McLaws' Division - The Civil War in the East

Monthly Orders of Battle for McLaws’ Division May 1862 – September 1863:

May 1862	October 1862	February 1863	June 1863
June 1862	November 1862	March 1863	July 1863
July 1862	December 1862	April 1863	August 1863
August 1862	January 1863	May 1863	September 1863
September 1862

Historical Timeline for McLaws’ Division:


1862
May 23	Lafayette McLaws was promoted to Major General and givien command of a division of two brigades under Major General John B. Magruder in the Virginia Peninsula. One of the brigades was McLaws’ own former brigade. It was made up of two Georgia regiments (10th and 53rd; McLaws had been colonel of the 10th), two Louisiana regiments (5th and 10th), and two Virginia regiments (15th and 32nd). Paul J. Semmes was promoted to Brigadier General and took over command of this brigade, which would soon lose its Louisiana regiments. McLaws’ other brigade was made up of four South Carolina regiments (2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th) under Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw.
June 29	The division fought in the Seven Days Battles, taking part in an attack at Savage’s Station
July 3	Two brigades were transferred to the division from Magruder’s Division when Magruder was transferred to the West. Griffith’s Mississippi Brigade (13th, 17th, 18th, 21st) was under its senior Colonel, William Barksdale, since Griffith had been mortally wounded at Savage’s Station. The other brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Howell Cobb and consisted of two Georgia regiments (16th and 24th) along with Cobb’s (Georgia) Legion, the 2nd Louisiana and the 15th North Carolina.
August	The division was left in the Richmond area to cover McClellan’s army until it withdrew in mid-August, and was not at the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run).
September	The division marched north to rejoin Lee’s main army at the start of the Maryland Campaign. McLaws was temporarily placed under “Stonewall” Jackson’s command in the capture of Harpers Ferry.
mid-September	McLaws was given the task of attacking Maryland Heights from the north while blocking Crampton’s Gap, the southernmost pass through South Mountain. He succeeded in taking Maryland Heights, but the small blocking force in Crampton’s Gap was pushed out with heavy losses. McLaws was in a difficult position for a time, trapped between Union forces to the north and the Union garrison of Harpers Ferry to the south. But the surrender of Harpers Ferry allowed McLaws to join Jackson’s force.
September 17	Ordered to join Lee’s desperately outnumbered forces at Sharpsburg, McLaws took an excessive amount of time to reach the field. He was assigned to the command of his old West Point classmate and friend, James Longstreet. McLaws’ excellent performance defending the West Woods at Sharpsburg tempered, but did not remove, Lee’s disappointment in him.
October	Drayton’s Brigade of Georgia (50th and 51st, plus Phillip’s Georgia Legion) and South Carolina (15th Regiment and 3rd Battalion) troops was transferred to McLaws’ Division when Drayton’s Division was broken up due to the heart disease that would soon kill him.
November	The Army of Northern Virginia was organized into corps, and McLaws’ Division was assigned to Longstreet’s First Corps. Brigadier General Thomas Drayton was transferred to the West and his brigade was broken up, with the 50th and 51st Georgia being assigned to Semmes’ Brigade, the South Carolina troops going to Kershaw’s Brigade, and the Phillips Legion going to Cobb’s Brigade. Cobb’s Brigade also gained the 18th Georgia from Hood’s Division and gave up the 15th North Carolina to Ransom’s Division. Semmes’ Brigade gave up its two Virginia regiments to Pickett’s Division. This left all four of McLaws’ brigades composed of troops from one state: Barksdale from Mississippi, Cobb and Semmes from Georgia, and Kershaw from South Carolina.
December 13	McLaws’ Division defended Marye’s Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg. The 3rd South Carolina took heavy casualties, losing all of it s field offiecers to wounds. Brigadier General Thomas Cobb was mortally wounded, and would be replaced by William T. Wofford, who was promoted to Brigadier General in January.
1863
February	Longstreet and two divisions of the First Corps were detached on an expedition to Suffolk, Virginia. McLaws’ Division remained with Lee’s army and would report directly to General Lee during Longstreet’s absence.
May 1-3	McLaws’ Division fought under Lee’s direct command near the Chancellorsville Inn during the first two days of the fighting. McLaws was then sent toward Fredericksburg to stop Sedgwick’s Union Sixth Corps from advancing against Lee’s flank and rear. McLaws succeeded in stopping Sedgwick, but Lee was disappointed that he was allowed to retreat back across the Rappahannock without greater injury; another black mark against McLaws.
May-June	Longstreet recommended McLaws for one of the two army corps command positions that had developed with the death of Jackson and the creation of the Third Corps, but McLaws was passed over. Disapointed, he asked for a transfer, but was denied.
July 2-3	McLaws’ Division took part in Longstreet’s attack on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, driving through the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield to the base of Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge. The attack had come close to collapsing the Union flank, but at the cost of heavy casualties. Brigadier Generals Barksdale andSemmes were both mortally wounded and six of the division’s 21 regiment commanders were killed or wounded.
August	Colonels Benjamin Humphreys and Goode Bryan were promoted to Brigadier General to replace Barksdale and Semmes.
September	McLaws’ Division was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee along with Hood’s Division, both under the command of James Longstreet.
September 19-20	The division fought in the Battle of Chickamauga under the command of Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw, as McLaws was still in transit.
November 5	The division was sent to Knoxville with Longstreet’s Corps.
November 16	The division struck Burnside’s advanced troops at Campbell’s Station.
November 17	The division arrived at Knoxville, beginning the siege.
November 29	The attack by McLaws’ Division on Fort Sanders was a disaster, with heavy casualties. Longstreet blamed McLaws for the failure, and relieved him of command. Brigadier General Kershaw took over the division as senior brigadier.
December 30	Longstreet submitted charges for neglect of duty against McLaws, who requested a court martial to clear his name.
1864
February 12	McLaws’ court martial began.
mid-April	The division returned to Virginia under Brigadier General Kershaw.
May 5	McLaws was exonerated of two of the three counts against him, but convicted of “failing in the details of his attack to make arrangements essential to his success.” He was sentenced to 60 days without rank or command, but the sentance was overturned by AIG Samuel Cooper, who ordered McLaws to return to duty with his division By this time McLaws’ Division, still under the command of Brigadier General Kershaw, was fighting in the Battle of the Wilderness.
May 18	Lee refused to accept McLaws back in the Army of Northern Virginia, and McLaws was assigned by the War Department to the Defences of Savannah. Brigadier General Kershaw was promoted to Major General and given permanent command of the division, which would be known from that point as Kershaw’s Division.