Military Division of the James

The Military Division of the James was an administrative division or formation of the United States Army which existed for ten weeks at the end of the American Civil War. This military division controlled military operations between April 19, 1865, and June 27, 1865, in parts of Virginia and North Carolina under control of two main Union armies, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James.[1]

Due to the surrender of the main Confederate armies in these areas of Virginia and North Carolina on April 9, 1865, and April 18, 1865, and the collapse of Confederate civilian authority, the Military Division of the James and its constituent military departments and military districts were responsible for maintaining order and keeping the peace in the areas of States under its control until civilian government in those States as members of the Union could be restored.[2][3] A few small military actions occurred in North Carolina during the existence of this military division.[4]

  1. ^ This article contains in part text from or based on the articles on Confederate States Army and Union Army.
  2. ^ Historian Joseph Wheelan noted that the Army of the Potomac had to defend civilians from "lawless bands of former Confederate soldiers...." Wheelan, Joseph. Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War. Boston: Da Capo Press, a Member of the Perseus Book Group, 2015. ISBN 978-0-306-82360-2. p. 319.
  3. ^ McClure, John M. "So Unsettled by War" in Davis, William C. and James I. Robertson, Jr., eds. Virginia at War, 1865. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8131-3468-0. pp. 133-135.
  4. ^ Swannanoa Gap, North Carolina (April 20, 1865), Howard's Gap, North Carolina (April 22, 1865) and Hendersonville, North Carolina (April 23, 1865). Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC 68283123. pp. 680-681.