III Corps (Union Army)
| III Corps | |
|---|---|
III Corps badge
|
|
| Active | 1862–1864 |
| Type | Army Corps |
| Size | Corps |
| Part of | Army of the Potomac |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Daniel E. Sickles |
| Insignia | |
| 1st Division |  |
| 2nd Division |  |
| 3rd Division |  |
There were four formations in the Union Army designated as III Corps (or Third Army Corps) during the American Civil War.
Three were short-lived:
The other, the III Corps, Army of the Potomac (March 13, 1862 – March 24, 1864), is the subject of this article.
The III Corps included in its organization the famous Kearny Division; also, Hooker's Division, the Excelsior Brigade, the Second Jersey Brigade, and other well known commands. Its brilliant record is closely interwoven with the history of the Virginia campaigns of 1862–1863, in which it fought during two eventful years.
The Corps was organized March 13, 1862, commanded by Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman, with Generals Joseph Hooker, Charles S. Hamilton, and Fitz John Porter as its three division commanders. It was immediately ordered to join the Peninsula Campaign, Hamilton's Division embarking on March 17, and leading the advance of the Army of the Potomac on that memorable campaign. During the siege of Yorktown the corps was at its maximum, the morning reports of April 30 showing an aggregate of 39,710, with 64 pieces of light artillery, and 34,633 reported as "present for duty". But this aggregate was maintained only briefly, as Porter's Division was taken away soon after to form part of the newly organized V Corps. Hamilton was relieved on April 30, and General Philip Kearny took his place, Hamilton assuming a division command in the Army of the Mississippi.
Upon the evacuation of Yorktown, the III Corps led the pursuit of the retreating enemy, attacking them at Williamsburg on May 5, with Hooker's and Kearny's Divisions. This battle was fought almost entirely by the III Corps; of the 2,239 casualties on that field, 2,002 occurred within its ranks; and three-fourths of them in Hooker's Division, the brunt of the battle having fallen on the Excelsior Brigade and Jersey Brigade, both in Hooker's command. Porter's Division was not engaged, having been left at Yorktown; on May 18 it was permanently detached, leaving only two divisions, Hooker's and Kearny's, in the corps, and reducing its aggregate strength to 23,331 present and absent, with 34 pieces of field artillery. The two divisions numbered about 17,000 effectives, out of the 18,205 reported as "present for duty".
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