The Army of the James under first Benjamin Butler and Later Edward Ord played a secondary but still important role for the Union forces arrayed against Richmond and Petersburg. Elements of this army garrisoned Bermuda Hundred throughout the Petersburg Campaign. That they were there in the first place was due to the earlier Bermuda Hundred Campaign, in which Butler’s force moved on the railroad between Richmond and Petersburg before being “corked” into Bermuda Hundred, an area of land between the James and the Appomattox rivers, by P.G.T. Beauregard and his reinforced Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. Much of the Army of the James mainly participated in operations north of the Appomattox River, though the XVIII Corps did man the trenches south of the Appomattox. The Army of the James had two corps throughout the campaign, but an interesting change in late 1864 abolished the existing X Corps and XVIII Corps and created two new corps, the all-White XXIV Corps and all-Black XXV Corps.
The Orders of Battle below are listed in chronological order, using the shorthand, three-digit, multiple letter “code” George Nafziger devised to organize all of the thousands of OOBs he copied from various sources. In addition to this code, the actual title of each Order of Battle is shown below in order to allow the reader to quickly scan to the order of battle he or she wishes to view.
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- 864ebc: Union Army of the James Forces under Major General B.F.Butler 5 – 31 May 1864
- 864ecl: Union Forces Department Virginia and North Carolina 31 May 1864
- 864fbh: Union Forces Department Virginia and North Carolina 30 June 1864
- 864gaj: Union Forces Department Virginia and North Carolina 31 July 1864
- 864hbb: Union Forces Department Virginia and North Carolina 31 August 1864
- 864jcb: Union Forces Department Virginia and North Carolina 31 October 1864
- 864lbf: Union Forces Department of Virginia and North Carolina 31 December 1864
- 865aai: Union Forces Department of Virginia 31 January 1865
- 865bf: Union Forces Department of Virginia 28 February 1865
- 865cp: Abstract Return Union Forces Department of Virginia and Middle Military Division
- 865dq: Union Forces Department of Virginia 30 April 1865