Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia entered the 17th of September 1862 with fewer than 40,000 soldiers on the field. That date would become the bloodiest single day of battle in American history. Robert E. Lee had divided his force into four separate columns against the counsel of James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson. Longstreet made his position plain: "General, I wish we could stand still and let the damned Yankees come to us." Fighting at Dunker Church and Burnside's Bridge pushed the Confederate line to the breaking point. Only the belated arrival of A.P. Hill's troops, combined with Union hesitation, prevented the army's collapse. That it survived at all is one of the central questions of the Civil War. The story begins not with Lee but with a general whose most visible legacy came before the army had settled on its final name.
General P.G.T. Beauregard commanded the Confederate Army of the Potomac from the 20th of June 1861. His tenure lasted exactly one month, ending the 20th of July when General Joseph E. Johnston assumed overall command. During that month, Beauregard produced the army's most enduring contribution.
The Confederate national flag, the Stars and Bars, caused dangerous confusion in battle. In the smoke and chaos of an engagement, it was too easily mistaken for the Union banner. Beauregard designed a new battle flag to eliminate that problem. That flag spread to every corps and force fighting under the army and became its primary symbol throughout the war.
On the 14th of March 1862, the Confederate Army of the Potomac was officially renamed the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's biographer Douglas S. Freeman credits Lee himself with settling the name when he issued command orders on the 1st of June 1862. Freeman also acknowledges that Lee had already used the name in correspondence with Johnston before that date. Johnston had commanded the Department of Northern Virginia since the 22nd of October 1861. The army's name appears to have grown informally from that parent department's title. Jefferson Davis and Johnston never formally adopted it. Today the name is applied to the entire history of the force, even in periods that predate its official use.
Virginia's western counties sent between 20,000 and 22,000 men to the army. They continued to fight for the Confederacy even after those counties became the Union state of West Virginia in 1863. At Gettysburg, Confederate soldiers from that region greatly outnumbered the Union men from the same area. West Virginia eventually erected four monuments on the battlefield for those Union fighters.
The Texas Brigade was among the army's most celebrated units. It comprised the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas regiments alongside the 3rd Arkansas. Those regiments distinguished themselves in numerous engagements, including the fighting for the Devil's Den at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Missouri contributed a company of cavalry designated the 1st Missouri Cavalry, Co. A. That unit suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of New Market in 1864. Other regiments came from Georgia, Texas, and Arkansas, extending the army's reach across the Confederate South. For the Northern Virginia Campaign, Nathan G. Evans's independent South Carolina brigade also joined the force. A North Carolina brigade under Brigadier General Thomas Drayton arrived alongside it.
Johnston organized the army's parent department into three administrative districts. The Aquia District guarded the Potomac's southern approaches. The Potomac District held the main operational force. The Valley District protected the Shenandoah region under Thomas J. Jackson. In April 1862, the department expanded to absorb the Departments of Norfolk and the Peninsula of Virginia.
The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 forced Johnston to maneuver his army southward toward the defenses of Richmond. Delay and defend tactics kept the Union advance at bay until Johnston was severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines. Command on the 31st of May 1862 passed to Major General Gustavus W. Smith. Smith's hold on command lasted a single day. Responding to what appeared to be a nervous breakdown, President Jefferson Davis drafted orders the following day placing Robert E. Lee in command. Lee assumed that command on the 1st of June 1862.
With 55,633 soldiers under his command, Lee faced organizational weaknesses that the Peninsula Campaign had already exposed. His immediate task was not to fight but to reorganize.
During the Seven Days Battles, Lee commanded eleven separate divisions. Poor coordination and inexperience among some commanders prevented his plans from succeeding. After the fighting, Lee removed the generals who had underperformed. John Magruder and Benjamin Huger both departed. In their place, Lee built two corps: one commanded by Jackson with five divisions, the other by Longstreet with six.
The Confederate Congress formally authorized the corps structure following the Maryland Campaign. President Davis then promoted Longstreet and Jackson to Lieutenant General. Lee announced those promotions in Special Order 234 on the 6th of November 1862. The Maryland Campaign had also exposed a serious weakness: the high rate of straggling and desertion during the invasion.
Stonewall Jackson's mortal wounding at the Battle of Chancellorsville prompted Lee to reshape the army once more. He divided it into three corps with three divisions each. Longstreet's First Corps received the divisions of George Pickett, Lafayette McLaws, and John Bell Hood. A.P. Hill commanded a new Third Corps with the divisions of Harry Heth, William D. Pender, and Richard Anderson. Richard Ewell received the Second Corps after recovering from the loss of a leg at Second Bull Run. His three divisions were led by Robert Rodes, Jubal Early, and Edward Johnson. By the time of Gettysburg, the army fielded 75,054 soldiers.
J.E.B. Stuart organized the army's cavalry into a full division on the 17th of August 1862. By the 9th of September 1863, it had grown into a corps. Stuart commanded that corps until the 11th of May 1864, the day he was mortally wounded. After a period when the corps was split into divisions, Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III took unified command on the 11th of August 1864.
On the 31st of January 1865, the army counted 69,659 soldiers fit for battle, though more than 4,500 had no rifles. Lieutenant General A.P. Hill died on the 2nd of April 1865. The Third Corps was dissolved and its units were merged into the First Corps.
On the 9th of April 1865, General Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. The following day, Lee issued General Order No. 9. He thanked his men and officers for their bravery and sturdiness and announced the dismissal of all troops on their word of honor. On the 10th of April 1865-28,231 soldiers were formally paroled under that order. Those men had served in an army that grew from 109 artillery pieces at its formation. After Gettysburg, it fielded more than 241 cannons.
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Common questions
Who were the commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia?
The Army of Northern Virginia was led successively by P.G.T. Beauregard, Joseph E. Johnston, and Robert E. Lee. Johnston commanded from the 20th of July 1861 until he was severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines on the 31st of May 1862. Lee led the army from the 1st of June 1862 until the surrender at Appomattox on the 9th of April 1865.
Why did the Army of Northern Virginia use a different battle flag from the Confederate national flag?
General P.G.T. Beauregard created the army's distinctive battle flag because the Confederate national flag, the Stars and Bars, was too easily confused with the Union flag in the smoke and chaos of battle. The new design spread to all corps and forces under the army and became its primary battle symbol throughout the war.
When did the Army of Northern Virginia surrender and how many soldiers were paroled?
The Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on the 9th of April 1865, when General Robert E. Lee signed the papers of surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. On the 10th of April 1865, Lee issued General Order No. 9 dismissing all troops on their word of honor, and 28,231 soldiers were formally paroled under that order.
How large did the Army of Northern Virginia get during the Civil War?
The army's peak strength reached 82,633 soldiers during the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. At Gettysburg in 1863 it fielded 75,054 soldiers. By the 31st of January 1865-69,659 were fit for battle, though more than 4,500 of those had no rifles.
Who commanded the cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia?
J.E.B. Stuart commanded the army's cavalry, which he organized into a full division on the 17th of August 1862 and which grew into a corps by the 9th of September 1863. Stuart led the corps until the 11th of May 1864, the day he was mortally wounded. Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III then took unified command on the 11th of August 1864.
How did the Army of Northern Virginia get its name?
The army was officially renamed the Army of Northern Virginia on the 14th of March 1862, reflecting its primary geographic area of operations. The name also derived informally from its parent administrative structure, the Department of Northern Virginia, which General Joseph E. Johnston had commanded since the 22nd of October 1861. Robert E. Lee's biographer Douglas S. Freeman credits Lee with settling the name when he assumed command on the 1st of June 1862.
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23 references cited across the entry
- 1General Robert E. Lee's Headquarters FlagVirginia Humanities
- 3George Picketthistory.com — 21 August 2018