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The Seventeenth Corps was organized December 18, 1862, under the same order which created the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps. It was composed of the divisions of Logan, McArthur and Quinby,--formerly the Third, Sixth and Seventh Divisions of Grant's Army,--and Major-General J. B. McPherson was assigned to its command. It was engaged in the operations on the Mississippi River prior to the campaign in the rear of Vicksburg, and then took a prominent part in the series of battles which resulted in the investment of that place. Its three divisions entered upon that campaign with 37 regiments of infantry, and 12 batteries (60 guns) of light artillery,--numbering, in all, 15,848 officers and men present for duty. Its total enrollment, present and absent, amounted to 23,154.

Logan's Division was engaged at the battle of Port Gibson (Magnolia Hills), where it lost 6 killed, 41 wounded, and 2 missing; also at Raymond, where it was the only division in action, losing there 66 killed, 339 wounded, and 37 missing. At the battle of Jackson, May 14th, the brunt of the fight fell on the Seventeenth Corps and on Quinby's Division, which lost 36 killed, 229 wounded, and 3 missing; total, 268. General Quinby being absent on account of illness, his division was commanded there by General Crocker. At Champion's Hill, both Logan's and Crocker's Divisions were engaged, losing in the aggregate 179 killed, 857 wounded, and 42 missing; total, 1,078. During these battles McArthur's Division had been absent on duty, but joined the corps in time for the first assault on Vicksburg, May 19, in which it lost 16 killed and 113 wounded. In the general assault of May 22d, the corps lost 150 killed, 880 wounded, and 36 missing; total, 1,066. It also sustained a severe loss in the trenches during the siege, and was engaged in the affair at Fort Hill, a strong earth-work in front of the corps position. This fort was successfully mined and blown up, June 25th, but the assaulting column was unable to retain their lodgment in the crater. Upon the surrender of Vicksburg, Logan's Division was accorded the honor of first entering and occupying the city, while the rest of the corps marched away with Sherman's Expedition against Jackson.

That place having been captured, the Army returned to Vicksburg, where, in September, 1863, the Fourth Division of the Sixteenth Corps (formerly Lauman's) was transferred to the Seventeenth, and placed under command of General M. M. Crocker. At the same time, Quinby's Division was transferred to the Fifteenth Corps. During the fall of 1863, the corps took part in various raids and marches, and in February, 1864, Crocker's and Leggett's Divisions accompanied Sherman's Army on the expedition from Vicksburg to Meridian, Miss., and on the return. Soon after this the corps became divided, two divisions joining Sherman's Army in the advance on Atlanta, while the rest of the corps remained in the Mississippi Valley.

In May, 1864, the Third and Fourth Divisions were assembled at Huntsville, Ala., from whence they marched through Georgia, and joined Sherman's Army on the 8th of June, at Ackworth, Ga. The corps was under the command of Major-General Frank P. Blair, General McPherson having been promoted to the command of the Army of the Tennessee, which comprised the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps. Blair's two divisions — the ones with Sherman's Army — were commanded by Generals Leggett and Gresham, the latter officer succeeding General Crocker, who relinquished his command, May 27th, on account of in health. Although Sherman's Army was well on its way to Atlanta, there was plenty of hard fighting left for the Seventeenth Corps. It was engaged with honor in the battle of Atlanta, July 22nd, which was one of the hardest contested fields in that campaign. General Gresham was badly wounded in this action,8 and General Giles A. Smith succeeded to the

1 Second, or Red River Division.

2 Second, or Red River Division.

3 Second, or Red River Division.

4 Second, or Red River Division.

5 Second, or Red River Division.

6 Second, or Red River Division.

7 Second, or Red River Division.

8 Wounded, July 20th.

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