Grant’s Overland Campaign

Grant’s Overland Campaign Lsn 25

The Virginia Campaign • Wilderness • Spotsylvania • Hanover Junction • Cold Harbor • Petersburg • 10 month siege • Sheridan defeats Early in the Shenandoah Valley and joins Grant • Five Forks • Lee tries to break out to join Johnston in North Carolina • Appomattox

Execution of Grant’s Grand Strategy • Meade, Sherman, Butler, and Sigel all began operations in May 1864 • Sigel was defeated at the Battle of New Market on May 15 • Butler landed on the James-Appomattox peninsula and was quickly cut off by the Confederates • Both supporting efforts failed • Banks gets distracted with the Red River Campaign and does not attack Mobile

Meade in Virginia • Grant had not met Meade before coming east, but Grant develops a positive opinion of him • Nonetheless, Grant dto closely supervise the Army of the Potomac and accompany it in the field • On May 4, the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River into the Wilderness • The same area that Chancellorsville had been fought almost a year before

The Wilderness • A tangled second growth of stunted pines, vines, creepers, and scrub brush • The few roads often led nowhere and were inaccurately mapped • Ground broken by irregular ridges and hills • And crisscrossed by numerous streams and ravines • Bruce Catton called the Wilderness “the last place on earth for armies to fight”

The Wilderness • However the Wilderness was exactly the type of terrain Lee would need to offset his numerical inferiority • Lee had just 64,000 men to Grant’s 119,000 • One Federal general figured that in more hospitable terrain Grant could have covered a front of 21 miles, two ranks deep with 1/3 of its strength in reserve whereas Lee could only cover 12 miles • Grant had 274 artillery pieces manned by 9,945 artillerymen while Lee only had 224 guns and some 4,800 artillerymen • Grant had 11,839 cavalrymen compared to Lee’s 8,000 • The restrictive terrain would not allow Grant to deploy his artillery or cavalry to full effect

The Wilderness • Grant hoped to turn Lee’s right flank and force him to retreat • Instead Lee attacked two of Grant’s corps as they struggled through the narrow lanes of the Wilderness • In two days of violent fighting Grant suffered nearly 17,000 casualties to Lee’s 10,000

The Wilderness • Grant brought a new attitude to the Army of the Potomac • One general told him, “General Grant, this is a crisis that cannot be looked upon too seriously. I know Lee’s methods well by past experience; he will throw his whole army between us and the Rapidan, and cut us off completely from our communications.” • Grant replied, “Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault and land in or rear and on both our flanks at the same time. Go back to our command and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”

The Wilderness • At the Wilderness, Lee defeated Grant, but, instead of retreating as McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker had done, Grant kept moving south to Spotsylvania to try to get around Lee’s flank and get between Lee and Richmond

Spotsylvania • When Grant disengaged Lee had to determine exactly what Grant would do next • Using terrain analysis, intelligence reports, and analysis, Lee announced, “Grant is not going to retreat. He will move his army to Spotsylvania.”

Spotsylvania • After the Wilderness, Lee knows Grant has two basic choices: to retreat or to advance • Lee had reports that the Federals had abandoned their right flank positions and were dismantling their pontoon bridges at Germanna • From this information he concluded that Grant was severing his line of communication via Germanna and therefore would not be retreating back across the Rapidan River • Thus he concluded Grant would not retreat Pontoon crossing at Germanna Ford

Spotsylvania • If Grant was not going to retreat he had two possible lines of advance: eastward toward Fredericksburg or southeastward toward Spotsylvania Courthouse Spotsylvania Courthouse

Spotsylvania • Lee determined the Spotsylvania advance was the more likely of the two • The Spotsylvania road to Richmond was half as long as the Fredericksburg one • Spotsylvania was key terrain for anyone desiring to control Hanover Junction, site of two railroads Grant would need if he wanted to force Lee back to Richmond by cutting off his supplies • Based on this analysis Lee started hedging his bets toward Spotsylvania and began cutting a road in that direction

Spotsylvania • Lee’s suspicion was confirmed when he received a report of Federal heavy artillery beginning to be moved from its reserve position south down the Brock Road toward Spotsylvania • Lee now was sure Grant was headed for Spotsylvania and he began moving troops down his newly cut road on an inner line from the one Grant is using • Lee won the race to Spotsylvania and prepared trenches

Spotsylvania • For 12 days the two armies fought inconclusively north and east of Spotsylvania • Lee remained behind his strong defenses which Grant cannot breach • There was one sign of encouragement for Grant on May 10 when Emory Upton tried a new tactic of advancing in column formation without pausing to fire en route • Upton achieved a temporary break in the Confederate line but when he received no reinforcements, he was forced to withdraw After the Civil War, Upton will write several tactical manuals for the Army

Spotsylvania • On May 12, Grant launched a corps-size version of Upton’s tactic against a salient known as the “Mule Shoe” • Upton’s charge was successful and captures 4,000 Confederates • Lee launched a desperate counterattack and was able to build a new line of trenches across the base of the Mule Shoe

Spotsylvania • The Confederates withdraw but Grant was determined to continue his offensive • He had written Halleck, “I propose to fight it out on this line [Spotsylvania] if it takes all summer.” • However the failure of Butler and Sigel’s supporting attacks have given Lee 8,500 reinforcements • Grant decided to try to slip by Lee’s right flank and continue moving southward Butler is “bottled up” in the Bermuda Hundred

Hanover Junction (North Anna) • Grant said, “My chief anxiety is to draw Lee out of his works.” • Lee refused to take Grant’s bait and be drawn out into the open • Instead he withdrew to Hanover Junction, the crossroads of the Virginia Central and the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac railroads to protect the rail links to the Shenandoah Valley Hanover Junction 1863

Hanover Junction (North Anna) • Grant assumed Lee’s refusal to give battle as a sign of weakness and on May 23 he advanced toward Hanover Junction, expecting little resistance until he neared Richmond some 25 miles further south • In reality, Lee had prepared a strong five-mile defense laid out in an inverted “V” shape and making good use of the steep banks of the North Anna and Little Rivers • The apex of the inverted “V” was at Ox Ford, the only defensible river crossing in the area • The terrain would prevent Grant from directly supporting one side of his army with the other

Hanover Junction (North Anna) • Grant attacked on May 24 and eventually realized his army was divided and that Lee had both strong defenses and the maneuver advantage • Lee had Grant in a vulnerable position but was unable to achieve proper execution of his plan • A.P. Hill launched a series of piecemeal attacks which caused Lee to complain, “Why did you not do as Jackson would have done, thrown your whole force upon those people and driven them back?" • The two armies disengaged and continued south to Cold Harbor

Cold Harbor • By this time both sides, especially the Confederates, had become expert at entrenching • “it is a rule that when the Rebels halt, the first day gives them a good rifle-pit; the second, a regular infantry parapet with artillery in position; and the third a parapet with abatis in front and entrenched batteries behind. Sometimes they put this three days’ work into the first twenty-four hours.” • A Federal officer • Such entrenchments would give an enormous advantage to the defenders as Cold Harbor would demonstrate

Cold Harbor • Cold Harbor was fought over the same ground as the Seven Days’ Battles • It gets its name not from being a port but from an old hotel that provided harbor (shelter) but no hot food • Cold Harbor was a crossroads town about 10 miles northeast of Richmond Burnett’s Inn at Cold Harbor

Cold Harbor • On June 3 Grant launched a frontal assault on Lee’s works • The attacks were little more than a succession of charges made at different points along the Confederate line • Most failed within minutes

Cold Harbor • Grant lost some 13,000 compared to just 2,500 for Lee • “I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22d of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained.” • Grant, Memoirs

Petersburg • Grant now had no further prospects of breaking through to Richmond • He had simply run out of maneuver room and Lee’s defenses were too strong • Instead Grant decided to shift his army south of the James River, use the river as his line of supply, and try to get to Petersburg • Petersburg was about 20 miles south of Richmond • Through it passed most of the supplies bound for Richmond and Lee’s army

Petersburg • Grant got a jump on Lee and crossed the James between June 12 and 16 • He almost was able to seize Petersburg without a fight, but Lee barely managed to beat Grant to Petersburg and occupy the fortifications already in place • A ten-month siege ensued

Petersburg • Grant built up a huge logistical base at City Point • City Point gave Grant outstanding rail and water communications which kept his force well-supplied • As Lee weakened in Petersburg, Grant grew stronger outside

Petersburg • While Grant occupied Lee at Petersburg, Sherman was advancing on Atlanta • The North held potentially decisive military positions, but the current stalemate was not helping Lincoln in the upcoming presidential election • Many Northerners began agitating for a negotiated settlement to the war and George McClellan was campaigning against Lincoln on a peace platform

Petersburg • On July 30, Federal soldiers detonated four tons of black powder in a mine they had dug under the Confederate position • The explosion created a 175-foot long, 60-foot wide, and 30-foot deep hole • For at least 600 feet on either side of the crater the Confederate line had been reduced to havoc

Petersburg • However this initial Federal advantage of surprise gave way to mismanagement and delay and the Confederates recovered • Now the Federals were largely trapped in the crater • The Federals lost about 5,300 and the Confederates 1,032

Five Forks • As the siege continued, Grant kept extending his lines to the west • He was never able to get around Lee but he forced Lee to stretch his lines to the breaking point • In March 1865 Phil Sheridan with most of his cavalry joined Grant from the Shenandoah Valley • Grant gave Sheridan an infantry corps and told him to break Lee’s western flank

Five Forks • At the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, Sheridan succeeded in doing so • Grant then ordered a general attack all along the Petersburg front • Lee was forced to abandon Petersburg and the city fell on April 3 • Federal troops entered Richmond the next day Sheridan’s charge at Five Forks

Appomattox • Lee’s only alternative was to try to get his 50,00 man army into central North Carolina to join with Johnston’s 20,000 in opposing Sherman’s advance north from Savannah • Grant anticipated this and used his cavalry to prevent Lee from turning south and instead forced Lee to the west • Lee hoped to reach a supply dump at Lynchburg but on April 6, Federal cavalry caught up with Lee’s rear guard and destroyed it

Appomattox • On April 8, Sheridan got ahead of Lee and cut off the Confederate retreat • On April 9, Lee requested a conference with Grant and the two met at Appomattox Court House where Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia Surrender at Appomattox by Tom Lovell

Post-Appomattox • Lincoln was assassinated on April 14 • Joe Johnston surrendered to Sherman on April 26 • Jefferson Davis was captured near Irwinville, Georgia on May 10 • Richard Taylor surrendered most of the remaining troops east of the Mississippi on May 4 • Kirby Smith surrendered the trans-Mississippi Department on May 26 John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln in Ford’s Theater

Next • Final Exam Review

Grant’s Overland Campaign