New York cavalry, afterwards made a detour toward the rear of the enemy
with a portion of his command, capturing between fifty and one hundred
rebels. The same afternoon, also, an attack was made upon the Union
right, occupied by the First division, commanded by General Innes N.
Palmer; but it was repulsed without difficulty and without serious loss
of life.
The National line on the 8th was in front of Jackson’s creek, at one
point on which (Jackson’s Mills,) the rebels had their strongest
position. Colonel Malloy with the First brigade, Second division,
successfully opposed the enemy in the afternoon. No communication
existed at this time between the First and Second divisions.
Between three and four o’clock, General Ruger came up and filled the
interstice between the First and Second divisions. This gave a new life
to the entire line, and Colonel Malloy made a charge upon the rebel
rifle pits, partially regaining the ground he had formerly occupied. At
this, night came on and the action ceased.
Thursday morning, the 9th, Malloy fully regained his original position
and continued to hold it. The enemy charged upon him three times in the
forenoon, and were each time easily repulsed, with some loss of life and
a small loss of prisoners to them. The afternoon was mostly occupied
with light skirmishing along the whole line. About two hundred rebel
prisoners were taken during the day.
All through the evening of the 9th, and the night and morning of the 9th
and 10th, the enemy were persistent in their attacks. They had evidently
learned that Couch was coming up overland to join Cox. This, of course,
necessitated a furious and speedy onset upon Cox, in order to annihilate
him before Couch should arrive. But the wave was sent bounding back,
time after time, and finally, on the morning of the 10th, as they
attempted another flank movement, the Unionists took a large number of
prisoners, which discouraged the enemy from further assaults.
On the morning of the 11th, General Couch’s troops came up and formed a
junction with those of General Cox. The rebel troops then retired across
the Neuse river.
On the 15th the Mayor of Kinston, with a delegation, came out and
formally surrendered the city. The National troops immediately took
possession of the place, and fortified themselves within and around it.
The rebels had destroyed their ram Neuse, and as much material of war as
they could, prior to their hasty retreat: but valuable captures of guns
and ammunition were made by the National forces. The losses, on the
Union side, in these engagements has been stated at about two thousand.
The rebel loss was heavier. Two thousand rebel prisoners were captured.
From Kinston, the rebels having fallen back, and concentrated to oppose
Sherman at Bentonsville, General Schofield pushed on to Goldsboro’,
which he entered on the 21st. Here the junction was effected between his
troops and those of Sherman—as already stated—and from this point the
advance was made, which ended the campaign in the Carolinas.
THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG, VA.
The siege of Petersburg began with a desperate assault, on the evening
of the 15th of June, made by Major-General Smith’s troops, against the
first line of the rebel works, two miles from the city. This assault was
followed up on the 16th, 17th and 18th, and resulted in the capture of
the enemy’s outer line of works. The Ninth, Eighteenth, and Second corps
were engaged, and the Union loss was very heavy—not far, indeed, from
ten thousand men.
The charge on the afternoon of the 15th was made with great gallantry,
by the troops under General Smith, many of whom were negroes. The
Thirteenth New Hampshire, the Eighth Connecticut, and the Ninety-second
and One hundred and eighteenth New York, also participated in this
formidable action, which, prosecuted in the face of artillery fire, was
excessively difficult and perilous.
On the 16th, the assault commenced at daybreak, General Birney taking
the initiative, by driving the rebels out of two lines of rifle pits,
and taking many prisoners. Colonel Eagan, of General Birney’s division,
was wounded in this charge, as also were Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, of
the One hundred and tenth Pennsylvania regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Warner, of the Fortieth New York. About half-past five o’clock in the
afternoon, the assault was followed up by a tremendous charge of
Hancock’s men. The battle lasted three hours and was desperate and
destructive. The Union line was formed thus: General Smith’s corps, the
Eighteenth, was on the right; General Hancock’s, the Second, was in the
centre, and General Burnside’s, the Ninth, on the left. All the troops
fought well. Miller’s brigade, of the central division, especially
distinguished itself. The Union loss was about two thousand, killed and
wounded. At about eight o’clock the assault was suspended, the National
forces holding the advanced position which they had conquered.
General Hancock, suffering much from a wound received at Gettysburg, was
now relieved of duty, and General Birney assumed command of the Second
corps. The Eighteenth corps, General Smith, was removed to Bermuda
Hundred, and its place supplied by the 5th, General Warren. General
Burnside directed the assault, on the morning of the 17th, and it was
commenced by General Griffin’s brigade, who made an impetuous dash
forward, capturing six guns and four hundred prisoners, including
sixteen officers. General Ledlie’s division made another charge in the
afternoon, capturing a portion of the rebel fortifications. General
Burnside then began to shell Petersburg, being distant about a mile and
a half from the city, but did not long continue the bombardment.
About nine o’clock in the evening of the 17th, the rebels made a sally,
to recover the position they had lost, and a severe hand-to-hand fight
ensued. The First Michigan regiment, sharpshooters, sustained the brunt
of the attack, and, at the outset, captured two hundred and forty
prisoners. But the flank column of the enemy, pushing out to the left,
suddenly charged into the Union works, which the enemy at the same time
shelled from the front, and so drove out the brave Michiganders. The
color-sergeant of this regiment, dreading capture, buried his flag in
the intrenchments. The rebels held the line they had taken, until about
two o’clock at night, when they abandoned it. On the morning of the
18th, the Michigan regiment marched in and took possession, the
color-sergeant disinterring his flag. The National loss was about one
thousand.
The operations of the 18th were particularly directed against a rebel
line of works near the railroad from Petersburg to Suffolk. Wilcox’s
division was assigned the duty of taking these fortifications, and was
supported by Colonel Curtin’s brigade of Potter’s division, General
Ledlie’s troops acting as a reserve. There was a good deal of
skirmishing in the morning, but the general advance was not ordered till
noon. Portions of the Eighteenth corps, together with the Sixth, Second,
Ninth, and Fifth, were engaged in this day’s assault. The fighting was
of the most desperate character in all parts of the field. Up and down
ravines, over ditches, and breastworks, under a destructive fire of
artillery and musketry, the brave soldiers of the Union forced and
fought their way. Desperate and continued charges were made throughout
the afternoon and evening; but with no material success. The slaughter,
on both sides, was tremendous.
“The scenes in our hospitals,” says a contemporary correspondent, in
closing an account of these four bloody days before Petersburg, “during
the past few nights, have been of the most ghastly character. Day and
night our surgeons have been engaged in the sad duties of their
profession. There are not tents enough for the wounded; and numbers of
the poor fellows are stretched beneath the trees, awaiting their turn
upon the operating tables.”
Sunday, the 19th of June, witnessed a lull in this bloody strife. The
enemy’s artillery did, indeed, belch forth now and then—meeting with
prompt response—and there was some skirmishing. A rebel charge made at
nightfall, on the Union centre, was repulsed. General Butler’s forces
also repulsed an attack, made by Longstreet, at Bermuda Hundred. The
rebels had, by this time, reached a clear understanding of General
Grant’s position and design, and were actively opposing him at every
practicable point.
The Siege of Petersburg and of Richmond now began in good earnest—the
quiet, steady circumvallation, that is, of the rebel citadels and
armies—and it was never relaxed, until the rebellion had fallen. Many
important incidents marked its continuance and progress—battles,
skirmishes, success and failure, brave deeds and sad losses. It will be
the province of this narrative, within a brief compass, to touch upon
the most important of these incidents.
An effort to destroy the railroad between Petersburg and Weldon was made
on the 21st of June, and resulted in a battle at Davis Farm, in which
the Unionists, under General Barlow, were defeated, with a loss of about
a hundred men. On the 22d the same effort was repeated, in a more
formidable manner, and a yet fiercer battle ensued, in which the rebels
made many prisoners, while the National troops gained no material
advantage. More fighting took place on the 23d, the 24th and the 25th.
EXPLOSION OF PLEASANTS’ MINE, AND BATTLE BEFORE PETERSBURG.
JULY 29, 1864.
On the 25th of June, at the suggestion of Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants,
work was commenced with a view to the destruction of one of the most
important of the rebel works before Petersburg, by mining. The work to
be blown up was situated about two thousand yards from Petersburg. The
mine was started in the side of a ravine, and was constructed of the
customary shape—about four feet wide at the base, between four and five
feet high, and sloping towards the top. Near the entrance was a
ventilating shaft. Many of Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants’ men, the
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, were accustomed to mining, and so the labor
was prosecuted with skill and ease, as well as energy. As it advanced,
the tunnel was sloped upwards. At length, when the desired point was
reached, the miners were twenty feet beneath the rebels. Wings were then
constructed, so that the fort might be subterraneously encircled. Eight
chambers, separated from each other by sand-bags, and charged with four
hundred tons of powder, completed this device for blowing up the enemy.
Wooden pipes and hose connected the mine with the besiegers without.
Soon after midnight, on the 29th of July, the assaulting force—the Ninth
and Eighteenth corps, the Second and Fifth being held in reserve—were
massed and ready. Generals Ledlie, Wilcox, Potter, and Ferrero were to
lead the charge. At half-past three o’clock, A. M., on the morning of
the 30th, the fuse was lighted. But the dampness of the gallery
extinguished it. Much delay ensued. Daylight came; then sunrise. At
last, at a few minutes before five o’clock, the fuse was successfully
lit, and the mine exploded. The scene was awfully exciting and
impressive. At first the earth heaved and trembled; then the whole mass,
fort, guns, caissons, soldiers, and all surged upward like a tornado
into the air. The next moment there was a yawning pit, a hundred feet
long and half as wide, in which ruins were commingled, ghastly and
terrible; and, all along the line, the guns from the National works
simultaneously brayed out the fury of war. A charge was immediately made
by a brigade of General Ledlie’s division, which rushed through the gap,
and then paused to form for an assault on the enemy’s interior line. But
the rebels, recovering from their dismay and consternation, immediately
rallied, and now poured in an enfilading fire upon the captured fort.
Presently, however, the divisions of Potter, Ledlie, and Wilcox charged
together, in the face of a most terrific fire, which was no less severe
on their flanks than in their front. Their effort was grandly made, but
the fire was too severe, and they finally wavered and fell. The colored
division, under General Ferrero, was next hurled forward, but only to
meet the fate of its predecessors. Ultimately, the National troops were
penned up in the fort which they had taken, and were obliged to endure
the concentrated fire of the enemy. Squads of them, however, succeeded
in making their escape. The rebels made several charges upon the fort,
but were bravely repulsed. In this plight the soldiers of the Union
remained until noon, a steady cross fire being kept up over every yard
of the space between the fort and the Federal lines. At noon a general
retreat was ordered, in which many contrived to get away; but, at two
o’clock, being destitute of ammunition, those who remained surrendered
to the enemy. The National loss was five thousand; that of the rebels,
who fought in intrenchments, was, of course, much smaller.
THE DUTCH GAP CANAL.
There is, in the James river, a large bend, forming a peninsula, the
connecting neck of which is less than half a mile wide. This land is
known as Farrar’s Island. General Butler, on the 10th of August, 1864,
commenced the work of severing this projection from the main land by
constructing what is memorable as the Dutch Gap Canal. The object of the
canal was to enable the Unionists to save a circuit of six miles of the
river, filled with obstructions, and to flank the enemy’s batteries at
Howlett House. General Butler’s troops worked at this canal, with
continued pertinacity and skill, for many months, being frequently
subjected to the danger of rebel shells, and obliged to take frequent
refuge in holes in the ground. But, in the end, the work proved a
failure. It afforded much material for criticism, however, at the time,
and for not a little merriment, among the Unionists as well as the
rebels. Had it succeeded, it would have materially strengthened General
Grant’s lines, and lessened the tediousness and toil of the siege.
THE WAR SUMMER OF 1864.
During the continuance of the siege of Petersburg and Richmond, a call
was made by the President of the United States, for five hundred
thousand additional troops. The call was dated July 18th. A draft was
subsequently ordered, and was made. Later in the summer, General Grant
wrote the following letter, which concisely sums up what was then the
true condition of affairs in the country:
“HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, }
CITY POINT, VA., August 16th, 1864. }
“To Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE:
“DEAR SIR—I state to all citizens who visit me that all we want now to
insure an early restoration of the Union is a determined unity of
sentiment North. The rebels have now in their ranks their last man.
The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, guarding railroad
bridges, and forming a good part of their garrisons for intrenched
positions. A man lost by them cannot be replaced. They have robbed the
cradle and the grave equally to get their present force. Besides what
they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now losing from
desertions and other causes at least one regiment per day.
“With this drain upon them the end is not far distant, if we will only
be true to ourselves. Their only hope now is in a divided North. This
might give them reinforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and
Missouri, while it would weaken us. With the draft quickly enforced
the enemy would become despondent, and would make but little
resistance. I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly anxious to
hold out until after the Presidential election. They have many hopes
from its effects.
“They hope a counter revolution; they hope the election of the Peace
candidate. In fact, like ‘Micawber,’ they hope for something to ‘turn
up.’ Our Peace friends, if they expect peace from separation, are much
mistaken. It would but be the beginning of war, with thousands of
Northern men joining the South because of our disgrace in allowing a
separation. To have ‘peace on any terms,’ the South would demand the
restoration of their slaves already freed; they would demand indemnity
for losses sustained, and they would demand a treaty which would make
the North slave-hunters for the South. They would demand pay for the
restoration of every slave escaping to the North.
“Yours, truly, U. S. GRANT.”
BATTLES ALONG THE WELDON RAILROAD.
The summer of 1864 was exceedingly hot; and, for that reason, the
enterprise of military life somewhat flagged with the besiegers of the
rebel citadel. Yet many skirmishes, and several heavy engagements, took
place; and the rebels were watched with unceasing vigilance, and were
pressed wherever a point of attack seemed to offer the chance of gaining
desirable advantage. On the 14th, 15th, and 16th of August there was
some fighting in the vicinity of Deep Bottom, the Union loss being
between four and five hundred men. This engagement was brought on for
the purpose of distracting the enemy’s attention from the other extreme
of operations and to draw his forces partially away from Petersburg. The
feint succeeded; and, the Weldon railroad being left exposed, the Fifth
corps advanced, on the 18th of August, and took possession of Reams’s
Station, surprising a body of the enemy that was guarding it, but
losing, in the incidental fight, about three hundred men. The track was
torn up for about one mile. Next day, the 19th, the rebels made a
furious attack upon the National forces holding Reams’s Station, and a
bloody battle ensued. The Union line, being extended to a great length,
was quite thin in the centre. It had been hoped that the rebels would
not discover this weakness; but they did, and their first charge broke
through and divided the Union forces. The conflict that followed was
characterized by the most desperate bravery. Reinforcements arriving—the
First and Second divisions of the Ninth corps—the rebels were finally
repulsed. The most notable feature of this fight was, that, in the
course of events, it became necessary to train the Union artillery upon
a struggling mass of patriots and rebels, and sacrifice friends as well
as foes, in order to hold the position originally taken by the Fifth
corps. This position was held; but the rebels recovered the railroad as
far as Yellow Springs. The loss, on the Union side, including prisoners,
was three thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine.
[Illustration: CHARGING A BATTERY ON THE WELDON RAIL ROAD.]
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF A RAILROAD TRAIN.]
THE BATTLE OF REAMS’S STATION.
AUGUST 28, 1864.
A desperate battle was next fought, on the 28th of August, a little
southward of Reams’s Station. It was brought on by an effort, on the
part of the enemy, to break and disperse the Second corps, under General
Hancock, posted at that point. The attack was made at about half past
five in the afternoon, against Hancock’s centre, by the rebels under
Wilcox: and against his left, by the rebels under Heth. It was met with
great bravery, and vigorously resisted; but at length the enemy
succeeded in breaking the line opposed to them. Happily, no permanent
advantage was gained by this turn of fortune to the rebels. A portion of
General Gibbon’s division was brought forward to repair the damage done
to the National line. The enemy then fell upon General Hancock’s extreme
left, but were severely repulsed by a dismounted cavalry force, under
General Gregg, who handled his men with great skill—the cavalry, on
their part, behaving with the utmost gallantry. At different points
along the line the fighting continued briskly until dark, when the
battle ended in the enemy’s signal defeat. The rebels then withdrew,
leaving their dead and wounded on the field. Many prisoners were
captured from the divisions of both Heth and Wilcox, and the enemy’s
loss was very heavy. The National loss in killed and wounded did not
exceed twelve hundred.
Few battles of this war have been more determined or sanguinary than
this one. In his official report, General Hancock says: “This has been
one of the most desperate fights of the war, resembling Spottsylvania in
its character, though the numbers engaged gave less importance to it.”
The field of battle, when the conflict was over, has been described as
hideously and repulsively awful to look upon. Such scenes as these,
throughout the whole civil war, bore eloquent testimony to the bravery
and noble self-sacrifice of the gallant men who laid down their lives in
defence of their country.
BATTLE OF CHAPIN’S BLUFF.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1864.
If not very successful, the movement which led to this battle was very
bold, and was executed with remarkable courage and endurance by the
soldiers of the Union. It began from two points, and was designed to
capture Richmond by a bold push. General Ord, with the Eighteenth corps,
crossed the James river at Aiken’s Landing, which is eight miles above
Deep Bottom, and advanced against the works on Chapin’s Farm. At the
same time, General Birney, with the Tenth corps, moved against the
enemy’s works in front of Deep Bottom, which he captured, thence moving
along the Newmarket road toward Richmond, and, at an early hour,
establishing communication with General Ord. The latter had already
captured the first line of the rebel intrenchments at Chapin’s Bluff,
and with it fifteen pieces of artillery. When General Birney came up, an
assaulting column was organized, of both corps, to carry the heavy
interior line of rebel works. By this time, however, the rebels had
received reinforcements, and hence were enabled—the works being of great
strength—to repel the charge of the Unionists. The attack began early in
the afternoon, the men rushing forward impetuously, and cheering loudly.
A storm of grape and canister was hurled into their faces, which wrought
terrible destruction in their ranks. But they neither flinched nor
halted, but steadily held on their way. Soon a fearful enfilading fire
of artillery swept in upon them, mowing down their ranks like grass; but
still they pressed forward till they found themselves in front of the
enemy’s redoubts, which proved to be of a much more formidable character
than had been supposed. A perfect abattis held them completely at bay,
while the enemy’s infantry leveled their ranks with the ground to the
right and to the left. The few who succeeded in gaining the rebel lines
found them to be utterly unassailable. They were completely surrounded
by a ditch eight feet in depth, and twelve feet in width; and could only
be reached by means of a drawbridge, which, of course, was now drawn up.
The Union men still determined to make an assault if an attack was
within the bounds of possibility, and leaped into the ditch, in hope of
finding a passage to the forts beyond, but found themselves penned in,
and unable to either advance or retreat.
The conduct of the colored troops, under General Birney, deserves the
highest praise. Many of them, by climbing on each other’s shoulders,
succeeded in reaching the parapet, but in numbers far too small to make
an attack on the fort. They therefore, as many as could, effected a
retreat; those who could not, as well as those in the ditch, being
compelled to surrender.
This assault, though a failure, is worthy of commendation for its
exceeding boldness; but it cost the Union troops a heavy price. Over
five hundred men in killed and wounded were lost. The negro troops
suffered very severely; and in General Foster’s division the loss in
field-officers was so great that scarcely a regiment escaped losing its
leader.
ARMY OF THE JAMES.
BATTLE BEFORE RICHMOND.
OCTOBER 7, 1864.