History of the Nineteenth Army Corps

Union operations along the Mississippi provide the starting point for Richard B. Irwin's account of the Nineteenth Army Corps. A former assistant adjutant-general of the corps, Irwin begins with the troops' service before their formal organization and follows their record through the end of the Civil War. The opening explains why New Orleans mattered to military planners, linking its river position, shipping, workshops, and trade to the struggle for control of the Mississippi.

The account follows campaigns in Louisiana before turning to the Shenandoah Valley. In the passage on Cox's Plantation, a movement to find forage becomes a sudden clash, with cornfields, plantation ditches, and uneven command decisions shaping the outcome. Irwin combines troop movements with judgments about leadership and figures for battlefield losses. Chapter headings, listed battle plans, and an appendix of rosters give readers interested in military history a detailed framework for tracing the corps' service.