<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</SPAN></h2>
<h3>THE GREAT GAME BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE.</h3>
<div class='intro'>
<p>Maneuvering and fighting in the rain, mud, and thickets—Virginian
conditions of warfare—Within eight miles of Richmond—The battle
of Cold Harbor—The tremendous losses of the campaign—The
charge of butchery against Grant considered in the light of statistics—What
it cost in life and blood to take Richmond.</p>
</div>
<p>By the afternoon of May 17th the weather was splendid,
and the roads were rapidly becoming dry, even
where the mud was worst. Grant determined to engage
Lee, and orders for a decisive movement of the
army were issued, to be executed during the night. At
first he proposed an attack upon the enemy's right,
but changed the plan. Instead of attacking there, Hancock
and Wright made a night march back to our right
flank, and attacked at daylight upon the same lines
where Hancock made his successful assault on the 12th.
They succeeded in pressing close to the enemy's lines,
and for a time were confident that at last they had struck
the lair of the enemy, but an impassable abatis stopped
them. One division of Hancock's corps attempted in
vain to charge through this obstacle, and held the
ground before it for an hour or more under a galling
fire of canister. The difficulty of storming the enemy's
intrenched camp on that side being evidently of the
most extreme character, and both corps having artfully<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</SPAN></span>
but unsuccessfully sought for a weak point where they
might break through, Grant, at nine o'clock, ordered
the attack to cease. The attempt was a failure. Lee
was not to be ousted; and Grant, convinced of it, issued
orders for another movement which he had had in
contemplation for several days, but which he did not
wish to try till after a last attempt to get the enemy
out of his stronghold. This was nothing less than
to slip away from Lee and march on toward Richmond
again.</p>
<p>The new order directed that Hancock's corps should
march by night from its present position southeast as
far toward Richmond on the line of the Fredericksburg
road as he could go, fighting his way if necessary.
Warren was to follow, and, if Lee did not come out and
attack when our army was thus weakened, Wright and
Burnside also were to march southward.</p>
<p>This movement was begun on the night of the 20th.
By the night of the 21st Hancock was across the Mattapony
River at Milford. Warren had crossed the same
river at Guiney's Station, the point to which Grant had
moved his headquarters. By the morning of the 22d
Wright and Burnside were up in safety, and the forward
movement was continued. We were now in a fine,
clear country, good to move in and fight in, and the
advance of the 22d was most successful. By night our
army lay in an east and west line along the Mattapony
River, holding the crossings. On the right was Wright;
close to him at the left, Warren; in the center, Burnside;
on the left, Hancock. Our headquarters were at
New Bethel Church. Our talk that night was that in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</SPAN></span>
all probability we should meet the enemy on the North
Anna, a day's march to the south of our position.</p>
<p>The operations of the next day were much embarrassed
by our ignorance of the road and the entire incorrectness
of our maps; nevertheless, by one o'clock
in the afternoon our right wing, under Warren, reached
the North Anna. The stream there was about one hundred
and fifty feet wide, with bluff banks from fifty to
seventy-five feet high. Wright followed after Warren.
As soon as Warren reached Jericho Mills he pushed his
sharpshooters across the stream, which was easily fordable
at that place, following them with a compact body
of infantry. A Confederate regiment posted to watch
the crossing at once gave way, leaving a single prisoner
in our hands. From this man Warren learned that another
of the enemy's divisions was drawn up to receive
him near by. Under the orders of General Grant, he
promptly threw across the pontoon bridge, over which
he rapidly moved his artillery, at the same time urging
forward his infantry by the ford as well as by the
bridge; and by five o'clock he had transported his entire
command, and had taken up a position of great
strength. Here he rapidly commenced intrenching
himself.</p>
<p>Grant had by this time moved his headquarters up
to Mount Carmel Church, some four miles from Jericho
Mills. About six o'clock we knew from the firing that
Warren had been attacked. I never heard more rapid
or heavier firing, either of artillery or musketry. It
was not until about half past ten that evening that we
knew surely how the fight had gone; then a dispatch<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</SPAN></span>
from Warren announced that he had triumphantly repulsed
the enemy, and made considerable captures of
prisoners.</p>
<p>About the same time that Warren was fighting for
his position at Jericho Mills, Hancock advanced on our
left. By a vigorous charge of two brigades of Birney's
division, the enemy was driven over the North Anna
River. The next morning Hancock crossed over. That
same morning, May 24th, we found that, as a result of
the operations of the previous day, we had about one
thousand prisoners. They were more discouraged
than any set of prisoners I ever saw before. Lee had
deceived them, they said, and they declared that his
army would not fight again except behind breastworks.</p>
<p>The general opinion of every prominent officer in
the army on the morning of the 24th was that the
enemy had fallen back, either to take up a position beyond
the South Anna or to go to Richmond, but by
noon the next day we knew this was a mistake. All
through the day of the 24th Lee blocked our southward
march. The opinion prevailed that the enemy's
position was held by a rear guard only, but the obstinacy
of their skirmishers was regarded as very remarkable.
About dark Hancock made an attack, breaking
into the Confederate line of works, taking some
prisoners, and satisfying himself that a whole corps was
before him. Soon afterward the division of Gibbon
was attacked, but it beat back the assault handsomely
without any considerable loss. Just before dark Crittenden—the
same Crittenden who was at Chickamauga<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</SPAN></span>
—was also suddenly attacked, and one of his brigades
damaged. No fighting of any moment took place on
the morning of the 25th, but the enemy showed such
strength as to leave no doubt that Lee's whole army
was present. His intrenchments were in the form of
the letter V. He showed artillery on both faces. By
the morning of the 25th Grant was sure that Lee was
before him and strongly intrenched. He soon determined
on a new move. This was to withdraw his whole
army as quickly as possible, and, before Lee discovered
his intention, to move it southeast, across the Pamunkey,
and perhaps on across the Chickahominy and the
James, if he could not meanwhile get Lee out of his
earthworks.</p>
<p>The orders for the new move were received with the
best spirit by the army, in spite of the fact that the
men were much jaded. Indeed, one of the most important
results of the campaign thus far was the entire
change which had taken place in the feelings of the
armies. The Confederates had lost all confidence, and
were already morally defeated. Our army had learned
to believe that it was sure of ultimate victory. Even
our officers had ceased to regard Lee as an invincible
military genius. On the part of the enemy this change
was evinced not only by their not attacking, even when
circumstances seemed to invite it, but by the unanimous
statements of prisoners taken from them.</p>
<p>The morning after we began to move from our position
on the North Anna I was so confident that I wrote
Mr. Stanton, "Rely upon it, the end is near as well as
sure."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>It was on the night of the 26th that our army was
withdrawn from the North Anna, without loss or disturbance,
and by the evening of the 27th Grant had
his headquarters ten miles from Hanovertown, and his
whole army was well up toward the crossing. We had
no news of Lee's movements that day, though we heard
that there was a force of the enemy at Hanover Courthouse.
Grant himself was very doubtful that day of
our getting across the Hanover Ferry; he told me that
we might be obliged to go farther to the southeast to
get over. On the morning of the 27th Sheridan and
his cavalry seized the ferry, laying bridges, and, after
crossing, advancing well beyond. Everything went on
finely that night and during the 28th, the troops passing
our headquarters in great numbers and very rapidly.
By noon of the 28th the movement of the army across
the Pamunkey was complete, with the exception of
Burnside, who did not arrive until midnight. The
movement had been executed with admirable celerity
and success. The new position was one of great
strength, our lines extending from the Pamunkey to
Totopotomoy Creek. Wright was on the Pamunkey,
Hancock on his left, and Warren on the Totopotomoy.
The orders for that day were to let the men rest, though
both officers and men were in high spirits at the successful
execution of this long and difficult flank movement.</p>
<p>We were now south of the Pamunkey, and occupying
a very strong position, but we did not know yet
where Lee was. A general reconnaissance was at
once ordered, and the enemy was found in force south<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</SPAN></span>
of the Totopotomoy Creek; by the 30th there was no
doubt that Lee's whole army, now re-enforced by thirteen
thousand men, was close at hand and strongly
intrenched again. Grant said he would fight here if
there was a fair chance, but he declared emphatically
he would not run his head against heavy works.</p>
<p>Our line began to push forward on the 30th. All
the afternoon of that day at headquarters, which were
now at Hawes's Shop, we heard the noise of fighting.
First Warren on the left, who had reached a point only
about seven miles and a half from Richmond, had a
short, sharp, and decisive engagement with Early; and
later an active conflict raged for some time with our
right on the Totopotomoy. We were successful all
along the line. The next day, the 31st, we pushed
ahead until our lines lay from Bethesda Church, on
the east, to the railroad, on the west. Desultory firing
was constantly heard, but there was no very active
fighting that day until about five o'clock in the afternoon,
when Sheridan's cavalry, by hard work, drove
out the enemy and secured Cold Harbor, which was
at that moment of vast importance to us strategically.</p>
<p>It was determined to make a fight here before the
enemy could intrench. Wright was at once ordered to
have his whole force on the ground by daylight on the
1st of June, to support Sheridan and take the offensive.
"Baldy" Smith, of Butler's army, who had landed at
White House on the 31st with twelve thousand five
hundred men, was ordered to the aid of Wright and
Sheridan. But there was an error in Smith's orders,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</SPAN></span>
and Wright's march was so long that his corps did not
get up to Cold Harbor until the afternoon of the 1st.
Meanwhile Sheridan's cavalry had repulsed two attacks
by two brigades of Kershaw's infantry.</p>
<p>It was not until six o'clock in the afternoon that we
at headquarters at Bethesda Church heard the cannon
which indicated that an attack had at last been made
by Wright and Smith. From the sounds of artillery
and musketry, we judged the fight was furious. Rickett's
division broke through the rebel lines between
Hoke and Kershaw, capturing five hundred prisoners,
and forcing the enemy to take up a new position farther
back. Smith's troops effected lodgments close up to
the Confederate intrenchments. Our losses this day
were twenty-two hundred men in these two corps. Warren
was slightly engaged. Altogether they had done
very well, but meanwhile Lee was again concentrated
and intrenched in our front.</p>
<p>Hancock was ordered to move during the night,
and his advance arrived at Cold Harbor about daylight.
When I got up in the morning—I was then at Bethesda
Church—his rear was marching past our headquarters.
In conjunction with Wright and Smith, he was to fall
upon Lee's right that day. Warren and Burnside were
also ordered in as soon as they heard that the three
corps on our left had begun battle. There was no battle
that day, however. Hancock's men were so tired with
their forced march of nearly twelve miles, and the heat
and dust were so oppressive, that General Grant ordered
the attack to be postponed until half past four
o'clock the next morning.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>So the battle Grant sought did not come until June
3d—that of Cold Harbor. On the morning of the 3d
our line lay with the right at Bethesda Church, the left
extending to the Chickahominy. Hancock commanded
the left; next to him was Wright, with his corps drawn
up in three lines; next, Smith, with the Eighteenth
Corps in two lines; next, Warren, who had his whole
command in a single line, the distance he covered being
fully three miles. With this thin order of battle he was
necessarily unable to make any effective assault. Burnside
held the extreme right. Hancock, Wright, and
Smith were to make the main attacks at daybreak.
Promptly at the hour they dashed out toward the rebel
lines, under a fearful fire of musketry and a cross fire of
artillery. The losses were great, but we gained advantages
here and there. The entire charge consumed
hardly more than an hour. Barlow, of Hancock's corps,
drove through a very strong line, and at five o'clock
reported that he had taken intrenchments with guns
and colors, but he could not stay there. An interior
breastwork commanded the one he had carried, and his
men had to withdraw, leaving behind them the captured
cannon, and bringing out a single Confederate standard
and two hundred and twenty prisoners as tokens of their
brief success. Wright and Smith succeeded in carrying
the first line of rifle-pits, but could get no farther
to the front. All our forces held ground close up to
the enemy. At some points they were intrenched within
a hundred feet of the rebel breastworks. Burnside, on
the right, captured some rifle-pits. Later he was attacked
by Early, who was roughly handled and repulsed.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</SPAN></span>
Warren was active, and repulsed a vigorous attack by
Gordon.</p>
<p>Thus by noon we had fully developed the Confederate
lines, and Grant could see what was necessary in
order to get through them. Hancock reported that in
his front it could not be done. Wright was decidedly
of the opinion that a lodgment could be made in his
front, but it would be difficult to make much by it unless
Hancock and Smith could also advance. Smith
thought he could carry the works before him, but was
not sanguine. Burnside also thought he could get
through, but Warren, who was nearest him, did not
seem to share his opinion. In this state of things, at
half past one o'clock, General Grant ordered the attack
to be suspended. He had told Meade as early as seven
in the morning to suspend the movement if it became
evident that success was impossible.</p>
<p>This was the battle of Cold Harbor, which has been
exaggerated into one of the bloodiest disasters of history,
a reckless, useless waste of human life. It was
nothing of the kind. The outlook warranted the effort.
The breaking of Lee's lines meant his destruction and
the collapse of the rebellion. Sheridan took the same
chances at Five Forks ten months later, and won; so
did Wright, Humphreys, Gibbon, and others at Petersburg.
They broke through far stronger lines than those
at Cold Harbor, and Lee fled in the night toward Appomattox.
So it would have been at Cold Harbor if
Grant had won, and who would have thought of the
losses?</p>
<p>While we lay at Cold Harbor, as when we had been<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</SPAN></span>
at Spottsylvania, the principal topic of conversation was
the losses of the army. The discussion has never ceased.
There are still many persons who bitterly accuse Grant
of butchery in this campaign. As a matter of fact, Grant
lost fewer men in his successful effort to take Richmond
and end the war than his predecessors lost in making
the same attempt and failing. An official table, showing
the aggregate of the losses sustained by the armies of
McDowell, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade,
Butler, and Ord, in the effort to capture the Confederate
capital, is appended:</p>
<div class='letter'>
<p><i class='title2'>Comparative Statement of the Losses sustained in Action by the
Army of Northeastern Virginia, the Army of the Potomac, and
the Army of Virginia, under Command of Generals McDowell,
McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade, from May 24,
1861, to May 4, 1864, and the Army of the Potomac (Meade) and
the Army of the James (Butler and Ord), constituting the
Armies operating against Richmond under General Grant, from
May 5, 1864, to April 9, 1865</i>:</p>
</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="losses">
<tr>
<td colspan='5' style='border-bottom: 1px solid black'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'> </td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='center'>Killed.</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='center'>Wounded.</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='center'>Captured<br/>or<br/>Missing.</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='center'>Aggregate.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black; border-top: 1px solid black'>Losses from May 24, 1861, to May 4, 1864:</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-top: 1px solid black' align='center'> </td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-top: 1px solid black' align='center'> </td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-top: 1px solid black' align='center'> </td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-top: 1px solid black' align='center'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>McDowell, May 24 to August 19, 1861</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>493</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>1,176</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>1,342</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>3,011</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>McClellan, August 20, 1861, to April 4 1862</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>80</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>268</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>815</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>1,163</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>McClellan, April 5, to August 8, 1862</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>3,263</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>13,868</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>7,317</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>24,448</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>Pope, June 26 to September 2, 1862</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>2,065</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>9,908</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>4,982</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>16,955</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>McClellan, September 3, to November 14, 1862</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>2,716</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>11,979</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>13,882</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>28,577</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>Burnside, November 15, 1862, to January 25, 1863</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>1,296</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>9,,642</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>2,276</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>13,214</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>Hooker, January 26 to June 17, 1863</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>1,955</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>11,160</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>11,912</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>25,027</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdnrl' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>Meade, June 28, 1863, to May 4, 1864</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>3,877</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>18,078</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>9,575</td>
<td style='border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>31,530</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class='tdr' style='border-right: 1px solid black; border-left: 1px solid black'>Total</td>
<td style='border-top: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>15,745</td>
<td style='border-top: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>76,079</td>
<td style='border-top: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>52,101</td>
<td style='border-top: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black' align='right'>143,925</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='5' style='border-top: 1px solid black'> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class='p2'>This table shows exactly what Richmond cost us
from May 24, 1861, when McDowell crossed the Potomac
into Virginia, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox;
and it proves that Grant in eleven months secured the
prize with less loss than his predecessors suffered in failing
to win it during a struggle of three years.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.