DOCUMENTS. he made a reconnoissance against the Peters- "HEADQUARTERS NEAR BERMUDA LANDING, "Our operations may be summed up in a few "General Kautz, with three thousand cavalry from Suffolk, on the same day with our movement up James river, forced the Blackwater, burned the railroad bridge at Stony creek, below Peterbsurg, cutting in two Beauregard's force at that point. 66 of Ewell's corps and twenty pieces of artillery. But the resistance was so obstinate that the advantage gained did not prove decisive. The thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth were consumed in manoeuvring and awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Washington. Deeming it impracticable to make any further attack upon the enemy at Spottsylvania Court-house, orders were issued on the eighteenth with a view to a movement to the North Anna, to commence at twelve o'clock on the night of the nineteenth. Late in the afternoon of the nineteenth Ewell's corps came out of its works on our extreme right flank; but the attack was promptly repulsed, with heavy loss. This delayed the movement to the North Anna until the night of the twentyfirst, when it was commenced. But the enemy again having the short line, and being in pos"We have landed here, intrenched ourselves, session of the main roads, was enabled to reach the North Anna in advance of us, and took position behind it. The Fifth corps reached the destroyed many miles of railroad, and got a poNorth Anna on the afternoon of the twenty-sition which, with proper supplies, we can hold third, closely followed by the Sixth corps. The out against the whole of Lee's army. I have Second and Ninth corps got up about the same ordered up the supplies. time, the Second holding the railroad bridge and the Ninth lying between that and Jericho ford. General Warren effected a crossing the same afternoon, and got into position without much opposition. Soon after getting into position he was violently attacked, but repulsed the enemy with great slaughter. On the twenty-fight. fifth General Sheridan rejoined the Army of the Potomac from the raid on which he started from Spottsylvania, having destroyed the depots at Beaver Dam and Ashland stations, four trains of cars, large supplies of rations, and many miles of railroad track; recaptured about four hundred of our men on their way to Richmond as prisoners of war; met and defeated the enemy's cavalry at Yellow Tavern; carried the first line of works around Richmond (but finding the second line too strong to be carried by assault), recrossed to the north bank of the Chickahominy at Meadow's Bridge, under heavy fire, and moved by a detour to Haxall's landing, on the James river, where he communicated with General Butler. This raid had the effect of drawing off the whole of the enemy's cavalry force, and making it comparatively easy to guard our trains. General Butler moved his main force up the James river, in pursuance of instructions, on the fourth of May, General Gillmore having joined with the Tenth corps. At the same time he sent a force of one thousand eight hundred cavalry, by way of West Point, to form a junction with him wherever he might get a foothold, and a force of three thousand cavalry, under General Kautz, from Suffolk, to operate against the road south of Petersburg and Richmond. On the fifth he occupied, without opposition, both City Point and Bermuda Hundred, his movement being a complete surprise. On the sixth he was in position with his main army, and commenced intrenching. On the seventh Beauregard, with a large portion of his force, was left south by the cutting of the railroads by Kautz. That portion which reached Petersburg under Hill I have whipped to-day, killing and wounding many, and taking many prisoners, after a severe and well-contested "General Grant will not be troubled with any further reinforcements to Lee from Beauregard's force. "Hon. E. M. STANTON, "BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, "Secretary of War." On the evening of the thirteenth and morning of the fourteenth he carried a portion of the enemy's first line of defence at Drury's Bluff, or Fort Darling, with small loss. The time thus consumed from the sixth lost to us the benefit of the surprise and capture of Richmond and Petersburg, enabling, as it did, Beauregard to collect his loose forces in North and South Carolina and bring them to the defence of those General Butler in his position in front of places. On the sixteenth the enemy attacked Drury's Bluff. He was forced back, or drew back, into his intrenchments between the forks of the James and Appomattox rivers, the enemy intrenching strongly in his front, thus covering his railroads, the city, and all that was valuable to him. His army, therefore, though in a position of great security, was as comIt required but a comparapletely shut off from further operations directly against Richmond as if it had been in a bottle strongly corked. On the twelfth General Kautz with his cavtively small force of the enemy to hold it there. alry was started on a raid against the Danville railroad, which he struck at Coalfield, Powhatan, and Chola stations, destroying them, the railroad REBELLION RECORD, 1862-65. day, reached Cold Harbor, and held it until relieved by the Sixth corps and General Smith's command, who had just arrived, via White House, from General Butler's army. track, two freight trains, and one locomotive, my's cavalry. General Sheridan, on the same together with large quantities of commissary and other stores; thence crossing to the South Side road, struck it at Wilson's, Wellsville, and Black and White stations, destroying the road and station-houses; thence he proceeded to City Point, which he reached on the eighteenth. Ön the eighteenth of April, and prior to the movement of General Butler, the enemy with a land force under General Hoke and an iron-clad ram, attacked Plymouth, N. C., commanded by General H. W. Wessels, and our gunboats there, and after severe fighting, the place was carried by assault and the entire garrison and armament captured. The gunboat Smithfield was sunk and the Miami disabled. The army sent to operate against Richmond having hermetically sealed itself up at Bermuda Hundred, the enemy was enabled to bring the most if not all the reinforcements brought from the South by Beauregard against the Army of the Potomac. In addition to this reinforcement, a very considerable one, probably not less than fifteen thousand men, was obtained by calling in the scattered troops under Breckinridge from the western part of Virginia. The position at Bermuda Hundred was as easy to defend as it was difficult to operate from against the enemy. I determined, therefore, to bring from it all available forces, leaving only enough to secure what had been gained; and accordingly, on the twenty-second, I directed that they be sent forward, under command of Major-General W. F. Smith, to join the Army of the Potomac. On the twenty-fourth of May, the Ninth Army Corps, commanded by Major-General A. E. Burnside, was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and from this time forward constituted a portion of Major-General Meade's command. Finding the enemy's position on the North Anna stronger than either of his previous ones, I withdrew on the night of the twenty-sixth to the north bank of the North Anna, and moved, via Hanoverton, to turn the enemy's position by his right. at 5 P. M., by the Sixth corps and the troops On the first day of June an attack was made under General Smith, the other corps being held in readiness to advance on the receipt of orders. This resulted in our carrying and holding the enemy's first line of works in front of the right of the Sixth corps and in front of General Smith. During the attack, the enemy made repeated assaults on each of the corps not engaged in the main attack, but were repulsed he made several assaults to regain what he had with heavy loss in every instance. That night lost in the day, but failed. The second was spent in getting troops into position for an attack on the third, On the third of June we again assaulted the enemy's works, in the hope of driving him from his position. In this attempt our loss was heavy, while that of the enemy, I have reason to believe, was compratively light. It was the only general attack made from the Rapidan to the James which did for our own losses. I would not be understood not inflict upon the enemy losses to compensate as saying that all previous attacks resulted in victories to our arms, or accomplished as much as I had hoped from them; but they inflicted upon the enemy severe losses, which tended, in the end, to the complete overthrow of the rebellion. fences around Richmond, it was impossible by From the proximity of the enemy to his deany flank movement to interpose between him and the city. I was still in a condition to either move by his left flank and invest Richby his right flank to the south side of the James. mond from the north side, or continue my move While the former might have been better as a covering for Washington, yet a full survey of all the ground satisfied me that it would be impracticable to hold a line north and east of burg railroad-a long, vulnerable line, which Richmond that would protect the Frederickswould exhaust much of our strength to guard, and that would have to be protected to supply the army, and would leave open to the enemy all his lines of communication on the south side of the James. Generals Torbert and Merritt's divisions of cavalry, under Sheridan, and the Sixth corps led the advance; crossed the Pamunkey river at Hanoverton after considerable fighting, and on the twenty-eighth the two divisions of cavalry had a severe but successful engagement with the enemy at Hawes' shop. On the twenty- been to beat Lee's army north of Richmond if My idea, from the start, had ninth and thirtieth we advanced, with heavy possible. Then, after destroying his lines of skirmishing, to the Hanover Court-house and communication north of the James river, to Cold Harbor road, and developed the enemy's transfer the army to the south side and besiege position north of the Chickahominy. Late on Lee in Richmond, or follow him south if he the evening of the last day the enemy came out should retreat. After the battle of the Wilderand attacked our left, but was repulsed withness it was evident that the enemy deemed it of very considerable loss. army he then had. He acted purely on the the first importance to run no risks with the defensive behind breastworks, or feebly on the where, in case of repulse, he could easily retire offensive immediately in front of them, and behind them. Without a greater sacrifice of diately ordered by General Meade along his whole An attack was immeline, which resulted in driving the enemy from a part of his intrenched skirmish line. On the thirty-first General Wilson's division of cavalry destroyed the railroad bridges over the South Anna river, after defeating the ene-life than I was willing to make, all could not be DOCUMENTS. accomplished that I had designed north of Richmond. I therefore determined to continue to hold substantially the ground we then occupied, taking advantage of any favorable circumstances that might present themselves, until the cavalry could be sent to Charlottesville and Gordonsville, to effectually break up the railroad connection between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley and Lynchburg; and, when the cavalry got well off, to move the army to the south side of the James river, by the enemy's right flank, where I felt I could cut off all his sources of supply except by the canal. On the seventh, two divisions of cavalry, under General Sheridan, got off on the expedition against the Virginia Central railroad, with instructions to Hunter, whom I hoped he would meet near Charlottesville, to join his forces to Sheridan's, and after the work laid out for them was thoroughly done, to join the Army of the Potomac by the route laid down in Sheridan's instructions. On the tenth of June, General Butler sent a force of infantry under General Gillmore, and cavalry under General Kautz, to capture Petersburg if possible, and destroy the railroad and common bridges across the Appomattox. The cavalry carried the works on the south side, and penetrated well toward the town, but were forced to retire. General Gillmore finding the works which he approached very strong, and deeming an assault impracticable, returned to Bermuda Hundred without attempting one. Attaching great importance to the possession of Petersburg, I sent back to Bermuda Hundred and City Point General Smith's command by water, via the White House, to reach there in This advance of the Army of the Potomac. was for the express purpose of securing Petersburg before the enemy, becoming aware of our intention, could reinforce the place. It produced a morale which could only be over- During the campaign of forty-three days, The movement from Cold Harbor commenced after dark on the evening of the twelfth; one division of cavalry, under General Wilson, and the Fifth corps crossed the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, and moved out to White-Oak Swamp, to cover the crossings of the other corps. The advance corps reached James river, at Wilcox's landing and Charles City Court-gagement, was defeated with heavy loss, and house, on the night of the thirteenth. During three long years the Armies of the retired behind Cedar Creek. Not regarding "NEAR SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE, VA., * "The enemy are evidently relying for supplies greatly on such as are brought over the branch road running through Staunton. On the whole, therefore, I think it would be better for General Hunter to move in that direction; reach Staunton and Gordonsville or Charlottes 1 "JERICHO FORD, VA., May 25, 1864. "If Hunter can possibly get to Charlottesville and Lynchburg, he should do so, living on the country. The railroads and canal should be destroyed beyond possibility of repairs for weeks. Completing this, he could find his way back to his original base, or from about Gordonsville join this army. "U. S. GRANT, "Major-General H. W. HALLECK." To return to the Army of the Potomac: The Second corps commenced crossing the James river on the morning of the fourteenth, by ferry. boats, at Wilcox's landing. The laying of the pontoon bridge was completed about midnight of the fourteenth, and the crossing of the balance of the army was rapidly pushed forward by both bridge and ferry. After the crossing had commenced, I proceeded by steamer to Bermuda Hundred, to give the necessary orders for the immediate capture of Petersburg. The instructions to General Butler were verbal, and were for him to send General Smith immediately, that night, with all the troops he could give him, without sacrificing the position he then held. I told him that I would return at once to the Army of the Potomac, hasten its crossing, and throw it forward to Petersburg by General Hunter immediately took up the divisions as rapidly as it could be done; that offensive, and moving up the Shenandoah Val- we could reinforce our armies more rapidly ley, met the enemy on the fifth of June at Pied- there than the enemy could bring troops against mont, and after a battle of ten hours routed and us. General Smith got off as directed, and condefeated him, capturing on the field of battle fronted the enemy's pickets near Petersburg fifteen hundred men, three pieces of artillery, before daylight next morning, but for some reaand three hundred stand of small-arms. On the son that I have never been able to satisfactorily eighth of the same month he formed a junction understand, did not get ready to assault his with Crook and Averell at Staunton, from which main lines until near sundown. Then, with a place he moved direct on Lynchburg, via Lex- part of his command only, he made the assault, ington, which place he reached and invested on and carried the lines north-east of Petersburg, the sixteenth day of June. Up to this time he from the Appomattox river, for a distance of was very successful, and but for the difficulty over two and a half miles, capturing fifteen of taking with him sufficient ordnance stores pieces of artillery and three hundred prisoners. over so long a march, through a hostile country, This was about seven P. M. he would no doubt have captured that, to the thus captured and Petersburg there were no enemy an important point. The destruction of other works, and there was no evidence that the enemy's supplies and manufactories was the enemy had reinforced Petersburg with a very great. To meet this movement under single brigade from any source. The night was General Hunter, General Lee sent a force, per-clear-the moon shining brightly-and favorhaps equal to a corps, a part of which reached Lynchburg a short time before Hunter. After some skirmishing on the seventeenth and eighteenth, General Hunter, owing to a want of ammunition to give battle, retired from before the place. Unfortunately, this want of ammunition left him no choice of route for his return but by way of Kanawha. This lost to us the use of his troops for several weeks from the defence of the North. Had General Hunter moved by way of Charlottesville, instead of Lexington, as his instructions contemplated, he would have been in a position to have covered the Shenandoah Valley against the enemy, should the force he met have seemed to endanger it. If it did not, he would have been within easy distance of the James River Canal, on the main line of communication between Lynchburgh and the force sent for its defence. I have never taken exceptions to the operations of General Hunter, and am not now disposed to find fault with him, for I have no doubt he acted within what he conceived to be the spirit of his instructions and the interests of the service. The promptitude of his movements and his gallantry should entitle him to the commendation of his country. Between the line able to further operations. General Hancock, with two divisions of the Second corps, reached General Smith just after dark, and offered the services of these troops as he (Smith) might wish, waving rank to the named commander, whom he naturally supposed knew best the position of affairs, and what to do with the troops. But instead of taking these troops, and pushing at once into Petersburg, he requested General Hancock to relieve a part of his line in the captured works, which was done before midnight. By the time I arrived the next morning, the enemy was in force. An attack was ordered to be made at six o'clock that evening by the troops under Smith and the Second and Ninth corps. It required until that time for the Ninth corps to get up and into position. The attack was made as ordered, and the fighting continued with but little intermission until six o'clock the next morning, and resulted in our carrying the advance and some of the main works of the enemy to the right (our left) of those previously captured by General Smith, several pieces of artillery, and over four hundred prisoners. The Fifth corps having got up, the attacks were renewed and persisted in with great vigor DOCUMENTS. on the seventeenth and eighteenth, but only resulted in forcing the enemy to an interior line, from which he could not be dislodged. The advantages in position gained by us were very great. The army then proceeded to envelop Petersburg toward the Southside railroad, as far as possible without attacking fortifications. On the sixth the enemy, to reinforce Petersburg, withdrew from a part of his intrenchment in front of Bermuda Hundred, expecting, no doubt, to get troops from north of the James to take the place of those withdrawn before we General Butler, taking the could discover it. advantage of this, at once moved a force on the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond. As soon as I was apprised of the advantage thus gained, to retain it I ordered two divisions of the Sixth corps, General, Wright commanding, that were embarking at Wilcox's landing, under orders for City Point, to report to General Butler, at Bermuda Hundred, of which General Butler was notified, and the importance of holding a position in advance of his present line urged upon him. About two o'clock in the afternoon General Butler was forced back to the line the enemy had withdrawn from in the morning. General Wright, with his two divisions, joined General Butler on the forenoon of the seventeenth, the latter still holding with a strong picket-line the enemy's works. But instead of putting these divisions into the enemy's works to hold them, he permitted them to halt and rest some distance in the rear of his own line. Between four and five o'clock in the afternoon the enemy attacked and drove in his pickets and reoccupied his old line. On the night of the twentieth and morning of On the nineteenth, General Sheridan, on his test. Not having sufficient ammunition to con- On the twenty-second, General Wilson, with With a view of cutting the enemy's railroad from near Richmond to the Anna rivers, and making him wary of the situation of his army in the Shenandoah, and, in the event of failure in this, to take advantage of his necessary withdrawal of troops from Petersburg, to explode a mine that had been prepared in front of the Ninth corps and assault the enemy's lines at that place, on the night of the twenty-sixth of July the Second corps and two divisions of the cavalry corps and Kautz's cavalry were crossed to the north bank of the James river, and joined the force General Butler had there. On the twenty-seventh the enemy was driven from his intrenched position, with the loss of four pieces of artillery. On the twenty-eighth our lines were extended from Deep Bottom to New Mar |