Army of the Southwest

Army of the Southwest
Country	United States of America
Branch	United States Army
Engagements	American Civil War

The Army of the Southwest was a Union Army that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. This force was also known as the Army of Southwest Missouri.

Created on Christmas Day, 1861, the Army of the Southwest was the field unit of the Dist. of Southwest Missouri, composed of troops from the Department of Missouri. The principal commander of the army was Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis, but several other officers commanded the army for brief periods of time later in the war.

When Curtis assumed command of the Army there were three division commanded by Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel, Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth and Col. Jefferson C. Davis. Sigel felt he had been passed over for command of the army and threatened to resign. More than half the Army of the Southwest was composed of German immigrants and Sigel (a German) carried a great deal of influence with them. Wishing to appease Sigel when he organized the army, Curtis named Sigel second-in-command and placed him in overall command of the 1st and 2nd Divisions which were composed of mostly German immigrants. Colonel Peter J. Osterhaus (another German immigrant) assumed command of the 1st Division and Gen. Asboth (a Hungarian immigrant) retained command of the 2nd Division. This left Col. Davis' 3rd Division as the only division composed of native born units (mostly from Midwestern States). So Curtis created the 4th Division with Colonel Eugene A. Carr in command to bring an ethnic balance to the army.

Curtis led the army into its greatest engagement of the war at the Battle of Pea Ridge. After capturing Helena, Arkansas, later that year, the army ceased to be of great significance for the rest of the war.

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