IX Corps  "Fought And Died In Seven States"  July 22, 1862 - August 1, 1865

The IX Corps had the distinction of traveling further and losing more of its highest-ranking generals than any other Union corps. Commanded by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, the IX Corps was formed at Fort Monroe, VA, from three divisions brought there from the coast of the Carolinas in the aftermath of the Union's disastrous Peninsular campaign. Two of the divisions, under Gen. Jesse L. Reno, fought at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run and again two days later at Chantilly, where division commander Isaac I. Stevens was killed. Two weeks later, at the Battle of South Mountain, temporary corps commander Reno was killed in the Union attack on Fox's Gap; two days after that, division commander Isaac P. Rodman was mortally wounded at the Battle of Sharpsburg. At the December 1862 Battle of Fredricksburg, the IX Corps was one of the units that valiantly but futilely attacked the Confederate position at Marye's Heights.

From March 1863 to March 1864, the IX Corps was transferred to the war's western theater, where it helped in the capture of Vicksburg, Miss. In the fall of 1863, the corps fought at Campbell's Station, TN, and succeeded in defending Knoxville from the siege of Rebel troops commanded by Gen. James Longstreet. During Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's drive into Richmond, VA, in 1864, the IX Corps fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and then engaged in the trench warfare at Petersburg. On July 30, the IX Corps charged the Confederate lines after the explosion of a mine under the Rebel entrenchments and were slaughtered in the subsequent Battle of the Crater. Burnside was relieved of command after that Union disaster, and Gen. John G. Parke commanded the corps for the rest of its existence.

After the Confederate evacuation of Petersburg, VA, on April 2, 1865, the IX Corps entered the city unopposed and followed the Union army to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House. The IX Corps was officially disbanded on August 1, 1865.

Fascinating Fact:  The men of the IX Corps fought and died in seven states. In the grand review in Washington at the end of the war, the IX Corps led the infantry units of the Army of the Potomac.


Back to index page