General officers in the Confederate States Army

[7] As officers were appointed to the various grades of general by Jefferson Davis (and were confirmed), he would create the promotion lists himself.

The dates of rank, as well as seniority of officers appointed to the same grade on the same day, were determined by Davis, "usually following the guidelines established for the prewar U.S.

By the war's end, the Confederacy had at least 383 different men who held this rank in the PACS and three in the ACSA: Samuel Cooper, Robert E. Lee, and Joseph E.

These generals outranked Confederate States Army colonels, who commonly led infantry regiments.

[10] The Confederate States Congress authorized divisions on March 6, 1861, and major generals would command them.

The promotion was too late to be confirmed by the Confederate Congress however.There were 18 lieutenant generals in the Confederate States Army, and these general officers were often corps commanders within armies or military department heads in charge of geographic sections and all soldiers in those boundaries.

[10] The Confederate Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18, 1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them.

Gen. Grant was the only U.S. Army lieutenant general in active service at the time of his promotion on March 9, 1864.

Richard H. Anderson was appointed a "temporary" lieutenant general on May 31, 1864, and given command of the First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Gen. Lee (following the wounding of Lee's second-in-command, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet on May 6 in the Battle of the Wilderness.)

Jubal Early was appointed a "temporary" lieutenant general on May 31, 1864, and given command of the Second Corps (following the reassignment of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell to other duties) and led the Corps as an army into the third Confederate attack on the United States in July 1864 during the Battle of Monocacy near Frederick, Maryland and the Battle of Fort Stevens outside the U.S. capital city, Washington, D.C., until December 1864, when he too reverted to a major general.

[13] Originally five officers in the Confederate States Army were appointed to the rank of general, and only two more would follow.

Beauregard, had also initially been appointed a PACS general, was elevated to ACSA two months later with the same date of rank.

Johnston considered himself the senior officer in the Confederate States Army and resented the ranks that President Davis had authorized.

[17] On February 17, 1864, the Confederate Congress passed legislation to allow President Davis to appoint an officer to command the Trans-Mississippi Department in the Far West, with the rank of general in the PACS.

[18] Braxton Bragg was appointed a general in the ACSA with a date of rank of April 6, 1862, the day his commanding officer Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston died in combat at Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing.

[19] The Confederate Congress passed legislation in May 1864 to allow for "temporary" general officers in the PACS, to be appointed by Davis and confirmed by the C.S.

[12] John Bell Hood was appointed a "temporary" general on July 18, 1864, the date he took command of the Army of Tennessee in the Atlanta Campaign, but the Congress did not later confirm this appointment, and he reverted to his rank of lieutenant general in January 1865.

[21]During 1863, Beauregard, Cooper, J. Johnston, and Lee all had their ranks re-nominated on February 20 and then re-confirmed on April 23 by the Confederate Congress.

They went by various names such as state "militia", "armies", or "guard" and were activated and expanded when the Civil War began.

[27] Jackson's death was the result of pneumonia which emerged subsequently after a friendly fire incident had occurred at the Battle of Chancellorsville on the night of May 2, 1863.

Replacing these fallen generals was an ongoing problem during the war, often having men promoted beyond their abilities (a common criticism of officers such as John Bell Hood[28] and George Pickett,[29] but an issue for both armies), or gravely wounded in combat but needed, such as Richard S.

[32] The Confederate States Army's system of using four grades of general officers is currently the same rank structure used by the U.S. Army (in use since shortly after the Civil War) and is also the system used by the U.S. Marine Corps (in use since World War II).