After the declaration of war, General Order 36 of May 7, 1898 defined the organization of eight "army corps," each of which was to consist of three or more divisions of three brigades each.

The brigade staff was identical except that no inspector general or ordnance officer was authorized.

General Order 46 of May 16, 1898 assigned commanding officers and training camps to the army corps; Major General Fitzhugh Lee was named as commander of Seventh Army Corps, which was to assemble at Tampa, Florida.

[2] On May 29, the War Department authorized General Lee to move his headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, where he established Camp Cuba Libre.

[3] The corps was ordered to move to Savannah, Georgia on October 8 and it embarked for Cuba during December 1898 and January 1899 for occupation duty in Havana Province.