of Gettysburg, his corps arrived late on July 2 and it was not kept together as a unit during the second and third days of the battle, its brigades scattered around to plug holes in the line. In the 1864 Overland Campaign, the VI Corps was on the Union right at the Battle of the Wilderness, Sedgwick fell at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 9,1864
46.
Richard H. Anderson
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Richard Heron Anderson was a career U. S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, fighting in the Eastern Theater of the conflict, Anderson was also noted for his humility. Anderson was born in the High Hills of Santee at Borough House Plantation, near the town of Stateburg located in Sumter County, South Carolina. He was the son of Dr. William Wallace Anderson and his wife, Mary Jane Mackensie, Anderson graduated 40th out of 56 cadets from the United States Military Academy in July 1842, and was brevetted a second lieutenant in the 1st U. S. Dragoons. He served the school for practice at the U. S. Army Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Anderson spent 1843 on frontier duty in the American West, serving first at Little Rock, Arkansas and his regiment escorted the U. S. Indian Agent to Red River in 1843, and then returned to Fort Washita, remaining there until 1844. Anderson was promoted to lieutenant on July 16,1844. His regiment then joined the expedition for the occupation of Texas in 1845. In the Mexican-American War, Anderson took part in the Siege of Veracruz in March 1847 and he fought in the Battle of Contreras on August 19, the skirmish near San Agustin Altapulco the following day, and the Battle of Molino del Rey on September 8. For gallantry during the fighting near San Agustin, he was brevetted to the rank of first lieutenant as of August 17, Anderson also participated in the fight for and capture of Mexico City from September 12–14. After Mexico, Anderson was promoted to first lieutenant in the 2nd U. S. Dragoons on July 13,1848, was again on recruiting duty in 1849 and he returned to the Carlisle Barracks from 1849 to 1850, and then was recruiting once more until 1852. Next came frontier duty in several Texas installations, including at Fort Graham in 1852 to 1853, at Fort McKavett from 1853 to 1854, at San Antonio in 1854, and at Fort McKavett in 1855. He was promoted to captain on March 3,1855, and was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, Anderson was still serving in Kansas during the border troubles of 1856 and 1857, then was recruiting as well as his last stint at the Carlisle Barracks in 1858. He participated in the Utah War of 1858 and 1859, and was on duty at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, Anderson chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause, and he resigned from the U. S. Army to enter service with the Confederate Army. Anderson accepted a commission as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Regulars as of January 28 and he was given command of the Charleston harbor area after the capture of Fort Sumter that April. He was promoted to general on July 19 and transferred to Pensacola, Florida. After recovering, Anderson joined the Confederate Army of the Potomac in February 1862 as a brigade commander. During the Peninsula Campaign, he distinguished himself at the Battle of Williamsburg in May, during the Battle of Seven Pines, at Glendale, he took temporary command of Maj. Gen. James Longstreets division
47.
Salient (military)
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A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemys line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant, a deep salient is vulnerable to being pinched out across the base, forming a pocket in which the defenders of the salient become isolated. On the other hand, a breakout from the tip can threaten the defenders rear areas. Salients can be formed in a number of ways, an attacker would usually produce a salient in his own line by making a broad, frontal attack that is successful only in the centre, which becomes the tip of the salient. In trench warfare, salients are distinctly defined by the lines of trenches. The static nature of the trenches meant that forming a pocket was difficult, sickles had held a similar position at Catherines Furnace in the Battle of Chancellorsville two months earlier, and in both cases his corps was badly mauled and had to be rescued by other units. The trench line bulged forward to protect a piece of high ground, Union troops concentrated their attack on this point, broke through, and 22 hours of brutal, hand-to-hand fighting ensued before the Confederates pulled back to a new position. In World War I, the British occupied a salient at Ypres for most of the war. Formed as a result of the First Battle of Ypres, it one of the most bloody sectors of the Western Front. So enduring was the feature and so dreadful its reputation that when British infantry spoke of The Salient, a similar salient existed around the French city of Verdun, the Battle of Verdun around it cost both sides heavy casualties. Also in World War I, the Germans occupied a salient in front of Fromelles called the Sugarloaf due to its distinctive shape. Being small, it provided advantage to the occupiers by allowing them to enfilade the stretches of no land on either flank. In World War II, the Soviet Union occupied a massive,150 km deep salient at Kursk that became the site of the largest tank battle in history and a decisive battle on the Eastern Front. Also in World War II, the German Army launched an attack against advancing Allied forces in the Ardennes in December 1944. This battle created a large salient for several weeks, and is known as the Battle of the Bulge. During the Turkish military intervention on the island of Cyprus in 1974, the cease-fire line dividing Cyprus into Greek and Turkish-controlled sectors put Louroujina in a salient — accessible from the rest of Turkish Cypriot-controlled Cyprus by a single road. In mobile warfare, such as the German Blitzkrieg, salients were more likely to be made into pockets which became the focus of annihilation battles
48.
Emory Upton
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Army when it was published posthumously in 1904. Upton was born on a farm near Batavia, New York and he would become the brother-in-law of Andrew J. Alexander and of Frank P. Blair, Jr. He studied under famous evangelist Charles G. Finney at Oberlin College for two years before being admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1856, the two men fought with swords in a darkened room of the cadet barracks. Upton suffered a cut on his face and he graduated eighth in his class of 45 cadets on May 6,1861, just in time for the outbreak of the Civil War. Upton was commissioned a lieutenant in the 4th U. S. Artillery. Artillery as a first lieutenant on May 14, assigned to Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowells Army of Northeastern Virginia, as an aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler. In the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21,1861, he was wounded in the arm and left side during the action at Blackburns Ford and he commanded his battery in the VI Corps Artillery Reserve through the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. In the Maryland Campaign, including the battles at Cramptons Gap at South Mountain, Upton was appointed colonel of the 121st New York on October 23,1862. In the Bristoe Campaign, Upton was cited for gallant service at Rappahannock Station in November 1863 and was given a promotion to major in the regular army. The standard infantry assault employed a wide battle line advancing more slowly, on May 10,1864, Upton led twelve regiments in such an assault against the Confederates Mule Shoe salient. His tactics worked and his command penetrated to the center of the Mule Shoe, Upton was wounded but not severely in the attack, but was promoted to brigadier general to rank from May 12. On that same day, Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock adapted Uptons columnar assault tactic to the entire II Corps to break through the Mule Shoe, on June 1st Uptons 2nd Brigade was engaged in the Battle of Cold Harbor where his units suffered some heavy losses. In late June 1864 he participated in the stages of the Siege of Petersburg. At the Third Battle of Winchester, Upton assumed command of the 1st Division, VI Corps, Upton himself was severely wounded in the thigh soon after, but refused to be removed from the field until the battle was over. He was carried on a stretcher for the duration of the battle and he received two brevet promotions for Winchester, colonel in the regular army and major general of volunteers. After returning from leave, Upton finished the war as a cavalry commander. Under the command of Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, the division saw action during Wilsons Raid and the Battle of Selma. This occurred a week after the surrender of Robert E. Lees army in Virginia, a few weeks later, in May 1865, Upton was ordered to arrest Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, and a little later Jefferson Davis was placed in his custody
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