Army of the James

The Army of the James (James Army) was a major unit of the United States Army in the Civil War , named after the River James in southern Virginia .

As Ulysses Simpson Grant in the spring of 1864 the overland campaign against the Northern Virginia Army was planning he wanted if possible to bind many Confederate troops elsewhere, the more gains for the Northern Virginia Army from other parts of the Confederate States of America to prevent. For this purpose, he ordered the X. Corps from South Carolina to South Virginia and united it with the XVIII stationed there. Corps to the James Army under Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler .

The James Army was supposed to threaten the Confederate capital Richmond and the strategically important Petersburg during the overland campaign , but was badly beaten by General Beauregard's Confederate forces in the Battle of Proctors Creek and practically banished to inactivity for a long time.

Parts of the James Army were then moved north, where they took part in the Battle of Cold Harbor . During the siege of Petersburg , the James Army formed mostly the northern wing of the Northern State armies and operated mainly in the area around Richmond.

In December 1864 the James Army was reorganized; the white troops of the X. and XVIII. Corps formed the newly established XXIV. Corps, the colored troops the XXV., Other parts of the army were sent to North Carolina , where they took part in the first attack on Fort Fisher under General Butler .

After this attack failed, Butler was replaced by General Grant as Commander in Chief of the James Army and replaced by General EOC Ord .

Under Ord, the James Army took part in the final battles for Richmond and Petersburg and in the Appomattox campaign . The XXV. Corps had the honor of providing the first troops to march into the conquered Confederate capital of Richmond.

literature

• Edward G. Longacre: Army of Amateurs: General Benjamin F. Butler and the Army of the James, 1863-1865 . Mechanicsburg, PA 1997.