Battles of the Civil War

Early on the morning of May 26, 1864, Grant set his army in motion toward Cold Harbor. The next day Lee moved his army by a shorter route over the telegraph road to the Virginia Central railroad. The two armies were stretched across this low country parallel to each other and at times they came in contact.

On the 31st day of May, General Sheridan reached Cold Harbor. He had orders from Meade that he should hold this place at all hazards until the main army should arrive. Both armies had received reënforcements. The Confederates were reënforced by Breckinridge from western Virginia, and by Pickett from North Carolina. The Federals were reënforced from the army of General Butler from down the James River. Thus Grant's army was brought up to more than 100,000 men, and Lee's to about 75,000.

On May 31st Sheridan fought a severe battle with Fitzhugh Lee at Cold Harbor, but it was undecisive. On the next morning the Federal army arrived on the field and immediately took position. They were confronted by Longstreet's corps and that of A. P. Hill, and the divisions of Hoke and Breckinridge. Late in the evening the Federals made a fierce attack on the Confederate position and the Confederate lines were broken in many places, but before night they had succeeded in regaining some of their position.

It was well known to both armies that this battle would decide Grant's last chance to get between Lee and Richmond, and preparations were made the next day for a decisive battle on the morrow. The Federals were reënforced during the night of June 2d by Hancock's and Burnside's corps. The Confederates, being on the defensive, had orders from General Lee to rest on their arms and be ready to receive a fierce assault which he was anticipating from the Federals. It goes without saying that the Confederate soldiers under such orders on this particular night, and on account of the apparent danger of their position, did not close their eyes in sleep. The Federals were faced by Ewell's, A. P. Hill's and Longstreet's corps, the latter being under the command of Anderson, as Longstreet was severely wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness.

Both armies lay very close to each other, and Lee's position was exceptionally strong, as it must be approached through swampy ground, and his batteries were set in position to give both a front and an enfilading fire. Yet Grant determined to make a general attack on the Confederate lines, and passed word to his corps commanders to make ready to execute the same at about five o'clock on the morning of June 3d.

This order was carried out, and they had marshaled their soldiers in large numbers into lines ten columns deep, and at the appointed hour began with a determined step to move toward the Confederate entrenchments. The silence of the early morning was broken by the Confederate batteries and their musketry that raked the open country over which the Federals were advancing, which made the same appear as a fiery furnace. The columns of blue were swept by this fierce fire, which mowed them down in great numbers. They succeeded in crossing into the Confederate entrenchments in a few places and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but the Confederates had orders to hold their position at all hazards, and the Federal leaders soon found it was impossible to stand the raking fire from the Confederate batteries and ordered a retreat, and in doing so they took with them a few hundred prisoners. Thus the field was left in the possession of the Confederates.

This battle is said to have lasted but twenty minutes, and during this short time Grant lost 10,000 men. This is said to be the greatest loss in the shortest time during the entire war.

With this battle ended the series of battles beginning with that of the Wilderness, all having been fought within a month, and nothing like it has yet been known to warfare.

Grant's entire loss in all these engagements in killed, wounded and missing was about 55,000 men, and that of the Confederates much less. If Lee's loss had been equal to that of Grant's, his army would have been almost annihilated.

The soldiers, either living or dead, who stood in the dense columns of blue and marched across that shell swept field toward the Confederate entrenchments, and those who stood in the Confederate ranks and successfully repulsed that awful onslaught of the Federals on that bright June morning at Cold Harbor, for these reasons are possessed of a rich heritage which their posterity should be proud to receive.

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA

General Sherman was given command of the Western army, which was to operate against Joseph E. Johnston, who was in command of the Confederate army in the West. Johnston was reckoned second to Lee in military genius. Sherman found under his command 120,000 men, while that of Johnston's army numbered about 75,000. The Federals were concentrated around Chattanooga, while the Confederates were massed at Dalton, where they had been in winter quarters.

Sherman moved his army on May 6, 1864, against Johnston, and thus the beginning of Sherman's march to the sea and a series of battles fought, viz.: Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and the Battle of Atlanta.

Sherman's army was divided into three divisions commanded by Generals McPherson, Schofield and Thomas. His army was in good spirits and seemed anxious for the opportunity to move forward, after a long wearisome winter in camp, and rejoiced at the journey before them, though their mission was to be one of strife and bloodshed.

General Johnston had succeeded General Bragg in command of this Confederate army, which was now divided into two corps, commanded by Generals Hood and Hardee. He was later reënforced by General Polk.

On account of the strong position occupied by Johnston at Dalton Sherman thought best to refrain from attacking him there and moved round to the right of the Confederate army to Resaca.

When Johnston discovered this movement on the part of the Federals he quickly evacuated Dalton and moved with all speed to Resaca, which place he succeeded in reaching before it was occupied by the Federals. On his way to Resaca his cavalry, under General Wheeler, fought a desperate battle with that of the Federals, under General McCook, in which Wheeler was successful.

The Confederates were strongly entrenched at Resaca by the time Sherman's army came up.

On May 14th Sherman ordered a general attack on the Confederate stronghold, which was done by Thomas' division and a part of Schofield's. This attack was received by Hood's corps. There was desperate fighting and the advantage first lay with one and then the other, when at length the Federals were reënforced by General Hooker, and the Confederates fell back to the second line of their entrenchments.

There was terrible fighting on the next day during which the outworks were captured by General Butterfield, but he was unable to hold his position gained on account of the raking fire from Hardee's corps, which galled him very much.

During the night Johnston withdrew his army from Resaca toward Atlanta, and was closely followed by Sherman, who sent a part of his army under General Davis to capture Rome, a small town in Georgia, where there was quite a number of iron factories.

This he did, and destroyed the factories, which were a serious loss to the Confederates, for they were used for the manufacture of cannon and other munitions of war.

Johnston brought his army to a halt at Adairsville, at which place he had fully decided to give battle to Sherman, and had so informed his officers. After skirmishing with the enemy for some time he suddenly changed his mind and withdrew his army to Cassville, where he took a strong position and issued a spirited address to his army, and had fully decided to give battle to Sherman, but, on account of his superior numbers, Sherman had been able to turn the right flank of the Confederate army.

On the advice of Hood and Polk, Johnston again withdrew his army from its position and took a much stronger position a few miles south on Kenesaw Mountain.

On account of these several retreats, gave rise to a cause of a great deal of dissent among his soldiers, as well as the inhabitants of the country through which he passed, which left them in the hands of the enemy, but it is conceded that Johnston did the best he could, as his army was inferior to that of Sherman both in numbers and equipment, and he was waiting for an opportunity to catch Sherman's army divided, or to get a strong position which would help him in repulsing any attack made by Sherman. This strong position he found at Kenesaw Mountain, and here made ready for battle in earnest.

A few days prior to this, while Johnston's army was retiring from its former position at Cassville, they became engaged with a division of the Federal army at Pine Mountain, in which battle General Polk was killed by a cannon ball. This was a serious loss to the Confederacy. He was a graduate of West Point; but after being graduated he took work with the Episcopal church as bishop, but at the outbreak of the war he entered the Confederate army and served with distinction. Only a short time before his death it is reported that he administered the ordinance of baptism to Generals Johnston and Hood. It is said that he was rebuked by some of his church for taking up arms. He replied that he felt as a man plowing in a field and was called by his neighbor to help extinguish the flames from his house which was on fire, and after the fire would go back to work. He was succeeded in command by General Loring.

Sherman decided to attack Johnston at Kenesaw Mountain, this being anticipated by Johnston and, on account of his strong position, met with his approval. This desperate battle was fought on the 27th day of June. Sherman's army advanced against the strong Confederate works again and again during the day, but every charge was repulsed, the mountainside being swept by the musketry and artillery of the Confederates. Sherman's loss in this battle was more than 3,000 men, while that of the Confederates was less than 1,000.

Sherman was convinced that his success did not lay in attacking his antagonist in a strong position, and turned upon Johnston's right and attempted to pass around him to Atlanta in the same manner in which Grant was trying to pass around Lee to Richmond.

Sherman succeeded in drawing Johnston away from Kenesaw Mountain, and Johnston withdrew his army by shorter roads within the entrenchments before Atlanta, which was immediately confronted by the Federal hosts. This was a critical time for Sherman, as the North was in a presidential campaign in which it appeared that the success of the war party depended upon his capture of Atlanta; and on the other hand it was a critical time for the Confederates, for the loss of Atlanta would mean the loss of their iron foundries, where they manufactured most of their munitions of war, and besides would divide their country in two divisions again as Grant's capture of Vicksburg had divided it before.

General Johnston was removed from command of the army for the reasons assigned by the Confederate government that he had failed to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicinity of Atlanta, and that he had expressed no confidence that he could defeat or repel Sherman, and for these reasons he was relieved and the same was handed to General Hood. It was said that when General Johnston received this information he informed General Hardee, who was with him, of the information received. Hardee replied, "I don't believe it." In answer Johnston said, "A thing may be unbelievable and a fact."

The removal of Johnston from the command is thought to have been a great mistake on the part of the Confederate Government, as his tactics had been in this campaign on the defensive on account of his inferior numbers and equipment to that of Sherman, while that of Hood was on the aggressive, and he maintained the idea of attacking Sherman's army, which proved to be the loss of Atlanta for the Confederacy.

Hood found himself in command of about 60,000 men, and on July 20th offered battle which was fierce and a decided loss to the Confederates, in which they were repulsed on every hand, but not without hard fighting and much loss to the Federals, for General Hood had the reputation of being a fearless, aggressive commander. This was known as the Battle of Peach Tree Creek.

Two days later, on July 22d, the Battle of Atlanta was fought, this being the greatest engagement of the entire campaign.

The Federals had closed in upon Atlanta and had succeeded in capturing some out entrenchments, but on the 22d was a general engagement of all the army, the attack being made by Hood to recapture some of his lost positions. In this engagement General McPherson was killed, which was a great blow to the Union army. General Logan succeeded to his command.

The Confederates achieved considerable success, but the Federals were presently reënforced, and Hood withdrew within the defenses of Atlanta. Again on the 28th the Federals were attacked by General Hardee and a fierce battle was fought at Ezra Church, in which the Confederates were defeated with heavy loss.

Sherman determined on besieging the city and if possible destroy the line of supplies for Hood's army. This he succeeded in doing late in August by destroying the Macon and Western railroad.

Hood determined to attack the Federals and sent General Hardee to make an attack near Jonesboro, while he himself should attack Sherman's right flank. These attacks failed, thus necessitating the evacuation of Atlanta, which he did on September 2d, after destroying all the supplies he could not take with him.

Hood kept his army between that of Sherman's and Andersonville, at which place there were confined many thousands of Federal prisoners. With the fall of Atlanta practically ended the points of interest of Sherman's march to the sea.

The command of Hood's army was later given back to General Joseph E. Johnston.

BATTLE OF CLOYD MOUNTAIN

In the early spring of 1864 the command of the Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley was given to General Hunter, who made ready to march upon Lynchburg, with the object of taking possession of the city and to capture large stores of provisions and munitions of war which belonged to the Confederates and were stored at Lynchburg. He also laid waste to the country over which his army passed so as to render the same of little value as a source for supplies to the Confederacy.

A division of his army under General Crooks fought a desperate battle on the 9th day of May, 1864, with the Confederates, commanded by General Jenkins, at Cloyd's farm, near Dublin depot, in southwestern Virginia. This was one of the most severe short engagements of the entire war, in which General Jenkins was killed and the total loss to the Confederates in killed and wounded and missing was about 900, and that of the Federals somewhat less. During this short engagement the grim monster Death was on every side, and whose threatening shrieks howled in the air around them.

Hunter's main army finally reached the vicinity of Lynchburg on the 17th day of June, after fighting a battle with Imboden and McCausland a few miles away from Lynchburg, the Confederates falling back within the breastworks which they had hastily thrown up. The city was defended by a portion of Breckinridge's division, but their numbers were far inferior to that of the Federals, who had by this time arrived before the city. Hunter halted his army and brought up his artillery and did some cannonading, but went into camp with the expectation of taking the city without much opposition the next morning. It is thought that he could have easily taken the city on the evening of his arrival, but during the night General Gordon arrived with his division and the Confederates were reënforced by other arrivals next morning from the army of General Early, then on its way to the Shenandoah Valley. On the morning of the 18th General Hunter found Lynchburg full of Confederate soldiers, and more arriving on every train, which on the arrival the bands playing could plainly be heard by the Federal soldiers as they came upon the field. Hunter soon found, in his opinion, the capture of Lynchburg an impossibility, and his raid was to terminate in a dismal failure. During the 18th there was some cannonading and several skirmishes between the cavalry of the two contending armies.

On the night of the 19th he broke camp and marched away to the westward. Why he retreated without giving battle was not understood. General Gordon said that in his opinion that conscience was harrowing General Hunter and causing him to see an avenger wrapped in every gray jacket before him. The Confederates took up the pursuit of Hunter's retreating army, but Hunter succeeded in getting back across the mountains into western Virginia, after hard marches over mountain roads with little or no supplies for his army, and with a large amount of straggling.

General Lee dispatched General Early with an army of 20,000 men to threaten Washington, in the hope of drawing part of Grant's army away from before Richmond. Early was to go by the way of Shenandoah Valley. This route was given him partly in order to help defend Lynchburg and to get supplies for his army in the valley. He reached Winchester on the 3d of July, and moved rapidly down the valley and crossed into Maryland, and was at Hagerstown on the 6th. He turned about and moved boldly upon Washington. He met and defeated General Wallace on the Monocacy on July 9th, and on the next day he was within six miles of the capitol at Washington. An immediate assault might have given him possession of the city, which was weakly defended, but he delayed for a day, and in the meantime two divisions under General Wright from Grant's army from before Petersburg arrived and Early was forced to retreat, after spending the 12th in threatening the city. This was considered one of the boldest raids of the entire war.

This attack on Washington by General Early created considerable excitement in the city, for no other Confederate army had ever been so near to the capital before. The government employees of all kinds, the sailors from the navy yard, and the convalescents from the hospitals, were all rushed out to the forts around the city. Even President Lincoln himself went out to the defenses of the city.

Early recrossed the Potomac at Snickers' Ferry on the 18th. Here he was overtaken by the pursuing Federals, at which place a battle was fought in which Early was the victor. He fought another battle at Winchester with General Averell's cavalry.

Grant decided to give the command of the army in the Shenandoah to General Philip H. Sheridan, to whom he gave instructions to drive the Confederates out of the valley once for all, and to destroy all growing crops and everything that would be of any advantage to the Confederacy in the way of supplies for their army or otherwise. This he finally did, and Sheridan afterwards said that he believed a crow could fly over the entire valley without getting even a mouthful to eat.

September found the two armies near Winchester, and on the 19th a severe battle was fought which was kept up the entire day, the advantage being first with one side and then the other. Finally the Confederates, being outnumbered, retreated back through Winchester. This was a bloody day, in which the loss of the Federals was about 5,000, and that of the Confederates about 4,000.

The next day the Confederates were overtaken at Fisher's Hill, at which place Early was making preparations for a great battle, which engagement did not occur until the 22d. This engagement proved to be disastrous to Early, his army being flanked by the Federals with superior numbers. He began a stubborn retreat, which finally became a rout. He was closely followed up by the Federals, and fought several small engagements on his retreat.

On about the middle of October he received reënforcements from Longstreet, and on the 19th he attacked Sheridan's army at Cedar Creek, under the immediate command of General Wright, Sheridan having gone to Washington, but returned in time to take part in the battle. This took place about twenty miles from Winchester, the attack being made by General Gordon, who fell upon General Sheridan's men while they were yet sleeping early in the morning. Gordon was immediately supported by the army; Early himself came up to the attack. The Federals were completely surprised and retreated, which became a rout, leaving their entire camp equipment, together with some prisoners, in the hands of the Confederates. The Confederates thought they had gained a signal victory, and gave up the pursuit of the retreating Federals, and turned their attention to pillaging the Federal camp.

General Sheridan was on his way from Winchester to his army headquarters at Cedar Creek when he heard the roar of the cannon which convinced him that a great battle was being fought. He at once made haste to take charge of his army, this being Sheridan's famous ride. He first met stragglers of his army, and then passed through brigade after brigade of his retreating army, which so blocked the highway that he was compelled to leave the same and take to the fields. He at length succeeded in stopping the retreat and turned it into an attacking column. In this retreat were two divisions commanded by two future presidents, viz.: President Hayes and McKinley. This attack on the Confederates completely surprised them, and they were utterly routed and so badly defeated that Early's army was never completely reorganized, this being the last principal engagement in the Shenandoah Valley.

Previous to these battles in the valley, Early had dispatched General McCausland with his division of cavalry to go into Pennsylvania to levy large sums of money on the towns in reprisal for Hunter's depredations in the Shenandoah Valley. This cavalry party burned the town of Chambersburg.

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF PETERSBURG

After the battle of Cold Harbor Grant remained a few days trying to find a weak place in the Confederate lines. This he abandoned and resolved to move his army across the James and to Petersburg, which place is about twenty miles from Richmond, and was defended by General Beauregard with a small division of the Confederate army.

Petersburg was at the junction of three railroads, and was a place of great importance to the Confederacy, as all the supplies of Lee's army, as well as to Richmond, came by the way of Petersburg, and for these reasons General Grant resolved to destroy the railroads, and if possible to capture the city, and thus destroy the Confederates' source of supplies.

These conditions being well known to Lee, he resolved to defend Petersburg, and to save it from capture if possible, and thus began the greatest struggle of its kind known in modern times.

The advance divisions of Grant's army, under Hancock and W. F. Smith, appeared before Petersburg June 15, 1864. Beauregard managed to hold the entrenchments with his small force until Lee's main army arrived, which came by a shorter route than the one which the Federals had taken. Both armies were in full force before Petersburg by the evening of the 18th, and the great struggle had now begun. The Confederate entrenchments extended for thirty miles, and the whole country was a network of fortifications. Grant at once began to extend his lines of entrenchments, and thus the two armies were pitted against each other for their last great struggle, the army of General Grant numbering more than 100,000 men, while that of General Lee was about half that number.

General Grant turned his attention to trying to destroy the railroads, and made several attempts with much hard fighting to do so. But this, having been anticipated by General Lee, he had given to A. P. Hill the defense and the protection of the railroads, which was his source of supplies. They were ably protected by General Hill, and Grant's attacking parties in every instance were repulsed, and these plans were at length abandoned by him for the present.

The two armies lay facing each other before Petersburg the entire summer and fall, with several small engagements during the summer and a few very severe ones.

A severe cavalry engagement was fought at Trevilian Station, north of Richmond, on June 11th, between the Confederates, commanded by Generals Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee, and the Federals, commanded by General Sheridan.