November 30, 1864

November 30, 1864

Battle of Franklin

Tennessee

--In one of the simplest and most devastating battles of the war, which only lasted a few hours on the evening of Nov. 30,  The C.S. Army of Tennessee broke its back on a smaller Federal army.  Maj. Gen. John Schofield, with about 28,000 men, have (overnight) dug out and erected earthworks that stretch from riverbank to riverbank of the Harpeth River, as it bends to cover the town of Franklin on two sides.  He decides to defend with the river at his back, because he does not have pontoon bridges sufficient to cross his army to safety before the Rebels catch up, and he needs time to repair the existing bridges.  The Federals await what surely will turn out to be a disastrous attack over two miles of open ground. 

In the morning after Spring Hill, as Gen. Hood discovers how the Yankees have escaped in a most spectacular and unlikely fashion, he berates his generals and orders them to prepare an assault over open ground against the Federal positions.  Many of his officers felt as if Hood ordered this assault as a punishment for his derelict officers and men.  Gen. Forrest argues with Hood that if he had an infantry division to supplement his cavalry corps, he could cross the Harpeth and outflank the Yankees.  Hood refuses to consider it. 

 

Modern re-enactors commemorate Schofield's march past Hood at Spring Hill

After Hood arrives on Winstead Hill, south of town, at 1:00PM, he decides to send in Stewart’s corps, plus much of Cheatham’s corps.  Altogether, he has six infantry divisions, a bit more than 20,000 troops, detailed for the attack.  They are supported by two divisions of cavalry on each flank.  But Gen. Lee’s corps, and most of the army’s artillery, is still on the road from Columbia.  Hood will not wait: with only two batteries to support the attack, his troops step off at around 4:00PM, less than an hour before sunset.  The Confederate lines unfold themselves “as if for dress parade,” according to one witness, with 125 regiments and their colors adding to the scene.  The brass bands in the gray ranks play song after song as the lines moved forward. 

from a contemporary print: the two-mile route from Winstead Hill to Franklin

As the gray lines cross the field, they attack and overwhelm a forward line held by Gen. Wagner’s Federals, the remains of which retreat to the main line.  Three divisions of Union infantry hold the line which centers on the Carter plantation and cotton house.  A Union soldier describes the sight:

Soon we noticed the right of Stewart’s command wrapping around Conrad’s left, and then our men rose up and the break commenced.  It was a grand sight!  For the moment we were spellbound with admiration, although they were our hated foes. . . . the afternoon sun, like a ball of fire, was settling in all its southern splendor in a molten sea of bronze, over the distant hills, and in the hazy golden light. . . .

The Confederate advance

As the Confederates near the main Federal line, the first Federal volley fires, “and the long line of gray went down like over-ripe grain before a blast of wind and hail.”  Blasts of artillery firing canister from the Union works do ghastly work on the once-fine Southern ranks.  At one point, the Rebels breach the blue line, and several defending regiments break and flee: the Federal line is broken.  Two Union regiments, formed from Unionist Tennessee and Kentucky men, counterattack and stem the gray tide. 

 

Re-enactors stage the Battle of Franklin.

Behind the Carter House, where the focus of the struggle was, Col. Opdyke and his brigade of Illinois men charge forward into the gap, and break the back of the Confederate break-through for good.  

Bullet holes that remain in the buildings at the Carter House

The climax of the Confederate attack, with Opdyke's counterattack

As the Rebels are pressed back, hundreds are caught on the Union side of the fortifications, and surrender.  At this point, the Rebels cannot retreat, but are trapped on the outside of the earthworks, while Federal rifle fire is too dense to allow a retreat.  In addition, the structure of the Union earthworks allow enfilade fire on any Rebels sheltering on the outside of the walls.  So, both sides fight each other from each side of the same earthen wall.  Many of the Southerners have it tougher: as they tried to approach the Federal lines, heavy clumps of cheval-de-frise (sharpened stakes) impeded their advance, and along a large portion of the line, dense hedges of thornsome Osage Orange bushes grow, nearly impenetrable.  The deep ditch in front of the earthworks becomes filled with dead and wounded Confederates; their comrades stand on top of them, loading and firing, or handing up rifles to those at the top.  

Detail of the fighting in the Union center, around the Carter House

D.H. Patterson remembers that “two lines of men fought with but a pile of dirt between them.  In firing, the muzzles of the guns would pass each other, and nine times out of ten, when a man rose to fire he fell back dead.”  Another soldier noted that many men had both hands shot off.  The fighting goes on until long after dark, and finally stops around 9:00PM. 

Confederate commanders are shot down in large numbers.  Gen. Cleburne, the most celebrated battlefield commander in the Army of Tennessee, is dead, and fourteen of his regimental and brigade commanders are down.  In Brown’s division, he has been wounded, in addition to all four of his brigade commanders: Generals States Rights Gist, Otho Strahl, John C. Carter, and George Washington Gordon.  Entire formations of infantry are blown down by point-blank canister fire from the Federal artillery. 

Hood’s last resort is to take the only reserves he has on hand---Edward “Alleghany” Johnson’s division from Lee’s corps, just arrived---and to send them forward in a bid to break an already-strained Union line.  But the Union line is not in the least strained, and Johnson comes back after one attack with heavy casualties.  

Fourteen Confederate generals are casualties:  6 dead, 7 wounded, and one captured.  The six dead generals were Cleburne, Adams, Gist, Carter, Granbury, and Strahl.  The field is a dreadful sight: the dead are packed so thickly along one portion of the earthworks, the corpses were all standing upright, including one dead officer on his dead horse.  It remains one of the most harrowing stories of war. 

After dark, as the Confederates are gathering and burying the dead, Schofield has finished the bridges, and he and his troops withdraw quietly and safely across the Harpeth River and march up to Nashville.  Union Victory.

Losses:     Dead    Wounded   Capt/Missing       Total

U.S.            189        1,033             1,104              2,326       

C.S.            1,750     3,800               702              6,252

November 29, 1864

November 29, 1864

--- Franklin-Nashville Campaign:  Maj. Gen. John Schofield is expecting reinforcements, namely A.J. Smith’s corps fresh from the disastrous Red River campaign.  Also, Jacob Cox’s division is being sent from Nashville by Thomas.  Hood, with Cheatham and Stewart’s corps, crosses the river and marches for Spring Hill, between Schofield and his base at Nashville.  Schofield receives messages from his cavalry and others that Hood is behind him, north of Columbia, but does not believe it under after noon, when he starts to send his troops northward.

Major General John Schofield, USA

Battle of Spring Hill:  Schofield first sends his 800-wagon supply train up the Columbia Pike, along with Gen. Stanley and a division of his corps, to protect the wagons and also to hold the crossroads at Spring Hill so that the rest of Schofield’s troops can pass through, and avoid being trapped by Hood’s sweep around the rear of Columbia.  But it is not until 3:00 PM that Schofield orders the rest of his troops to start marching north to Franklin.  Stanley quickly arrives and deploys Wagner’s division into lines around three sides of Spring Hill.  Forrest, with his dismounted cavalry, strikes at the Union lines but finds them solid; the Rebel cavalry are driven off with losses.  Later in the afternoon, Hood and the infantry begin to arrive, moving north along the Rally Hill Pike.  Hood gives orders to deploy and conduct a right wheel into the Columbia Pike, thus isolating Stanley and blocking the rest of Schofield’s force.  

Afternoon at Spring Hill

But the orders are muddled, and units go astray.  Gen. Cheatham sends Cleburne and Granbury from his corps to advance, and intends that Bate’s division shall accompany this advance, shielding the left flank.  But Hood then orders Bate to advance straight forward to the Columbia Pike.  Cheatham does not know of the change.  As Bate approaches the Columbia Pike, his skirmishers encounter Gen. Thomas Ruger’s troops from the Federal XXIII Corps, marching up the pike.  At this moment, messengers from Cheatham arrive and re-direct Bate to turn north and go with Cleburne in the original sweep.  Bate later tells his superiors of the presence of Union columns on the Pike, but Cheatham does not consider it to be a significant force.  By a little after 4:00 PM, Cleburne’s advance strikes Bradley’s brigade of Federals, but the brigades go in piecemeal, and heavy artillery fire from the Yankees slows them down.  Cheatham wants to attack with Brown’s division, but Brown informs him that Federals are posted out on their flank.  By 11:00PM, after desultory fighting and after more orders go awry, the Confederates stop where they are and bivouac in the field.  Bate’s division and that of Edward Johnson, of Lee’s corps, camp right along the Columbia Pike, many of the tents less than 20 yards away from the road.  

Confederate divisions in bivouac as Schofield's troops slip by

But the bulk of Schofield’s army, over 20,000 men, marching with muffled equipment, pass silently up the road to Franklin, unnoticed by the slumbering Confederates, who were sure that they had Schofield trapped.  The Federals slip by, and Hood loses his greatest chance to inflict a heavy blow to the Union forces in Tennessee.  Union Victory.

November 28, 1864

November 28, 1864

-- Franklin-Nashville Campaign:  Having pulled his supply trains and artillery north of the Duck River, Schofield is avoiding a major clash that he assumes will come from the south.  Meanwhile, ten miles west of Columbia, Hood prepares to cross northward with most of his army, thus flanking the Federals.  The only cavalry Schofield has is 4,300 riders under James Wilson, who is hard-pressed to hold off Forrest and his 10,000 gray troopers.  Wilson is pushed back toward Spring Hill, and is unable to cover Schofield’s flank as he should.

---Gen. Thomas Rosser, of the Confederate Cavalry, raids up into Maryland, destroying a B&O railroad bridge, and then retreats back down the Shenandoah Valley.

---George Templeton Strong writes in his diary of the latest news about Sherman’s March, which is beginning to attain notoriety up North:

Our news from Sherman through rebel channels indicates that he is marching on---ploughing a deep furrow many miles wide through Georgia and destroying a vital nerve-system of railroad; that he has passed by Macon, has harried Milledgeville [Georgia’s state capital], and is threatening Savannah. 

November 25, 1864

November 25, 1864

New York City:  Southern arsonists, under orders from the C.S. Secret Service, set fire to ten New York City hotels, Barnum’s museum, and a few theaters.  Contrary to the Rebel agents’ wishes, the fires do not spread to the rest of the city, and none of the fires does very much damage, and are put out rather quickly.  Among the targeted hotels are the Astor House, the Saint James, the Belmont, and the Metropolitan.  But the incidents rouse up a tide of Northern paranoia about Confederate agents and what they might do.  A man named R.C. Kennedy ends up being arrested for setting the fire at Barnum’s Museum, and is executed for the crime.

November 27, 1864

November 27, 1864

 

Franklin-Nashville Campaign:  Hood’s 39,000 men, consisting of three corps, under Stephen D. Lee, Benjamin F. Cheatham, and Alexander P. Stewart, are able to concentrate.  Also attached to Hood’s army is Nathan B. Forrest’s corps of cavalry, but there is bad blood between Forrest and Hood, and the two generals do not communicate well.  Hood orders Lee to concentrate south of Columbia as a feint, while he marches Stewart and Cheatham to cross the river west of Columbia.

November 26, 1864

November 26, 1864

 

-- Franklin-Nashville Campaign:  After having abandoned Atlanta, Gen. John B. Hood, commanding the 39,000 troops of the Army of Tennessee, knows he cannot stop Sherman’s march on the battlefield.  As Sherman begins his March to the Sea through Georgia, Hood sidesteps into northern Alabama to cross the Tennessee River and invade Tennessee in an attempt to disrupt Sherman’s plans and draw him back north to defend Federal-occupied Tennessee, and his supply lines.  Hood does not fully yet realize that Sherman has no intentions of turning back, and has abandoned his supply lines, to live off the land, thus punishing even more the state of Georgia as he marches through.

Hood’s army remains in Palmetto, Georgia for much of September.  Early in October, he makes a march toward Chattanooga, beating Yankee forces in a few insignificant engagements, and finally captures the Federal garrison at Dalton.  The Rebels destroy railroads and supplies, doing their best to discomfit Sherman.  Hood then turns west, into Alabama.  Sherman sends troops to chase Hood, but he finally gives up and determines to abandon his supply line for the upcoming campaign to Savannah.  Sherman detaches Thomas and Schofield with the 55,000 men to keep watch over Tennessee.  Thomas arrives in Nashville, and begins to beef up its defenses.  He assigns Schofield to move south into central Tennessee to block Hood’s moves.  As Hood advances, he passes up Schofield’s force at Pulaski, hoping to cut off the smaller Yankee force from its base in Nashville.  At the last moment, on Nov. 24, Gen. Schofield abandons his post in Pulaski and speeds north to block the Rebels from crossing the Duck River at Columbia. 

 

Opening moves: After leaving Florence, Alabama, Hood's army moves swiftly into central Tennessee

 

By this date, Nov. 26, Hood has marched his battered army up into central Tennessee, and approaches Columbia, finding Union troops entrenched south of the city, blocking all roads north.  Forrest’s cavalry provides excellent screening, so that the Federals are clueless as to where Hood is, as skirmishing all around the Federal lines flares up. 

 

---March to the Sea:  Sherman’s troops continue sporadic fighting with Confederate troops near Sanderson, Georgia.

November 22, 1864

November 22, 1864

Battle of Griswoldville, Georgia:  A Federal brigade under Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt advances to assist Kilpatrick’s cavalry being attacked by Wheeler’s gray cavalry.  Walcutt drives the Rebels back, but is then counterattacked by three successive brigades of Georgia militia, who suffer heavy casualties.  Walcutt digs in and retains his position.  The Federals capture nearly 600 Rebels.  Union Victory.

Losses:   U.S., 100    C.S., 1,100

November 19, 1864

November 19, 1864

 

---George Templeton Strong of New York City describes with evident good humor in his journal a meeting of the Union League Club, where they feted the new young hero of the day, Lieut. William B. Cushing of the U.S. Navy, who, after weeks of frustration, devised a method of sinking the new Rebel ironclad CSS Albemarle, a ship powerful enough to break the Union blockade:

A hundred or more of its members came together to meet Lt. Cushing, who finished the rebel ram Albemarle with a torpedo boat in the waters of North Carolina, thereby not only doing the country most substantial service, but shewing the most distinguished personal gallantry and daring.  He blew up his own boat with the iron-clad, and saved himself by swimming.  According to our abominable national usage, somebody had to make a “few remarks” on the occasion; and John Jay was happy to make them and belabored his modest, boyish-looking young hero with ten minutes of eulogy.  He blushed and looked uncomfortable, but made his inevitable reply, simply and briefly, and passed this ordeal as creditably as the other, which I dare say he found hardly more trying.  He seems a most charming young fellow; handsome, intelligent, and dignified in his bearing, thought very young (twenty-two) and looking much younger.

George Templeton Strong

Lieutenant William B. Cushing, USN

November 16, 1864

November 16, 1864

March to the Sea:  Sherman records in his memoirs his impressions of the beginning of this campaign as his troops step off on their march from Atlanta to the sea:

. . . We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps; and reaching the hill, just outside of the old rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city. Away off in the distance, on the McDonough road, was the rear of Howard's column, the gun-barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the south; and right before us the Fourteenth Corps, marching steadily and rapidly, with a cheery look and swinging pace, that made light of the thousand miles that lay between us and Richmond. Some band, by accident, struck up the anthem of "John Brown's soul goes marching on;" the men caught up the strain, and never before or since have I heard the chorus of "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" done with more spirit, or in better harmony of time and place.

Sherman's men marching through Georgia

November 15, 1864

November 15, 1864

Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

The March to the Sea -- Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and about 60,000 of his troops step off on the five-week adventure that will go down in history as the March to the Sea.  Sherman’s objective is to march through Georgia destroying as much war materiel as possible in what is now the Confederacy’s most productive state, culminating in the capture of Savannah on the Atlantic coast.  Back on Nov. 4 and 5, Gen. Forrest and his Rebel riders conducted a major raid on the Union rear areas in Tennessee and northern Georgia, destroying the huge Union supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee.  This only reinforces Sherman’s determination to carry out his March as he and Grant did in Mississippi during the Vicksburg Campaign: to abandon all supply lines and to re-supply by foraging the countryside, thereby hurting the Rebels’ ability to supply their own troops.  Sherman issues an order relevant to this unique doctrine of living off the land:

. . . IV. The army will forage liberally on the country during the march. To this end, each brigade commander will organize a good and sufficient foraging party, under the command of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the route traveled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn-meal, or whatever is needed by the command, aiming at all times to keep in the wagons at least ten day's provisions for the command and three days' forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhabitants, or commit any trespass, but during a halt or a camp they may be permitted to gather turnips, apples, and other vegetables, and to drive in stock of their camp. To regular foraging parties must be instructed the gathering of provisions and forage at any distance from the road traveled.

V. To army corps commanders alone is entrusted the power to destroy mills, houses, cotton-gins, &c., and for them this general principle is laid down: In districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmolested no destruction of such property should be permitted; but should guerrillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless according to the measure of such hostility.

VI. As for horses, mules, wagons, &c., belonging to the inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without limit, discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also take mules or horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains, or to serve as pack-mules for the regiments or brigades. In all foraging, of whatever kind, the parties engaged will refrain from abusive or threatening language, and may, where the officer in command thinks proper, give written certificates of the facts, but no receipts, and they will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their maintenance. . . .

— William T. Sherman, Military Division of the Mississippi Special Field Order 120, November 9, 1864.

Sherman’s force consists of two small armies: the Army of Georgia, under Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, consisting of the XIV Corps under Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (an unfortunate name for a Yankee), and the XX Corps under Brig. Gen. Alpheus Williams; the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, which consists of the XV Corps under Maj. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus, and the XVII Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Francis Blair, Jr.  Altogether, there are 13 infantry divisions, supported by a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick.  There are 60,000 men in blue.  As the Federals move out, Howard’s force heads directly south from Atlanta, and Slocum moves out eastward from the city on routes that roughly parallel Howard’s. 

Sherman's March to the Sea, Nov-Dec 1864

Opposing Sherman is a slap-dash collection of Southern troops led by Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, formerly a corps commander under Hood.  Hardee had about 13,000 Confederates left over, cut off from Hood’s hurried retreat out of Atlanta, and a little over 3,000 Georgia State Militia under Maj. Gen. Gustavus Smith.  Joseph Wheeler and cavalry corps, nearly 10,000 troopers.  Hardee rarely has more than 13,000 men at any given location to use.

Sherman leaves an additional 55,000 veteran troops under Maj. Gen. George Thomas to occupy and defend Tennessee in order to deal with any Confederate incursions into the Federal-occupied state.

November 8, 1864

November 8, 1864

Election Day:  Abraham Lincoln wins re-election by a large margin, over 500,000 votes, over the Democratic challenger former Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan.  Lincoln and Tennessee's Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat, run together on the Union Party ticket.

Most historians attribute Lincoln’s victory to tangible Federal successes in the war: specifically, the spectacular turn-around victory of Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah over Jubal Early’s Confederates at the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, Admiral David Farragut’s victory over Confederate Navy forces at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, and (most of all), the Fall of Atlanta to Sherman’s army on September 1.  Another campaign victory relevant to Lincoln’s re-election is the defeat of Sterling W. Price’s invasion of Missouri as his army and Gen. Jo Shelby’s cavalry are defeated by Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis’s Federal Army of the Border at Westport, Missouri, on October 23.

June 9, 1864

June 9, 1864

 

---A force of Federals under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler try a half-hearted attack on Petersburg, Virginia, in an attempt to undermine Lee’s position around Richmond.  His 4,500 men are beaten off by Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s 2,500 men.  Butler decides not to try again.

 

---Gen. Sherman issues orders to his three columns---McPherson, Thomas, and Schofield---to take three parallel routes south with the aim of converging upon Marietta, where Joseph Johnston and Army of Tennessee await them.

 

---A Union force strikes back at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and drives Morgan and his raiders out in a rout.

June 8, 1864

June 8, 1864

 

---The National Union Party, a coalition party of Republicans and pro-war Democrats, convened in Balitmore yesterday.  Today, by a large majority, they nominate Abraham Lincoln for President.  In an unusual move, however, they do not re-nominate Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, but Andrew Johnson of Tennessee (currently governor of Tennessee) for Vice President.

 

--Gen. Sherman strengthens his position on the Western and Atlantic railroad, but feels restrained by the vast resources he must expend to guard his ever-lengthening supply line.  Still smarting from large losses at the battles of Dallas, Ezra Church, and Pickett’s Mill, the Federals use maneuver and the weight of numbers to outflank the Rebels; in nearly every case, it has failed.

 

---Meanwhile, at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, far behind Union lines, Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his Confederate raiders captures the Union garrison there, and appropriate $18,000.00 from the local bank.

---Charles H. Lynch, of the 18^th Connecticut Vol. Infantry, writes in his diary of the campaign in the Valley with Gen. Hunter, after the Battle of Piedmont:

 

June 8th. Again routed out early. Into line on the march through town to continue our work of destruction. Piling up ties, place the rails on top, set fire to the ties. When the rails become hot in the center, they warp or bend, making them useless. The march out of town, along the railroad, destroying it, makes very hard work for us, as we put in a long day, and not very much food. We manage to pick up some corn meal and a little flour, which we make into pan-cakes, called by the boys, ToeJam. Some of the boys received bruises and jams in the work on the railroad. There is much kicking over the hard work.

 

In camp tonight, talking over the events of the day, wondering what the morrow has in store for us. Many buildings and much property in town have been destroyed by fire, by order of General Hunter. Many of the women look sad and do much weeping over the destruction that is going on. We feel that the South brought on the war and the State of Virginia is paying dear for her part. The loss of our good boys brings us many sad hours. We cannot help think, and wonder who will be the next one to give his life for our country.

 

---In Georgia, as part of Sherman’s campaign to take Marietta on the way to Atlanta, Sergeant Alexander Downing, of the 11^th Iowa Infantry, writes in his journal:

Wednesday, 8th—We moved forward early this morning, marching twelve miles to the little town of Ackworth, where we went into camp. We are now with Sherman’s army, our corps being placed on the left in front of Atlanta. Our front is about twenty-five miles north of the city, while my division is back about ten miles farther. Sherman’s forces now number about one hundred and fifty thousand men and it is thought that the rebels under Johnston have seventy-five thousand. Our army, in the main, is lying still today, though there is some skirmishing in the front. The rebels have fallen back about ten miles. The health of our men is excellent; they are in fine spirits and anxious for a fight.

 

  

June 7, 1864

June 7, 1864

 

Battle of Cold Harbor

Virginia

May 31-June 12, 1864

 

Day 7:  At last, a truce is called between the two armies in order that burial teams may go out to bury the stench-ridden corpses from the last several days of fighting.  By this time, of course, most of the wounded who had lain there for four days were dead.  Northern newspapers will criticize Grant heavily for not making the truce sooner, but they are unaware that it was mostly Lee’s reticence that prevented an earlier truce.

 

Burying the dead at Cold Harbor, a year later

William P. Derby, of the 27^th Massachusetts Infantry, describes part of what he saw:

Four days of sun and rain, with the severe heat of summer, had passed over our slain, and the air was laden with insufferable putrescence. We breathed it in every breath, tasted it in the food we ate and water we drank. What seemed intolerable to us, was doubly so to the enemy, from their nearness to the dead, and from the fact that the prevailing winds, wafting over the field, carried the fumes directly to them. The granting of the truce was a necessity rather than a virtue.

 

The ground was strewn with bloated and discolored forms, every feature so distorted that recognition from this source was impossible. . . . Now and then some poor wounded one was found, in all the horrors of a living death. For four long days and nights they had remained upon that field, with ghastly wounds, without food, water or care, and surrounded by remains exuding a stifling stench. Who can depict the terrible sufferings of those long, long hours of horror . . . ? Nature gave but few the endurance to bridge such an awful chasm, so that the work was chiefly with the dead.

 

Long trenches were dug, in which they were laid, side by side, with such winding-sheets as their blankets afforded. . . . The utmost haste failed to entomb the immense mass of our slain, before a signal-gun gave notice that the “truce had expired.” At the next gun the dogs of war would be let loose upon any remaining on the field, and hence our burial party hastily retired. A few moments later we were again engaged in the deadly fray. Those comrades participating in the burial were so overcome by the stench as to be unfit for duty for several days.

---Of the unauthorized meetings between soldiers of the two sides, Major Theodore Lyman, a staff officer serving with Gen. Meade, recounts this incident:

Some extraordinary scenes occurred during the armistice. Round one grave, where ten men were laid, there was a great crowd of both sides. The Rebels were anxious to know who would be next President. “Wall,” said one of our men, “I am in favor of Old Abe.” “He’s a damned Abolitionist!” promptly exclaimed a grey-back. Upon which our man hit his adversary between the eyes, and a general fisticuff ensued, only stopped by officers rushing in.

 

---Gen. Grant, seeing that Gen. Hunter and Crook, now combined in the Shenandoah Valley, has the potential to cross the Blue Ridge and capture Charlottesville, thus threatening Lee’s rear, decides on a comprehensive strategic shift.  He send Sheridan with two divisions of cavalry westward to strike at Charlottesville and the railroads that supply Lee’s army.  He also plans to shift the Army of the Potomac southward, from his left flank, to end run Lee’s men.  Lee’s response is predictable: first, he pulls Breckinridge’s division off the lines and sends him post-haste to the Valley to stem the Union tide there; he also sends two divisions of cavalry to chase Sheridan and keep him busy. 

 

June 6, 1864

June 6, 1864

 

Battle of Cold Harbor

Virginia

May 31-June 12, 1864

 

Day 6: Sporadic fighting continues along the lines, in spite of Meade having sent Maj. Theo. Lyman, of his staff, forward with a white flag to discuss a truce in order to bury the dead.  Both Meade and Lee are suspicious of the motives of the other.  Lee delays sending an answer for most of the day.  He and Grant both dither, fearful of the implications of the tradition that whoever asks for any kind of truce is conceding the field as the loser.  The only significant combat is when Jubal Early probes forward toward the Union lines, but is unable to deploy his troops in impassable swamps. 

June 5, 1864

June 5, 1864

 

Battle of Cold Harbor

Virginia

May 31-June 12, 1864

 

Day 5:  The stalemate continues, as both sides extend and strengthen their fortifications.  All day, messages are passed back and forth over the lines as the commanders of each army dickers with the other over the question of a truce to care for the wounded.

 

Union Army camps at Cold Harbor

---Shenandoah Valley:  Battle of Piedmont, Virginia---As Maj. Gen. David Hunter (replacing the hapless Franz Sigel) pushes south, up the Shenandoah Valley, he is opposed by very few Confederate troops.  There are only a small force of mostly cavalry under Brig. Gen. John Imboden and assorted odds and ends.  Gen. Lee orders Gen. Willliam “Grumble” Jones, near Lynchburg, to march to Imboden’s aid.  Grumble Jones was coming up from Lynchburg with over 4,000 men, assuming command of the aggregate (about 5,500 men), and decides to make a stand near Piedmont, as Hunter turns south from Port Republic and heads toward Staunton.  The Southerners are in good positions on a ridge, with Imboden’s dismounted cavalry holding the right flank at right angles to the main line, thus enabling crossfire against any advancing force.  Hunter sends forth Sullivan’s division of infantry against the Rebel left flank, and the attack falters.  The Rebels counterattack, and a realignment of their lines leaves a gap on the line.  Col. William Ely of the 18^th Vermont spots the gap and acquires two howitzers to fire into it.  The Union line goes forward and the Confederates break.  At a crucial moment, while rallying his troops, Grumble Jones is shot through the head, dying instantly.  Brig. Gen. Vaughn takes command of the Rebels, and Imboden holds a line for a while to prevent the total destruction of the Rebel force.  As it is, Maj. Gen. Julius Stahel’s Union cavalry scoop up nearly 1,000 Confederates as prisoners.  The way to Staunton is now open.  Union Victory.   Losses:  Union, 780;  Confederate, 1,600.

 

June 4, 1864

June 4, 1864

 

Battle of Cold Harbor

Virginia

May 31-June 12, 1864

 

Day 4:  The fighting dies down into trench warfare, as it had at Spotsylvania, except that the soldiers on both sides had become much better at designing and building trench systems built to last.  Union troops are far forward of their supply trains, and so resort to using their hands and their bayonets to dig and build up earthworks. 

Because the attacks by snipers are deadly and constant on both sides, supplies have trouble moving up to the front lines.  The soldiers suffer terribly from thirst and hunger, and no relief from the filth of mud and dismembered bodies rotting in the sun.  The wounded suffer the most, since the armies cannot go forward to retrieve them. 

 

A highly idealized rendering of Cold Harbor

 

---Georgia:  From poor calculations, Gen. Mansfield Lovell tells his commander, Joseph Johnston, that the Federals under Sherman’s command have lost as many as 45,000 casualties since they launched the campaign into northern Georgia.  In fact, the figures come closer to only 10,000 Union casualties, but Johnston nevertheless becomes convinced that he is prevailing, and that he need only follow the same resist-and-fall-back delaying strategy to eventually stop Sherman.  As the Federals regain control of Allatoona and the railroad, thus securing their line of supply, the Confederates warily pull back about ten miles, with their backs up against Kennesaw Mountain, the most dominant eminence in the area, from whose peak one could easily see Atlanta.  Kennesaw is the key to everything: most of the roads of any consequence meet there, and the railroad curves around the mountain’s eastern shoulder.  Sherman sets his sights on Marietta, which lies beyond Kennesaw.  In the maneuvering of the two armies, small fights erupt at Big Shanty and Acworth.

June 3, 1864

June 3, 1864

 

Battle of Cold Harbor

Virginia

May 31-June 12, 1864

 

Day 3:  General Ulysses S. Grant orders the grand attack to be made at 4:30 in the morning.  After an artillery barrage, the corps of Hancock and Wright went forward.  Smith’s XVIII Corps was not yet engaged.  Gen. Barlow’s division had the most success: even with heavy losses, they captured the first line of Confederate works.  Gen. Gibbon’s division, on his flank, was broken up by a patch of swampy ground that had to be skirted.  Two of Gibbon’s brigade commanders were killed, and his advance stalled.  Wright’s VI Corps made an attack that was tepid at best.  The incredible rate of rifle and cannon fire from the Confederate works was deadly.  By some reports, most of the 7,000 Federal casualties this day fell during the first 30 minutes of the attack. 

 

 

 

 

As Smith’s corps goes forward, their advance is broken up by several ravines which forced the lines into two or more vulnerable columns, which Rebel artillery fire cuts up rather badly.  One New Hampshire sergeant writes: "The men bent down as they pushed forward, as if trying, as they were, to breast a tempest, and the files of men went down like rows of blocks or bricks pushed over by striking against one another."  True to form, Gen. Warren’s V Corps does not go forward, and so Rebel artillery from his front also shreds Baldy Smith’s advancing columns.  Finally, Grant calls off the attacks. 

 

 

---The Richmond Daily Dispatch does an article on the famed American actor Edwin Booth, whose brothers Junius Booth, Jr., and John Wilkes Booth, were also well-known actors:

Edwin Boot[h] at the North.

–This young actor, a native of the State of Maryland, and whose engagements in the South previous to the war were attended with so much success, has lately been performing at the North for the benefits of the Sanitary Committee, When [t]old in Washington by a Southern lady a short time since that the people of the South would surely remember him in this matter, he repeated: “He did not care what they remembered? He knew no country but the Union.–no flag but the stars and stripes.” So much for Edwin Booth!

The Southern papers regularly excoriate people from the border states who show Northern loyalty.

 

 

---In Wilmington, North Carolina, now the South’s most productive port in feeding the Confederate war effort, the Daily Journal publishes this brief editorial which reflects the lack of news getting there from the confused and desperate fighting on the Overland Campaign, and the Federal army’s attempts to invest Richmond:

 

FOR some reason we are for two days without mails from Richmond, our latest letter or newspaper dates from that city not coming down later than Monday, the 30th ult.

 

The Road is not in possession of the enemy, for the telegraph line is working through, and the difficulty does not seem to be with the Wilmington and Weldon Road, the trains on which Road arrived both yesterday and the day before at their accustomed hour, although strangely enough, yesterday’s train brought no papers from Raleigh, a circumstance which can hardly be looked upon as a positive loss, since all our people turn anxiously for news from the battle-field and few take much interest in the political squabbles which seem to occupy so much of the attention of our cotemporaries at the State capital.

 
 

As the majority of Butler’s forces, having accomplished “one grand failure” on the south side of Richmond, are understood to have gone round to the York River, and to have joined Grant by that route, we may take it for granted that the body of Beauregard’s forces either have joined or will soon join Lee.  Some of the telegraphs mention Breckinridge in connection with the contests near Richmond.  This rather puzzles us, since we thought that Breckinridge was in the valley—he certainly was there at the last previous accounts.

 

(Source: The Civil War Day by Day, Wilson Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill -- http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/civilwar/index.php/2014/06/03/3-june-1964-a-circumstance-which-can-hardly-be-looked-upon-as-a-positive-loss/)