Editing Army of Northern Virginia (section)

=== Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville ===
In the days following the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]] there were no changes in the army's command structure or hierarchy. The army replaced its own losses with new recruits and soldiers returning to duty. Lee made demands that all regiments had to be consolidated solely with recruits originating from their corresponding home states.

Following the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] the Army of Northern Virginia could muster over 72,497 soldiers<ref>National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program: [https://web.archive.org/web/20020522204505/http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va028.htm Troop strength of the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Frederiksburgh]</ref> not counting other personnel. Not figuring into this overall number is the fact that Lee had made the decision to station a whole division and a single cavalry brigade at Shenandoah Valley for protection at this time and these troops are missing from the total estimates.

During the autumn of 1862 lasting throughout the following winter the army faced the [[Army of the Potomac]] at Rappahannock. Thereout arose a new problem: Because of the necessity to always show its presence to the enemy there were only limited supplies available for the army from the surrounding villages and towns. Any army at these times supplied itself along the way while moving across the theater of war. Even ordering supplies through the use of the rail, if it was an available option at all, took up considerable time and efforts and supply treks by wagons were potentially prone to enemy assaults. This left Lee with few options and therefore he gave the special order on December 24, 1862, to move half of his artillery into the hinterlands to have his horses better supplied. He forbade to assign all of the horses to any other task than official assignments.<ref>The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Band XXI, S. 1077: [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DANU4519-0031&coll=moa&root=%2Fmoa%2Fwaro%2Fwaro0031%2F&tif=01093.TIF&view=75 Special order Nr. 277]</ref>

On February 15, 1863, Lee rearranged his artillery. Six battalions were assigned to both corps, and the reserve was composed out of two more battalions.<ref>The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Band XXV, Part II, S. 625f: [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DANU4519-0040&coll=moa&root=%2Fmoa%2Fwaro%2Fwaro0040%2F&tif=00627.TIF&view=75 General order Nr. 20]</ref> The Confederate War Department strongly suggested in position papers to Lee dating from the February 18th, 1862 to station two divisions at the Atlantic coast. Lee was not averse to any such demands, probably very much on the contrary, because of the tight position he was in with the general lack of provisions, so he gave orders to General Longstreet to have it done so. Both of the assigned divisions only returned to join the Army of Northern Virginia again following the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]]. The army was composed at this battle out of over 61.500 soldiers.<ref>MilitaryHistoryOnline: [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/civilwar/chancellorsville/introduction.aspx Army of Northern Virginia troop strengths at the Battle of Chancellorsville]</ref>