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The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), General Meade at Gettysburg. (search)
64, we began the campaign with one hundred and fifteen thousand men, and after Spottsylvania Court-House were constantly receiving heavy reinforcements. General Lee had about sixty thousand men. And yet, with this great preponderance of strength, we assaulted the enemy again and again, in positions not so strong as the one held at Williamsport, always without success and with terrible loss. From the crossing of the Rapidan, on May 5th, to the unsuccessful assault on the enemy's works at Petersburg, June 18th, a period of about six weeks, the Army of the Potomac lost not less than seventy thousand men. In the battles between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, in no case was a direct assault upon an intrenched position successful. There is evidence that the enemy were anxious to be attacked at Williamsport. In the History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, by Mr. J. R. Sypher, a letter is quoted from the Rev. Dr. Falk, who was in the enemy's lines at that
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The First attack on Fort Fisher (search)
e paper contained an order from Colonel Lamb, the immediate commander of the fort, for some powder to be sent in. General Butler did not go on shore, but in the tug Chamberlain he moved to Fort Fisher, abreast the troops, and kept up communication with Weitzel by signals. Meanwhile, the remainder of Ames' Division had captured over two hundred North Carolinians, with ten commissioned officers, from whom Butler learned that Hoke's Division had been detached from the Confederate army at Petersburg for the defense of Wilmington; that two brigades were then within two miles of Fort Fisher, and that others were pressing on. The weather was now murky, and a heavy surf was beginning to roll in, making it impossible to land any more troops. Weitzel, who had thoroughly reconnoitred the fort, reported to Butler that in his judgment, and that of the officers with him, a successful assault upon it, with the troops at hand, would be impossible, for the moment the fleet should cease firing, th
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), A campaign with sharpshooters. (search)
atesmanship. The chain of earthworks around Petersburg was fifty miles in extent; being an effort, that fringe the lines from the Wilderness to Petersburg, and the thinned ranks they paraded on the lresulted in hurrying Hill's Corps forward to Petersburg, where its presence was greatly needed. When Petersburg was reached, the command was placed well on the right of the line, and the duties that of March, a movement was made on our left (Fort Stedman), which proved a failure. That very eveninore the enemy broke through the lines around Petersburg, they pushed up their skirmish line almost tHis headquarters were still established near Petersburg. On Saturday evening he left the front at Hssion from General Hill himself to return to Petersburg, and having ridden up the lines in company wldiery-quietly surrendered, and were sent to Petersburg in charge of three couriers. Accompanied onll, on reaching a point some four miles from Petersburg, on the plank road, they saw before them two[1 more...]
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), A ruse of War. (search)
n, the answer to which is not very obvious. Petersburg, on the line of the railway leading south frrincipal resources. Why so vital a point as Petersburg at that time was, should have been left ungups which should have been ordered at once to Petersburg were kept in North Carolina doing little or nothing, while Pickett was left in Petersburg with merely a handful of men. Colonel Harrison continstood strongly urged their being hastened to Petersburg to support Pickett. But the danger to Peterhers beside General Pickett. A gentleman of Petersburg had, but a short time before the arrival of truth, he had no troops with which to defend Petersburg, and that the place would be captured unless of duty. As we passed beyond the limits of Petersburg, on the City Point road, we saw encamped on of the New York bar, who was at that time in Petersburg, and had joined us as a volunteer, was very But for this bold conception of Pickett's, Petersburg would have been occupied, Richmond isolated,[8 more...]
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The battle of fleet Wood. (search)
ted the story of the war. During the last two years of the war no branch of the Army of the Potomac contributed so much to the overthrow of Lee's army as the cavalry, both that which operated in the Valley of Virginia and that which remained at Petersburg. But for the efficiency of this force, it is safe to say, that the war would have been indefinitely prolonged. From the time that the cavalry was concentrated into a corps under General Pleasonton, until the close of the war, a steady progrese night to a place of safety. Nor can Hampton's famous Cattle raid be passed over, where two thousand five hundred fat beeves were snatched from the guardianship of this same Federal cavalry, and safely conveyed within the Confederate lines at Petersburg, despite very vigorous efforts on the part of General Gregg himself, if I mistake not, for their recovery. No! No! The prestige of success did rest finally and forever with the Federal horsemen, but there were many bright days between times,
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Confederate negro enlistments. (search)
Alister, and John was taken to Fort Lafayette, and kept prisoner for eight months, while every persuasion, and a hundred dollars a month wages, were offered him to enter the Federal service, but he continued staunch. In one of the battles near Petersburg, a slave in a Federal regiment saw his former young master on the field in danger. He threw down his musket, and ran to him and carried him into the Confederate ranks. There are repeated instances of negroes on the plantations concealing and castanet-wise, upon the pavements with the wooden soles of their huge and shapeless canvas shoes. Many a Richmond mother, as she heard the bacon-colored gangs clatter by her door, thought of her own ragged, half-starved boy in the trenches at Petersburg, and said to herself: If the cause demands him as food for powder, why not send out these for the Yankees to shoot at, also? Butler, at this very time, had ten thousand Virginia negroes at work cutting his Dutch Gap canal, about which the Ri
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), How Jefferson Davis was overtaken. (search)
5, while seated in St. Paul's Church, in Richmond, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from Lee, announcing the fall of Petersburg, the partial destruction of his army, and the immediate necessity for flight. Although he could not have been entirelyof which a whole Federal corps had attacked, and all day long the enemy was closing on the works immediately enveloping Petersburg. But the work, decisive of the war, was done in two hours. At eleven o'clock in the morning General Lee wrote a dispat copies of the Montgomery papers of the 6th and 7th, containing brief accounts of the operations of General Grant about Petersburg, and from which, making allowance for rebel suppressions, it was supposed the Army of the Potomac had gained a decisivellard was written to me at my request, and speaks for itself. He, too, gives Davis a good start, as does also Stedman. Stedman corroborates pretty closely Bee's story as to what occurred in front of the tent. These statements were made by the boy
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The mistakes of Gettysburg. (search)
General Lee to surrender on that day-two days before the surrender took place at Appomattox. In describing that meeting, he does me the grave injustice of putting my name among the officers who gave General Lee this advice. The truth of the matter is, I never attended any such meeting. I had no time to have done so. I was kept incessantly busy in the field during the days preceding the surrender at Appomattox. All night long of the 1st we marched with Fields' Division from Richmond to Petersburg, reaching that point at early dawn on the 2d. I at once went to General Lee's headquarters. I found him in bed in his tent. While I was sitting upon the side of his couch, discussing my line of march and receiving my orders for the future-this involving a march on the Five Forks--a courier came in and announced that our line was being broken in front of the house in which General Lee had slept. I hurried to the front, and as fast as my troops came up they were thrown into action to che
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The famous fight at Cedar creek. (search)
sed with the Confederate, it was in a struggle which all regarded as the final one. In June, after Grant with all his available force had besieged Richmond and Petersburg, Lee, feeling secure behind fortifications, detached an army of twenty-five thousand picked troops under General Jubal A. Early, including the flower of his Vir's cavalry, under McCausland, had produced a very considerable civilian panic, attracted the anxious attention of the whole country, and convinced Grant, before Petersburg, that decisive measures were required in the neighborhood of the Potomac if he was to retain his grip on the rebel capital. Accordingly, two small-sized infantical enemy, and went into camp, the centre of the infantry resting on the Valley pike. The Sixth Corps continued on to Front Royal, on its way to join Grant at Petersburg. The three cavalry divisions took their positions as follows: Merritt's on the left (east) of the infantry, picketing the line of the North fork Shenandoah riv
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The career of General A. P. Hill. (search)
Virginia Infantry; was subsequently promoted to be a brigade, division, and corps commander, and was killed in front of Petersburg, on April 2d, 1865. And this is correct so far as it goes — there is no better way of not knowing a man than to gaze u army to the banks of the James, Hill was always to the fore, and always gave a good account of himself and his men. At Petersburg, throughout the so-called siege, he held the right, or marching, flank of the army, and was constantly engaged. It wase had lost a friend. On the 2d of April, 1865, Grant made an advance upon the right-centre of the lines in front of Petersburg; and, breaking through in heavy force, threw back upon the right the larger portion of the two divisions of Hill's CorpPotomac, thence to Rappahannock, to the Wilderness, throughout the wasting and wonderful struggle from the Mattaponi to Petersburg — the record of battles won, of positions saved, of guns and prisoners captured, gives Hill an emphatic claim to a sold
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