Major general

Major general (or major-general, short MG) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparently confusing phenomenon whereby a lieutenant general outranks a major general. (Though a major outranks a lieutenant, a lieutenant outranks a sergeant-major.)

In the Commonwealth and United States, it is a division commander's rank subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the rank of brigadier/brigadier general.

In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the general officer ranks, with no brigadier-grade rank above colonel.

In France, major general (major général) is an appointment, normally of corps general. The major general assists a chief of staff. There is one major general for the chief of staff of the armed forces as a whole, and one for each of the four armed forces chiefs (army, navy, air force and gendarmerie).

General officers in the Confederate States Army

The general officers of the Confederate States Army (CSA) were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army (the regular army) prior to the Civil War, while others were given the rank based on merit or when necessity demanded. Most Confederate generals needed confirmation from the Confederate Congress, much like prospective generals in the modern U.S. armed forces.

Like all of the Confederacy's military forces, these generals answered to their civilian leadership, in particular Jefferson Davis, the South's president and therefore commander-in-chief of the Army, Navy, and Marines of the Confederate States.

History

Much of the design of the Confederate States Army was based on the structure and customs of the U.S. Army when the Confederate Congress established their War Department on February 21, 1861. The Confederate Army was composed of three parts; the Army of the Confederate States of America (ACSA, intended to be the permanent, regular army), the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS, or "volunteer" Army, to be disbanded after hostilities), and the various Southern state militias.