Joseph E. Johnston the Carolinas, the public clamored for Johnston's return. The general in charge of the Western Theater, P.G.T. Beauregard, was making little progress against the advancing Union force. Political opponents of Jefferson Davis, such as Sen. Louis Wigfall, added to the pressure in Congress. Diarist Mary Chesnut wrote, "We thought this was a struggle for independence. Now it seems it is only a fight between Joe Johnston and Jeff Davis." In January 1865, the Congress passed a law authorizing Robert E. Lee the powers of general in chief, and recommending that Johnston be reinstated as the commander of the Army of
Fourth Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Commanded by temporary Lt. General Anderson, it was made up of units that before had served around Richmond and Petersburg as part of General Beauregard's Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. The Fourth Corps spent the winter of 1864/5 encamped around Petersburg as part of the Army of Northern Virginia. In April the Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses Grant, broke through the defences and successfully concluded the siege of Richmond, initiating the start of the Appomattox Campaign. The Fourth Corps retreated with the rest of General Lee's Army but was largely destroyed in the Battle of Sailor's