CHART OF CIVIL WAR ARMY ORGANIZATION ARMY General (CSA) Major General (USA) CORPS Lieutenant General (CSA) Major General (USA) DIVISION Major General BRIGADE Brigadier General BATTALION (less than 10 companies) Lieutenant Colonel or Major COMPANY Captain REGIMENT (10 companies) Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel COMPANY 75-100 men III. MILITARY CAMPAIGNS 1861 Late in April, 1861, the Confederate government moved its capital from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond, Va. This transfer was intended to bind Virginia closer to the other Southern states and to put the Confederate government nearer Washington when the time came to discuss the peace treaty. In reality the move backfired. It made Richmond the primary Federal target and Virginia the major battleground of the Civil War. Few engagements occurred in 1861, when neither North nor South had a highly organized, efficient army. What both sides in 1861 called armies were more like armed and unruly mobs. Yet President Lincoln and the Congress, hoping to end the war quickly, were anxious to capture Richmond. As a result, Federal forces made three thrusts into Virginia. They first moved from Ohio into the pro-Northern counties of western Virginia, where Confederate regiments as “green” as the Federal units were stationed. In a series of small battles, including Philippi (June 3), Rich Mountain (July 11), and Corrick’s Ford (July 13), the Federals were victorious. In 1863 this region entered the Union as the loyal state of West Virginia. The other two Federal invasions were less successful. The main Virginia defenses stretched from Norfolk northward to the Potomac River, thence westward to Harpers Ferry. Early in June, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler left Fort Monroe with a Federal force and struck at Richmond by way of the peninsula between the James and York rivers. At Big Bethel Church, just west of Yorktown, Confederates attacked and sent Butler’s men stampeding back to their base at Fort Monroe. [Illustration: Benjamin F. Butler, a politician with little military experience, led two ill-fated campaigns against Richmond.]