Since General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant and Major-General George G. Meade led the Federal Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River on May 4, they had lost 36,065 killed, wounded, or missing in the Wilderness and around Spotsylvania Court House. Almost another 20,000 left the army due to illness, desertion, or enlistment expiration. Thus, the 122,000-man army that had begun this campaign was reduced to about 66,000 in less than three weeks.
General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, had lost nearly 20,000 men in the same timeframe from combat and illness. Though this was far less than Grant, Lee could ill afford such losses considering his army only numbered about 65,000 men when the campaign began.
Lee now had closer to 40,000 troops, and even worse, his cavalry commander (Jeb Stuart) was killed, his top corps commander (James Longstreet) was out with a gunshot wound, and another corps commander (Richard Ewell) had been injured during action on May 19. Lee did get some good news when his Third Corps commander, Lieutenant-General A.P. Hill, came off the sick list and resumed command on the 20th.
The Confederates had scored tactical victories in every engagement of the campaign thus far, but the Federals had secured the strategic advantage by gradually moving southeast after each contest and getting closer to the Confederate capital of Richmond. And if this became a war of attrition, the Federals would surely win.
After 12 days of the most intense fighting of the war at Spotsylvania, the 20th was relatively quiet, with the men on both sides remaining behind their fortifications for the most part. Lee reported to Secretary of War James A. Seddon, “The enemy has continued quiet to-day; he is taking ground toward our right and intrenching, but whether for attack or defense is not apparent.”
President Jefferson Davis wrote a long letter to Lee about the action on other fronts. Davis described how General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Confederates drove Major-General Benjamin F. Butler’s Army of the James away from Richmond and bottled him up at Bermuda Hundred. He also relayed news of Major-General John C. Breckinridge’s remarkable Confederate victory at New Market in the Shenandoah Valley.
In response to Lee’s request for reinforcements, Davis replied that he could now have most of Breckinridge’s force, consisting of about 2,500 men, as well as 6,000 troops from Beauregard under Major-Generals George Pickett and Robert F. Hoke. Grant would no longer be facing a weakened enemy and therefore looked to maneuver around Lee rather than fight.
Davis shared Beauregard’s idea that Lee “should fall back to the line of the Chickahominy, and that he (Beauregard) should move up with 15,000 men to unite with Breckinridge and fall upon the flank of Grant’s army, which it is presumed will be following yours, and after the success to be obtained there, he (Beauregard) should hasten back, reinforced by you, to attack Butler’s forces, after an absence of three, and not to exceed four, days.”
This was a very daring and (characteristically) elaborate plan by Beauregard. Davis was skeptical, not only because of the risk involved, but because it would involve Lee’s army retreating to the Chickahominy River. Davis wrote, “How far the morale of your army would be affected by a retrograde movement, no one can judge as well as yourself. It would certainly encourage the enemy.”
Rather than reject the plan, Davis asked for Lee’s opinion: “You are better informed than any other can be of the necessities of your position, at least as well informed as any other of the wants and dangers of the country in your rear, including the railroad and other lines of communication, and I cannot do better than to leave your judgment to reach its own conclusions.”
Davis then updated Lee on events in Georgia, which mainly involved General Joseph E. Johnston’s many retreats:
“I cannot judge of the circumstances which caused Genl Johnston to retire from Dalton to Calhoun. He may have been willing to allow the enemy to pass the (Rocky Face) Ridge and may prefer to fight him on the Etowah River. I hope the future will prove the wisdom of his course, and that we shall hereafter reap advantages that will compensate for the present disappointment.”
Meanwhile, Lee knew that Grant would not stay quiet for long. He directed the troops from Breckinridge and Beauregard to meet his army at Hanover Junction, a railroad intersection just south of the North Anna River. Lee guessed that Grant would target this vital point.
Sure enough, Grant issued orders for another southeastern movement. Hoping to force Lee into the open, Grant directed just one corps–Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock’s–to make the move toward Hanover Junction. If Lee attacked this isolated force, Grant could then hit Lee’s vulnerable left flank at Spotsylvania with his remaining three corps. If Lee did not attack, Grant could still gain an advantage if Hancock managed to reach the North Anna ahead of the Confederates.
Within the ranks, some Confederates were getting frustrated with the constant marching and fighting, having never faced such a relentless enemy commander. One Confederate wrote, “We have met a man, this time, who either does not know when he is whipped, or who cares not if he loses his whole Army.”
Federals were experiencing frustration as well. While they had initially been emboldened by Grant’s refusal to retreat, they now began noting that after every major confrontation, they were the ones to disengage and move to different ground, despite their superiority in manpower, armament, and supplies.
Lee learned of Hancock’s movement at 1 a.m. on the 21st and, unwilling to take the bait, extended Ewell’s corps to block the Telegraph Road, thinking that Hancock would be using this thoroughfare to push south. Ewell’s Confederates began moving toward the road at 4 a.m. At 9:30, Grant directed another corps–Major-General Gouverneur Warren’s–to follow Hancock on a parallel route down the Telegraph Road, unaware that it was blocked.
When Grant learned of Ewell’s presence, he directed Warren to change direction and follow the same route that Hancock took. Hancock’s Federals moved through Guinea Station and reached Bowling Green at dawn. They then continued to Milford Station, where they encountered Pickett’s Confederates, just detached from Beauregard. Hancock, now aware that Lee’s army was being reinforced, halted until he could gauge the enemy’s strength.
With Confederates now at Milford Station, the Telegraph Road, and Spotsylvania, the Federal army was dangerously strung out in enemy territory. Grant therefore directed that the remaining two corps under Major-Generals Horatio G. Wright and Ambrose E. Burnside leave their trenches at Spotsylvania and join the rest of the army. Burnside’s Federals moved out first, heading down the Telegraph Road and then changing direction just as Warren did and moving toward Guinea Station instead. Wright followed Burnside.
Scouts informed Lee that the Federal trenches at Spotsylvania were empty, so Lee directed his remaining two corps under Major-General Richard H. Anderson and A.P. Hill to move south to the North Anna River. The Confederates had the advantage of moving along interior roads and thus arrived there before the Federals. Not only did Grant fail to coax Lee into attacking Hancock, but he failed to be the first to reach the North Anna as well.
Grant set up his headquarters tent in the yard of a home near Guinea Station. When Grant announced himself to the lady of the house, she informed him that Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson had died there last year. Grant told her that he had known Jackson from West Point, and “I can understand fully the admiration your people have for him.” Grant posted a guard at the house and issued orders protecting the property from looters.
Near Guinea Station, Grant and Meade and their staffs stopped at Massaponax Church. The pews were pulled out of the church and positioned under a couple of shady trees while the commanders discussed strategy. Photographer Timothy O’Sullivan captured the scene from a second-story window inside the church. The photograph was captioned A Council of War at Massaponax Church, Virginia.
Grant then set about looking deeper into matters south of the James River. Butler’s Army of the James had been bottled up at Bermuda Hundred and City Point following its recent defeat at Drewry’s Bluff. Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith, commanding the Eighteenth Corps, had blamed Butler for the army’s failures, and Butler also had issues with his Tenth Corps commander, Major-General Quincy A. Gillmore. Grant wrote Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck:
“I fear there is some difficulty with the forces at City Point which prevents their effective use. The fault may be with the commander, and it may be with his subordinates. General Smith, whilst a very able officer, is obstinate, and is likely to condemn whatever is not suggested by himself. Either those forces should be so occupied as to detain a force nearly equal to their own, or the garrison in the entrenchments at City Point should be reduced to a minimum and the remainder ordered here. I wish you would send a competent officer there to inspect and report by telegraph what is being done and what in his judgment it is advisable to do.”
Halleck sent a team of high-ranking officers to assess “the enemy’s force and defenses, the condition of our army, whether active operations on our part are advisable, or whether it should limit itself to its defensive position, and, if so, what troops can be spared from that department to re-enforce the Army of the Potomac.” The officers were covertly instructed to report on Butler’s relationship with his subordinates.
Bibliography
- Catton, Bruce, The Army of the Potomac: A Stillness at Appomattox. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1953.
- Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command. Open Road Media, Kindle Edition, 2015.
- Davis, Jefferson, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government: All Volumes. Heraklion Press, Kindle Edition 2013, 1889.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Freeman, Douglas Southall, Lee. Scribner, (Kindle Edition), 2008.
- Jaynes, Gregory, The Killing Ground: Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1983.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Sears, Stephen W., Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, (Kindle Edition), 2017.
- Wert, Jeffry D. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.