Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

On May 23-27, 1864, the North Anna River in Hanover County became the next area of military concentration. General Lee and General Grant were on opposite sides of the river. Although the forces led by Grant were able to cross the river at various intervals, they were unable to penetrate the forces led by Lee. Consequently, Grant turned southwest and proceeded to march to Cold Harbor, approximately ten miles north of Richmond. When Grant arrived at Cold Harbor, he decided to have an all-out offensive against the forces of Lee at this location. His attempt was in vain, however, and he received very heavy losses on June 3. This caused him to retreat to the James River south of Richmond.

On June 11, 1864 there was an important cavalry battle at Trevillians Station, in Louisa County, between Union General Philip Sheridan and Confederate cavalrymen led by Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee. Sheridan had been trying to reach Union General Hunter who was on his way to Lynchburg. After heavy fighting on both sides, Sheridan was defeated and retreated eastward.

In the meantime, after General Grant had found it impossible to penetrate the lines established by Lee north of Richmond, he had crossed the James River south of Richmond and had set up camp on the outskirts of Petersburg. On June 15, 1864, Confederate General Beauregard held the forces under Grant back for three days until reenforcements under Lee arrived. Fighting continued between these two groups until April of the following year. During this siege, the Union forces decided to make a tunnel under the Confederate defenses which surrounded the city of Petersburg and to blow up the fortifications via a mine blast. Some Pennsylvania coal miners in one Union regiment were assigned the task of making the tunnel and laying the mine. On July 30, 1864 the mine was exploded, and the shape of the area after the explosion resembled a huge crater of a volcano. For this reason, this action is often referred to as the Battle of the Crater. Two hundred Confederate soldiers lost their lives due to the explosion. However, as the Union soldiers were ordered to charge up the sides of the recently carved crater, they found them too steep and while they were struggling to get out of the crater, about 4,000 Unionists lost their lives. The Union men could not see from behind the lines and continued to advance according to their orders into the crater until the crater was practically filled with struggling Union soldiers. The remaining Unionists were driven at the point of bayonets out of the crater back to their own lines.

While the Petersburg siege was taking place, Lynchburg became the next objective of the Union forces. When General Jubal Early reached Charlottesville on his mission to block Union General Hunter, he learned that Hunter was heading for Lynchburg, the chief center of supplies of the Army of Northern Virginia and its center of communications. Early's forces in this battle consisted of two extremes in age: very young men cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and older men whose hair locks were so white that they were nicknamed "Silver grays." The fighting lasted from the afternoon of the 17th to the end of the next day when Hunter withdrew unexpectedly to the west. Early pursued him down the Shenandoah Valley and across the Potomac River to the outskirts of the Federal capital. Since Early, however, was not prepared for a fight on Washington, D. C., he returned to Winchester.

At approximately noon, on September 19, 1864, General Early survived a surprise attack by General Sheridan and his forces near Winchester. Early, in a victorious mood, even turned the tables on the attackers and attacked them. Much to his surprise at three o'clock of the same day, Sheridan returned and badly defeated Early, driving him back to Winchester and eventually to a retreat up the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan, whose forces had been savagely attacked by some Confederate guerilla bands, now retaliated by destroying houses, barns and foodstuffs and by capturing or killing livestock. The valley was completely devastated by his destructive campaign.

One month later, however, Early made a surprise crossing of a branch of the Shenandoah River and drove the forces of Sheridan northward from Cedar Creek in Frederick County. As Sheridan and his forces were fleeing, Union reenforcements arrived under the leadership of General Horatio Wright. The combined forces of Sheridan and Wright attacked the troops of Early and drove them from the area in great chaos. This victory was the shortest victory in the War between the States.

During the war, several attempts had been made by the Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley to capture and destroy the Salt Works at Saltville, located in southwestern Virginia. In 1864, the Confederate General John H. Morgan with a small cavalry force successfully repulsed a Union force under General William Averell. On December 18, 1864, however, the salt mines and the Salt Works were destroyed by a small detachment of Union forces who were ordered to Saltville while the Confederates were engaged in severe fighting with the major Union troops at nearby Marion. The destruction of the Salt Works was significant because this location had furnished the principal source of salt supply for the Confederacy.

In spite of the many Unionist casualties at the Crater in 1864, Grant continued to keep his army near Petersburg. Finally, both sides made their camp there for the winter. General William Mahone was the Confederate general in charge of the Petersburg defense at this time. While the winter passed, the Union forces kept receiving enforcements while the Confederate forces had no reenforcements. As the Union forces were increased over a large area, the Confederates were forced to station their meager forces farther apart. There was a scarcity of food and clothing for the Confederates; the cold climate was most uncomfortable and demoralizing for them. On April 2, General Grant succeeded in breaking through the Confederate lines. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was informed while attending services at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond that Petersburg could be held no longer by the Confederate forces. The Virginians knew that, if and when Petersburg fell, Richmond would fall next because Petersburg was the key to Richmond. The next day, April 3, Richmond fell. As General Richard S. Ewell and his Confederate troops evacuated the city, they burned bridges and large tobacco and cotton warehouses to prevent the Union forces from receiving beneficial goods. However, a surprising wind spread the flames rapidly and resulted in approximately thirty million dollars worth of damage to the City of Richmond.

Three days later, the final battle of the Army of Northern Virginia occurred at Sailor's Creek near Farmville. The rearguard of Lee's Army on the way to Lynchburg was completely surrounded and attacked by Unionists. The Confederates lacked equipment, especially cannon, and were quickly overpowered by artillery fire. In the mass surrender which resulted, two generals were captured: R. S. Ewell and Custis Lee, son of General Robert E. Lee.