Military forces of the Confederate States
Military forces of the Confederate States | |
---|---|
Founded | March 6, 1861 |
Disbanded | 1865 |
Service branches | Confederate States Army Confederate Home Guard Confederate States Navy Confederate States Marine Corps |
Headquarters | War Department, Richmond |
Leadership | |
Commander-in-Chief | Jefferson Davis |
Secretary of War | John C. Breckinridge (last) |
Personnel | |
Conscription | Yes (enacted 1862) |
Available for military service | 1,050,000, age 15–49 |
Related articles | |
Ranks | Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States |
The military forces of the Confederate States, also known as Confederate forces, were the military services responsible for the defense of the Confederacy during its existence (1861–1865).
Organization
The military forces of the Confederate States had three services:
- Confederate States Army – The Confederate States Army (CSA) the land-based military operations. The CS Army was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently.
- The Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS) was authorized by Act of Congress on February 23, 1861, and began organizing on April 27.
- The Army of Confederate States was the regular army, organized by Act of Congress on March 6, 1861.[1] It was authorized to include 15,015 men, including 744 officers, but this level was never achieved. The men serving in the highest rank as Confederate States generals, such as Samuel Cooper and Robert E. Lee, were enrolled in the ACSA to ensure that they outranked all militia officers.
- Confederate States State militias were organized and commanded by the state governments, similar to those authorized by the United States Militia Act of 1792.
- Confederate Home Guard – a somewhat loosely organized though nevertheless legitimate organization that was under the vague direction and authority of the Confederate States of America, working in coordination with the Confederate Army, and was tasked with both the defense of the Confederate home front during the American Civil War, as well as to help track down and capture Confederate Army deserters.
- Confederate States Navy – responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War. The two major tasks of the Confederate Navy during the whole of its existence were the protection of Southern harbors and coastlines from outside invasion, and making the war costly for the North by attacking merchant ships and breaking the Union Blockade.
- Congress of the Confederate States on March 16, 1861. The CSMC's manpower was initially authorized at 45 officers and 944 enlisted men, and was increased on September 24, 1862 to 1026 enlisted men. The organization of the Marines began at Montgomery, Alabama, and was completed at Richmond, Virginia, when the capital of the Confederate States of America was moved to that location. The CSMC headquarters and main training facilities remained in Richmond, Virginia, throughout the war, located at Camp Beall on Drewry's Bluff and at the Gosport Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia.[2]
Command and control
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2016) |
Control and operation of the Confederate States Army was administered by the
The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the
The soldiers of the Confederate armed forces consisted mainly of white males with an average age between sixteen and twenty-eight.[citation needed] The Confederacy adopted conscription in 1862. Many thousands of slaves served as laborers, cooks, and pioneers. Some freed blacks and men of color served in local state militia units of the Confederacy, primarily in Louisiana and South Carolina, but their officers deployed them for "local defense, not combat."[4] Depleted by casualties and desertions, the military suffered chronic manpower shortages. In the spring of 1865 the Confederate Congress, influenced by the public support by General Lee, approved the recruitment of black infantry units. Contrary to Lee's and Davis' recommendations, the Congress refused "to guarantee the freedom of black volunteers." No more than two hundred troops were ever raised.[5] However, President Davis believed that blacks would not fight unless they were provided freedom in exchange for their service. Therefore, he waited until Congress adjourned and then stipulated by executive order that any African-American accepted into service on the congressional act must be a volunteer and be accompanied by manumission papers.[6]
Military leaders
Military leaders of the Confederacy (with their state or country of birth and highest rank[7]) included:
- General and General-in-Chief(1865)
- Samuel Cooper (New York) – General
- Albert Sidney Johnston (Kentucky) – General
- Joseph E. Johnston (Virginia) – General
- Braxton Bragg (North Carolina) – General
- P.G.T. Beauregard(Louisiana) – General
- James Longstreet (Georgia) – Lieutenant General
- Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (Virginia) – Lieutenant General
- Leonidas Polk (North Carolina) – Lieutenant General
- Lieutenant General
- A.P. Hill(Virginia) – Lieutenant General
- John Bell Hood (Kentucky) – Lieutenant General and General (temporary)
- Richard Taylor (Kentucky) – Lieutenant General (Son of U.S. President Zachary Taylor)
- Simon Bolivar Buckner Sr(Kentucky) – Lieutenant General
- Wade Hampton III (South Carolina) – Lieutenant General
- Jubal Anderson Early(Virginia) – Lieutenant General
- Nathan Bedford Forrest (Tennessee) – Lieutenant General
- Alexander Peter Stewart(Tennessee) – Lieutenant General
- Sterling Price (Virginia) – Major General
- Major General
- George Edward Pickett(Virginia) – Major General
- Stephen Dodson Ramseur (North Carolina) – Major General
- Patrick Cleburne (Ireland) – Major General
- Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac (France) – Major General
- John Austin Wharton(Tennessee) – Major General
- Thomas L. Rosser (Virginia) – Major General
- Rear Admiral
- Raphael Semmes (Maryland) – Rear Admiral and Brigadier General
- Commodore
- Edward Porter Alexander (Georgia) – Brigadier General
- Stand Watie (Georgia) – Brigadier General (last to surrender)
- Brigadier General
- Moxley Sorrel (Georgia) – Brigadier General
- Colonel-Commandant of the Confederate States Marine Corps
African Americans in the Confederate military
A small number of
"Nearly 40% of the Confederacy's population were unfree ... the work required to sustain the same society during war naturally fell disproportionately on black shoulders as well. By drawing so many white men into the army, indeed, the war multiplied the importance of the black work force."[8] Even Georgia's governor Joseph E. Brown noted that "the country and the army are mainly dependent upon slave labor for support."[9] Slave labor was used in a wide variety of support roles, from infrastructure and mining, to teamster and medical roles such as hospital attendants and nurses.[10]
The idea of arming slaves for use as soldiers was speculated on from the onset of the war, but not seriously considered by Davis or others in his administration.
Supply
Much like the
Uniforms
See article:
The Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces were the uniforms used by the Confederate Army and Navy during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. The uniform varied greatly due to a variety of reasons, such as location, limitations on the supply of cloth and other materials, and the cost of materials during the war.
Confederate forces were often poorly supplied with uniforms, especially late in the conflict. Servicemen sometimes wore combinations of uniform pieces combined with captured Union uniforms and items of personal clothing. They sometimes went without shoes altogether, and broad felt or straw hats were worn as often as kepis or naval caps.
Statistics
Total Service members – 1,050,000 (Exact number is unknown. Posted figure is average of estimated range from 600,000 – 1,500,000)
Battle Deaths (Death figures are based on incomplete returns) – 74,524
Other Deaths (In Theater) – 59,297
Died in Union prisons – 26,000 to 31,000
Non-mortal Woundings – Unknown
At the end of the war 174,223 men surrendered to the Union Army.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Eicher, pg. 23
- ^ Sharf, pp.769–772
- ^ 1862blackCSN
- ^ Rubin pg. 104
- ^ Levine pg. 146–147
- ^ William C. Davis, Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour, p. 599
- ^ Eicher, Civil War High Commands
- ^ Levine, Confederate Emancipation. p. 62
- ^ Journal of the Senate at an Extra Session of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia,, Convened under the Proclamation of the Governor, March 25, 1863, p. 6
- ^ Levine, Confederate Emancipation p. 62-63
- ^ Levine, Confederate Emancipation p. 17-18
- ^ Official Records, Series I, Vol. LII, Part 2, pp. 586–92.
- ^ William C. Davis "Jefferson Davis: The Man and The Hour" p. 599
- ^ "Fact Sheet: America's Wars - Public and Intergovernmental Affairs". Archived from the original on July 30, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2006.
External links
- The McGavock Confederate Cemetery at Franklin, TN
- Confederate offices Index of Politicians by Office Held or Sought
- Civil War Research & Discussion Group -*Confederate States of Am. Army and Navy Uniforms, 1861
- The Countryman, 1862–1866, published weekly by Turnwold, Ga., edited by J.A. Turner
- The Federal and the Confederate Constitution Compared
- The Making of the Confederate Constitution, by A. L. Hull, 1905.
- Confederate Currency
- Photographs of the original Confederate Constitution and other Civil War documents owned by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia Libraries.
- Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 vols., 1912.
- DocSouth: Documenting the American South – numerous online text, image, and audio collections.
- Confederate States of America: A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress
- Confederate and State Uniform Regulations