Slavery and four years of war

by Joseph Warren Keifer

CHAPTER VII Campaign South of James River and Petersburg—Hunter's Raid—Battle of Monocacy—Early's Advance on Washington (1864)—Sheridan's Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events

In pursuance of the general plan, as we have seen, General B. F. Butler had organized at Fortress Monroe the Army of the James, composed of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, commanded, respectively, by Generals Quincy A. Gilmore and W. F. Smith. It moved by transports up the James River on May 4, 1864, and effected a landing without serious resistance at Bermuda Hundred the night of the 5th. At the same time General Kautz, with 3000 cavalry, made a raid from Suffolk and destroyed a portion of the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. These movements caused a hasty concentration against Butler of all the available troops from the Carolinas. Beauregard was put in command of them. There was some indecisive fighting between parts of Butler's army at Stony Creek, Jarratt's Station, and White Bridge, and there were somewhat general engagements at Port Walthall Junction, Chester Station, Swift Creek, Proctor's Creek, and Drewry's Bluff, and some minor affairs along the James. Kautz, making a second successful raid, cut the Richmond and Danville Railroad at Caulfield, destroying bridges, tracks, and depots. The result of all was to leave Butler's command strongly intrenched at Bermuda Hundred, but unable to advance and seriously threaten Richmond.

The term "Bottled up," an expression used to describe Butler's position, was derived from a dispatch of Grant to the War Department in which he referred to Butler's situation between the James and the Appomattox with the enemy intrenched across his front, as being "like a bottle."( 1)

Grant ordered Smith's corps to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. Butler attacked Petersburg on the 9th of June, chiefly with Gilmore's corps, but, for want of co-operation by the several attacking bodies, the place was not taken. General Butler attributed the defeat to Gilmore's failure to obey orders and act with energy.( 2)

After Smith's withdrawal, Butler did little more than hold his position. The Army of the Potomac crossed to the south of the James on June 14th. An attack was made by Meade on Petersburg on the 16th, principally with troops under Hancock and Burnside, by which a part only of the enemy's works with one battery and some prisoners were taken. Fighting continued on the 17th, and a general assault was ordered at daylight on the 18th, but on advancing it was found that the enemy had retired to an inner and stronger line. Later in the day unsuccessful assaults were made on this new line by portions of the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Corps. It was then ascertained that Lee's main army had reached Petersburg, and further efforts to take it by assault were abandoned.( 3) There was much fighting, extending through June, by detachments of infantry, for possession of roads, all of which, however, was indecisive. Wilson and Kautz's cavalry divisions, on the 22d, in a raid took Reams Station and destroyed some miles of the Weldon Railroad, and the next day, after defeating W. H. F. Lee's cavalry near Nottoway Station, reached Burkeville junction and destroyed the depot and about twenty miles of railroad track. The succeeding day they destroyed the railroad from Meherim Station to Roanoke Bridge, a distance of twenty-five miles, but on returning they encountered at Reams Station, on the 28th, the enemy's cavalry and a strong force of infantry, and were defeated, with the loss of trains and artillery. The Sixth Corps was sent to their relief, but arrived at the Station after the affair was over and the enemy had withdrawn.( 4)

I shall not undertake to give the important movements and operations ( 5) of the troops under Grant in front of Petersburg and Richmond, during the remainder fo the summer and the fall of 1864, as the troops in which I was immediately interested were, early in July, transferred to Maryland and Washington. A summary of the occurrences in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia is, however, necessary to enable the reader the better to understand important events soon to be narrated.

General Franz Sigel, in command of the Department of West Virginia, moved up the Valley, and was defeated at New Market on the 15th of May. He retired to the north bank of Cedar Creek. His loss was about 1000 killed, wounded, and captured, and seven pieces of artillery. General George Crook, proceeding via Fayetteville, Raleigh, and Princeton, fought the battle of Cloyd's Mountain on the 9th of May and gained a brilliant victory. He did much damage to the enemy, and returned to Meadow Bluff, on the Kanawha. General David Hunter relieved Sigel in command of the department on the 21st, and joined the troops at Cedar Creek in the Valley, on the 26th. Sigel was assigned to command a Reserve Division along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

Hunter and Crook, from their respective positions, moved towards Staunton on the 30th. Hunter met the enemy under General W. E. Jones at Piedmont, on June 5th, and after a severe engagement defeated him, killing Jones and capturing about 1500 prisoners. Hunter reached Staunton on the 6th, and was joined by Crook on the 8th. They here destroyed railroads, Confederate supplies, mills, and factories, and, together, advanced towards Lexington on the 10th. They were now opposed by McCausland, whose command was chiefly cavalry. Lexington was taken on the 11th, after some fighting, and with it large quantities of military supplies. A portion of the James River Canal and a number of extensive iron- works were destroyed. Hunter burned the Virginia Military Institute and all buildings connected therewith on the 12th. He also burned the residence of ex-Governor John Letcher. Doubts have been entertained as to whether the burning of the Institute or Letcher's home could be justified under the rules of modern warfare. The Institute, however, was a preparatory school for Confederate officers, and its Principal, Colonel Smith, with 250 cadets, united with McCausland's troops in the defence of Lexington. Letcher had issued a violent and inflammatory proclamation inciting the population to rise and wage a guerilla warfare on the Union troops.( 6)

Hunter proceeded via Buchanan and by the Peaks of Otter road across the Blue Ridge, and arrived at Liberty, twenty-four miles from Lynchburg, on the 15th. Here he heard rumors through Confederate channels of disasters to Grant and Sherman's armies, and of Sheridan's fighting at Trevilian Station. Hunter was also told Breckinridge was in Lynchburg with all the rebel forces in West Virginia, and that Ewell's corps, 20,000 strong, was arriving to reinforce him. Notwithstanding these reports, Hunter commenced an advance on the 16th on Lynchburg. His several columns met stubborn resistance on this and the succeeding day, but at night, after a spirited affair at Diamond Hill, he encamped his forces near the town. It became known to Hunter on the 18th that Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, with Ewell's corps from Lee's army, was at Lynchburg. Early and Breckinridge's combined commands far outnumbered Hunter's forces. The situation was critical for Hunter. He maintained a bold front, however, until nightfall, and then withdrew via Liberty and Buford's Gap to New Castle and Sweet Springs. General Wm. A. Averell with the cavalry covered the rear. The enemy pursued rather tardily to Salem, where Early concentrated his army. Hunter chose, in his retreat, the Lewisburg route to Charleston on the Kanawha, rather than retire down the Shenandoah Valley or by Warm Springs and the South Branch of the Potomac. The latter route would have had the advantage of bringing him out at Cumberland or New Creek on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, much nearer to his proper base at Martinsburg or Harper's Ferry. His retreat, on the line chosen, left the Valley, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Baltimore and Washington practically without defence. Hunter arrived at Charleston on the 30th, having marched through White Sulphur Springs, Lewisburg, and Meadow Bluff. From near Liberty, on the 16th, he sent his supply train of 200 wagons, 141 prisoners, and his sick and wounded in charge of Captain T. K. McCann, A.Q.M. of Volunteers, with orders to reach the Kanawha at Charleston. The train was guarded by parts of the 152d and 161st Ohio Volunteers—one hundred day men, commanded by Colonel David Putnam of the former regiment. At Greenbrier River, on the 22d, the train was attacked by the Thurmond brothers, and forced to return to White Sulphur Springs. From thence it proceeded through Hillsborough to Beverly, where it arrived on the 27th.( 7) Hunter's raid, so brilliantly begun, thus unfortunately ended.

Early reached Lynchburg on the 17th of June and assumed command of all the forces there, including those under Breckinridge. Early pursued Hunter to the mountains, and then, on the 23d, marched rapidly through Staunton and down the Shenandoah Valley, with the purpose of invading Maryland, in pursuance of instructions given him by Lee before being detached from the latter's main army.( 8)