[
317]
Chapter 12: operations against Richmond.
- Movements of the Army of the James, 317.
-- seizure of City Point and its vicinity, 318.
-- operations in Southeastern Virginia, 319.
-- Confederate troops called from Charleston to the defense of Petersburg and Richmond, 320.
-- events between Petersburg and Richmond, 321, 322.
-- Union cavalry raid under General Kautz, 323.
-- advance of the Army of the Potomac from Spottsylvania Court
-- House, 324.
-- the armies on the North Anna in a race for Richmond, 325.
-- battle of the North Anna, 326.
-- the armies across the Pamunkey, 327.
-- the National troops at Cool Arbor, 328.
-- battle of Cool Arbor, 329, 330.
-- Grant resolves to cross the James River, 331.
-- preparation for the crossing, 332.
-- the passage of the James, 333.
-- the defenses of Bermuda hundred, 334.
-- attempts to capture Petersburg, 335.
-- attack on the Petersburg lines, 336.
-- operations against Petersburg, 337.
-- seizure of the Weldon railway, 338.
-- condition of the Army of the Potomac, 339.
-- Butler secures a lodgment at Deep Bottom, 340.
While
Meade and
Lee were struggling in the vicinity of the
Rapid Anna,
General Butler, then in command of the Army of the James, was co-operating with the Army of the Potomac in accordance with a plan which he had proposed to the
General-in-Chief, and which that officer had approved.
That plan contemplated a vigorous movement against
Richmond on the south side of the
James River, the first objective being
City Point, at the mouth of the
Appomattox River.
Grant issued
orders accordingly, and directed
General Butler to move simultaneously with
Meade.
Butler was well prepared for the execution of his part of the plan, when, at the beginning of May, he received orders to advance.
His effective force was about forty thousand men, and was composed chiefly of the Eighteenth Army Corps, commanded by
General W. F. Smith, and the Tenth Army Corps, which had lately been ordered from
South Carolina, led by
General Gillmore, who arrived at
Fortress Monroe on the 3d of May.
Butler's first care was to mislead the
Confederates concerning his intentions.
For that purpose he first sent
Henry's brigade of New York troops to
West Point, at the head of
York River, to begin the construction of wharves,
while cavalry made a demonstration in the direction of
Richmond.
He also sent the bulk of his army in that direction as far as the old lines of
McClellan1 at
Yorktown and
Gloucester Point; and so successful was the