John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

Dana's despatches show that he remained at Cold Harbor till the afternoon of June 12th with Grant; that the long halt of the army was at an end, and that the great movement by the left, apparently against Richmond, but really to cross the James River at Bermuda Hundred, was to begin that night. His last act before breaking camp that afternoon was to call the attention of the Secretary of War to the misconduct of Generals Ward, Owen, and Eustis, and to the fact that General Grant desired General Slocum, who was making war against a den of thieves at Vicksburg, should be left in command at that place. His first act after getting into camp that night four miles beyond Long Bridge was to report “everything going on perfectly; ... troops moving rapidly; ... weather splendid.”

During the entire day of June 13th Dana appears to have been engaged in riding from point to point, for the purpose of watching and reporting the movement of the army by the left flank towards Fort Powhatan on the James. The next day he crossed the James to Butler's headquarters at Bermuda Hundred, and the day afterwards went to City Point. His despatches for that period cover all the important operations in that field, and show that “All goes on like a miracle” ; that “the weather is cloudy, threatening rain, but I think we shall get everything out of the Chickahominy bottom upon the highlands along the James River before any trouble from that source.” Singularly enough, he added, “We know nothing of Lee's movements. He has not yet sent troops to Petersburg.” He reports later that Smith was to have attacked the last-named place at daylight on the 15th, that at 4 P. M. he had carried a line of intrenchments, and that at 7.20 P. M. he assaulted and carried “the principal line” before Petersburg. In the same despatch he tells us that he had ridden over the conquered lines with Grant, and found them to be “more difficult even to take than was ”