May, 1864. |
1 See chapters XIV., XV., and XVI., volume II. The map on the opposite page, omitted by accident when that record was printed, will not only give the reader an idea of the entire region of stirring operations in Southeastern Virginia at that time, but may be usefully consulted when studying the great and decisive campaign we are now considering.
2 The transports were preceded by three army gun-boats, under the command of General Charles R. Graham, formerly of the navy. The remainder of the naval force consisted of four “monitors,” the iron-clad Atlanta, and ten gun-boats, commanded by Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee, whose flag-ship was the Malvern, formerly a blockade-runner.
3 “At sunset on the 4th, you were threatening the enemy's capital from West Point and White House, within thirty miles on its eastern side. Within twenty-four hours, at sunset on the 5th of May, by a march of 130 miles, you transported 35,000 men-their luggage, supplies, horses, wagons and artillery-within fifteen miles of the south side of Richmond, with such celerity and secresy, that the enemy were wholly unprepared for your coming, and allowed you, without opposition, to seize the strongest natural position on the continent. A victory all the more valuable because bloodless!” --General Butler's Address to the Soldiers qf the Army of the James, October 11, 1864.
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