Confederate Organisations: Atlantic Coast Theatre
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The Atlantic Coast Theatre broadly covers the states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and adjacent operational regions in Alabama and Virginia.
This theatre saw the first act of war at Charleston, South Carolina, when pro-Confederate forces opened fire on the Union garrison at Fort Sumter. This action was the first of many along the Atlantic Coasts as the Confederates attempted to protect their ports to import supplies and military equipment through the blockade.
The Confederates also needed to prevent the Union from establishing bases of operations for raids or advances into the interior of the nation. The US Navy gradually established outposts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Some of these provided depots for the blockading fleets while others were set up to attack Confederate coastal fortifications. Others were occupied simply to deny the use of ports and coastal waters to Confederate maritime trade. The Confederates occasionally attacked the Union enclaves but were rarely successful unless they could neutralise the Union naval forces supporting the garrisons ashore. In most cases, overwhelming Union naval force overpowered the Confederate defences; however, the important ports of Charleston, Wilmington, and Mobile, were not finally occupied until the final months of the war. Inevitably, as the Union threat could materialise at any one of several points – ports, fortifications, navigable rivers – the Confederates were forced to spread their garrisons thinly, concentrating only when clear evidence of an attack was identified at a particular point. Their military organisation was therefore complicated, with many low-level territorial organisations being created with responsibility for specific locations, and field forces on a comparatively small in scale.
Initially, the Confederates managed the defence of the Atlantic coast on a state-by-state basis. The Department of South Carolina was formed on 3 March 1861; the Department of Middle and Eastern Florida was formed on 20 August 1861 (western Florida was in a separate Department focused on the Gulf of Mexico coast); and the Department of Georgia was formed on 26 October 1861. These three Departments were combined to become Districts within a “super-Department” under General Robert Edward Lee on 5 November 1861. Lee’s Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida attempted to bring unity of command and singleness of purpose in states that were led by particularly ardent proponents of states’ rights.
After Lee’s departure, his extensive Department reverted to localised Departments. On 13 March 1862, the Department of Middle and Eastern Florida, and the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, were formed in its place. This process was reversed in October 1862 when another high-ranking General, P G T Beauregard returned to command the reconstructed Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Once again, the constituent parts of the Department were allocated to Districts and smaller subdivisions to organise its scattered garrisons. The Department remained in operation, undergoing a gradual segmentation until the final surrender on 26 April 1865, by which time its field forces had been largely dispersed and all of its major cities occupied or neutralised by Union land or naval forces. Although superficially a complex organisation, the constituent parts of the Department related to ports and access points along the coast, undergoing adjustment as the Union points of attack shifted. Its ultimate collapse was achieved not so much by an incursion from the coast but by the overland march across Georgia conducted by Union Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman in late 1864. Although the primary ports had been skilfully and determinedly defended, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and Sherman’s irresistible campaign through the Carolinas in early 1865, exposed the vulnerability of the region when exposed to large land forces.
The coasts of North Carolina were among the first to be seriously threatened. The navigable waters around Roanoke and the Pamlico quickly attracted some of the first major amphibious operations of the Union, in Spring 1862. The Union soon secured bases at New Bern and Elizabeth City, to supplement the valuable harbour of Port Royal, captured at the end of 1861. The Department of North Carolina was created on 22 April 1861 with a primary goal of defending its coastal waters. Its subdivisions related directly to fortifications and defences. The most important position was immediately identified as Wilmington on the Cape Fear and the port was protected by Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear right until early 1865. Its fall severed the last available blockade-running route and precipitated the final collapse of the Confederate armies.
The need for coordinated operations with forces in southern Virginia increasingly required an amalgamation of the North Carolina organisations with those in Southern Virginia. The Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia existed from 19 September 1862 until 26 February 1863. It reverted to the separate Department of North Carolina and Department of Southern Virginia from 26 February 1863 to 28 May 1863 but was then reconstituted as the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia on 28 May 1863. By the end of 1864, it managed the vital defence of Wilmington and the supply lines leading north into Petersburg, Virginia. This Department remained in existence until the final surrender on 26 April 1865.
This is an alphabetical Index of each Organisation by Level and then by name
Details of each specific organisation can be found in the Introduction to Confederate Military Organisations – Types -by searching for the Level and then the Name of the Organisation
Department of Middle and Eastern Florida #1 20 August 1861-5 November 1861
Department of Middle and Eastern Florida #2 13 March 1862-7 October 1862
Department of Georgia 26 October 1861-5 November 1861
Department of North Carolina #1 22 April 1861-19 September 1862
Department of North Carolina #2 26 February 1863-28 May 1863
Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia #1 19 September 1862-26 February 1863
Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia #2 28 May 1863-26 April 1865
Department of South Carolina 3 March 1861-5 November 1861
Department of South Carolina and Georgia 13 March 1862-7 October 1862
Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida 7 October 1862-26 April 1865
Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida 5 November 1861-13 March 1862
District of Albemarle, North Carolina 21 December 1861-23 February 1862
District of Cape Fear, North Carolina 1 October 1861-18 August 1862
District of the Cape Fear River and the Defences of Wilmington, North Carolina 26 September 1863-
8 April 1864
District of Florida 23 February 1864-26 April 1865
District of East Florida 4 November 1862-23 February 1864
District of Middle Florida 4 November 1862-23 February 1864
District of Middle and East Florida #1 5 November 1861-13 March 1862
District of Middle and East Florida #2 7 October 1862-4 November 1862
District of West Florida 7 October 1862-23 February 1864
District of Georgia 5 November 1861-10 April 1865
District of North Carolina 18 August 1862-19 September 1862
First District of North Carolina and Southern Virginia 10 May 1864-9 April 1865
Second District of North Carolina and Southern Virginia 25 May 1864-26 April 1865
Third District of North Carolina and Southern Virginia 20 May 1864-15 January 1865
District of Pamlico North Carolina 29 September 1861-18 August 1862
District of Roanoke Island, North Carolina 22 January 1862-18 August 1862
District of South Carolina 5 November 1861-26 April 1865
Defences of North Carolina 22 April 1861-1 October 1861
Defences of Savannah, Georgia #1 13 April 1861-26 October 1861
Defences of Savannah, Georgia #2 31 August 1863-17 December 1864
Sub-District of Cape Fear, North Carolina 18 August 1862-14 July 1863
Sub-District of Northern Georgia 20 January 1865-26 April 1865
First Sub-District of South Carolina 10 December 1861-26 April 1865
Second Sub-District of South Carolina 10 December 1861-1 May 1865
Third Sub-District of South Carolina 10 December 1861-26 April 1865
Fourth Sub-District of South Carolina 10 December 1861-29 November 1864
Fifth Sub-District of South Carolina #1 10 December 1861-6 May 1862
Fifth Sub-District of South Carolina #2 22 October 1863-23 May 1864
Fifth Sub-District of South Carolina #3 17 October 1864-26 April 1865
Sixth Sub-District of South Carolina #1 19 March 1862-28 May 1862
Sixth Sub-District of South Carolina #2 22 October 1863-17 October 1864
Seventh Sub-District of South Carolina 22 October 1863-17 October 1864
Forces in Charleston, South Carolina 3 March 1861-27 May 1861
I Corps Southern Virginia 26 February 1863-6 May 1863
Reserve Forces of Florida 30 April 1864-10 May 1865
Reserve Forces of North Carolina 18 April 1864-26 April 1865
Reserve Forces of South Carolina 30 April 1864-10 May 1865
American Civil War High Command 