After the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, Grant had abandoned, for a
time at least, his plan to capture Richmond by direct assault. With
characteristic zeal he had ordered Meade to move the Army of the Potomac
across the James River and to invest the more southerly city. On June
14, Grant and Butler conferred at Bermuda Hundred. At that time, orders
were given for the attack on Petersburg.
The first of the Northern forces to arrive on the scene of battle was
the XVIII Corps of the Army of the James, which had fought at Cold
Harbor. Early in the morning of June 15, these troops, commanded by Maj.
Gen. W. F. “Baldy” Smith, crossed from Bermuda Hundred to the south side
of the Appomattox by means of a pontoon bridge at Broadway Landing.
Eighteen thousand Union soldiers were on their way to face less than
4,000 under Beauregard. Throughout the day they approached the city and
assembled for the attack.
[Illustration: _Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, Confederate commander at
Petersburg during the early days of the campaign, defended the
“Dimmock Line” against the Federal assaults of June 15-18, 1864.
When Lee arrived to direct operations, Beauregard’s troops were
merged with the Army of Northern Virginia._]
There was skirmishing throughout the afternoon as the Federals drove in
the Confederate pickets, and shortly after 7 p.m. on June 15 the XVIII
Corps launched a fierce attack on the Dimmock Line. Among the first
points to fall was Battery 5, one of the strongest of the Confederate
positions. Within a few hours Beauregard had lost not only Battery 5 but
all the line for more than a mile south. The defenders withdrew and
threw up a hasty entrenchment behind Harrison’s Creek, well to the rear
of the captured section of the line. While the Confederate retreat was
taking place, the Union II Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield S.
Hancock, arrived to reinforce the Federal columns.
The appearance on the field of the II Corps was an ominous sign for the
Confederates. While the initial attacks were taking place on June 15,
the Army of the Potomac had been busily engaged in crossing the James
River farther to the east. The number of Union troops south of the river
was increasing hourly, until by midnight of June 16 at least 70,000 had
crossed.
Darkness ended the fighting on June 15, but early the next day the
attacks were renewed. More of the defense line, south of the portion
captured the previous day, now gave way. In response to repeated
entreaties from Beauregard throughout June 15 and 16, Lee ordered more
divisions to the support of Petersburg, necessitating the draining of
precious reserves from the Richmond lines. By dawn of that second day,
Beauregard could muster about 14,000 men to face the enemy. Thus, the
center of attention rapidly shifted from Richmond to Petersburg, which
had so recently seemed of but secondary importance.
[Illustration: _Broadway Landing on the Appomattox River where Maj.
Gen. W. F. “Baldy” Smith’s XVIII Corps of the Army of the James
crossed on June 15, 1864. It was later used as an ordnance depot by
the Union Army._]
[Illustration: _Pontoon bridge at Broadway Landing constructed by
Federal soldiers in 1864._]
[Illustration: _Confederate Battery 5, shown here under Federal
occupation 6 days after its capture, was one of the first points on
Petersburg’s outer defense lines to fall to the XVIII Corps during
the June 15 attack._]
The third day of battle was practically a repetition of that of the
preceding day. Again the Northern forces attacked the Confederate
troops, concentrating their efforts to the south of the positions
captured earlier. Again the Confederates were forced to draw back. A
decisive breakthrough of the opposing line was now anticipated by the
assaulting forces. About 12:30 a.m., June 18, Beauregard ordered his
troops to begin a withdrawal to new positions about a mile closer to the
city. Throughout the early morning hours of that day Beauregard had his
men busily engaged in the construction of this defense line. Colonel
Roman later recalled that “without a moment’s rest the digging of the
trenches was begun, with such utensils as had been hastily collected at
Petersburg, many of the men using their bayonets, their knives, and even
their tin cans, to assist in the rapid execution of the work.”
[Illustration: _A section of the Confederate defense lines around
Petersburg. Note the use of wickerware (gabions), sharpened stakes
(fraises), and branches (abatis) to protect the position._]
A general assault by the Union forces was ordered for 4 a.m. on June 18.
When the attack began it was soon discovered that the ranks of the enemy
had not been broken nor had the city fallen into Northern hands. The
area where the left flank of the Dimmock Line anchored on the Appomattox
was empty, except for a thin line of skirmishers who were gradually
forced back. The Northern troops came on, crossing the Norfolk and
Petersburg Railroad west of where the defenders had constructed their
new line and continuing on until they were brought face to face with the
muzzles of Confederate guns. Meanwhile, elements of Lee’s command
continued pouring in to aid their comrades, and Lee came down from his
temporary headquarters near Chester, Va., to personally direct the
defense operations.
Throughout that June Saturday, brisk action occurred on the new
Petersburg front. The major Union drive, involving elements of five
corps, came about 4 p.m. Artillery hammered the Confederates. Infantry
charged, only to be hurled back. During the course of one of these
futile drives, the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery reportedly suffered the
most severe losses of any regiment in a single engagement of the entire
war. This unit, 850 strong, charged from the concealment of the Prince
George Court House Road north of where Fort Stedman was soon to stand.
Met by a heavy crossfire, it withdrew in less than one-half hour, with
632 casualties.
As on the previous days, fighting ended with the coming of darkness.
Grant’s attempt to capture Petersburg had failed, with a loss of 10,000
men; but his efforts could not be considered entirely wasted. Two of the
railroads leading into the city had been cut, and several roads were in
Union hands. Behind the Northern troops was City Point, which Grant
speedily converted into a huge supply base.
The major result of the opening 4 days of combat, however, was the
failure of the Federal forces to break the Confederate defense line.
First Beauregard, and then Lee, had held against heavy odds. They had
been pushed back closer to their base—but they had held. Possibly if
Smith had advanced his XVIII Corps farther into the defenses on the
opening night, or if Hancock’s II Corps had arrived earlier, Petersburg
would have fallen on June 15 or 16. But these had not happened, and now
47,000 to 51,000 Confederates would settle down to defend the city
against 111,000 to 113,000 Union besiegers.
The defenses of Richmond now ran from White Oak Swamp, east of that
city, south to Jerusalem Plank Road, 26 miles away. The fate of the Army
of Northern Virginia—of the Confederate capital itself—would depend upon
the outcome of the drive against Petersburg.