OO Howard's plan to dissolve the XI Corps

[JeffFromSyracuse]

I'm currently reading through Volume 27, Part 3 - Correspondence of the OR. That's correspondence for June 3 - August 3, 1863 in Virginia. My research focus at the moment is post-Gettysburg, and while reading through, I found a really interesting nugget that I had not heard before.

On July 29, OO Howard (with George Meade's endorsement) forwarded to Henry Halleck a plan to dissolve the XI Corps. His reasons appear to be both practical (the Corps was severely undermanned, even with the addition of troops brought in under the command of George Gordon, who took command of the 1st Division) and self-serving.

Howard explained that he thought it practical to break up the XI Corps and sending one division (von Steinwehr's) to the II Corps and one (Gordon's) to the XII. This would help these two corps make up for some of their losses at Gettysburg. Under the proposal, the Corps' final division, Schurz's, would be sent to the Shenandoah Valley and would absorb the remnants of Milroy's Winchester garrison. All division commanders were on board - they were in agreement that a fresh start would be best for their troops.

But this was also self-serving for many involved. Howard planned to move with von Steinwehr to the II Corps and by virtue of rank, take command of the Corps that he had served in as a Brigade and Division commander. Gordon's Division moving to the XII Corps would allow Gordon to lead a Division in the Corps that HE had served in in 1862 and 1863. And Schurz, who was one of two Army of the Potomac Major Generals still commanding a division after Gettysburg, saw the writing on the wall that he would never advance in this army and sought his own command.

The plan made its way up to Henry Halleck, and the politically-connected Schurz went to Washington to grease the wheels.

The response to this request is not in the part I've been reviewing, but we know the proposal was not accepted. The 1st Division was soon after sent to South Carolina, while the 2nd and 3rd Divisions were shipped to Tennessee in October.

Hope you find this little tidbit as interesting as I do.

Sources: OR 27, Part 3, Pages 778 - 780, 784-786, 792-793, 802-803

 

[Irishtom29]

Things worked out pretty well for Howard and the 11th Corps as events happened anyway--the corps did well at Chattanooga and then as part of the new 20th Corps it's soldiers became Uncle Billy's boys. And Howard got command of a first rate western corps, the 4th, and eventually command of the Army of the Tennessee. Yeah, Howard did OK.

 

[rpkennedy]

It did make sense. Meade wanted to lose the Eleventh Corps which needed reorganization (although, for political reasons, that would have been difficult) and the Second Corps needed a commander. Until Warren was appointed to command the corps in September, the Second was led by Brigadier General William Hays who had been captured at Chancellorsville while leading a brigade in the Third Division. While a capable artillery officer (he had ably led various artillery organizations in 1862, including the Fifth Corps Artillery Reserve at Antietam), no one thought that he should have been leading a corps.

Ryan

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

It did make sense. Meade wanted to lose the Eleventh Corps which needed reorganization (although, for political reasons, that would have been difficult) and the Second Corps needed a commander. Until Warren was appointed to command the corps in September, the Second was led by Brigadier General William Hays who had been captured at Chancellorsville while leading a brigade in the Third Division. While a capable artillery officer (he had ably led various artillery organizations in 1862, including the Fifth Corps Artillery Reserve at Antietam), no one thought that he should have been leading a corps.

Ryan

Schurz was so furious at not having a Corps command that he tried to lobby Halleck directly in the weeks before this proposal came out.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Breaking up the XI Corps in that manner at that time makes complete sense.

 

[Saint Jude]

Joshism is correct. BTW, Howard once wrote that no soldier can be successful by waging open war on his commander. Schurz never understood that, and when he took on Hooker in Tennessee, he won his battle but the lost the war. After that, he never again held an important command.

 

[Stryker65]

I simulated it myself, and I think that a better proposal would be to consolidate XI Corps with XII and III Corps, since III Corps lost its corps commander permanently, and was the other corps (with XII) that only had two divisions. Considering that XI Corps had but six brigades total, it would be simpler to break up XI into two divisions of three brigades each, under Steinwehr and Schurz, and send one each to III and XII Corps. Howard could then take the old III Corps spot, since there was no higher ranking officer in the corps than him. Milroy's old division would eventually get assigned to VI Corps anyway, so it's not like it would cause problems overall.

@General JJ do you know why Milroy's old division was assigned to VI Corps? even though it already had three divisions?

 

[Luke Freet]

I simulated it myself, and I think that a better proposal would be to consolidate XI Corps with XII and III Corps, since III Corps lost its corps commander permanently, and was the other corps (with XII) that only had two divisions. Considering that XI Corps had but six brigades total, it would be simpler to break up XI into two divisions of three brigades each, under Steinwehr and Schurz, and send one each to III and XII Corps. Howard could then take the old III Corps spot, since there was no higher ranking officer in the corps than him. Milroy's old division would eventually get assigned to VI Corps anyway, so it's not like it would cause problems overall.

@General JJ do you know why Milroy's old division was assigned to VI Corps? even though it already had three divisions?

Milroy's old division was initially assigned to III Corps almost immediately after Gettysburg, and they served with them through the Fall campaigns, notably taking part in the fight at Payne's Farm. When the army was reorganized, VI Corps was reduced to two divisions, and with the 1st & 2nd DIvisions of III Corps going to II Corps, Milroy's old Division (now under Ricketts) was transferred to VI Corps to bolster them.