The relentless westerly advance of the besieging force was soon resumed
after the capture of the Weldon Railroad in August. Constant skirmishing
occurred between the lines until, in late September, Grant struck again.
The Battle of Peebles’ Farm, September 29 to October 1, was really the
second section of a two-part struggle. The first took place closer to
Richmond and was directed at Fort Harrison, a strongly fortified point
on the outer defense line of the Confederate capital. Fort Harrison was
approximately midway between Richmond and Petersburg. On the morning of
September 29, Union troops advanced and captured the fort and held it
the next day against a counterattack by the former occupants. At the
same time, Meade was moving toward a further encirclement of Petersburg
with more than 20,000 troops. The direction of his attack was northwest
toward Confederate earthworks along the Squirrel Level Road. The
ultimate goal was the capture of the Southside Railroad.
Fighting began on the 29th as the Federal vanguard approached the
Confederates in the vicinity of Peebles’ farm. The engagement increased
in fury on the 30th and continued into the next day. When the smoke of
battle had blown away on October 2, Meade had extended the Union left
flank 3 miles farther west and had secured the ground on which Fort
Fisher would soon be built. (This fort was to be the Union’s biggest and
was one of the largest earthen forts in Civil War history.) He was,
however, stopped short of the coveted Southside Railroad. Against the
gain in territory the Union army had suffered a loss of more than 1,300
prisoners to the Confederacy and more than 650 killed and wounded. The
Southerners found that their lines, while unbroken, were again extended.
Each extension meant a thinner Confederate defense line.
For a period of about 3 weeks after the Battle of Peebles’ Farm, the
shovel and pick again replaced the rifle-musket as the principal tools
for soldiers on both sides. Forts were built, breastworks dug, and
gabions constructed. Then, on October 27, the Union troops moved again.
This time they turned toward the Boydton Plank Road and a stream known
as Hatcher’s Run, 12 miles southwest of Petersburg. Again Grant’s
objective was Lee’s vital supply line—the Southside Railroad.
[Illustration: Map.]
JULY 30, 1864. The Crater. Union Attempt to Capture Petersburg by
Surprise Failed.
SEPT. 29-OCT. 1, 1864. Battle of Peebles’ Farm. Union Lines Pushed
West of the Weldon R.R.
AUGUST 18-21, 1864. Union Troops Capture the Weldon R.R.
The general plan of operations was nearly the same as that used at
Peebles’ farm. Butler’s Army of the James was ordered to threaten attack
in front of Richmond. Meanwhile, at the left of the Union line, nearly
43,000 infantry and cavalry of the Army of the Potomac started for the
Boydton Plank Road. The columns made rapid progress, driving the enemy
outposts ahead of them and advancing until they neared Burgess’ Mill
where the Boydton Plank Road crossed Hatcher’s Run.
Near Burgess’ Mill, heavy Confederate opposition was met and a spirited
engagement took place. The failure of Union Generals Hancock of the II
Corps and Warren of the V Corps to coordinate the efforts of their
respective columns, coupled with a slashing thrust by Heth’s infantry
and dogged resistance by Hampton’s cavalry and horse-artillery, resulted
in a speedy Northern withdrawal. The Boydton Plank Road, for a time at
least, remained in Southern hands, and Grant’s encircling movement to
cut Lee’s railroad was checked.
The approach of winter made any large-scale effort by either side less
probable, although daily skirmishes and tightening of the siege lines
continued. The slackening of hostile action was used to good advantage
by Union and Confederate alike, as it had been in the previous respites
between battles, in the strengthening of the battlelines and efforts to
develop some rudimentary comforts in the cheerless camps. Throughout the
last 2 months of 1864 and the 1st month of the new year there were no
strong efforts by either side before Petersburg; picket duty, sniping,
and patrolling prevailed. The only action out of the trenches was the
Hicksford Raid in December when a strong Union force destroyed the
Weldon Railroad as far as Hicksford, about 40 miles south of Petersburg.
Lee now had a 35-mile front, with the left resting on the Williamsburg
Road east of Richmond and the right on Hatcher’s Run southwest of
Petersburg. To hold this long line he had in December an effective troop
strength of only 66,533. Facing these undernourished and ragged soldiers
were, according to official Union returns of the same month, 110,364
well-fed and equipped Federals.
The picture throughout the rest of the South was no more reassuring to
Confederate sympathizers. In the Shenandoah Valley, northwest of
Richmond, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s army had finally crushed Lt.
Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Southern forces at Cedar Creek on October 19 and
was destroying the scattered resistance that remained. Far to the
southwest, Sherman had captured Atlanta, Ga., in September, and Savannah
had surrendered on December 21. As the new year dawned, his army was
prepared to march north toward Grant. To complete the gloomy Southern
prospects, Fort Fisher, guardian bastion of Wilmington, N.C., the last
of the Confederacy’s Atlantic coast ports to remain open, was under
fatal bombardment by mid-January.
[Illustration: _Not everyone was shooting all the time. Often only
handpicked sharpshooters traded shots from the trenches and tried to
pick off each other’s artillerymen. An artist caught these men of
the Federal XVIII Corps at their daily, deadly business._]
In late January, President Jefferson Davis, hoping that peace might be
made with the Union, agreed to send commissioners to meet with President
Lincoln. The Peace Commissioners, on January 31, 1865, crossed over to
the Union lines at Petersburg. Soldiers of both armies, suspecting their
mission, cheered as the commissioners slowly walked over the scarred
earth of the crater battlefield. At Hampton Roads they met Lincoln, but
the “Peace Conference” ended in failure; Davis’ insistence on Southern
independence as a condition for peace brought about the impasse. The war
continued.
The Battle of Hatcher’s Run on February 5-7, 1865, was the result of a
further drive by the Federals in their attempt to encircle Petersburg.
Two Union corps (the II and V), reinforced by a cavalry division and
elements of the VI Corps, advanced across Hatcher’s Run. Their immediate
objective was the Boydton Plank Road.
As had happened before, the Confederates quickly moved out to engage the
Union columns. On the afternoon of the 5th, and again the next day, the
Southerners counterattacked. While many Confederate units displayed
their customary élan, others did not. There were several reasons for
this: the inferior numbers of the Southern army, the extremely bad
weather which made a Union attack appear unlikely, the ravages of cold
on badly equipped and poorly uniformed men, and, most important, the
breakdown of the food supply system.
The only Federal units to reach the Boydton Plank Road belonged to the
cavalry, but in view of the Confederate response and the discovery that
General Lee was not utilizing this road to supply his army, they were
recalled. Consequently, no effort was made to hold the Boydton Plank
Road, but the Federals did occupy and fortify the newly extended line to
Hatcher’s Run at a point 3 miles below Burgess’ Mill. Thus, again the
Union lines had been pushed to the west, and, as before, Lee was forced
to lengthen his defenses. The Petersburg-Richmond front, with its recent
extension, now stretched over 37 miles, and the army holding it had
dwindled through casualties and desertion to slightly more than 56,000
on March 1, 1865.
[Illustration: _One of the most impressive oddities of the siege was
Poplar Grove Church, built about February 1865 by the 50th New York
Engineers to while away their leisure hours. It could seat 225 men
and was used for recreational and religious purposes until the
regiment moved away to take part in the pursuit of Lee. The building
was dismantled in 1868. Today, Poplar Grove Cemetery is on the
site._]
The Battle of Hatcher’s Run was another fight in the constant movement
of the Union Army to the west after June 18, 1864. In its relentless
extension around Petersburg, which continued day by day with the
addition of a few more feet or yards of picket line and rifle-pits,
there had occurred five important thrusts aimed by the Northern leaders
at encircling the city. They included two attacks on the Weldon
Railroad, in June and August 1864; Peebles’ Farm, in September and
October; Boydton Plank Road, in October; and, finally, the move to
Hatcher’s Run in February 1865. They met with varying degrees of
success, but still the Union noose was not drawn tightly enough.
The enlisted men of both armies, however, remained largely unaware of
the strategy of their commanders. Their daily existence during the
campaign took on a marked flavor, different in many respects from the
more dashing engagements which preceded it. Too often war is a
combination of bloodshed and boredom, and Petersburg, unlike most other
military operations of the Civil War, had more than its share of the
latter. The Petersburg episode—assault and resistance—dragged on to
become the longest unbroken campaign against a single American city in
the history of the United States. The romantic and heroic exploits were
relatively few, and between them came long stretches of uninspiring and
backbreaking routine.
The men of both sides had much in common, despite the bitterness with
which they fought. In battle they were enemies, but in camp they were on
the same common level. Stripped of the emotional tension and
exhilaration of combat they all appear as bored, war-weary, homesick
men. The greater part of their time was primarily utilized by digging
and constructing fortifications, performing sentry and picket duty, and
striving to speed up the long succession of days. They lived in rude
improvised shelters, often made of mud and log walls with tent roofs.
Chimneys were made of mud and barrels. There was some friendly
interchange of words and gifts between the lines, but enmity was more
rampant than brotherly regard. Off duty, the amusements and pastimes of
the soldiers were simple and few—limited in most cases to their ability
to improvise them. The most striking difference between the armies as
the Petersburg campaign lengthened was that, while the Northerners
suffered most from boredom, the Confederates were plagued by the
demoralizing effects of hunger.
[Illustration: _In late 1864, with food and supplies dwindling,
desertion in the Confederate ranks became a major problem. This
Southern cavalryman, completely discouraged and in rags, was one of
those who crossed the lines to surrender. By early 1865, more than
2,000 Confederates had followed his example. One Union officer
concluded that “if we stay here, the Johnnies will all come over
before the 4th of July.”_]
_During the Civil War, a handful of “special artists” followed the
Federal armies to supply glimpses of soldier life to news- and
picture-hungry readers of such popular publications as the_ New York
Illustrated News, Harper’s Weekly, _and_ Frank Leslie’s Illustrated
Newspaper. _Artists Edwin Forbes and the Waud brothers, Alfred and
William, caught these scenes during the siege of Petersburg._
[Illustration: _Pickets trading between the lines. At quiet moments,
opposing pickets sometimes met between the lines to trade coffee,
tobacco, newspapers, and trinkets._]
[Illustration: _The wagon camp at night. Necessary but thankless was
the task of the teamsters, those thousands of soldiers and civilians
who drove the supply wagons from the railroads and ships to the
front line. Theirs may have been a relatively safe job, but a
bone-wearying one._]
[Illustration: _Pennsylvania soldiers voting, 1864. Volunteers
considered themselves citizens first, soldiers second. These men,
and thousands like them, took time out from their deadly work to
vote in the Presidential election, doubtless, as the campaign song
ran, “For Lincoln and Liberty, too.”_]
[Illustration: _Bivouac in the rifle-pits. Life in the infantry line
was anything but pleasant: steaming, stinking mud in summer, frozen
muck in winter. These soldiers of the V Corps built wood-and-canvas
“shebangs” over their trenches as protection against the elements._]
[Illustration: Map.]
OCTOBER 27, 1864. Battle of Boydton Plank Road. Union Drive Toward the
Southside R.R. Turned Back
FEBRUARY 5-7, 1865. Union Troops Extend Line to Hatcher’s Run
MARCH 25, 1865. Fort Stedman. Confederate Offensive Fails
APRIL 1, 1865. Battle of Five Forks. Union Victory Opens Way to
Southside R.R.
APRIL 2, 1865. Union Forces Break Through Outer Defenses of City and
Reach Appomattox River
NIGHT OF APRIL 2-3, 1865. Confederates Evacuate Petersburg and Retreat
West.
Union Troops Enter City Morning of April 3
Union Army Sets Out in Immediate Pursuit of The Confederates on April
3
FORT GREGG
FORT MAHONE
FORT SEDGWICK
FORT FISHER
The Petersburg campaign was grim business. Amusements could lighten the
heart for only a brief time at best. Ever present were the mud and
disease which followed every Civil War camp. Both opposing forces felt
the chill of winter and the penetrating rain. The discouragement of the
homesick, who never knew when, or if, they would return to their homes,
was a hardship not peculiar to any rank. However, when spring came to
warm the air, there was a difference between the two opposing armies. It
was more than a numerical superiority. Then the Union soldiers felt
confidence, while the Southern veterans, ill-clothed, ill-fed, and
nearly surrounded, knew only despair.
[Illustration: _From June 1864 until April 1865, City Point was the
“busiest place in Dixie.” While Lee’s outnumbered Confederates
fought and starved behind their slowly crumbling defenses at
Petersburg, here, just 8 miles away, Grant built up one of the
largest supply depots of the Civil War which, during the 10 months
of its existence, kept his army the best-fed, best-clothed, and
best-munitioned in the field._]
_1-4. Scenes at City Point, Va., showing some of the supplies and
munitions destined for Grant’s army. An Episcopal bishop from
Atlanta, visiting Grant at City Point, was awed by the abundance of
military stores that he saw—“not merely profusion, but extravagance;
wagons, tents, artillery, ad libitum. Soldiers provided with
everything.”_
[Illustration: _1_]
[Illustration: _2_]
[Illustration: _3_]
[Illustration: _4_]
[Illustration: _On August 9, 1864, a Confederate spy slipped a time
bomb on board one of the ammunition barges tied up at City Point.
The bomb’s explosion, sketched by A. R. Waud, killed or wounded 200
people and demolished more than 600 feet of warehouses and about 180
feet of wharf. Grant himself was shaken up by the blast, and one of
his staff members was wounded._]