XI Corps (Union Army) - Formation and The Valley Campaign

Formation and The Valley Campaign

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.

Fremont refused to serve under John Pope (whom he outranked) and resigned. Major General Franz Sigel thus assumed command of the corps on June 29. Many of the German soldiers could speak little English beyond "I fights mit Sigel", which was their proud slogan. President Lincoln chose Sigel less for his military skills than his influence on this important political constituency. Sigel was in command at the Second Battle of Bull Run, where the corps encountered more hard fighting, losing 295 killed, 1,361 wounded, and 431 missing; total, 2,087. At this time the three divisions were commanded by Generals Robert C. Schenck, Adolph von Steinwehr, and Carl Schurz (all with German-speaking skills); there was also an independent brigade attached, under the command of Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy.

By General Orders No. 129, September 12, 1862, the corps's designation was changed to that of the XI Army Corps, a necessary change, as McDowell's command had resumed its original title of the I Corps. During the Maryland Campaign, and during the fall of 1862, the XI Corps remained in Northern Virginia, in front of Washington, D.C., occupying various outposts in the vicinity of Centreville. In December, it marched to Fredericksburg, but was not present at the battle, after which it went into winter quarters at Stafford, Virginia.