Confederate States of America

:For other meanings of confederate and confederacy, see confederacy (disambiguation)

Armed Forces

The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised the following three branches:

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• Confederate States Army
• Confederate States Navy
• Confederate States Marine Corps

The Confederate military leadership was almost entirely composed of veterans from the United States Army and U.S. Navy who had resigned their federal commissions and had been appointed to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. The Confederate officer corps was composed mostly of southern gentry, and the Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, many colleges of the south (such as the Virginia Military Institute) maintained cadet corps that were seen as a breeding ground for Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established in 1863 onboard CSS Patrick Henry in the James River, but no midshipmen had graduated by the time the Confederacy collapsed.

Related Topics:
United States Army - U.S. Navy - Gentry - Virginia Military Institute - 1863 - CSS ''Patrick Henry'' - James River

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The rank and file of the Confederate armed forces consisted of white males with an average age between 16 and 28. Towards the end of the Civil War, boys as young as 12 were fighting in combat roles and the Confederate Armed Forces had even sponsored an all-black regiment with measures underway to offer freedom to slaves who voluntarily served in the Confederate military.

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Military leaders of the Confederacy

• Robert E. Lee (Virginia) - General and Military Commander-in-Chief
• Albert Sidney Johnston (Kentucky) - General
• Joseph E. Johnston (Virginia) - General
• Braxton Bragg (North Carolina) - General
• P.G.T. Beauregard (Louisiana) - General
• Samuel Cooper (New Jersey) - General (Adjutant General and highest ranking general in the Army)
• James Longstreet (South Carolina) - Lt. General
• Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (Virginia) - Lt. General
• A.P. Hill (Virginia) - Lt. General
• John Bell Hood (Texas) - Lt. General
• Wade Hampton (South Carolina) Lt. General
• Nathan Bedford Forrest (Tennessee) - Lt. General
• J.E.B. Stuart (Virginia) - Maj. General
• Edward Porter Alexander (Georgia) - Brig. General
• Franklin Buchanan (Maryland) - Admiral
• Raphael Semmes (Maryland) - Rear Admiral
• French Forrest (Maryland) - Acting Assistant Secretary of the Confederate Navy
• Josiah Tattnall (Georgia) - Commodore
• Stand Watie (Indian Territory, now Oklahoma) - Brigadier General (last to surrender)
• Leonidas Polk (Tennessee & Louisiana) - Bishop & General
• Jubal Anderson Early (Virginia)- Lt. General