VI Corps ( Union Army ) The VI Corps ( Sixth Army Corps ) was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War . Formation . The corps was organized as the Sixth Provisional Corps on May 18 , 1862 , by uniting Maj . Gen . William B . Franklin ' s Division , which had just arrived on the Virginia Peninsula , with Maj . Gen . William F . Smith ' s Division , which was taken away from the IV Corps for this purpose . This provisional arrangement having been sanctioned by the U . S . War Department , the command received its permanent designation as the VI Army Corps , Army of the Potomac . Franklin was appointed corps commander , and Henry W . Slocum succeeded to the command of Franklin ' s Division . On June 20 , 1862 , the corps numbered 24 , 911 , present and absent , with 19 , 405 present for duty , equipped ; the corps artillery numbered 40 guns . 1862 . At the Battle of Gaines ' Mill in the Seven Days Battles , Slocum ' s Division was sent to the support of Maj . Gen . Fitz John Porter and became hotly engaged , losing 2 , 021 men out of less than 8 , 000 present . The Vermont brigade of Smith ' s ( 2nd ) Division took a prominent part in the fight at Savage ' s Station , the 5th Vermont losing 209 men in that action . The corps fought at other points during the Seven Days Battles , but at Malvern Hill it was held in reserve . At the Second Battle of Bull Run it was partially engaged , the First New Jersey Brigade of Slocum ' s ( 1st ) Division having a sharp fight on August 27 , at Bull Run Bridge , in which it lost 339 in killed , wounded , and missing , Brig . Gen . George W . Taylor , the brigade commander , receiving a mortal wound . In the Maryland Campaign , Slocum ' s Division made a successful charge up the side of South Mountain at Crampton ' s Gap , driving the enemy from a strong position ; Slocum ' s loss was 533 ( 113 killed , 418 wounded , 2 missing ) . The corps was under fire again at Antietam , but was only partially engaged ; the 3rd Brigade ( Col . William H . Irwin ' s ) of Smith ' s Division , took an active part ; however , the 7th Maine and 20th New York sustained severe losses . Important changes in the corps now took place . It received a valuable accession by the transfer of Maj . Gen . Darius N . Couch ' s Division of the IV Corps , which now became the 3rd Division of the VI Corps , with Maj . Gen . John Newton in command . General Franklin was promoted to the command of the Left Grand Division , VI and I Corps , and General Smith succeeded to the command of the corps . General Slocum was promoted to the command of the XII Corps , and Maj . Gen . William T . H . Brooks succeeded Slocum in command of the 1st Division , while Brig . Gen . Albion P . Howe succeeded to the command of Smith ' s ( 2nd ) Division . 1863 . At Fredericksburg , December 13 , 1862 , only a few regiments of the corps were engaged , although all were under severe artillery fire . But the corps was engaged on the same field , May 3 , 1863 , in an action that made it famous with a brilliant display of dash and daring . Up to this point , the entire corps had never fought a major engagement as a whole , only pieces of it participating in the battles on the Peninsula and Antietam . Their chance finally came when Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker took the Army of the Potomac to Chancellorsville he left the VI Corps in front of Fredericksburg , which was still held by a strong force of the enemy . Maj . Gen . John Sedgwick , who had succeeded to the corps command , ordered an assault on Marye ' s Heights , and that strong position that had defied the assaults of the previous battle , was now carried by the VI Corps at the point of the bayonet . The divisions of Newton and Howe were the ones engaged together with Col Hiram Burnham ' s Light Division . Brooks ' s ( 1st ) Division was engaged later in the day , at Salem Church . The corps lost in this battle 4 , 589 ( 485 killed , 2 , 619 wounded , 1 , 485 missing ) . The missing ones were , for the most part , lost in the action at Salem Church . On the day before this battle , the corps returns showed a strength of 23 , 730 , " present for duty " , of whom less than 20 , 000 were present in action . The Light Division was broken up after the battle , its regiments being assigned to other divisions . In the Gettysburg Campaign , the divisions were commanded by Generals Horatio G . Wright , Howe , and Newton . After setting up camp in Manchester , Maryland on July 1 , 1863 , they marched upwards of 37 miles in about 17 hours to reach Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 2 , 1863 . The 1st Division deployed and saw action at Little Round Top and the Wheatfield . Despite being the largest corps in the Union army at the time ( 16 , 000 men ) , the VI Corps was mostly held in reserve to the east of Gettysburg . It was not kept together as a unit during the second and third days of the battle , its brigades scattered around to plug holes in the line . On July 2 , Brig . Gen . Alexander Shaler ' s Brigade was sent into action as a support to the XII Corps on the right flank ; several casualties also occurred in Brig . Gens . Henry L . Eustis ' s and Frank Wheaton ' s Brigades , of Newton ' s Division on the left . Wheaton ' s brigade helped stabilize that flank late in the day . ( Newton left the corps , being assigned to command the I Corps , following the death of John F . Reynolds on the first day of the battle . Wheaton commanded third division for the rest of the battle . ) During the pursuit of Robert E . Lee ' s army after Gettysburg , the Vermont Brigade was engaged at Funkstown , Maryland , where this one brigade , drawn out in a skirmish line of over a mile in length , alone and unassisted , repelled a determined attack of a vastly superior force , which in massed columns charged this skirmish line repeatedly . The Vermonters sustained but slight loss , as they occupied a strong , natural position . Having returned to Virginia , the corps participated in the Bristoe Campaign . On November 7 , 1863 , at Rappahannock Station , it launched a successful assault on the enemy ' s entrenchments . The 6th Maine and 5th Wisconsin distinguished themselves particularly in this action , leading the storming party and carrying the works with the bayonet only . It was a success that resulted not only in a victory , but in the capture of a large number of prisoners , small arms , artillery and battle flags from the division of MG Jubal Early . In the Mine Run Campaign the divisions were commanded by Generals Wright , Howe , and Henry D . Terry , but were not in action to any extent . The corps went into winter quarters at Brandy Station . 1864 . Upon the reorganization of the army , in March 1864 , several changes were made . The 3rd Division was broken up , Shaler ' s Brigade being transferred to Horatio G . Wright ' s ( 1st ) Division , while the brigades of Henry L . Eustis and Wheaton were placed in the 2nd Division , the command of which was given to General George W . Getty , who had served as a division commander in the IX Corps , and , also , in the VII Corps at the Siege of Suffolk . The place of the 3rd Division was filled by the 3rd Division of the III Corps , that corps having been discontinued ; the command of this division was given to Maj . Gen . James B . Ricketts . The corps now contained 49 regiments of infantry , an artillery brigade composed of 8 batteries of light artillery ( 48 guns ) , and a battalion of heavy artillery acting as infantry ; numbering in all , 24 , 163 , " present for duty , equipped " . In the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania of the Overland Campaign , the VI Corps encountered the hardest contested fighting of its experience . At the Wilderness , the Vermont Brigade — Getty ' s Division — lost 1 , 232 men out of the 2 , 800 effectives that crossed the Rapidan River on the previous day . At Spotsylvania , the Jersey Brigade of Wright ' s Division was engaged in a deadly struggle , the percentage of killed in the 15th New Jersey being equaled in only one instance during the whole war . General Sedgwick was killed by a sniper ' s bullet at Spotsylvania on May 9 , which caused great distress to the soldiers of the corps , who loved and admired their " Uncle John " . General Wright succeeded to the command of the corps , Brig . Gen . David A . Russell succeeding Wright in the command of the 1st Division . On May 10 , Col . Emory Upton led a storming party of twelve picked regiments selected from the VI Corps ; they carried the Confederate works in the " Mule Shoe " after a hand - to - hand fight in which bayonet wounds were freely given and received . On May 12 , the entire corps fought at the " Bloody Angle " , where the fighting was the among the closest and deadliest of any recorded in the Civil War . The casualties of the corps at the Wilderness were 5 , 035 ( 719 killed , 3 , 660 wounded , 656 missing ) ; and at Spotsylvania , 4 , 042 ( 688 killed , 2 , 820 wounded , 534 missing ) . In the assault at Cold Harbor , June 1 , 1864 , the corps sustained another severe loss , 2 , 715 of its number killed or wounded . Accompanying the army to Petersburg , it participated in the preliminary operations incidental to the investment of that stronghold . But its stay was of short duration . Lt . Gen . Jubal A . Early ' s invasion of Maryland necessitated a transfer of troops to confront him , and the heroes of Marye ' s Heights were selected for that duty in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . On July 6 , Ricketts ' s ( 3rd ) Division embarked at City Point , and , landing at Baltimore on July 8 , marched out to meet Early . This division took part in the Battle of Monocacy on the following day , and , although unable to defeat Early , checked his advance on Washington , D . C . , giving the defenses their time to organize . The other two divisions embarked on July 10 and , landing at Washington , attacked Early , whose advance had reached Fort Stevens , within the city limits . The brunt of this fight fell to the lot of Brig . Gen . Daniel D . Bidwell ' s ( 3rd ) Brigade , of Getty ' s ( 2nd ) Division , every regimental commandant in this brigade , but one , being either killed or wounded . The corps followed in pursuit of Early through Maryland , into Virginia , and up the Shenandoah Valley . Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan was placed in command of the Army of the Shenandoah , which was composed of the VI , VIII , and XIX Corps , and its campaign in the Valley was a memorable one by reason of the victories at Third Winchester , Fisher ' s Hill , and Cedar Creek . In the latter battle occurred the famous incident of Sheridan ' s Ride from Winchester , followed by a defeat from which Early never recovered . Gettys ' s division distinguished itself at Cedar Creek , holding off enemy attacks long after other units had retreated . General Russell was killed at Third Winchester , and General Bidwell at Cedar Creek . The casualties of the corps at the Opequon aggregated 1 , 699 ( 211 killed , 1 , 442 wounded , 46 missing ) . At Cedar Creek , it lost 2 , 126 ( 298 killed , 1 , 628 wounded , 200 missing ) . Its total loss in the Shenandoah campaign , August 22 to October 20 , was 4 , 899 , out of 12 , 615 " present for duty " , in August . General Wheaton succeeded to the command of Russell , while Brig . Gen . Truman Seymour was assigned to the command of the 3rd Division , in place of General Ricketts , who was seriously wounded at Cedar Creek . 1865 . In December 1864 , the VI Corps returned to the Army of the Potomac in the Petersburg trenches , built their winter quarters , and went into position near the Weldon Railroad . On the April 2 , 1865 , the corps was assigned a prominent and important part in the final assault on the fortifications of Petersburg . Then came the hot pursuit of Lee ' s retreating veterans in the Appomattox Campaign , during which the corps fought at Sayler ' s Creek . This , the last battle for the VI Corps , was marked by the same features that had so largely characterized all its battles : dash , hard fighting ( some of it with the bayonet ) , victory , and large captures of men , flags , guns , and material . A Confederate attack on the corps as it crossed the creek was repulsed with support from the artillery , and the counterattack broke Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell ' s line . Ewell and George Washington Custis Lee , oldest son of Robert E . Lee , were among the prisoners taken by federal forces . The VI Corps was disbanded on June 28 , 1865 . Command history . * Corps assigned to the Army of the Shenandoah ; other entries to the Army of the Potomac