[
159]
Chapter 6: Federal armies, Corps and leaders
 |
|
The second corps, army of the Potomac marching down Pennsylvania avenue in 1865.
The Second Corps had a record of longer continuous service, a larger organization, hardest fighting, and greatest number of casualties, than any other in the Eastern armies—it contained the regiment which sustained the largest percentage of loss in any one action; the regiment which sustained the greatest numerical loss in any one action; and the regiment which sustained the greatest numerical loss during its term of service—of the hundred union regiments which lost the most men in battle, thirty-five belonged to the second corps. |
[
160]
 |
|
‘Fighting Joe hooker’ with his staff on the spot whence he directed his ‘battle above the clouds’: orderly, orderly, Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds, Colonel William G. Le Duc, captain H. W. Perkins, walker, the artist, lieutenant Samuel W. Taylor, captain R. H. Hall, major William H. Lawrence, General Joseph hooker, General Daniel Butterfield, Colonel James D. Fessenden
‘Fighting Joe Hooker’ was a man of handsome physique and intense personal magnetism.
He graduated at West Point in 1837 in the same class with Jubal A. Early and Braxton Bragg.
Having fought through the Mexican War, he resigned from the army in 1853.
On May 17, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and on May 5, 1862, major-general of volunteers.
He was active throughout the Peninsular campaign, and at Bristoe Station, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain and Antietam.
He commanded the center grand division of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg.
At last, on January 26, 1863, he was assigned by President Lincoln to the command of the Army of the Potomac.
On the 4th of May, 1863, his right flank was surprised by Jackson at Chancellorsville, and his 90,000 soldiers were forced to recross the Rappahannock.
While fighting in the East he was wounded at
[161]
Antietam, and stunned at Chancellorsville by a cannon-ball which struck a pillar against which he was leaning.
In September, 1863, he was sent with the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps to reinforce Rosecrans at Chattanooga.
On November 24th, in the ‘battle among the clouds’ at the head of his new command, he led a charge against the Confederate artillery and infantry posted on Lookout Mountain.
For his conduct on this occasion he was brevetted major-general in the regular army.
He further distinguished himself under Sherman at Dalton and Resaca, and in the attack on Atlanta.
At his own request (July 30, 1864) he was placed on waiting orders September 28th, when he was put in command of the Northern Department.
He retired from active service October 15, 1868, with the full rank of major-general in the regular army.
General Hooker died at Garden City, Long Island, New York, October 31, 1879. |
[
162]
 |
|
The army of Georgia—on parade, General Slocum at the head
Very different from the march through Georgia and the Carolinas was this magnificent parade of the Army of Georgia down Pennsylvania Avenue. In front ride General Slocum and his staff.
Behind come the long straight lines of men who proved the Confederacy a hollow shell with all of its fighting men at the front.
Eagerly crowding close to the line of march are the citizens of Washington who had alternately clamored for action, and shaken in their boots when the daring Confederate leaders pressed close to the Northern capital.
Many a heartfelt prayer of thanks and relief was offered when mothers saw their boys march past, unscathed by the war and about to reenter civil life.
Many a tear fell for those who could not be there to share the glory. |
[
163]
Various Union Army Corps.
At
Gaines' Mill,
Slocum's Division of the Sixth Corps was sent to the support of
General Porter, and lost 2,021 out of less than 8,000 present in the hot engagement.
It was in front of
Fredericksburg May 3, 1863, under
General Sedgwick, that the
Corps made its most brilliant display of dash and daring.
It carried at the point of the bayonet
Marye's Heights, the strong position before which there had fallen, gloriously but in vain, nearly 13,000 men the previous December.
Most of the
Corps was held in reserve at
Gettysburg, and its casualties there were slight, but it added again to its laurels at Rappahannock Station.
In the battles of the
Wilderness and
Spotsylvania it encountered its hardest fighting, the percentage of killed of the Fifteenth New Jersey in the latter battle being equaled in only one instance during the whole war. At Cold Harbor it suffered heavily again, and the appearance of two of its divisions at
Fort Stevens checked
Early's advance on
Washington.
It pursued
Early up the
Shenandoah, and fought at
Opequon and
Cedar Creek.
In the final assault on
Petersburg it played an important part.
It was no less prominent in its final appearance at the
Grand Review in
Washington.
 | |
The nineteenth army corps |
|
 | |
The sixth army corps in the grand review—the corps that saved Washington from capture |
|
 | |
The twentieth army corps |
|
[
164]
The armies of the United States in the Civil War
By the provisions of the
Constitution, the
President of the
United States is commanderin-chief of the army and navy.
During the
Civil War, this function was exercised in no small degree by
President Lincoln.
As
Secretaries of War, he had in his cabinet
Simon Cameron, from March 4, 1861, to January 14, 1862; and
Edward M. Stanton, who served from January 15, 1862, throughout
Lincoln's administration, and also under
Johnson until May 28, 1868, except for a short interval during which he was suspended.
There were four
generals-in-chief of the armies:
Brevet Lieutenant-General Scott,
Major-Generals McClellan and
Halleck, and
Lieutenant-General Grant.
The last named has been considered in previous pages of this volume, but the lives and services of the other three are summarized below, in addition to the treatment received in other volumes.
(consult Index.) This is true of all the army leaders not separately described in the pages that follow.
The Index will refer to treatment in other volumes.
was born near
Petersburg, Virginia, June 13, 1786.
After being graduated from William and Mary College, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and then entered the army at the age of twenty-two.
His career was one of bravery and incident.
He was captured by the
British, but exchanged in 1813, fought in the battle of
Lundy's Lane, and was severely wounded.
After the close of the war he was raised to the rank of major-general, and in 1841 succeeded
General Macomb as commander of the United States army.
In the war with
