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X Corps Civil War Facts
| Organized under General Orders No. 123, September 3, 1862, which designated the forces in the Department of the South as the X Army Corps, and assigned Maj. Gen. O. M. Mitchel to its command. These troops were stationed principally at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Beaufort, S.C., the order including also the troops at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, Key West, Florida, Fernandina, Fla., and St. Augustine, Fla.; in all, 14,602, present and absent, with 10,190 present for duty. There were 14 regiments of infantry, 1 | X Corps Flag  |
Mitchel died, October 30, 1862, and was succeeded by Gen. J. M. Brannan. In January, 1863, Gen. David Hunter relieved Brannan, and assumed command of the department; Hunter was relieved on June 3, 1863, and Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore was assigned to the command of the corps. The total, present for duty, in June, 1863, was 16,329, including artillery and cavalry. The troops at Hilton Head were commanded by Gen. Alfred H. Terry; those on Folly Island, by Gen. Israel Vogdes; those at Beaufort, by Gen. Rufus Saxton; at Seabrook Island, by Gen. T. J. Stevenson; at St. Helena Island, by Col. H. R. Guss.
These forces were all under Gillmore, and participated in the various operations about Charleston Harbor in the summer of 1863, the principal event being the bloody assault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863. This assault was made by a column of 3 brigades,--Gens. Strong's, Putnam's, and Stevenson's, the whole under command of Gen. Truman H. Seymour. Strong's brigade led the assault, with the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) at the head of his column. The attack was a failure, resulting in a loss of 246 killed, 880 wounded, and 389 missing; total, 1,515. The most of the missing were killed or wounded, but few of them ever returning. To this loss should be added 339 casualties, which occurred in an attack on Fort Wagner, July 11th, a week before, an attempt made by 3 regiments only. Two of the 3 brigade commanders, Strong and Putnam, were killed in the assault of the 18th, Putnam falling after he had effected an entrance into the fort. Stevenson's Brigade was held mainly in reserve.
In February, 1864, Seymour's Division, of about 7,000 men, sailed for Florida, where it was engaged on the 20th in the battle of Olustee, a defeat in which some of the regiments suffered terribly. In April, 1864, the X Corps was ordered to Virginia, where it was placed in Gen. Butler's Army of the James, which was composed of the X and XVIII Corps. The X assembled at Yorktown, Va., where it was organized into the 3 divisions of Terry, Turner, and Ames, numbering, as present for duty, 16,812 infantry, and 1,114 artillerymen, with 46 guns.
The Army of the James landed at Bermuda Hundred, May 6, 1864, and a month of active service and hard fighting immediately commenced, the X Corps losing in its operations around Drewry's Bluff, 374 killed, 2,475 wounded, and 807 missing; total, 3,656. Butler's operations resulting in nothing but failures, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered the greater part of his forces to the support of the Army of the Potomac. Accordingly, on the 29th of May, Gen. W. F. Smith, commanding the XVIII Corps, took the 1st (Brooks') and 2nd (Martin-dale's) Divisions of his own corps, and the 2nd (Devens') and 3rd (Ames') Divisions of the X Corps, and proceeded to Cold Harbor, where these divisions cooperated with the Army of the Potomac in the terrible fighting which commenced immediately upon their arrival. While at Cold Harbor, these 2 divisions of the X Corps were known as part of the XVIII Corps, forming the 3rd Division, under command of Gen. Devens. Upon the close of the fighting at Cold Harbor, the 2 divisions returned by water transports to Bermuda Hundred, but consolidated as the 2nd Division, X Corps.
On the 14th of August, the X Corps, under command of Gen. David B. Birney, crossed the James and became engaged with the enemy at Deep Bottom, Gen. Terry's division taking a prominent part in this action. The casualties in the corps were: 213 killed, 1,154 wounded, 311 missing; total, 1,678. On September 29th, Birney crossed again with his corps, and fought at Chaffin's Farm, his command consisting of Terry's and Ames' divisions, together with a brigade of colored troops, under Gen. William Birney.
In the unsuccessful attack on Fort Gilmer, and at Newmarket heights, these colored troops displayed great gallantry. Birney died at Philadelphia, October 18, 1864, and was succeeded by Terry, who was in command of the corps during the fighting on the Darbytown Road, and at the battle of Fair Oaks, October 27, 1864.
On December 3, 1864, the corps was discontinued, and its regiments were assigned to the newly formed XXIV Corps, which was composed of the white troops from the X and XVIII Corps. But immediately after this transfer, Ames' Division, together with Abbott's Brigade of this new corps, were detached and ordered on the Fort Fisher expedition. After the brilliant capture of Fort Fisher by these troops, they remained in North Carolina, and, in March, 1865, the X Corps was revived.
As reorganized, it consisted of Birge's (1st) Division, composed of 3 brigades taken from Grover's Division of the XIX Corps, then stationed at Savannah; of Ames' (2nd) Division, composed of the troops which fought at Fort Fisher; of Paine's (3d) Division, colored troops; and of Abbott's Separate Brigade, numbering in all 12,099 men. Terry, who was in command at the victory of Fort Fisher, was placed at the head of the corps. But the war was then near its close, and in August, 1865, the organization was discontinued.
Major Battles Fought In
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