IX Corps ( Union Army ) IX Corps ( Ninth Army Corps ) was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War that distinguished itself in combat in multiple theaters : the Carolinas , Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee , and Mississippi . Corps history . Formation , Second Bull Run , and Antietam . Although the official order designating its number was not issued until July 22 , 1862 , the IX Corps organization dates from the expedition to North Carolina in February , 1862 , under Ambrose E . Burnside and to the operations about Hilton Head , South Carolina , because the troops engaged in these movements were the only ones used in the formation of the corps . The corps was assembled by Burnside at Newport News , Virginia , from his two brigades from North Carolina and Isaac Stevens ' s division from Hilton Head . The corps consisted of three divisions , under Generals Stevens , Jesse L . Reno , and John G . Parke . After a short stay at Newport News the corps was ordered to reinforce Maj . Gen . John Pope ' s Army of Virginia , and at Second Bull Run it fought its first battle as the IX Corps . Only the two divisions of Stevens and Reno were engaged in this action ; they numbered 12 regiments and 2 batteries , fewer than 5 , 000 men . General Reno was in command of both divisions in Burnside ' s absence . The losses in this small engagement amounted to 204 killed , 1 , 000 wounded , and 319 missing ; total , 1 , 523 . Some of the regiments encountered a severe fire , the 28th Massachusetts losing 234 men . General Stevens was killed at Chantilly . General Reno retained command of the corps on the Maryland Campaign , General Burnside having charge of the right wing of the Army of the Potomac , which was composed of the I and IX Corps . Brig . Gen . Orlando B . Willcox was appointed to the command of Stevens ' s ( 1st ) Division , while the 2nd and 3rd Divisions were commanded , respectively , by Generals Samuel D . Sturgis and Isaac P . Rodman . During this campaign Jacob D . Cox ' s Kanawha Division from western Virginia was temporarily attached to the corps . The command had also been greatly strengthened by the accession of several new regiments , just organized under the recent call for troops , and its four divisions now numbered 29 regiments and 5 batteries , with 13 , 819 present for duty , including non - combatants . The Battle of South Mountain was fought wholly by Burnside ' s two corps , the IX Corps losing 157 killed , 691 wounded , and 41 missing ; total , 889 . The loss in the I Corps was about the same . General Reno was killed in this action , upon which General Cox succeeded to his command . At Antietam the corps lost 438 killed , 1 , 796 wounded , and 115 missing ; total , 2 , 349 , out of about 8 , 500 in action . General Rodman was among the mortally wounded . In October , Cox ' s Division returned to western Virginia and its brief connection with the corps terminated . This division had made a brilliant record by its gallant services at South Mountain and Antietam . Upon the departure of General Cox the command of the corps fell to General Willcox . General William W . Burns was appointed to fill the vacancy thus caused in the 1st Division , and Brig . Gen . George W . Getty was placed in command of the 3rd Division , formerly Rodman ' s . On November 5 , 1862 , General Burnside was made commander - in - chief of the Army of the Potomac . At Fredericksburg , the casualty lists indicate that the corps took into action 31 regiments and 5 batteries , with a loss of 111 killed , 1 , 067 wounded , and 152 missing ; total , 1 , 330 . Not long after this battle Maj . Gen . John Sedgwick was assigned to the command of the corps , and General Willcox returned to the command of his division , relieving General Burns . Western Theater . On February 5 , 1863 , Sedgwick was assigned command of VI Corps , and was succeeded by Maj . Gen . William F . “ Baldy ” Smith , and on February 12 the corps was ordered to Newport News , where it encamped for a month . General Smith ' s stay with the corps was of short duration , for he was succeeded in the following month by Maj . Gen . John G . Parke . While at Newport News , Getty ' s ( 3rd ) Division was detached and ordered to Suffolk , Virginia , where it was subsequently incorporated into the VII Corps . It never rejoined its old command although , in 1864 , one of its regiments , the 4th Rhode Island , was restored to the IX Corps . In the meantime , General Burnside had been assigned to the command of the Department of Ohio , a district that included Kentucky and eastern Tennessee . He obtained permission for the transfer of his old corps to this field of operations , and on March 19 , 1863 , General Parke was ordered to proceed there with his two remaining divisions , Willcox ' s and Sturgis ' s . Just prior to the departure from Virginia , General Sturgis was relieved , and Brig . Gen . Robert B . Potter was assigned to the command of the 2nd Division . The IX Corps was stationed in Kentucky for two months , during which it served as an army of occupation . In June it was ordered to the support of Ulysses S . Grant , who was then besieging Vicksburg , and proceeding there promptly , it participated in the investment of the city , although not under fire . Upon the surrender of Vicksburg , Parke ' s two divisions joined the main army in its movement on Jackson , Mississippi , and became engaged in the fighting there , with a loss of 34 killed , 229 wounded , and 28 missing ; total , 291 . The 1st Division was then under command of Brig . Gen . Thomas Welsh , General Willcox having been assigned to duty in Indiana . The Vicksburg Campaign had been a costly one for the Corps , not due to battle casualties , but to disease . Among those who succumbed to the deadly malaria of the Vicksburg camps was General Welsh , who , soon after , went home to die . The corps left Mississippi in August , 1863 , and returned to Kentucky , where , after a short rest , it joined in Burnside ' s advance into East Tennessee , a movement that had already commenced . The two divisions were now reduced to about 6 , 000 men . General Parke having been made chief of staff of the Army of the Ohio , General Potter succeeded to the command of the corps , with Brig . Gen . Edward Ferrero and Col . John F . Hartranft in command of the two divisions . Ferrero ' s Division had a sharp little fight at Blue Springs , Tennessee , October 10 , 1863 , and the whole corps was engaged , November 16 , at Campbell ' s Station . This was followed by the occupation of Knoxville and the gallant defense against James Longstreet ' s besieging forces , terminating December 4 , in the defeat and withdrawal of the enemy . Overland Campaign . General Willcox resumed command of the corps on January 17 , 1864 , relieving General Potter ; on January 26 , Parke relieved Willcox , who then took command of the 2nd Division . General Burnside was again assigned to duty as commander of his old corps , which was ordered to Annapolis , Maryland , for reorganization . In April , the corps was composed of the four divisions of Thomas G . Stevenson , Potter , Willcox , and Ferrero , the latter division being composed wholly of African - American troops . The corps numbered 19 , 331 present for duty , with 42 pieces of field artillery ; but this number was soon increased , the morning reports of May 10 showing a strength of 32 , 708 . In addition to the four divisions , with their two batteries each , there was a brigade of reserve artillery of six batteries and a provisional brigade of heavy artillerymen and dismounted cavalry . In all , there were 42 regiments of infantry , and 14 batteries of light artillery . Ferrero ' s Colored Division had never been under fire , while many of the white regiments in the corps were newly organized , or had served previously on garrison duty only . In the ranks of the old regiments were many recruits and conscripts . In the Overland Campaign , Ulysses S . Grant launched a major offensive against Robert E . Lee starting in May , 1864 . His command in Northern Virginia consisted of the Army of the Potomac , under Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , and the IX Corps operating separately , reporting directly to Grant . Burnside technically outranked Meade and objected to receiving commands from a junior officer . By the time of the Battle of North Anna , however , Grant acknowledged that this arrangement was ineffective and he convinced Burnside , along with General Parke , his chief - of - staff , to waive the question of their superiority of rank over Meade . On May 25 , the IX Corps was assigned to the Army of the Potomac . In the Battle of the Wilderness the corps lost 240 killed , 1 , 232 wounded , 168 missing ; total , 1 , 640 ; and , at Spotsylvania , 486 killed , 2 , 119 wounded , 469 missing ; total , 3 , 146 ; the heaviest loss at Spotsylvania Court House occurring in the action of May 12 . The corps assaulted the right , eastern , flank of the " Mule Shoe " salient . General Stevenson was killed at Spotsylvania on May 10 , and Maj . Gen . Thomas L . Crittenden , formerly commander of the XXI Corps , was assigned to the command of Stevenson ' s ( 1st ) Division . Petersburg and the Crater . On June 9 , at Cold Harbor , General Crittenden was relieved at his own request , and Brig . Gen . James H . Ledlie was placed in command of the 1st Division . In the first assault on Petersburg , June 17 , the corps made a brilliant attack , Potter ' s Division gaining possession of the works ; unfortunately , the division was obliged to relinquish its foothold for want of proper support . The corps was engaged in a similar attempt on the following day , the losses in Potter ' s and Willcox ' s Divisions being unusually severe in proportion to the number engaged . Losses were 497 killed , 3 , 232 wounded , and 262 missing ; total , 2 , 991 . The dead included former Brig . Gen . James St . Clair Morton , chief engineer of the corps . The enemy ' s works proving too strong for assault , the army entrenched itself in preparation for the ten - month siege that followed . On June 19 , Ferrero ' s ( 4th ) Division of black troops rejoined the corps , having been absent during the whole of the previous campaign , engaged on duty at the rear . Ferrero ' s men were now placed in the trenches with the other three divisions . The part of the line occupied by the IX Corps was very near the enemy ' s works , and an incessant firing was kept up during the siege , resulting in a daily loss of men , killed or wounded . While there was a comparative quiet in front of the other corps positions , the men of the IX Corps were subjected to the terrible strain of a constant watchfulness and deadly exposure . The enemy seemed to be excited to an undue activity by the presence of Ferrero ' s Colored Division . The IX Corps was prominently connected with the siege because of its role in the infamous Battle of the Crater , in which a lengthy mine shaft was dug from its line to under the Confederate works . This mine , which was excavated by the coal miners of 48th Pennsylvania , Potter ' s Division , was successfully exploded with four tons of gunpowder , resulting in an enormous crater , but the assault that followed was a failure . Just before the assault , Grant and Meade directed Burnside to replace Ferrero ' s black division with Ledlie ' s white division , fearful of the political consequences of using black troops at the forefront of a major assault . But Ledlie ' s troops were not trained for the assault and Ledlie himself remained in the rear area , inebriated . The assault was a fiasco , in which Union soldiers charged into the crater , becoming trapped there , easy targets for the Confederates along the crater ' s rim . Ferrero ' s black regiments went into action in the rear and fought well , but had no chance for success . The losses in the IX Corps at the crater were 473 killed , 1 , 646 wounded , 1 , 356 missing ; total , 3 , 475 . Immediately after this engagement , General Ledlie was relieved from command of the 1st Division , and Brig . Gen . Julius White , of the XXIII Corps , was assigned to Ledlie ' s place . On August 13 , 1864 , General Burnside was granted a leave of absence ; he never rejoined the corps , but was succeeded by General Parke , who remained in command until the close of the war . At the battle of the Weldon Railroad , August 19 – 21 , 1864 , the three divisions of White , Potter , and Willcox were engaged with considerable loss , although the three combined numbered less than 6 , 000 muskets ; casualties were 60 killed and 315 wounded . By this time the divisions had become so reduced in numbers that a reorganization of the corps became necessary , and so the regiments in White ' s Division were transferred to the divisions of Potter and Willcox . Under this arrangement Willcox ' s Division was numbered as the 1st ; Potter ' s , as the 2nd ; Ferrero ' s black troops were designated as the 3rd Division . But in December , Ferrero ' s Division was permanently detached , and most of his regiments were transferred to the newly organized XXV Corps , which was composed entirely of black troops . General Ferrero himself was assigned to a provisional command at Bermuda Hundred . 1865 . The vacancy caused by detaching Ferrero ' s Division was filled by six new regiments of Pennsylvanians on one - year enlistments , organized into a division of two brigades , the command of which was given to General John F . Hartranft . This division rendered gallant service at Fort Stedman , and Hartranft added to his laurels by the ability displayed at that critical juncture . The morning report for March 31 , 1865 , showed a corps strength of 18 , 153 , " present for duty , equipped , " and 36 pieces of light artillery . With this force the IX Corps entered upon the final campaign , taking a prominent part in the storming of Petersburg , April 2 , 1865 , which resulted in the evacuation of Richmond and the downfall of the Confederacy . The corps was not only among the foremost in this brilliant assault , but its flags were the first to wave over the public buildings of Petersburg . This was the last battle in which the corps participated , and on July 27 , 1865 , the IX Corps was officially disbanded .