XI Corps (Union Army)
| XI Corps | |
|---|---|
XI Corps badge
|
|
| Active | 1862–1864 |
| Type | Army Corps |
| Size | Corps |
| Part of | Army of the Potomac |
| Engagements | American Civil War |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Franz Sigel Carl Schurz Oliver Otis Howard |
| Insignia | |
| 1st Division |  |
| 2nd Division |  |
| 3rd Division |  |
The XI Corps (Eleventh Army Corps) was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War, best remembered for its involvement in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863.
The XI Corps was an amalgamation of two separate commands. These were John Fremont's Army of the Mountain Department and Louis Blenker's division of German immigrants. Blenker had led a German brigade at First Bull Run, although it was held in reserve and saw no major fighting, and afterwards became a division commander in the new Army of the Potomac. Intended to go to the Virginia Peninsula in the spring of 1862, Blenker's troops were instead detached and sent out west to join Fremont. The combined command suffered a number of losses to Stonewall Jackson that spring in the Shenandoah Valley, and by the end of June was suffering severe shortages of supplies. Soldiers had not been paid in months and many were dropping from illness and straggling. Blenker himself was presently injured in a fall from his horse during the Northern Virginia Campaign in August and died a year later.
On June 26, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln ordered that "the troops of the Mountain Department, heretofore under command of General John C. Frémont, shall constitute the First Army Corps, under the command of General Frémont." The corps thus formed was, for the most part, the same as the one afterwards known as the XI Corps, and within a short time it was officially designated as such. This order of President Lincoln was included in the one constituting John Pope's Army of Virginia, which was formed from the three commands of Frémont, Nathaniel P. Banks, and Irvin McDowell. Frémont's troops had seen considerable service in western Virginia (modern West Virginia), having fought hard in the Valley Campaign against Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson at McDowell and Cross Keys.
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