Joseph E. Johnston as military adviser to the president. Davis offered the position to William J. Hardee, the senior corps commander, who refused it. He considered P.G.T. Beauregard, another general with whom he had poor personal relations, and also Robert E. Lee. Lee, who was reluctant to leave Virginia, first recommended Beauregard, but sensing Davis's discomfort, changed his recommendation to Johnston. After much agonizing, Davis appointed Johnston to command the Army of Tennessee in Dalton, Georgia, on December 27, 1863. Faced with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston conducted a series of withdrawals
Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia cavalry in the Eastern Theater was limited to regiments or smaller units attached to districts or larger formations. Noteworthy were Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry, the 30th Virginia Cavalry and Hampton's Legion from South Carolina. Recommendations and endorsements from Generals P.G.T. Beauregard, Joseph E. Johnston and James Longstreet led to a promotion to Brigadier General for Stuart in September 1861; and the formation of a unified cavalry brigade under his command. On August 17, 1862 the cavalry division was built – swollen to four brigades in less than a year. On September 9, 1863 the Cavalry Corps was finally established with