Army of Mississippi

General Albert Sidney Johnston, CSA

The Army of Mississippi (also called the Confederate Army of the Mississippi) was a Confederate army during the American Civil War. It should not be confused with the Union Army of the Mississippi. It was formed on March 29, 1862.[1] The commander was Full General Albert Sidney Johnston with Full General P. G. T. Beauregard as second-in-command.[a][1] After Johnston's death at the Battle of Shiloh, Beauregard took over. After that there were a series of commanders. In November 1862, the Army of Mississippi was renamed the Army of Tennessee.[4] The second army called the Army of Mississippi was created in December 1862, under Lieutenant general John C. Pemberton.[4] This army had a confusing number of additional names. The II corps, under Major general Sterling Price was called the "Army of West Tennessee".[5] It was also called the Army of the West.[4] When both corps (I corps and II corps) were changed into divisions in January 1863, they dropped the name Army of Mississippi.[4] Leonidas Polk had commanded I corps. In May 1864, Polk's troops joined with Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee to form the third Army of Mississippi.[4] Polk was killed in June 1862 after which the army was simply called Alexander P. Stewart's corps.[4]

Notes

  1. Albert Sidney Johnston was created a full general at the outbreak of the Civil War (April, 1861).[2] Beauregard was promoted to full general after the First Battle of Bull Run with a date of rank of July 21, 1861 (day of the battle).[3] Although both were full generals, Johnston outranked Beauregard.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Army of Mississippi". The Blue and Gray Trail. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Albert Sidney Johnston". History. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  3. "Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard". CivilWarHome.com. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Terry L. Jones, Historical Dictionary of the Civil War (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011), p. 114
  5. John Eicher; David Eicher, Civil War High Commands (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), p. 888