Lieutenant General
There were 18 lieutenant generals in the Confederate Army, and these general officers were often corps commanders within armies or military department heads, in charge of geographic sections and all soldiers in those boundaries. All of the Confederacy's lieutenant generals were in the PACS. The Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18, 1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them. These generals were to be nominated by Davis and confirmed by the Senate. Lieutenant generals outranked major generals and all other lesser officers.
This rank was not synonymous with the Federal use of it; Ulysses S. Grant was one of only two Federal lieutenant generals during the war, the other being Winfield Scott who received a promotion to brevet lieutenant general by a special act of Congress in 1865. Grant was by the time of his promotion, March 9, 1864, the only Federal lieutenant general in active service. Grant became Commander of all the Unions armies, answering only to Abraham Lincoln and was charged with the task of leading the Union armies to victory over the Confederacy. The CSA lieutenant general rank is roughly equivalent to lieutenant general in the modern U.S. Army.
The Confederate Congress passed legislation in May 1864 to allow for "temporary" general officers in the PACS, to be appointed by Jefferson Davis and confirmed by the Senate, and given a non-permanent command by Davis. Under this law Davis appointed several officers to fill open positions. Richard H. Anderson was appointed a "temporary" lieutenant general on May 31, 1864, and given command of the First Corps (following the wounding of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet on May 6 in the Wilderness.) With Longstreet's return that October, Anderson reverted to a major general. Jubal Early was appointed a "temporary" lieutenant general on May 31, 1864, and given command of the Second Corps (following the re-assignment of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell to other duties) and led it until December 1864, when he too reverted to a major general. Likewise both Stephen D. Lee and Alexander P. Stewart were appointed fill to vacancies in the Western Theater as "temporary" lieutenant generals, and also reverted to their prior grades as major generals as those assignments ended. However, Lee was nominated a second time for lieutenant general on March 11, 1865, and was confirmed as such five days later.
Read more about this topic: General Officers In The Confederate States Army
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