XIX Corps (Union Army)

XIX Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of its service in Louisiana and the Gulf, though several units fought in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

XIX Corps
XIX Corps badge
Active1862–1865
TypeArmy Corps
SizeCorps
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Nathaniel P. Banks
Insignia
1st Division
2nd Division
3rd Division

XIX Corps was created on December 14, 1862, and assigned to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the commander of the Department of the Gulf. The corps comprised all Union troops then occupying Louisiana and east Texas. It originally consisted of four divisions, numbering 36,000 men.

Port Hudson

In April 1863, the corps was involved in the actions at Fort Bisland and Irish Bend. It operated the Siege of Port Hudson from April 27–July 9, 1863, the fall of which, along with that of Vicksburg, Mississippi, closed off the Mississippi River to Confederate shipping. XIX Corps also gained measure of distinction for being the first Federal unit to use a large number of colored troops in action, particularly against Port Hudson, with Banks giving them due credit for their valiant contributions to the siege.

MG Nathaniel P. Banks

Division Brigade Regiments and Others

1st Division
     MG Christopher C. Augur

 1st Brigade


   Col Edward P. Chapin (k)
   Col Charles J. Paine
2nd Brigade


   BG Godfrey Weitzel[1]
   Col Stephen Thomas[2]
3rd Brigade


   Col Nathan Dudley
Artillery
  • 1st Battery, Indiana Heavy Artillery: Col John A. Keith
  • 1st Battery, Maine Light Artillery: Lt John E. Morton
  • 6th Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery: Lt John F. Phelps
  • Section, 12th Massachusetts Light Artillery: Lt Edwin M. Chamberlin
  • 18th Battery, New York Light Artillery: Cpt Albert G. Mack
  • Battery A, 1st U.S. Light Artillery: Cpt Edmund C. Bainbridge
  • Battery G, 5th U.S. Artillery: Lt Jacob B. Rawles

2nd Division
     BG Thomas W. Sherman (w)
     BG George L. Andrews
     BG Frank S. Nickerson
     BG William Dwight

 1st Brigade


   BG Neal S. Dow (w&c)[3]
   Col David S. Cowles (k)
   Col Thomas S. Clark
2nd Brigade[4]


   Col Alpha B. Farr
   Col Lewis Benedict[5]
3rd Brigade


   BG Frank S. Nickerson
Artillery
  • 21st Battery, New York Light Artillery: Cpt James Barnes
  • 1st Battery, Vermont Light Artillery: Cpt George T. Hebard

3rd Division
     BG Halbert E. Paine (w)
     Col Hawkes Fearing

 1st Brigade


   Col Timothy Ingraham
   Col Samuel P. Ferris[6]
2nd Brigade


   Col Hawkes Fearing
3rd Brigade


   Col Oliver P. Gooding
Artillery
  • 4th Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery: Lt Frederick W. Reinhard
  • Battery F, 1st U.S. Light Artillery: Cpt Richard C. Duryea
  • 2nd Battery, Vermont Light Artillery: Cpt Pythagoras E. Holcomb

4th Division
     BG Cuvier Grover

 1st Brigade


   BG William Dwight
   Col Richard E. Holcomb (k)
   Col Joseph S. Morgan
2nd Brigade


   Col William K. Kimball
3rd Brigade


   Col Henry W. Birge
Artillery


   Cpt Henry W. Closson
  • 2nd Battery Massachusetts Light Artillery: Cpt Ormand F. Nims
  • Battery L, 1st U.S. Light Artillery: Cpt Henry W. Closson
  • Battery C, 2nd U.S. Light Artillery: Lt Theodore Bradley

United States Colored Troops

 Corps D'Afrique


   BG Daniel Ullman
  • 6th United States Colored Troops: Maj George Bishop
  • 7th United States Colored Troops: Maj Cornelius Mowers
  • 8th United States Colored Troops: Ltc William S. Mudgett
  • 9th United States Colored Troops: Ltc Isaac S. Bangs
  • 10th United States Colored Troops: Ltc Ladislas L. Zulavsky
  • 1st Louisiana Engineers: Col Justin Hodge
Native Guard

Cavalry

 Grierson's Brigade


   Col Benjamin H. Grierson

Red River Campaign

In spring of 1864, the corps took part in Banks' disastrous Red River Campaign, under the command of William B. Franklin, who was wounded at Mansfield. After its conspicuous role in the failure, two divisions under William H. Emory were sent to Virginia to join Phillip Sheridan's operations in the Shenandoah Valley against Jubal Early (see Valley Campaigns of 1864). These troops took part in all of the major engagements of Sheridan's campaign, most notably at Opequon, where they lost some 2,000 men killed or wounded (mostly in Cuvier Grover's division).

Georgia

After this, the corps was sent Savannah, Georgia, where it remained until the end of the war. The XIX Corps was officially disbanded on March 26, 1865, but the corps took part in the Grand Review in Washington, and some of its units remained in Savannah and Louisiana until 1866.

References
  1. Weitzel commanded the "Right Flank" of the Union forces during the siege.
  2. Eicher p.528
  3. Dow was wounded May 27 and was taken prisoner by Confederate cavalry in July while convalescing on a nearby plantation.
  4. 19th Corps Organization
  5. At the time Benedict assumed command the 2nd Brigade consisted of 175th New York, 28th Maine, 48th Massachusetts, 162nd New York; Benedict, Henry Marvin (1866). A memorial of Brevet Brigadier General Lewis Benedict, colonel of 162d regiment N.Y.V.I., who fell in battle at Pleasant Hill, La., April 9, 1864. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell. pp. 55. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  6. Union Land Forces at Port Hudson - June 30, 1863
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