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First Corps—Army of the Mississippi and of Tennessee
commanded from June, 1861, to March, 1862, the First Division in the Western Department (No. 2), the troops of which were scattered along the
Mississippi from
Columbus, Kentucky, to
Memphis, and in the interior of
Tennessee and
Mississippi.
It numbered about twenty-five thousand men. On the organization of the Army of the Mississippi in March, 1862, this division was called the First Grand Division, and after the consolidation with the
Central Army of Kentucky, on March 29th, the First Corps, Army of the Mississippi.
On August 15th,
Polk's Corps was reorganized as the Right Wing in ten divisions, with over fifteen thousand present for duty.
In the Army of Tennessee, the Right Wing became the First, or
Polk's Corps.
After the
battle of Chickamauga,
Polk was relieved of the command, and both corps of the army underwent reorganization.
The leading corps was thereafter known as
Hardee's, or
Cheatham's Corps, from the names of its commanders.
(U. S. M. A. 1827) was born in
Raleigh, North Carolina, April 10, 1806.
He left the army for the church, and eventually became the first Protestant Episcopal
Bishop of
Louisiana, in 1841.
In 1861, he entered the Confederate army and was made major-general in June.
He was assigned to the command of the Western Department (No. 2); and in September he was replaced by
General A. S. Johnston and given the First Division, Army of the Mississippi, with which he won the
battle of Belmont in November.
He led the First Corps at
Shiloh, and later had temporary command of the army itself.
In October, 1862, he was given the rank of lieutenant-general, and accompanied the
Western Confederate army until after
Chickamauga, where he commanded the Right Wing when he was temporarily suspended, but the charge of delay on his part was dismissed by
President Davis.
In the winter of 1863-64, he was in command of the Department of
Alabama,
Mississippi, and
East Louisiana, and brought his forces, which he called the Army of Mississippi, to
Georgia in May, 1864, to assist
Johnston in opposing
Sherman's advance to
Atlanta.
On
Pine Mountain, near
Marietta, Georgia, he was killed by a cannon-ball, June 14, 1864.
was born in
Nashville, Tennessee, October 20, 1820.
He entered the
Mexican War, rising to the rank of colonel after distinguished service at
Monterey and elsewhere.
At the close of this war he became major-general of the
Tennessee militia, and when the
Civil War broke out he attached himself to the
Confederate cause and organized the entire supply department for the
Western troops.
As
brigadier-general, he served under
Polk at
Belmont, and had a division of the First Corps, Army of the Mississippi, at
Shiloh, and was commander of the Right Wing of the same army during
Bragg's invasion of
Kentucky in 1862.
He led his division at
Stone's River, through the Tullahoma campaign, and at
Chickamauga, and after that battle was head of
Cheatham's Corps, an organization formed upon the departure of
Polk from the army, and of which
Hardee shortly afterward took command.
In the
Atlanta campaign he led a division in
Hardee's Corps, and assumed command of the corps, which later was known as
Cheatham's Corps, after the departure of
Hardee for
Savannah in October, 1864, with which he continued until the surrender at
Durham Station.
After the war he became a farmer in
Tennessee, and was appointed postmaster of
Nashville in 1885.
He died there September 4, 1886.
was born in
County Cork, Ireland, March 17, 1828.
He ran away from Trinity College,
Dublin, and enlisted in the Forty-first Foot.
In 1855 lie came to
America, settling in
Helena, Arkansas, where he practised law until the opening of the war. He entered the
Confederate service as private, and rose to the rank of major-general, in 1862.
He planned the capture of the United States arsenal in
Arkansas, March, 1861.
He was colonel of an Arkansas regiment, and at
Shiloh, as brigadier-general, he commanded a brigade in the Third Corps, Army of the Mississippi.
He was wounded at
Perryville.
At
Murfreesboro and
Chickamauga he commanded a division, and his troops formed the rear guard at
Missionary Ridge.
For his defense of Ringgold Gap, in the
Atlanta campaign, he received the thanks of the Confederate Congress.
Cleburne covered
Hood's retreat at
Jonesboro, and had temporary command of
Hardee's Corps.
He continued to hold his division in
Cheatham's Corps, and at the
battle of Franklin was killed, November 30, 1864.
A brilliant charge at
Chickamauga earned him the title of ‘Stonewall of the
West,’ and it was he who initiated the Order of the
Southern Cross and was among the first to urge the advantages to the
Confederates of colored troops.
