[105] of light artillery. It was actively engaged at the siege of Savannah, and upon Hardee's evacuation, December 20th, Geary's Division was the first to enter the city.
Leaving Savannah in February, 1865, the Army marched northward through the Carolinas. and at the battle of Averasboro (N. C.), the Twentieth Corps was the only infantry engaged; loss, 77 killed, and 475 wounded. Three days later, Jackson's and Ward's Divisions were hotly engaged in General Slocum's battle at Bentonville. At the close of the campaign, in April, 1865, Major-General Joseph A. Mower was assigned to the command of the corps, whereupon General Williams resumed his old command, that of the First, or Red Star Division.
Williams, whose commission as brigadier (dated May 17, 1861, had commanded this division from the beginning of the war. It was remarkable as being the only division which served during the war without a change of commander. Williams commanded it at Winchester, May, 1862, and rode at its head in the Grand Review of May, 1865; he was absent only when in temporary command of the corps. He commanded the Twelfth Corps at Antietam, Mansfield having been killed while going into action; also, at Gettysburg, Slocum being in command then of the Right Wing. He also commanded the Twentieth Corps while on the March to the Sea and through the Carolinas; at the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville. He was an able officer, enjoying to the fullest extent the respect and confidence of every officer and man in his division. Denied the commission of a major-general which he had earned so well, and superseded in command of his corps, the gallant old patriot made no sign of complaint, and continued to serve his country faithfully and well. The persistent refusal to recognize Williams' services together with the influence and motives which promoted such action were discreditable, to say the least.
The campaign in the Carolinas having ended in Johnston's surrender, the Twentieth Corps marched on to Washington, where it participated in the Grand Review, and was then disbanded.
Twenty-First Corps.
On the 7th of November, 1862, General Rosecrans divided the Army of the Cumberland--then known as the-Fourteenth Army Corps--into the Right Wing, Centre, and Left Wing. The organization of the left wing, as then arranged, remained unchanged until January 9, 1863, when, by authority of the War Department, General Order No. 9, its designation was changed to that of the Twenty-first Corps. No other change was made, the different brigades and divisions remaining as before.
The left wing, or Twenty-first Corps, was organized with Major-General Thomas L. Crittenden in command, and contained the three divisions of W. S. Smith, Van Cleve, and Hascall. At the battle of Stone's River the divisions were commanded by Generals Thos. J. Wood, Palmer, and Van Cleve. The three divisions contained three brigades each; in all, 38 regiments of infantry, and 8 batteries of light artillery. The losses of the left wing at Stone's River amounted to 650 killed, 3,006 wounded, and 873 missing; total, 4,529, out of 12,909 officers and men engaged.
After this battle the enemy fell back, whereupon Rosecrans' Army occupied Murfreesboro, remaining encamped there, or in its vicinity, until June, 1863, when another forward movement took place which ended in the battle of Chickamauga and in the permanent occupation of Chattanooga. The Twenty-first Corps fought at Chickamauga under the same corps and division generals as at Stone's River. The organization was the same, 3 divisions of 3 brigades each; the regiments, however (38 in number), had diminished in size. The corps
