GDG- (no subject)

[Nick KURTZ]

I think its more a matter of what rank commanded what.  Confederate brigades were usually commanded by a brigadier general while Union brigades seem to have colonels commanding them almost as often as brigadier generals.  At the division level the Confederates almost always have a major general while the Union has brigadier generals.  At the corps level the Confederates break out the lieutenant general rank while the Union has major generals.  Armies are commanded by lieutenant generals for Confederates and the Union uses major generals.  Basically its just that for each step up the command structure the Confederates tend to make sure a different rank of general commands it, this starts at the brigade level and filters up.  The Union doesn't always have a brigadier commanding a brigade so that too tends to filter up.  And also the Confederates had full generals (Beauregard, Cooper, Lee, the two Johnstons, Bragg, Hood).
--Nick





  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Smith, David<mailto:smith_david_g at bah.com> 
  To: gettysburg at arthes.com<mailto:gettysburg at arthes.com> 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 4:38 PM
  Subject: GDG- (no subject)


  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


  I haven't posted in a while, so here's a question that has been
  bothering me.
   
  What is up with Civil War officer ranks, North and South?  Lee creates
  Lieutenant Generals for his corps commanders.  Richard McMurry, in Two
  Great Armies, says its hard to find a bio of anyone less than a
  lieutenant general in the western armies (there are a few).
   
  Meanwhile, at Gettysburg, Lee and his lieutenant generals are defeated
  by George Gordon Meade, a lowly (in comparison) major general.  Meade
  had commanded a corps for some time before Gettysburg, but in Lee's
  army, it seems unusual to command a corps at that rank.
   
  Why the difference between Confederate and Union ranks?
   
  David
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