How did the commanding officer rankings during the Civil War work?
Posted by admin | Under rankings Wednesday Jan 13, 2010I know that generals were the highest rank that a commanding officer could achieve, but what were the order of the rankings?
1. General
2. Colonel???
3. Lieutenant???
4. Major???
Is this correct?
Pretty much the same as they are today. The Generals were number one, followed by Colonels, then Majors, and then Lieutenants.
Pretty much the same as they are today. The Generals were number one, followed by Colonels, then Majors, and then Lieutenants.
References :
i think same as now
3 officer ranks to run companies
Leiutenant (jr and full)
Captain
3 officer ranks to run larger field units
Major
Colonol (Lt, and full)
generals to run very large units
Generals (Brigader, Major, leiutenant, full)
References :
The order of ranks were the same as they are today. However, things got a little complicated sometimes, many army officers at the outbreak of the war were given brevet (temporary) ranks to fill the need for command officers. It was not uncommon for a regular army captain to be a brevet colonel or general, Custer was one. On top of that, you had volunteer forces and ranks were appointed differently, usually the men voted or the guy that could afford to raise a volunteer force was the commander, so you wound up with situations where a man could be a regular army major, brevet colonel, general of the volunteers all at the same time.
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