Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia The Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia was a unit of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States. After the death of Lt. General Thomas J. Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee reorganized his army from two infantry corps into three corps, giving command of the new Third Corps to A. P. Hill. For Hill's new corps, Lee assigned Hill's old "Light Division", commanded by Major General William Dorsey Pender, from the Second Corps and Richard H. Anderson's division from James Longstreet's First Corps. For the Corps' third division, Lee created
Army of the Peninsula by Magruder, now major general. In April 1862 Magruder's army was incorporated into the right wing of the larger army of Joseph E. Johnston, preparing defenses against an expected attack by George B. McClellan in what would become the Peninsula Campaign. While the army designation ceased to exist, Magruder's army's independence and initiative was instrumental in preventing McClellan from rapidly advancing on Richmond. Army of the Peninsula The Army of the Peninsula or Magruder's Army was a Confederate army early in the American Civil War. In May 1861, Colonel John B. Magruder was assigned to command operations on the lower