The spring of 1864 brought in the War's final phase, which from the Union point, could be called the era of Grant and Sherman. Major General Ulysses S. Grant, a West Point graduate who left the army as a Captain long before the War, started the War as Colonel of an Illinois infantry regiment in the Dept. of the West.

He owed his early promotion of Brigadier General primarily to the influence of his local congressman who thought his district was entitled to a Brigadier. He came to the attention of the public and earned his second star by his capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in February, 1862. But allowing himself to be surprised by the Confederate attack that started the battle of Shiloh (the first really bloody big battle of the War) lowered his standing considerably.

His brilliant campaign against Vicksburg, however, established him as the Union's most successful commander, and led, in the emergency brought on by Rosecrans' defeat at Chickamauga, to his command of all the forces from the Mississippi Valley to the Appalachian Mountains Nxcept for the Dept. of the Gulf). This command was known as the Military Division of the Mississippi, and was an intermediate command between the General-in-Chief (Halleck) and the Departments of the Ohio (Burnside), Arkansas (Steele), Cumberland (Thomas), and Tennessee (Sherman). In this capacity he won the battles around Chattanooga in November, 1863, which made him the hero of the nation.

On 9 December Burnside was replaced as commander of the Department of the Ohio by John G. Foster, who had been replaced in the Dept. of North Carolina and Va. by Butler on 11 November. Then on 30 January, 1864, Rosecrans became commander of the Dept. of the Missouri, replacing J. M. Schofield, who had become embroiled in that state's political problems. And on 9 Feb. Schofield replaced Foster in command of the Army of the Ohio (part of Grant's Mil.. Div.).

President Lincoln signed a bill on 29 Feb. reviving the grade of Lieutenant General, last held by George Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion. (Winfield Scott had only held the rank by brevet--sort of an honorary Lt. Gen.) The next day, as all expected, Lincoln nominated Grant for promotion to the new grade, and the Senate promptly confirmed him the following day. But it wasn't until the 9th of March that Grant was handed his new commission, and, though he was now the highest-ranking officer in the U. S. Army, he didn't officially become the General-in-Chief until the 12th.

Halleck, the previous holder of that office, took the new title of Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army. On the 6th two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps (called the Right Wing, Sixteenth Corps) plus a small Provisional Division of the Seventeenth, all under the command of A.J. Smith, were temporarily assigned to the Dept. of the Gulf for the Red River Campaign. On the 10th, Sigel replaced Kelley as commander of the Department of West Virginia.

Grant decided that he would make his headquarters in the east with the Army of the Potomac, though Meade would remain in immediate command of that force. On the 18th Sherman replaced Grant as commander of the Mil. Div. of the Miss., and McPherson moved up from command of the Seventeenth Corps to succeed Sherman as commander of the Army of the Tennessee. On the 22nd Lew Wallace (later to write BEN HUR) became commander of the Middle Dept. (Maryland), superceding Lockwood, who had replaced Schenck on 5 Dec.

Meade consolidated the corps of the Army of the Potomac on 24 March, 1864. The First and Third Corps, which had both suffered severe losses at Gettysburg, were discontinued. The troops of the First Corps becoming the Fourth and part of the First Divisions of the Fifth Corps; the First and Second Divisions of the Third Corps becoming the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Second Corps; and the Third Div., Third Corps (formed after Gettysburg from troops from the Middle Dept.) became the Third Div., Sixth Corps. To make room for these additional divisions the original formations of the Second, Fifth and Sixth Corps were consolidated to form the First and Second Divs., Second Corps, First and Third Divs., Fifth Corps, and First and Second Divs., Sixth Corps.

hile this reorganization was a considerable improvement, making the army more responsive to its commander and putting more troops under the better corps commanders, it was very damaging to the morale of the men who were transferred.

They were proud of their old outfits, and such esprit de corps should not be wasted. However, the old corps and divisions had been worn down far below the strengths intended for such formations, and anyway, there didn't seem to be enough good corps commanders to handle five corps.

But the three left were about as good as they come: Hancock (Second), Warren (Fifth), and Sedgwick (Sixth). Gregg temporarily succeeded Pleasonton in command of the Cavalry Corps but he was superceded on 4 April by Sheridan -- the only commander Grant brought from the west. The Ninth Corps was sent from the Dept. of the Ohio to Annapolis, Md. (which led to all kinds of speculation by the Confederates about what part of the east coast it would be shipped to) from where it eventually was sent to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. On the 13th of April, Burnside resumed command of this, his old command. Since he outranked Meade, he reported directly to Grant.

The Dept. of the Monongahela was discontinued on 6 April and merged with Couch's Dept. of the Susquehanna. On the 14th, the two corps that Hooker had taken west from the Army of the Potomac - the Eleventh and Twelfth -- were consolidated into one, designated the Twentieth, under Hooker. Howard, who had commanded the Eleventh, replaced Granger as commander of the Fourth Corps, and Slocum, who had commanded the Twelfth, was sent to command the District of Vicksburg, in McPherson's Dept. of the Tennessee.

On the 28th the Tenth Corps was transferred from the Dept. of the South to Butler's Dept. of Va. & N.C. where it joined with the Eighteenth Corps to form the Army of the James, under Butler. Gillmore decided to remain with his troops as head of the Tenth Corps, and so on 1 May he was succeeded by Hatch as commander of the Dept. of the South. On the 2nd W.F. "Baldy" Smith was assigned to command the Eighteenth Corps.

Another army-group level command was created on 7 May, the Mil. Div. of West Mississippi, commanded by E.R.S. Canby, and consisting of the Depts. of Arkansas (Steele) and the Gulf (Banks). On the 21st Sigel, having met defeat in the Shenandoah, was replaced by Hunter as commander of the Dept. of W. Va. On the 25th Burnside waived his seniority and volunteered to subordinate himself to Meade, so the Ninth Corps again became, officially, part of the Army of the Potomac.

On the 26th Hatch was superceded ay Foster in command of the Dept. of the South. The Thirteenth Corps, in the Dept. of the Gulf, was discontinued on 11 June, its troops being transferred to the Nineteenth Corps. On 1 July Col. G. Wright, who had commanded the Dept. of the Pacific since he replaced Sumner in October of 1861, was superceded by Gen. McDowell.

With the failure of the Red River Campaign there was an excess of troops in the Dept. of the Gulf. The forces loaned to Banks by Sherman, known as the Right Wing of the Sixteenth Corps and the Provisional. or Red-River, Division of the Seventeenth, were sent back up the Mississippi. Also the First and Second Divisions of the Nineteenth Corps were sent by sea to join the forces around Petersburg, but were diverted, instead, to help block Early's threat to Washington. The Sixth Corps was also sent there from the Army of the Potomac. But the command arrangements for this hastily assembled force remained confused for several weeks.

On 22 July McPherson was killed in the Battle of Atlanta and was succeeded, temporarily, in command of the Army of the Tennessee by its senior corps commander, Logan. But on the 27th he was replaced with Howard. This led to the resignation of Hooker, who, as the senior corps commander of Sherman's whole force (though in Thomas' army, not McPherson's) and formerly Howard's superior, felt entitled to the spot. Hooker was replaced in the Twentieth Corps by Williams until Slocum could be brought from Vicksburg, and Howard in the Fourth Corps by Stanley.

The command situation around Washington and the Shenandoah Valley was finally straightened out on 6 August. 1864, by the creation of the Middle Military Division, under the command of Sheridan. This consisted of the Departments of Washington (Augur), West Virginia (Hunter), the Susquehanna (Couch), and the Middle Dept. (Wallace).

The field forces of this command were known as the Army of the Shenandoah and consisted of Crook's Army of West Virginia (also referred to as the W. Va. Corps, or as the Eighth Corps - to which all troops in the Dept. of W. Va. belonged, but so did those of the Middle Dept. whose commander commanded Eighth. A confusing arrangement, to put it mildly), plus the Sixth and Cavalry Corps sent from the Amy of the Potomac, and a Detachment, Nineteenth Corps (two divisions), from Louisiana, all reporting directly to Sheridan and not (except the W.Va. Corps) part of any of his departments. Hunter resigned on 30 August and was replaced by Crook as commander of the Dept. and Army of W. Va.

On 23 September Hurlbut replaced Banks as commander of the Dept. of the Gulf. still part of Canby's Mil. Div. of West Miss. The same day the Left Wing of the Sixteenth Corps (with Sherman) was disbanded. The Second Division was transfered to the Fifteenth Corps and the Fourth Division to the Seventeenth Corps. On 1 October Hooker replaced Heintzelman as head of the Northern Dept. (Mich., Ohio, Ind., Ill.) The Sixteenth Corps (Tenn.) overall was deactivated on 7 Nov., though the force A.J. Smith had led in the Red River Campaign (now on the way to Nashville after a stint at chasing Forrest in Mississippi and Price in Missouri) was still informally referred to as the Sixteenth Corps. Officially it was "Detachment, Army of the Tennessee".

The same day the "Detachment, Nineteenth Corps" in Sheridan's army was officially designated the Nineteenth Corps and that was discontinued for the troops in the Dept. of the Gulf. On the 9th Sherman, in preparation for his march through Georgia, reorganized his forces considerably. Howard's Army of the Tennessee formed his Left Wing, and two corps under Slocum made up his Right Wing, also called the Amy of Georgia. These were the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, which technically still belonged to Thomas' Dept. of the Cumberland. Kilrtrick's Cavalry Division also accompanied Sherman. Thomas was sent back to Nashville to keep Hood busy and with him went the Fourth Corps of his own army, Schofield with the Twenty-third Corps, a provisional division from Chattanooga under Steedman, and the rest of the cavalry. He was reinforced by A.J. Smith's "Sixteenth" Corps, a provisional division of new and miscellaneous units under Cruft, and one of Quartermaster troops under Donaldson. He also had two divisions around Murfreesboro. On the 17th Schofield was replaced as commander of the Dept. of the Ohio by Stoneman. as the former and his Twenty-third Corps came under Thomas' orders. The Dept. of Miss. was created on 28 Nov. under N.J.T. Dana to administer the areas formerly under the Dept. of the Tennessee -- whose commander, being with Sherman, was now out of communication with those areas.

That same day, the recreation of the First Corps was ordered, to consist of U.S. Veteran Volunteer regiments being recruited by Hancock. But only nine such regiments were ever assembled, and those too late to see action. On 1 December the Dept. of the Susquehanna was expanded and renamed the Dept. of Pennsylvania (still under the Middle Mil. Div.), under Cadwallader. Couch went west to command a division under Schofield.

The forces of Butler's Army of the James were reorganized on 3 December. All the "Colored" units from the Ninth (Potomac), Tenth and Eighteenth Corps were combined to form the Twenty-fifth Corps, under Weitzel. The white troops of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps went to form the Twenty- fourth Corps -- under Ord until the 6th, then Terry. The Tenth and Eighteenth Corps were discontinued. (Why the same numbers couldn't be used for the new formations is beyond me.)

In the Dept. of the Gulf a "Reserve Corps" was organized under J.J. Reynolds on the 5th, but it had only four brigades and no division headquarters. The Sixth Corps was transferred back from the Army of the Shenandoah (Middle Mil. Div.) to the Army of the Potomac on the 6th. On 9 Dec. Rosecrans was replaced in command of the Dept. of Missouri by Dodge. On the 22nd Steele was replaced in command of the Dept. of Ark. (Mil. Div. of West Miss.) by J.J. Reynolds.

The troops drawn from the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Corps for the assault on Fort Fisher at Wilmington were designated "Terry's Provisional Corps" on 6 January, 1865. On the 8th Ord took command of the Dept. of Va. & N.C. and the Army of the James, replacing Butler. On the 15th Schofield's Twenty-third Corps departed Tennessee for the East, originally intended to join the forces around Petersburg but soon diverted to N.C. On the 17th the Dept. of the Ohio was discontinued and merged into Thomas' Dept. of the Cumberland. Another new super headquarters was created on 30 Jan., the Mil. Div. of the Missouri, under Pope, containing the Departments; of Missouri and Kansas. The next day Ord's Dept. of Va. & N.C. was split into the Dept. of Va.. under Ord (containing the Army of the James) and the Dept. of N.C. under Schofield (containing his Twenty-third Corps and Terry's Provisional Corps).

On the 1st of Feb. Lew Wallace was succeeded in command of the Middle Dept. (of the Middle Mil. Div.) by Col. Morris. Gillmore returned to the command of the Dept. of the South on the 9th, replacing Foster. The next day a Dept. of Kentucky was created, under Palmer, but subject to the orders of Thomas. On the 13th Curtis replaced Pope in command of the Dept. of the Northwest.

On the 18th the "Reserve Corps" in the Dept. of the Gulf was designated the Thirteenth Corps, and the same day the "Detachment, Army of the Tennessee", under A.J. Smith, was officially designated the Sixteenth Corps, and transfered from the Dept. of the Cumberland to the Dept. of the Gulf, in preparation for the attack on Mobile. On the 22nd Crook, commander of the Dept. and Army of W.Va. (Middle Mil. Div.) was captured and succeeded first by Stevenson, and then on the 27th by Carroll.

On the 28th Sheridan turned over command of the Middle Mil. Div. to Torbert and headed south with his cavalry, now under Merritt. Hancock took command of both the Dept. of W.Va. and the Middle Mil. Div. on 7 March. The Nineteenth Corps was discontinued on 20 March, most of its troops havinq been sent, at various times, to North Carolina. On the 23rd Sherman effected a junction with Schofield at Goldsboro, N.C., and the latter's forces (called the Army of the Ohio) came under Sherman's directions. On the 26th Sheridan's cavalry crossed to the south of James River and rejoined Grant's forces before Petersburg.

On the 27th Terry's Provisional Corps was designated the Tenth Corps. In the last major organizational change before the complete end of hostilities but after Lee's surrender, Halleck was appointed to command a Military Division of the James, contain the Army of the Potomac and the Dept. of Virginia (Army of the James) on 19 April.

Many of these departments, corps, etc. remained in existence for several months after the surrender of all major Confederate forces, but that is beyond the scope of this study.

Organizational Tables March 1864-May 1865 (extremely slow: 502K)

More ACW Armies

American Civil War Part V: Confederate Departments and Armies: Manassas to Sharpsburg
American Civil War Part VII: Confederate Departments and Armies: Iuka to Meridian
American Civil War Part VIII: Union Departments, Armies, and Corps 1864-1865
American Civil War Part IX: Confederate Departments and Armies: Red River to Appomattox