Military of the Confederate States of America

The Military of the Confederate States of America existed between 1861 and 1865, and was tasked throughout its existence with fighting the American Civil War. It comprised three branches: the Confederate States Army, the Confederate States Navy and the Confederate States Marine Corps. It was disbanded with the collapse of the Confederacy.

Members of all the Confederate States military forces, to include the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps were often referred to as "Confederates", and members of the CS Army were referred to as "Confederate soldiers".

The military of the Confederate States of America had three branches:

Control and operation of the Confederate States Army was administered by the Confederate States War Department, which was established by the Confederate Provisional Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. The Confederate Congress gave control over military operations, and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the President of the Confederate States of America on February 28, 1861 and March 6, 1861. By May 8, a provision authorizing enlistments for war was enacted, calling for 400,000 volunteers to serve for one or three years. By April 1862, the Confederate States of America found it necessary to pass a conscription act, which drafted men into PACS.

The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the United States Army and United States Navy who had resigned their Federal commissions and had won appointment to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. Many had served in the Mexican-American War (including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis), but others had little or no military experience (such as Leonidas Polk, who had attended West Point.) The Confederate officer corps was composed in part of young men from slave-owning families, but many came from non-owners. The Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, many colleges of the South (such as The Citadel and the Virginia Military Institute) maintained cadet corps that were seen as a training ground for Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established at Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia in 1863, but no midshipmen had graduated by the time the Confederacy collapsed.

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