Joseph E. Johnston a right to assert it. Having been educated in such opinions, I naturally determined to return to the State of which I was a native, join the people among whom I was born, and live with my kindred, and if necessary, fight in their defense." He was initially commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia on May 4, but the Virginia Convention decided two weeks later that only one major general was required in the state army and Robert E. Lee was their choice. Johnston was then offered a state commission as a brigadier general, which he declined,
First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Wofford, who are able to help Lee fend off the cavalrymen. The First Corps would spend the majority of the battle defending against repeated assaults of Laurel Hill made by both V Corps infantry as well as units from Hancock's II Corps, and was not heavily involved in the fighting in and around the "Bloody Angle." Following Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's death at Petersburg, the remnants of the Third Corps were merged into the First Corps on April 2. First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia The First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (or Longstreet's Corps) was a military unit fighting