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View Full Version : In the Case of Terminology and Historocity.



A. P. Hill
05-04-2018, 12:14 AM
When the Southern states decided to secede from the Union, they immediately set up a government, albeit a reflection of the government they just separated from, because in fairness, they couldn't draw on anything that they didn't already know, and not to mention that a goodly number of officials had spent time in the former government and knew it well.

Therefore when the Confederate States of America established their government, one of the things they duplicated was that all military was to be run and managed and controlled by said government.

There exists still to this day, a multi volume journal of the actions and acts of the Confederate Congress, (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcc.html) a very informative read, if you have the time or the notion to read or research.

For example there was a committee established by the Confederate Congress to administer Military affairs. (Now granted we don't have governments established in this game,) but that doesn't make what was done by those governments of the time any less relevant to what's being created with this work.

This committee by the Confederate Congress' permission wrote an "Act to provide for the public defense," it was presented to congress and passed into law on the 6th of March 1861. The very first section of that Act states:


Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the sixth section of the act entitled "An act to provide for the public defense," approved sixth March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be amended so as to read as follows: "That the President is hereby authorized to organize all companies heretofore received and not already organized or hereafter to be received into the service into battalions or squadrons battalions or squadrons into regiments, regiments into brigades, brigades into divisions, and divisions into corps d'armée, and to all brigades, divisions, or corps d'armée which have been or may be organized the President may, by and with the advice and consent or the Senate, appoint commanding officers,"

With this section it was then lawfully determined that the largest legally accepted organization militarily would be the Division.

As time went on and more and more divisions were authorized by the Confederate Congress, and these divisions were thrown together into groups as "Armies". And as the South found out through trial and error, having an army of equally footed Major Generals managing a loose conglomeration of divisions was not a very tactically advantageous arrangement. They could see by the Federal armies use of Corps that it made handling large masses of men more manageable. But try as he might, General Lee could not get Congress to agree to the establishment of these organizations. Little by little he whittled and chipped at the resistance, President Davis being a former military man could see the benefits but by himself he was powerless to press the issue.

However, finally on Friday, October 3rd, 1862, congress was ultimately convinced that it was time to "modernize" the armies of the confederacy.

A gentleman on the Committee on Military Affairs named Mr. Harris put forth the following:


Mr. Harris, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred a bill of the Senate to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the public defense," approved 6th March, 1861, reported the same back with an amendment. The rules having been suspended, the same was taken up, and having been read as follows, :

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the sixth section of the act entitled "An act to provide for the public defense," approved sixth March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be amended so as to read as follows: "That the President is hereby authorized to organize all companies heretofore received and not already organized or hereafter to be received into the service into battalions or squadrons battalions or squadrons into regiments, regiments into brigades, brigades into divisions, and divisions into corps d'armée, and to all brigades, divisions, or corps d'armée which have been or may be organized the President may, by and with the advice and consent or the Senate, appoint commanding officers,"

Mr. Harris then moved to amend the above by striking out the same and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the sixth section of an act to provide for the public defense, approved March sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be so amended as to authorize the President to organize divisions of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States into army corps, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint officers to the command thereof.

So as of October 3rd 1862 the Confederate Congress of America elected to enact the use of Corps as a means of managing the loose divisions otherwise.

Shortly thereafter ... Also on Friday, but this time October 10th, 1862 ... the following was received from the President of the Confederate States:


Richmond, October 10, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States:
Agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of War, I nominate the officers on the accompanying list to the rank affixed to their names respectively.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Confederate States of America, War Department,
Richmond, October 10, 1862.
Sir: I have the honor to recommend the following nominations for appointment in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States of America:
Lieutenant-generals.
• Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, to be lieutenant-general to date October 9, 1862, Alabama.
• Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, to be lieutenant-general to date October 9, 1862, Florida.
• Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, to be lieutenant-general to date October 10, 1862, Louisiana.
• Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes, to be lieutenant-general to date October 10, 1862, North Carolina.
• Maj. Gen. W. J. Hardee, to be lieutenant-general to date October 10, 1862, Georgia.
• Maj. Gen. T. J. Jackson, to be lieutenant-general to date October 10, 1862, Virginia.
• Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton, to be lieutenant-general to date October 10, 1862.
Major-generals.
• Brig. Gen. Henry Heth, to be major-general to date October 10, 1862, Virginia.
• Brig. Gen. George E. Pickett, to be major-general to date October 10, 1862, Virginia.
• Brig. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson, to be major-general to date October 10, 1862.
• Brig. Gen. John B. Hood, to be major-general to date October 10, 1862, Texas.
I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. W. RANDOLPH,
Secretary of War.

And here we have the official date that the rank of Lieutenant General was officially recognized by the Confederate Congress.

And the rest as they say ..... is history! :D (no pun intended.)

Again, I make the statement to all .... there is no dishonor in the re-designation of organizations to reflect true history.

I hope for the best from this.

Lt.Admiral
04-25-2019, 12:13 AM
Love the history with this!

[1stVA.C]Maj. Jones
05-03-2019, 05:24 AM
Interesting!