A Perfect Hell of Blood

This chapter follows the fighting at the Battle of the Crater from the commencement of the Confederate counterattacks through the end of the engagement. Once the Union assaults had run their course without achieving a significant breakthrough, General William Mahone arrived at the head of two Confederate brigades with orders to regain the lost ground. Morning assaults drove the Bluecoats back into the environs of the Crater, but failed to expel them. Mahone summoned an Alabama brigade to the field as unrelenting heat combined with Confederate mortar fire weakened the Union survivors and made life around the Crater almost unbearable. Early in the afternoon, Mahone unleashed his Alabamans. Their determined attack ended the battle, but not before the Southerners, incensed at the idea of fighting former slaves, perpetrated an unprecedented massacre of the black troops, providing July 30, 1864 with its gruesome pedigree. The aftermath possessed its own dark character featuring the execution of black prisoners, a humiliating parade of Union POWs through Petersburg, and shameful dueling protocols by the respective commanders that delayed a truce and resulted in the deaths of countless wounded men caught between the lines.

We Were Fortunate to Get Back at All

This chapter deals with cavalry operations in June 1864, particularly the Union’s Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 22-30. Planned in conjunction with infantry advances as a part of Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, this mounted initiative targeted three of the railroads that led into Richmond and Petersburg. Destroying those transportation links would cripple Robert E. Lee’s logistics and perhaps compel the Confederates to leave the safety of their fortifications. Meanwhile, the rest of the Union cavalry under the direct command of Philip Sheridan, moved to join the army around Petersburg. Sheridan bore responsibility for escorting a huge wagon train full of supplies across the James River from the former Union base at White House Landing on the Pamunkey River. This endeavor led to a spirited cavalry fight at Samaria Church on June 24. In an unrelated action, the Confederates made a disjointed and decidedly unsuccessful attack along City Point Road on June 24 in an attempt to restore their original lines.

More Hard Fighting and Many More Lives Must Be Lost

This chapter describes the combat on June 16 and 17, 1864 around Petersburg. As fresh Union units arrived, they launched a series of uncoordinated assaults against the new Confederate defenses prepared overnight. The Rebels lost ground but managed in all cases to prevent the Yankees from achieving a decisive breakthrough. Meanwhile north of the Appomattox River on the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula, Benjamin Butler’s army breached the vital transportation links between Richmond and Petersburg. Reinforcements dispatched by Robert E. Lee caused Butler to withdraw his victorious troops and adopt a defensive position, thus squandering the chance to block fresh Southern brigades from reinforcing P.G.T. Beauregard’s beleaguered forces at Petersburg. The chapter also analyzes General Lee’s evolving decision to transfer his army from the Richmond defenses to Petersburg.

War at Our Own Doors

This chapter provides the geographic, operational, social, and economic background to the Petersburg Campaign. It introduces the commanders of the four armies involved in the campaign and outlines the conduct of the brutal fighting in May and early June that brought the Civil War to the outskirts of Richmond, the Confederate capital. The chapter also provides a brief history of the City of Petersburg, seventh largest metropolis in the Confederacy, and explains why it was such an important military target.

I Have Accomplished One of the Great Things of This War

During the lull in the fighting after the Second Petersburg Offensive, the 48th Pennsylvania began building a mine shaft ending underneath a major Confederate fort. The Pennsylvanians completed their tunnel in late July and packed it with 8,000 pounds of black powder. This chapter describes the details behind this, the most famous engineering accomplishment of the entire campaign, and Confederate efforts to verify its existence and location. The Union Ninth Corps designated its African American division to lead any attack that would follow the mine’s detonation, although there remains some doubt as to the amount of training these men received for their unique assignment. General Grant’s plans for his Third Petersburg Offensive, however, relied not on the mine, but on a movement north of the James River targeting Richmond and its supply lines to the north and west. The conduct of that operation, called First Deep Bottom, failed to achieve its goals between July 26th and 28th. However, it succeeded in drawing much of Lee’s army away from Petersburg, elevating the mine’s potential importance.

Our Hearts Were Filled with New Hope

This chapter chronicles the complex movement of the Union army from its Cold Harbor trenches outside of Richmond to and across the James River. Federal engineers constructed a massive pontoon bridge across the James to facilitate the army’s crossing, and the chapter explains the background of this impressive undertaking. The Confederate army quickly became aware of their enemy’s departure from Cold Harbor, but remained uncertain of General Grant’s intended destination. This provided the Northern forces the opportunity to capture Petersburg before General Lee could shift his troops to the south and reinforce the city’s undermanned defenses.

Strangled in Dust and Scorched in the Sun

From late June to mid-July 1864, the period between Grant’s Second and Third Petersburg Offensives, soldiers on both sides experienced hardships caused by drought and deluge, enervating heat, and particularly for the Confederates, an unreliable diet. Casualties mounted from relentless sharpshooting and mortar attacks, but the majority of soldiers in both armies maintained good morale. The average Johnny Reb believed that Robert E. Lee could never be driven from Petersburg and Richmond. Most Billy Yanks trusted their commander, Ulysses S. Grant, evincing a strong desire to see the war through to a successful conclusion, regardless of how long it took. Still, desertion began to plague both armies as the summer ground on with no end to the fighting in sight. The soldiers constructed ever more elaborate field fortifications and gradually adapted to life in their trenches and bombproofs. Grant detached most of his cavalry and an infantry corps to counter a threat to Washington posed by Confederates under Jubal Early and made a controversial change in the command of the 18th Corps.

The Most Disagreeable Human Habitation Left upon This Sin-Stricken Earth

After a brief analysis of the Wilson-Kautz Raid, this chapter describes the impact of the first six weeks of the Petersburg Campaign on the city’s residents. Relentless Federal artillery bombardment forced many citizens out of their homes, wreaking havoc on the town’s built environment. Shortages at the markets created hardship as did runaway inflation that impoverished all but the wealthiest citizens. The presence of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers, many of whom occupied the city’s several military hospitals, presented both problems and opportunities for civilians. Crime increased, much of it perpetrated by the troops, but the residents managed to maintain an active social life wherein young Confederate officers courted Petersburg’s eligible belles. Despite these hardships, most Petersburg residents remained steadfast supporters of the Confederate war effort, demonstrating remarkable resilience in the face of immense challenges experienced by few Southerners during the war.

Our Work Here Progresses Slowly

This chapter provides analysis of the First Petersburg Offensive and describes subsequent military events around Petersburg, including the Union infantry initiative styled the Second Petersburg Offensive, conducted June 20-24. This operation sought to move west and encircle Petersburg, in the process controlling two of the key railroads upon which the Confederates depended for supplies. The Second and Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac bore responsibility for the mission. The Second Corps met with defeat on June 22 and Confederate attacks compelled the Sixth Corps to fall back on June 23. These actions are sometimes called the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road. The Unionists did manage to establish a bridgehead on the north side of the James at Deep Bottom in a separate operation. Abraham Lincoln made his first visit to the Petersburg front during this period.

We Have Done All That It Is Possible for Men to Do and Must Be Resigned to the Result

This chapter details the heavy fighting that occurred on June 18, 1864 near Petersburg. General Beauregard had withdrawn a second time during the night of June 17-18 and created a new defensive position styled the Harris Line, named after the engineer officer who developed it. Union commander George G. Meade attempted unsuccessfully to orchestrate a coordinated attack against the Harris Line. As during the previous two days, individual corps and divisions assaulted, leading to another series of frustrating and bloody failures. The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery suffered the largest single loss sustained by any regiment during the entire war during one of those attacks and the well-known Colonel Joshua Chamberlain sustained a serious wound during another charge. Robert E. Lee, at last aware of the presence of Grant’s entire force at Petersburg, rapidly shifted the Army of Northern Virginia to reinforce Beauregard. At the end of the day, the Union Ninth Corps came close to breaching the Confederate line, but by sunset the First Petersburg Offensive concluded with the Confederates still in possession of Petersburg.