General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Confederates south of the James River had held firm against repeated Federal assaults on Petersburg, the vital railroad city 22 miles south of Richmond. The Confederate line ran northeast of Petersburg to south of the city. Elements of two Federal armies, under General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant’s overall command, held opposing positions to the east:
- Two divisions of Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith’s Eighteenth Corps/Army of the James held the right (northeastern) flank
- Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock’s entire Second Corps/Army of the Potomac held the center (east)
- Three divisions of Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps/Army of the Potomac held the left (southeastern) flank
- A division of Major-General Horatio G. Wright’s Sixth Corps/Army of the Potomac was to support Smith’s exhausted Federals
- The remainder of Wright’s Sixth Corps was to move northeast and break the rest of Major-General Benjamin F. Butler’s Army of the James out of Bermuda Hundred, a peninsula formed by the James and Appomattox rivers.
- Major-General Gouverneur Warren’s entire Fifth Corps/Army of the Potomac was to come up on Burnside’s left and extend the Federal line to the Jerusalem Plank Road, south of Petersburg.
The Federal force numbered about 80,000 men, and although they were very tired, they were eager to finish the job of capturing Petersburg. The main portion of General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia still had not crossed the James River, leaving Beauregard with only about 15,000 troops. Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, believed that the enemy line in Burnside’s sector was vulnerable and issued orders for him to attack. Meade told Burnside, “I am satisfied the main body of Lee’s army is not yet up, and it is of the utmost importance to do all we can before they get up.”
Burnside selected two brigades from Brigadier-General Robert B. Potter’s division to make the assault near the Shands house, where the advancing Federals could be concealed by ravines leading up to the defenses. Potter’s Federals charged just before sunrise and captured nearly a mile of the Confederate line, along with about 600 prisoners, four guns, and 1,500 small arms. This was a major triumph.
Potter was supposed to have been supported by Brigadier-General James Ledlie’s division, but Ledlie was not informed of this. The Confederates fell back to another line of fortifications, and Potter’s Federals soon found themselves pinned down by enfilade fire. Ledlie finally got his orders but did not come up to join the fray until around 2 p.m.; he later claimed that he lost his way to the front. Ledlie was noticeably drunk during the battle.
Burnside made no progress because he was not supported by the other corps. Warren was stopped from coming up on Burnside’s left by Confederate artillery near the Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad. Hancock, who had been struggling with a wound from Gettysburg that had not yet healed, was forced to relinquish command of the Second Corps to Major-General David B. Birney. Confederates in the northeastern sector repelled disjointed assaults by Smith and Wright.
Burnside and Birney launched a strong assault at 6 p.m., but the Confederates eventually drove the Federals back. The Federal high command did not seem to have a strategy for pressing the enemy at all points at the same time. The Federals even had issues with basic logistics, such as getting ammunition to the front. The precision and skill that got the Army of the Potomac across the James undetected fell apart when it came to assaulting Petersburg.
Grant was indirectly responsible for the failures because he pulled some of the Federals away from the Petersburg lines to help break Butler’s army out of Bermuda Hundred. With Wright’s help, Butler broke out of the bottleneck there and Grant wrote Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck at 11 a.m.:
“The enemy in their endeavor to reinforce Petersburg abandoned their intrenchments in front of Bermuda Hundred. They no doubt expected troops from north of the James River to take their place before we discovered it. General Butler took advantage of this and moved a force at once upon the railroad and plank road between Richmond and Petersburg, which I hope to retain possession of. Too much credit cannot be given to the troops and their commanders for the energy and fortitude displayed during the last five days. Day and night has been all the same, no delays being allowed on any account.”
But Grant spoke too soon. Despite urgings from his subordinates, Butler did not move decisively and was eventually knocked back into his Bermuda Hundred bottleneck by a Confederate division sent across the James by Lee. The clear path toward cutting communications between Richmond and Petersburg was closed, and the trapped Federals could do nothing to help break the Confederate line at Petersburg. Brigadier-General E. Porter Alexander, the chief Confederate artillerist, later wrote:
“The fighting was continuous and severe all day. Parts of our line were taken and retaken, but when the struggle finally ceased, which it did not do until near midnight, our lines were practically intact and Beauregard and what were left of his splendid little force had covered themselves with glory. For they had successfully stood off Grant’s whole army for three days.”
Meade finally called a halt to the fighting. He had failed to use his superior numbers to overwhelm the seriously undermanned enemy, instead employing just Burnside’s corps and part of Warren’s. Meade issued orders for the corps of Birney, Warren, and Burnside to launch a “vigorous assault” all along the Confederate line at 4 a.m.
Meanwhile, Lee remained unconvinced that the entire Army of the Potomac was at Petersburg. He wired Beauregard that morning, “Can you ascertain anything of Grant’s movements? I am cut off now from all information.” That afternoon, Lee asked Beauregard, “Has Grant been seen crossing James River?” Beauregard wrote Lee at 6:30 p.m.:
“The increasing number of the enemy in my front, and inadequacy of my force to defend the already much too extended lines, will compel me to fall within a shorter one, which I will attempt to effect to-night. This I shall hold as long as practicable, but without reinforcements, I may have to evacuate the city shortly. In that event I shall retire in the direction of Drury’s (sic) Bluff, defending the crossing at Appomattox River and Swift Creek.”
Beauregard worked with engineers to form a new defense line about a mile closer to Petersburg, which ran along Taylor’s Creek to the Appomattox River. The new line was to be “clearly marked out with white stakes, so that it might be occupied at night without confusion.” The Confederates started falling back around 1 a.m. Beauregard wrote that “notwithstanding the exhaustion… (and) their sore disappointment at receiving no further reinforcements,” this movement was “safely and silently executed, with uncommonly good order and precision, though the greatest caution had to be used… to retire unnoticed from so close a contact with so strong an adversary.”
The Confederates could not withdraw any further without abandoning the city. They lacked adequate manpower to guard south of Petersburg, but the Federals were unaware of this weakness. Beauregard telegraphed Lee at 12:40 a.m.: “All quiet at present. I expect renewal of attack in morning. My troops are becoming much exhausted. Without immediate and strong reinforcements results may be unfavorable. Prisoners report Grant on the field with his whole army.” He dispatched three messengers to find Lee and tell him in person to hurry his army to Petersburg.
Beauregard later expressed frustration with Lee’s indecision: “The Army of Northern Virginia was yet far distant, and I had failed to convince its distinguished commander of the fact that I was then fighting Grant’s whole army with less than 11,000 men.”
Lee finally received positive confirmation that Grant and Meade had crossed the James from his son, Major-General W.H.F. “Rooney” Lee of the cavalry. Lee prepared to send his army to Petersburg, led by Lieutenant-General Richard H. Anderson’s First Corps. Anderson’s advance elements arrived before dawn on the 18th and immediately began strengthening the fortifications before the next Federal attack came.
As the sun rose, Beauregard now had about 20,000 Confederates in strong defenses. But they still faced 80,000 Federals preparing to launch a massive, overwhelming assault.
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