As Major-General George G. Meade’s Federal Army of the Potomac began crossing the James River on June 14, General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant steamed up the James to confer with Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, commanding the Federal Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred, a peninsula formed by the James and Appomattox rivers. The 16,000 men of Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith’s Eighteenth Corps were on their way to reinforce Butler’s army.
Grant issued orders to Butler for “the immediate capture of Petersburg,” the key railroad city 22 miles south of Richmond. If the Federals took Petersburg, they could starve Richmond into submission. Butler had tried doing this on the 9th with a portion of his force, but now Grant instructed him to use a much larger force, including Smith’s entire Eighteenth Corps.
Butler was to send Smith’s corps across the Appomattox early next morning, move southwest and attack the city. Smith’s four divisions would be facing less than 5,500 Confederates spread out between Bermuda Hundred and Petersburg. Smith would also be reinforced by Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock’s Second Corps from the Army of the Potomac, which had crossed the James and would be marching toward Petersburg from the east.
Grant directed Meade to send Hancock to a point midway between Petersburg and City Point on the James. But Grant did not explain why Hancock needed to be there, and consequently neither Meade nor Hancock knew that the objective of this mission was to capture Petersburg. As Grant prepared to return to the Potomac army, he informed Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck at Washington that the Federals would capture Petersburg before the Confederates could hurry reinforcements to save the city.
Late on the afternoon of the 14th, Smith’s Federals landed at Bermuda Hundred. Smith reported to Butler’s headquarters, where Butler issued the orders for the next day. Smith was “to move at daylight on Petersburg.” He would be supported by Brigadier-General August V. Kautz’s cavalry and Brigadier-General Edward W. Hinks’s division, which consisted of the untested U.S. Colored Troops.
Kautz reported that the Petersburg defenses were not very strong, despite the fact that he had come up late and had been driven off by a much smaller force in the failed attack on Petersburg on the 9th. Butler agreed and assured Smith that “there was no force of any consequence at Petersburg.”
Meanwhile, scouts for General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the small Confederate contingent south of the James River, reported that the Army of the Potomac was heading for the James. He warned Chief of Staff Braxton Bragg that the Federals would soon be reinforcing Butler’s army to a size that would overwhelm his force. Beauregard then wired General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia north of the James, requesting reinforcements.
Lee dispatched the 6,000-man division of Major-General Robert F. Hoke to the vicinity of Drewry’s Bluff. Hoke notified Beauregard, “My troops are on the march. Will camp half a mile from Drewry’s Bluff, on the river road.” Later that day, Confederate signalmen notified Beauregard that the naval fleet conveying Smith’s corps had been spotted. Beauregard warned:
“Return of Butler’s forces sent to Grant renders my position more critical than ever, if not reinforced immediately; for the enemy could force my lines at Bermuda Hundred Neck, capture Battery Dantzler, now nearly ready, or take Petersburg, before any troops from Lee’s army or Drury’s Bluff could arrive in time. Can anything be done in the matter?”
Bragg replied that Lee had sent Hoke’s division “to Drewry’s Bluff, with a view to reinforce you in case Petersburg is threatened.” Hoke would not be able to join Beauregard until late on the 15th. Until then, Beauregard had to hold Bermuda Hundred and Petersburg on his own, even though “I fear my present force may prove unequal to hold both.”
At Petersburg, Captain Charles H. Dimmock had designed a ring of fortifications that surrounded the city on three sides. The semicircular line ran from the Appomattox River to the northeast, south and west around town, and then back to the Appomattox west of Petersburg. With just 2,200 Confederates, Beauregard placed them all in the northeastern sector of the “Dimmock Line,” spaced 10 feet apart. Beauregard’s remaining 3,000 troops remained at Bermuda Hundred.
On the night of the 14th, Meade told Hancock to be ready to move at a moment’s notice to support Smith. Meade then informed Hancock:
“General Butler has been ordered to send to you at Wind-Mill Point, 60,000 rations. Soon as these are received and issued you will move your corps by the most direct route to Petersburg, taking up a position where the City Point railroad crosses Harrison’s (sic) Creek at the cross-roads indicated on the map at this point, and extend your right toward the mouth of Harrison’s (sic) Creek where we now have a work.”
Hancock expected the rations to arrive before he got moving, but they were delayed. Hancock hesitated to move before his men were fed, but Meade ordered him to “move immediately to the position assigned you last evening… It is important that you should move.” Meade did not tell Hancock that he would be supporting an assault on Petersburg, and consequently he was unaware that he needed to move fast. He began his advance on the morning of the 15th.
Bibliography
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