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Chapter Twelve: “Hold on with a Bull Dog Grip”—Petersburg, July–September 1864
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203 Chapter T welve “Hold on with a Bull Dog Grip” Petersburg, July—September 1864 The Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was given the investment of Petersburg, while the Army of the James held Bermuda Hundred and all the ground we possessed north of the James River. The 9th Corps, Burnside’s, was placed upon the right at Petersburg; the 5th,Warren’s, next; the 2nd, Birney’s, next; then the 6th, Wright’s, broken off to the left and south. Thus began the siege of Petersburg. —Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs The Overland campaign, fought from early May to early June at four contiguous locations—the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, and Cold Harbor—had cost the Army of the Potomac 54,000 casualties (compared to the Army of Northern Virginia’s 32,000) and resulted in little tangible success. Union ranks were depleted, the men’s fighting spirit —from top to bottom of the corps—was drained, and the pervasive feeling in the North was that the war could drag on inconclusively for years to come. The dog days of summer for the Army of the Potomac in the field at Petersburg were matched by the dog days in the political climate in the north as the presidential election of 1864 drew closer. To the west, Sherman was gearing up for a campaign to Atlanta while, in the east, Grant was making plans to disengage from Cold Harbor and focus his 204 Your Brother in Arms Army of the Potomac on Petersburg, a vital hub for rail lines serving Richmond . Sever the rail lines that supplied the Confederates in their capital, Grant reasoned, and he could choke off the city and bring about an early end to the war, perhaps giving Lincoln a battlefield victory and a fighting chance in the autumn election. On June 14, the army began to transport troops using the James River . Grant, wanting to keep steady pressure on Lee’s forces, ordered the Eighteenth Corps under Major General William (“Baldy”) Smith and Hancock’s Second Corps to attack the Confederate lines surrounding Petersburg. The Eighteenth Corps moved very slowly toward its objective while the Second Corps did not receive clear communication regarding its role in the attack. Consequently, the Eighteenth Corps went into the attack on the eastern side of the Confederate line at Petersburg on its own. When they finally did attack the Rebel entrenchments at Petersburg, Baldy Smith’s men succeeded in capturing over a mile of the Confederate line. Despite the unit’s significant advantage in troop strength and its penetration of the line, Smith believed that the Confederates were quickly feeding in reinforcements and would soon surpass his numbers of troops. The sporadic Union attacks that followed on June 16 were all repulsed by the Confederates who were growing in strength by the hour. Additional troops from the Ninth Corps were sent in to strengthen the Federal lines, but it was to no avail. On June 18, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard’s Confederates, though outnumbered, were able to throw the Union troops into disorder. Disorder led to confusion; confusion led to disaster; and disaster led to defeat. After four days of fighting, Union losses totaled 10,000 men. While the Confederates had an impressive defensive position in place to fend off Union assaults on Petersburg and Richmond, the Federals had taken control of two of the five railroad lines that supplied Petersburg—the Petersburg and Norfolk Railroad and City Point Railroad. Meanwhile, Grant was using his artillery to shell Petersburg. Beginning on June 16, artillery units took the city under fire, causing thousands of civilians to abandon their homes and flee to the surrounding countryside. Among the guns eventually used was one called the “Dictator,” a 13-inch mortar capable of firing 200-pound shells up to two and one-half miles. July was spent digging trenches at the Union lines. Midday temperatures remained in the nineties for most of the month—soldiers called the heat“oppressive ”in diaries and letters. The heat and an absence of rain turned the entrenching activities into dusty, baking exercises involving prolonged physical exertion. Men collapsed from the heat, and a few even died from acute heatstroke . The troops on both sides were plagued by flies, chiggers, ticks, and lice that thrived in the Virginia summer heat. [54.205.179.155] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:47 GMT) Petersburg, July—September 1864...