'- tJ30 .1 3d ■ B46 Copy 1 \_ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TFE THIRD ARMY CORPS A SOUVENIR FROM THE \^ . SURVIVORS AT WASHINGTON TO THEIR VISITING COMRADES AT THE THIRTY- SIXTH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE^REPUBLIC ^ (Ll^Ax^ h ■ PUBLISHED AT CORPS HEADQUARTERS. Camp Roosevelt, Washington, D. C. October 6, 1902. J Author* '3 W'O? Ibl^torical Sketch of tbe Zhivt> Hrm^ Corps. The Third Army Corps was formed March 8, 1862, by President Lincoln, as Commander-in- Chief, from the divisions of Heintzelman, Porter and Hooker, and the first-named, as senior officer of the corps, assigned to its command. He was succeeded as division commander by General Hamilton, who shortly gave place to General Kearny, and eventually became a distinguished officer in the western armies. Porter s division never actually served with the corps, and after the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, was formally detached from it by General McClellan, to become part of a pro- visional corps under Porter himself. The corps, therefore, consisted of the divisions of Hooker and Kearny till the close of the Second Bull Eun campaign, when Kearny being killed and Hooker transferred to the command of another corps. General Birney succeeded Kearny and Hooker was succeeded by General Sickles. Prior to the Fredericksburg campaign, in the early winter of 1862, a small division under General Whipple was added to the corps, and Heintzel- man was replaced by General Stoneman as corps commander. After that campaign, Stoneman was transferred to the command of the newly- formed cavalry corps, and succeeded by General Sickles, whose division was then placed under General Berry. In the ChancellorHville campaign, May, 1863, Berry was killed and Whipple mortally wounded, and his division, except two regiments, sent else- where, was distributed between the First Division, under Birney, and the Second Division, under General Humphreys, the successor of BeiTy. In the Gettysburg campaign. Sickles was dis- abled for further field service by a severe wound, and was succeeded by General French, who had brought to the corps a new Third Division, which passed to the command of General Carr. Hum- phreys was detached to higher duty, and General Mott succeeded him in command of the Second Division. Under French, the corps made the two short campaigns of the Rappahannock and of Mine Run, in the late autumn of 1863, and on March 23, 1864, was discontinued by order of President Lincoln, after an existence of two years. The Third Division was separated from the two original divisions, which then became the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Second Army Corps ; but they retained their own corps badge and ensigns. They were consolidated into one di- vision under Birney soon after the opening of the Wilderness campaign in May, 1864, and so they remained till the disbandment of the Army of the Potomac near the end of June, 1865. Mott becoming and remaining the commander of the single division upon the transfer of Birney to a higher command in the summer of 1864. Williamsburg was the first battle of the corps, and the date of that battle. May 5tli, has been accepted by the sur^^vors of the coi^os as its own anniversary. The composition of the corps, per- sonally commanded by Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, in that battle, was as follows : First Division. — Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter; absent from the corps on detached service. Second Division. — Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker. First Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover : 1st Mass., Col. Robert Cowdin; 11th Mass., Col. WilHam Blaisdell : 2d N. H., Col. Gilman Mars- ton : 26th Pa., Col. Wilham F. Small. Second Brigade. — Col. Nelson Taylor : 70th N. Y., Col. Wilham Dwight, Jr.; 72d N. Y., Lieut. Col. Israel Moses ; 73d N. Y., Col. Wilham R. Brewster; 74th N. Y., Lieut. Col. Charles H. Burtis. Third Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Francis E. Pat- terson : 5th N. J.. Col. Samuel H. Starr ; 6th N. J., Lieut. Col. John P. Van Leer (killed) ; 7th N. J., Lieut. Col. Ezra A Carman ; 8th N. J., Col. Adolphus J. Johnson. Second Division Artillery. — Maj. Charles S. Wainwright: D, 1st N. Y., Capt. Thomas W. Osborn ; 4th N. Y., Capt. James E. Smith ; 6th N. Y., Capt. Walter M. Bramhall; H, 1st U. S., Capt. Charles H. Webber. Division Los^. — Killed, 337 ; wounded, 908 ; missing, 330 ; total, 1,575. Thied Division. — Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny. First Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Charles D. Jame- son: 87th N. Y., Col. Stephen A. Dodge; 57th Pa., Col. Charles T. Campbell: 63d Pa., Col. Alexander Hays ; 105th Pa., Col. Amor A. McKnight. Second Brigade. — Brig. Gen. David B. Birney : 3d Me., Col. Henry G. Staples; 4th Me., Col. Elijah Walker ; 38th N. Y., Col. J. H. Hobart AVard ; 40th N. Y., Col. Edward J. Riley. Third Brigade. — Brig. Gen. Hiram G. Berry: 2d Mich., Col. Orlando M. Poe : 3d Mich., Col. Stephen G. Champlin ; 5th Mich., Col. Henry D. TeiTy ; 37th N. Y., Col. Samuel B. Hayman. Third Division Artillery. — Captain James Thompson : B, 1st N. J., Capt. John E. Beam : E, 1st K. I., Capt. George E. Randolph ; G, 2d U. S., Capt. James Thompson. Division Loss. — Killed, 87 ; wounded. 315 ; missing, 17 ; total, 419. The total loss of the two divisions of the corps was 1,994. out of a total loss of 2,234 in the five Union divisions engaged, and the severity of the battle fell chiefly upon the Second Division. After its baptism of fire at AVilliamsburg, the coiiDs. consisting still of the divisions of Hooker and Kearny, went thi'ough the other battles of the Peninsula campaign, including Fair Oaks, Oak Grove and Malvern Hill, and the closing engagements of the Sscond Bull Run campaign, including Groveton and Chantilly. It was then placed in the defenses of Washing- ton, in recognition of its war-worn condition, and was absent from the Antietam campaign. In preparation for the campaign by waj^ of the Rappahannock intended by General Burnside, the corps again took the field, and in the battle of Fredericksburg, December. 1862, its two old divisions were detached from the center, to sup- port the operations of the left wing, under Gen- eral Franklin. The corps was commanded by Stoneman, the divisions by Birney, Sickles and AVhipple, the brigades of the First Division hy Brigadier Generals John C. Robinson, J. H. Hobart Ward and Hiram G. Berry ; those of the Second Division by Brigadier Generals Joseph B Carr and Joseph W. Revere, and Col. George B. Hall ; and those of the Third Division by Brig. Gen. A. Sanders Piatt, and Col. Samuel S. Carroll. The coiids loss was 145 killed, 832 wounded, and 364 missing ; total 1,341 out of a strength of some 13,000, of which 1,113 was in the First Division. The total Union loss was 12,653 out of 113,000 on the field, so that the loss of the coi-ps was about equal to the average for the whole army. In the Chancellorsville campaign, May, 1863, the corps was at first a part of the left wing, under ISedgwick, below Fredericksburg, but was soon transferred to the right at Chancellorsville. In this campaign the corps was commanded by Sickles, the divisions by Birney, Berry and AVhipple : the biigades of the First Division by Brigadier Generals Charles K. Graham and J H. Hobart Ward, and Col. Samuel B. Hayman ; those of the Second Division by Brigadier Gen- erals Joseph B. Carr, Joseph W. Eevere and Gershom Mott : and those of the Third Division by Colonels Emlen Frankhn, Samuel M. Bow- man and Hiram Berdan. Seven regimental commanders were killed or mortally wounded; namely, Colonels Stevens, 72d N. Y.: McKnight, 105th Pa.; Crowther, llOth Pa., and Lancaster, 115th Pa.; and Lieut. Cols. Sherlock, 5th Mich.; Chapin, 86th N. T., and Kirkwood, 63d Pa. The losses of the corps were 377 killed, 2,642 wounded and 1,535 missing ; total, 4,554, out of a total loss of 17,287 in the Union Army ; almost double the average loss, in proportion to the strength of the corps. In the Gettysburg campaign, the corps was commanded by General Sickles, and its organiza- tion was as follows : First Division.— Maj. Gen. David B. Birney. First Brigade.— Brig. Gen. Charles K. Gra- ham : 57th, 63d, 68th, 105th, 114th, and 141st Pa. Second Brigade.— Brig. Gen. J. H. Hobart Ward : 20th Ind., 3d and 4th Me., 86th and 124th N. Y., 99th Pa., 1st and 2d U. S. Sharpshooters. Third Briqade.—Go\. P. Regis De Trobriand : 17th Me., 3d and 5th Mich., 40th N. Y. and 110th Pa. Second Division.— Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Hum- phreys. First Bri (fade.— Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Carr : 1st, 11th and 16th Mass., 12th N. H., 11th N. J., 26th and 84th Pa. Second Briqade.—Qol. William K. Brewster : 70th, 71st, 72d, 73d. 74th and 120th N. Y. Third Brigade.— Col. George C. Burhng : 2d N. H., 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th N. J., and 115th Pa. Corps Artillery.— Capt. George E. Randolph : 2d N. J.: D, 1st N. Y.; 4th N. Y.: E, 1st R. L: K, 4th r. s. Colonels Wheeler. 20th Ind., and EUis, 124th N. Y., were killed on the field, and Colonel Fran- cine, 7th N. J., was mortally wounded, among the regimental commanders. The coiTos loss was 585 killed, 3,029 wounded, and 597 missing ; total ,4,211, out of a total Union loss of 23,003 ; its loss being above the average in comparison with its strength, but not nearly so disproportionate as in the Chancellors ville cam- paign. The loss of a leg at Gettysburg separated Gen- eral Sickles from the corps. Under his succes- sor, Gen. William H. French, the corps was engaged at Liberty Mills, Oct. 15th: Kelly s Ford. Nov. 7th, and Jones' Cross Roads, Nov. 27th, all in 1863, during the so-called Rappahan- nock and Mine Run campaigns. Its future oper- ations were all performed as a part of the Second Army Corps, and embraced the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Ream's Sta- tion and Boydton Plank Road, in 1864 ; the final and successful attack on Petersburg, April 2, 1865 ; the fatal rout of the Confederate army at 9 Sailor's Creek, four days later, and the closing affair near Farmville, the next succeeding day, followed the day after by the surrender of Gen- eral Lee. What then remained of the one-time Third Army Corps was thus constituted : Third Division, Second Army Corps.— Brig. Gen. Gershom Mott. First Brif/ade.—Biig. Gen. P. Regis De Tro- briand : 20th Ind., 1st Me. Heavy Art'y (joined 1864), 40th, 73d, 86th and 124th N. Y.: 99th and 110th Pa. Second Brigade.— Bvig. Gen. Byron R. Pierce: 17th Me., 1st Mass. Heavy Art'y (joined 1864), 5th Mich., 93d N. Y. (joined 1864), 57th, 105th and 141st Pa. Third Brigade.— Col. Robert McAlHster: 11th Mass., 7th, 8th and 11th N. J., and 120th N. Y. After the grand review at Washington in June, 1865, the division was disbanded, and its regi- ments sent home for discharge. Of the 25 regiments in the two divisions origi- nally constituting the corps, 20 were still with it at the time of its discontinuance, and some of the remaining five were with it by consolidation with the 20 already mentioned. Two of the four corps commanders, six of the seven commanders of the £wo divisions, and 11 of the 13 brigade commanders in those divisions, were original Third Corps men. Thus, during the two years of its separate existence, the corps was pre- dominantly composed of officers, men and regi- ments who knew one another, and among whom and which a strong spirit of comradeship and a particular feeling of identity with the corps ex- isted. This sentiment of long and close identifi- cation with the corps found expression, in the autamn of 1863, in the organization of the still- existing Third Army Corps Union, confined at 10 that time, by the necessities of mihtary custom and discipline, to commissioned officers, but open to all ranks when all had returned to their civic equality. Upon the whole, the corps was fortunate in its battles. Williamsburg, the first of them, bore hardly upon the Second Division under Hooker, but the Union Army in the end possessed the field. At Fair Oaks, on the second day, the corps did its part handsomely in retrieving the disasters of the first day. At Oak Grove, June 25, 1862, and subsequently at Malvern Hill, the results put heart into the men of the corps, and so again when Hooker returned to Malvern Hill on the second of August and dislodged the enemy that had taken post at that strong position. To Hooker's early-won reputation as an intrepid leader, and the high state of efficiency into which he had brought his distantly-stationed division during the winter of 1861, are io be attributed much of the onerous work imposed upon that division while he commanded it. At Groveton, and even at Chantilly, in Pope's campaign, the Third Corps was spared the scenes and feelings of disastrous defeat that finally over- took the campaign. The battle of Fredericks- burg was the first black day for the corps, so far as its own operations were concerned. Its two old divisions and its little Third Division were separated from one another, and their scattered endeavors conformed to those of other com- mands, to which the principal eftbrts of the battle had been assigned ; so that the corps shared in the general failure, and finally stole back to its camps, across the bridges by night, in a state of depression previously unknown to it. This ex- perience was repeated in the final outcome at Chancellors^dlle, yet the fighting of the corps 11 itself was made in high spirit, and with an enemy supposed at the time to be in retreat. After the close of the battle of the second day at Gettys- burg, Birney, who had succeeded the disabled Sickles in command of the corps, told the council of war at Meade's headquarters that the Third Corps was used up and not in condition for fur- ther operations ; but in the end he voted to stay and fight it out, and estimated that the corps could put 9,000 effective men in line for the next day. His vote was sounder than his opinion, for Meade had so promptly and courageously stripped his lines to sustain the corps in the posi- tion wherein Longstreet had attacked it, and the Army of the Potomac had so fought altogether, in a fashion new to it, that the men of the Third Corps who remained lay down on the field, quite aware of the severity of the contest whereof they had been the center, but unsuspicious of the fears that were shaking the breasts of the great ones set over them. It is an interesting circumstance that Birney's estimate of the number he could still put in line was equal to that of any coi*ps except the Second, a strong coi^os, strongly posted on Cemetery Ridge, and superior to that of four other of the seven infantry corps belonging to the army. Gettysburg was the last great battle of the coi-ps, and all of importance that followed it is part of the history of the Second Army Corps, already so well told by the late Francis A. Walker, its accomplished chief of staff. The life and memory of the Third Army Corps are notably free from controversies such as have attached themselves to the history of some other parts of the Union Army, as well as to parts of the Confederate army. No internal dissension occurred to mar its fraternity then or thereafter, 002 235 202 7 12 nor did any subject of contention anse between it and other organizations or their commanders. The controversy between Generals Meade and Sickles, over the ad^'ancement by the latter of the hnes of the corps from its assigned position on the field of Gettysburg, was one personal to them- selves : death and time have cancelled its bitter- ness, and in the end the incident will assume its true proportions among the really great events of the great battle, yielding nothing to disturb the fame of either of the illustrious disputants. Its final repose will leave the history of the dear old corps as serene as it is glorious, and the diamond badge will remain as a fitting emblem of men of the diamond standard. UBRARV OF CONGRESS ■■illllllf ,t!!!f**'«'^^«^GRESS °'^03S3BS03