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🟡 Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia (Full Audiobook) | Joseph P. Cullen · Historical Adventure Audiobooks

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: INTRODUCTION The American Civil War was unique in many respects.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: One of the great turning points in American history It
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: was a national tragedy of international significance. Simultaneously, it was
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the last of the old wars and the first of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the new. Although it began in a blaze of glamour, romance,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and chivalry, it ended in the ashes of misery, destruction,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and death. It was, as Walt Whitman said, a strange,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: sad war. Richmond National Battlefield Park preserves the scenes of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: some of the great battles that took place in the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: vicinity of the Confederate capital. When we visit these now quiet,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: peaceful woods and fields, we feel an association with our
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: past that is impossible to achieve with the written or
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: spoken word. Here we are not reminded of the blue
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: or the gray as such, only of the heroic struggle
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of men, men with two different beliefs and philosophies welded
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: together by the blood of battle to give us our
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: America of today. Richmond. In session in Montgomery, Alabama in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: May 1861, the Confederate Congress voted to remove the capital
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of the Confederate States to Richmond, Virginia. This decision, in effect,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: made Richmond a beleaguered city for four years. Essentially, the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: move was dictated by political and military considerations. The prestige
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: of Virginia, richest and most populous state in the South,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: was considered necessary for the success of the Confederacy. For
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: political reasons, it was believed that the capital should be
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: near the border states and the heavy fighting expected there.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Second only to New Orleans, Richmond was the largest city
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: in the Confederacy, having a population of about 38,000. It
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: was also the center of iron manufacturing in the South.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: The Tredegar Iron Works, main source of cannon supply for
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the Southern armies, influenced the choice of Richmond as the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Confederate capital and demanded its defense. During the course of
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the war, Tredegar made over 1,100 cannons in addition to mines, torpedoes,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: propeller shafts, and other war machinery. It expanded to include
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: rolling mills, forges, sawmills, and machine shops. The Richmond Laboratory
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: made over 72 million cartridges, along with grenades, gun carriages,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: field artillery, and canteens, while the Richmond Armory had a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: capacity for manufacturing 5,000 small arms a month. Thus, Richmond
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: became the political, military, and manufacturing center of the South
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and the symbol of secession to the North. Situated near
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the head of the navigable waters of the James River,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and within 110 miles of the national capital at Washington,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Richmond was the key to the military planning of both sides.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: For four years, the city remained the primary military objective
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: of the Union armies in the East. As one Southern
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: newspaper stated, to lose Richmond is to lose Virginia, and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to lose Virginia is to lose the key to the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Southern Confederacy. The Army of the Potomac In July 1861,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the untrained Union Army of the Potomac suffered disaster at Manassas,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Bull Run, in the first attempt to drive into Virginia
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and capture Richmond. President Abraham Lincoln then appointed General George B.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: McClellan the new commander of the demoralized army. McClellan reported,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I found no army to command, just a mere collection
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of regiments cowering on the banks of the Potomac. To
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: this chaotic situation he brought order and discipline. During the
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: long winter months, the raw recruits were marshaled and drilled
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: into an efficient fighting machine of over 100,000 men, the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: largest army ever commanded by one man in the history
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: of the Western Hemisphere. By the spring of 1862, this
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: army was ready for the supreme test. The goal was Richmond.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: End of Introduction Section 1 of Richmond National Battlefield Park,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Virginia by Joseph P. Cullen. This LibriVox recording is in
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Part 1, The Peninsula Campaign, Summer 1862.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Section 1. On to Richmond. Instead of marching overland, McClellan
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: decided to take advantage of Union control of the inland
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: waters and transport his army with its vast supplies and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: materiel down the Potomac River and across Chesapeake Bay to
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the tip of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. Then,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: with his supply ships steaming up the York, he planned
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to march northwestward up the peninsula, join another force under
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: General Irvin McDowell marching overland from Washington, and together converge
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: on Richmond. To accomplish this, McClellan undertook the largest amphibious
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: operation ever attempted in the Western world, over 400 steam vessels, brigs, schooners, sloops,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: ferry boats, and barges assembled on the Potomac River. In
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: March 1862, these vessels ferried the Army of the Potomac
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with its 3,600 wagons, 700 ambulances, 300 pieces of artillery, 2,500
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: head of cattle, and over 25,000 horses and mules to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the southeast coast of Virginia. As Quartermaster General Rufus Ingalls reported,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Operation so extensive and important as the rapid and successful
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: embarkation of such an army, with all its vast equipment,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: its transfer to the peninsula, and its supply, while there,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: had scarcely any parallel in history. Up the Peninsula After
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: landing at Fortress Monroe, the Federal troops pushed aside the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: thinly held Confederate defenses at Yorktown and Williamsburg, and proceeded
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: up the peninsula according to plans. But progress was slow.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Every day, 500 tons of forage and subsistence were required
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to keep the army in the field. Early in May,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: it rained and kept raining, day after dreary day. Federal
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: soldiers had a saying, Virginia used to be in the Union,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: now it's in the mud. Dirt roads turned into bottomless muck.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Creeks and gullies became swift-flowing streams. Fields were swamps. Roads
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and bridges had to be built and rebuilt, and still
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the thousands of wagons, horses, and mules continually stuck in
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the mud. Realizing that an effective overland pursuit of the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: retreating Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston was out
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: of the question because of the weather and the condition
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of the roads, McClellan on May 6 sent General William B.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Franklin's division up the York River by transport to West Point,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: terminus of the Richmond and York River Railroad. in an
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: attempt to cut off the Confederate wagon train. Johnston anticipated
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the move, however, and on May 7, ordered General W.H.C.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Whiting's troops to attack Franklin in the Battle of West Point,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: or Eltham's Landing. The attack was repulsed, but even so,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the wagon train managed to continue safely to Richmond. McClellan, however,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: had cleared the way to his next objective, the landing
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: at White House on the Pamunkey River. a tributary of
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the York. Here, the railroad crossed the Pamunkey on its
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: way to West Point. This would be the Union base
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of supply for the contemplated attack on Richmond. This battle
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: also cleared the way for the right wing of the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Union army, which would have to stay north and east
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: of Richmond in order to hook up with McDowell's anticipated
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Overland march from Washington. General Johnston, falling back steadily in
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: front of McClellan's slow advance, was the target of severe
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: criticism from Richmond newspapers for not making a determined stand.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: But he wrote to General Robert E. Lee, We are
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: engaged in a species of warfare at which we can
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: never win. It is plain that General McClellan will adhere
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: to the system adopted by him last summer and depend
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: for success upon artillery and engineering. We can compete with
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: him in neither. Drury's Bluff After the fall of Norfolk
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: on May 10th to the Union forces under General John Wool,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the crew of the Virginia, Merrimack, scuttled their ship. River
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: pilots had advised that the ironclad vessel could not navigate
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the treacherous channel up the James River to Richmond. Loss
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: of the Virginia opened the river to federal gunboats, and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: McClellan immediately telegraphed the War Department, I would now most
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: earnestly urge that our gunboats and the ironclad boats be
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: sent as far as possible up the James River without delay.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Instructions have been given so that the Navy will receive
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: prompt support wherever and whenever required. Five Union gunboats, including
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: the famous Monitor, started up the James under Commander John
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Rogers in the Galena. By May 15, they reached Drury Bluff,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: just seven miles below Richmond. Here, at a sharp bend,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the Confederates had effectively obstructed the river and erected powerful
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: batteries on a 90-foot bluff. At seven that morning, the
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Federal gunboats opened fire on Fort Darling. The battle raged
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: for four hours while the fate of Richmond hung in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the balance, and near panic spread through the city. However,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the accurate fire of the heavy guns on the bluff,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: combined with effective sharpshooting along the riverbanks, finally proved too
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: much for the gunboats and the Federal fleet retreated down
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the river. One Confederate officer observed, had Commander Rogers been
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: supported by a few brigades, landed at City Point or
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: above on the south side, Richmond would have been evacuated.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Although the Secretary of the Navy requested a cooperating land
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: force to help the gunboats pass Fort Darling and take Richmond, McClellan,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: despite his earlier promise of cooperation, wired the War Department,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: am not ready to cooperate with them. He neglected to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: say when he would be ready. Richmond was never again
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: seriously threatened by water. Seven Pines, Fair Oaks Slowed by
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the heavy rains and the bad condition of the roads,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: where teams cannot haul over half a load and often
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: empty wagons are stalled, McClellan finally established his base of
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: supply at White House on May 15. Five days later,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: his advance crossed the Chickahominy River at Bottoms Bridge. By
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the 24th, the five Federal Corps were established on a
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: front partly encircling Richmond on the north and east and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: less than six miles away. Three Corps lined the north
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: bank of the Chickahominy, while the two Corps under Generals E.D.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Keyes and Samuel P. Enselman were south of the river,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: astride the York River Railroad and the roads down the peninsula.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: With his army thus split by the Chickahominy, McClellan realized
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: his position was precarious, but his orders were explicit. General
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: McDowell has been ordered to march upon Richmond by the
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: shortest route, He is ordered so to operate as to
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: place his left wing in communication with your right wing,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and you are instructed to cooperate by extending your right
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: wing to the north of Richmond. Then, because of General
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson's brilliant operations in the Shenandoah Valley
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: threatening Washington, Lincoln telegraphed McClellan on May 24, I have
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: been compelled to suspend McDowell's movements to join you. McDowell
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: wrote disgustedly, if the enemy can succeed so readily in
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: disconcerting all our plans by alarming us first at one
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: point and then at another, he will paralyze a large
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: force with a very small one. That is exactly what
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Jackson succeeded in doing. This fear for the safety of Washington,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the skeleton that haunted Lincoln's closet, was the dominating factor
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: in the military planning in the East throughout the war.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Lincoln's order only suspended McDowell's instructions to join McClellan. It
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: did not revoke them. McClellan was still obliged to keep
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: his right wing across the swollen Chickahominy. Learning of McDowell's withdrawal,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Johnston decided to attack the two Federal Corps south of
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the river, drive them back, and destroy the Richmond and
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: York River Railroad to White House. Early in the morning
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: on May 31, after a violent rainstorm that threatened to
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: wash all the federal bridges into the river, Johnston fell
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: upon Keyes and Henselman with 23 of his 27 brigades
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: at Seven Pines. The initial attack was sudden and vicious.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Confederate General James Longstreet threw General D.H. Hill's troops against
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: General Silas Casey's division of Keyes' Corps, stationed about three-quarters
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: of a mile west of Seven Pines. Longstreet overwhelmed the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Federal Division, forcing Casey to retreat a mile east of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Seven Pines. Keyes then put General D.N. Couch's division on
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: a line from Seven Pines to Fair Oaks with General
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Philip Carney's division on his left flank. Not until 4
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that afternoon, however, did Confederate General G.W. Smith send Whiting's
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: division against Couch's right flank at Fair Oaks. The delay
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: was fatal. Although Couch was forced back slowly, he drew
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: up a new line of battle facing south towards Fair Oaks,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: with his back to the Chickahominy River. Here he held
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: until General Edwin V. Sumner, by heroic effort, succeeded in
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: getting General John Sedgwick's division and part of General I.B.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Richardson's across the tottering Grapevine Bridge to support him. Led
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: by Sumner himself, Sedgwick's troops repulsed Smith's attack, and drove
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the Confederates back with heavy losses. The battle plan had
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: been sound, but the attack was badly bungled. Directed by
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: vague verbal orders instead of explicit written ones, whole brigades
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: got lost, took the wrong roads, and generally got in
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: each other's way. Nine of the 23 attacking brigades never
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: actually got into the fight at all. Towards nightfall, Johnston
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: was severely wounded in the chest and borne from the field.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: The command then fell to G.W. Smith. Fighting ceased with darkness.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Early next morning, June 1, Smith renewed the attack. His
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: plan called for Whiting on the left flank to hold defensively,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: while Longstreet on the right swung counterclockwise in a pivot
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: movement to hit Richardson's division, which was facing south with
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: its right near Fair Oaks. The Federal troops repulsed the assault, however.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And when Henselman sent General Joseph Hooker's division on the
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Federal left on the offensive, the Confederates withdrew and the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: battle was over before noon. That afternoon, President Jefferson Davis
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: appointed his chief military advisor, General Robert E. Lee, as
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: commander of the Southern forces. Lee promptly named his new
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: command the Army of Northern Virginia, a name destined for
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: fame in the annals of the Civil War. Although the
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: battle itself was indecisive, the casualties were heavy on both sides.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: The Confederates lost 6,184 in killed, wounded, and missing, the
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Federals 5,031. Undoubtedly, the most important result of the fight
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: was the wounding of Johnston and the resultant appointment of
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Lee as field commander. Lee takes command. Lee immediately began
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to reorganize the demoralized Southern forces and and put them
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to work digging the elaborate system of entrenchments that would
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: eventually encircle Richmond completely. For this, the troops derisively named
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: him the King of Spades. But Lee was planning more
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: than a static defense. When the time came, these fortifications
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: could be held by a relatively small number of troops,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: while he massed the bulk of his forces for a counteroffensive.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: He was familiar with and believed in Napoleon's maxim, to
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: maneuver incessantly without submitting to be driven back on the capital,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: which it is meant to defend. On June 12, Lee
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: sent his cavalry commander, General J.E.B. Jeb Stuart, with 1,200 men,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: to reconnoiter McClellan's right flank north of the Chickahominy and
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to learn the strength of his line of communication and
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: supply to White House. Stuart obtained the information, but instead
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of retiring from White House the way he had gone,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: he rode around the union army and returned to richmond
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: on june fifteenth by way of the james river losing
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: only one man in the process it was a bold
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: feat and stewart assured his chief that there was nothing
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: to prevent his turning the federal right flank but the
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: daring ride probably helped mcclellan more than lee alerted to
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the exposed position of his right flank and base of
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: supply McClellan withdrew his whole army south of the Chickahominy,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: with the exception of General Fitz John Porter's Corps, which
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: stretched from Grapevine Bridge to the Meadow Bridge west of Mechanicsville.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: On June 18, he started the transfer of his enormous
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: accumulation of supplies, with the shipment of 800,000 rations from
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: White House to Harrison's Landing on the James River. After
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Jackson's success in the Shenandoah Valley at Cross Keys and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Port Republic, it was becoming apparent, even to McClellan, that
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: McDowell probably never would join him, in which case he
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: wanted his base of operations to be the James rather
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: than the York River. Meanwhile, pressure from Washington for an
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: offensive movement against Richmond was mounting. But because of the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: wettest June in anyone's memory, McClellan was having trouble bringing
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: up his heavy siege guns, corduroying roads, and throwing bridges
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: across the flooded Chickahominy swamps. As one bedraggled soldier wrote,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: it would have pleased us much to have seen those
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: on to Richmond people put over a five-mile course in
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the Virginia mud, loaded with a forty-pound knapsack, sixty rounds
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: of cartridges, and haversacks filled with four days' rations. Also,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: McClellan believed erroneously that the Confederates had twice as many
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: available troops as he had. Consequently, his plan of action,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: as he wrote his wife, was to make the first
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: battle mainly an artillery battle. combat. As soon as I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: gain possession of the old tavern, I will push them
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: in upon Richmond and behind their works. Then I will
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: bring up my heavy guns, shell the city, and carry
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: it by assault. End of section 1 The Seven Days begins.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: McClellan's plan probably would have succeeded had Lee been willing
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: to stand still for it, but the Confederate commander did
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: not intend to let McClellan fight that type of warfare.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: As he wrote to Jackson, Unless McClellan can be driven
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: out of his entrenchments, he will move by positions under
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: cover of his heavy guns within shelling distance of Richmond.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: It was almost as if Lee had read McClellan's letter
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to his wife. Lee's plan to drive McClellan away from
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Richmond was bold and daring and strategically brilliant. He would
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: bring Jackson's forces down from the valley quickly and secretly
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to turn McClellan's right flank at Mechanicsville. At the same time,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: General A.P. Hill's division would cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: turn east, and clear the Federal forces from Mechanicsville, thereby
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: opening the Mechanicsville Turnpike Bridge for D.H. Hill and Longstreet's
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: troops to cross. Then, in echelon, the four divisions would
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: sweep down the north side of the Chickahominy, annihilate Porter's Corps,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: capture the supply base at White House, then turn and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: destroy the rest of the Union army. With Jackson's forces
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and other reinforcements from farther south, Lee would have about 90,000 men,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the largest army he would ever command in the field.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: To protect Richmond, he planned to leave about one-third of
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: his army under Generals John B. Magruder and Benjamin Huger
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in the entrenchments around the city to hold back the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: main part of McClellan's force, about 70,000 men, from marching
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: into the Confederate capital. If this force started to withdraw,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: then Magruder and Hooger would attack. Lee apparently believed that
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: McClellan would try to retreat to his base at White House, or,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: failing that, would retire back down the peninsula. He assured
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Jefferson Davis that any advance of the enemy toward Richmond
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: will be prevented by vigorously following his rear and crippling
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and arresting his progress. The strategy was just about perfect,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately for Lee, the tactics were not. On the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: morning of June 25, the seven days began with the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: advance of Hooker's division along the Williamsburg Road at Oak Grove,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: preparatory to a general advance McClellan planned for the next day.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: But Hooker ran into strong opposition from Huger's troops, and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: when McClellan received intelligence of Jackson's approach, Hooker was ordered back.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: McClellan wired Washington, I incline to think that Jackson will
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: attack my right and rear. He had delayed too long.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: The next day, Lee wrested the initiative from him. Beaver
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Dam Creek, Ellerson's Mill According to Lee's plan, Jackson was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: to march from Ashland on June 25 and encamp that night,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: just west of the Central Railroad. At 3 a.m. on
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the 26th, he was to advance and envelop Porter's right
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: flank at Beaver Dam Creek. Then, wrote Lee, A.P. Hill
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: was to cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge when Jackson's
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: advance beyond that point should be known and move directly
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: upon Mechanicsville. But from the beginning, unforeseen circumstances upset the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: operation and timing of this plan. McClellan suspected Jackson's approach,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: so the element of surprise was lacking. And when the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: action of the Union pickets in destroying bridges and felling
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: trees in Jackson's path, as well as the fatigue of
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: his weary troops, combined to delay him, the all-important time
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: element was lost. As the day wore on with no
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: word from Jackson, A.P. Hill became impatient and fearful for
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the success of Lee's plan. He decided to attack regardless.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: At three that afternoon, he crossed the Chickahominy, and swept
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the Union outpost from Mechanicsville, thus clearing the way for D.H.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Hill and Longstreet's troops to cross. Porter withdrew to a
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: prepared position behind Beaver Dam Creek, a mile east of Mechanicsville.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: This naturally strong position was further fortified by felled trees
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and the banks of a mill race. Here, atop the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: high banks of the stream, he placed General George McCall's division,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: extending from near the Chickahominy on the south, across Old
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Church Road, now U.S. 360, on the north. General Truman
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Seymour's brigade held the left and General John Reynolds the right,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: with General George G. Meade's brigade in reserve. The only
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: approaches to the position were across open fields commanded by
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the Federal artillery and down the steep banks of the
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: stream covered by the soldiers' muskets. Hill recklessly hurled his
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: brigades forward in a hopeless frontal assault. The gray-clad infantry
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: charged bravely down the steep banks and up to the
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: stream before the murderous fire of artillery and musketry from
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the surrounding slopes forced a bloody withdrawal. Casualties in killed
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and wounded were Confederate 1,485, Union 258, Despite the successful defense,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: when Jackson's forces finally appeared on his right flank later
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: that night, Porter's position became untenable, and McClellan ordered him
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: to withdraw to a previously prepared position behind Botswin's Swamp
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: near Gaines Mill. At the same time, he ordered his
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Quartermaster General at White House to reship all the supplies
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: he possibly could to Harrison's Landing on the James, and
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: send all the beef cattle to the vicinity of Savage Station.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Early next morning, June 27, the herd of 2,500 head
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of cattle started on its drive from White House. Gaines
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Mill The tactical situation was now extremely critical for both
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Lee and McClellan. Because of the repulse at Beaver Dam,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Lee had not yet achieved his first objective. which, according
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to his battle order, was to drive the enemy from
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: his position above New Bridge, about four miles east of Mechanicsville.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Lee's whole plan for the defense of Richmond, in the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: event McClellan should elect to march on the city with
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: his main force south of the Chickahominy, hinged on his
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: ability to cross the river quickly and attack the Federal rear.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Lacking control of New Bridge, this would be impossible. Although
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the Union position behind Boatswain Swamp was actually east of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: New Bridge, the approaches to the bridge could be covered
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: by Porter's artillery. The situation was equally serious for McClellan.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: With Jackson enveloping his right flank and rear, and believing
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: he had to deal with at least double his numbers,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: White House would have to be abandoned. Having made the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: decision to change his base to the James, He desperately
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: needed time to perfect the arrangements and to get the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: thousands of wagons and the herd of cattle safely started.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: His order to Porter was explicit. Hold our position at
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: any cost until night. Porter's corps now occupied a semicircular
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: line of battle along the crest of the partially wooded
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: plateau behind Botswin Swamp, with both extremes resting on the
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Chickahominy River. It was another naturally strong position, further strengthened
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: by felling trees and digging rifle pits. The approaches to
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the position were over an open plain and across a
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: sharp ravine. General George Morrell's division held the left and
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: General George Sykes' right, with McCall's weary troops in reserve.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: General Phillips and George Cook's cavalry was on Porter's extreme left,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: in the lowlands bordering the Chickahominy. During the course of
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the impending Battle of Gaines Mill, Porter would be reinforced
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: by General Willard Slocum's division, giving him a total strength
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: of about 35,000, as opposed to about 60,000 for Lee.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: On the Confederate side, Longstreet was on Lee's right, opposite Morell, A.P.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Hill in the center, and Jackson and D.H. Hill on
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the left. Lee was convinced that the greater part of
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: the Federal Army was in his front, and he still
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: thought McClellan would try to protect his base and retreat
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: toward White House. On these erroneous assumptions, he made his plans. A.P.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Hill would attack the center while Longstreet made a feint
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: on the Union left. Then, when Jackson appeared on the
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Union right, Lee believed Porter would shift part of his
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: troops to meet Jackson's threat in order to keep him
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: from getting between the Union army and its base at
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: White House. As soon as Porter did this, Longstreet would
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: turn the feint into a full assault and, together with Hill,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: drive the Union forces into Jackson and D.H. Hill, waiting
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: on Lee's left. About 2.30 p.m., Hill attacked the center
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: of the Federal line, but under a devastating fire of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: artillery and musketry, where men fell like leaves in an
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: autumn wind, his troops were hurled back with heavy losses. Longstreet,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: realizing a feint now would not help Hill, ordered a
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: full-scale attack, but he too suffered a bloody repulse. Jackson,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: sensing that Porter didn't drive worth two cents, as he
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: quaintly put it, threw D.H. Hill against Sykes on Porter's right.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: By now, A.P. Hill's division was badly cut up, and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: on Lee's request, Jackson sent Whiting's division, consisting of General E.M.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Laws and John B. Hood's brigades, over to support him.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Porter then threw in Slocum's division of Franklin's Corps to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: protect threatened points along the line. The vicious battle waged
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: furiously for four hours. The noise of the musketry, said
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: one veteran, was not rattling as ordinarily, but one intense
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: metallic din. Finally, just as darkness covered the bloody field,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Hood's Texas Brigade, along with General George Pickett's Brigade on
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Longstreet's left, penetrated the right of Morrell's line in a
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: courageous bayonet charge that broke the morale of the Federal troops.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: They went streaming back across the plateau to the safety
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of the Chickahominy River. In a last desperate attempt to
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: stem the tide, General Cook Jeb Stuart's father-in-law sent his
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: cavalry in a wild charge against the pressing Confederates, but
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the retreating Union infantry and artillery obstructed the cavalry, and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: broke its attack. The only result was the loss of
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: several more artillery pieces in the confusion. With darkness closing
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: in and the Confederate troops disorganized after the breakthrough, Lee
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: did not attempt to pursue the Federals farther. Porter withdrew
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the remnants of his corps across the river and joined
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: the main Union army. Total casualties in this crucial battle,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: the most costly and vicious of the seven days, were
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Union 6,837, Confederate 8,751. In a sense, both sides had
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: achieved their immediate objectives. Porter had held until night so
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: McClellan could get his army safely started for Harrison's landing.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Lee had cleared the north side of the Chickahominy of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: all Federal forces broken their supply line to White House,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: controlled Strategic New Bridge, and had turned back McClellan's advance
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: on Richmond. Section 3. Battle of Savage Station. McClellan was
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: now engaged in the most difficult move an army can
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: be called upon to make in the face of an
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: aggressive enemy, a flanking movement to effect a change of base.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: There was no thought given to any offensive movement. President
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Lincoln telegraphed, Save your army at all events. This was
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: now McClellan's only objective. That McClellan had not tried to
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: fall back on White House surprised Lee, as he had
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: believed he was facing the main part of the Federal
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Army at Gaines Mill. The next day, June 28, he
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: spent burying the dead, reorganizing for another offensive movement, and
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: attempting to divine McClellan's plans. Lee reported to Jefferson Davis
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: that the bridges over the Chickahominy in rear of the
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: enemy were destroyed and their reconstruction impractical in the presence
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: of his whole army and powerful batteries. We were, therefore,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: compelled to wait until his purpose should be developed. By nightfall, however,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: he realized that McClellan was headed for the James River
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and made his plans accordingly. Early next morning, June 29,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Longstreet and A.P. Hill were to cross the Chickahominy at
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Newbridge and take the Darbytown Road to where it met
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: the Longbridge Road. Ugar and Magruder, already on the south
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: side of the river in front of Richmond, were ordered
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: in pursuit of the Federal forces, Huger by Charles City
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Road and Magruder by the Williamsburg Road. In the meantime,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Jackson would cross Grapevine Bridge and sweep down the south
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: side of the river to get in McClellan's rear. Again,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Lee's strategy was brilliant. The Charles City Road met the
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Long Bridge Road at a place called Glendale or Fraser's Farm.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Lee planned to have all his divisions converge there at
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: about the time the middle of McClellan's long column should
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: be passing. The impact of the expected blow would undoubtedly
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: split the Union army, and with Jackson's corps in the
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: rear of one half, the other half could be cut
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: off and annihilated. Once again, however, the staff work and
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: tactics were pitiful. McClellan's rearguard was posted about Savage Station
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: on the Richmond and York River Railroad, facing west. Richardson's
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: division of Sumner's Corps was in an open field north
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: of the railroad tracks and back of the station. Sedgwick's
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: division held the center in another open field south of
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: the tracks, with its left resting on the Williamsburg Road.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: General William F. Baldy Smith's division of Franklin's Corps took
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: position in the woods south of the Williamsburg Road. Magruder
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: reached the vicinity of Savage Station about noon June 29th.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: but did not attack as he realized his four brigades
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: were badly outnumbered. He halted and waited for Jackson, who
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: was supposed to turn the Federal right flank along the
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Chickahominy and get in their rear, but Jackson was delayed
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: by the necessity of reconstructing Grapevine Bridge. Magruder then mistakenly
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: reported McClellan advancing and sent for two brigades from Huger
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: to support him. Lee canceled the order when he realized
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: that what Magruder had hit was only the rear guard
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: covering the Federal Army's passage across White Oak Swamp. What
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Lee did not realize, however, was that Jackson was not
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: in position and would not reach Savage Station until three
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: the following morning. Finally, about five that afternoon, Magruder attacked
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: with his four brigades and two regiments, but it was
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: too late with too little. The Federals withdrew hastily, but safely.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: In their haste, they were forced to leave 2,500 sick
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: and wounded men in the field hospital at Savage Station,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: and to abandon or destroy a vast amount of supplies
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and equipment. Glendale, Frazier's Farm Lee now ordered Magruder to
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: follow Longstreet and A.P. Hill down the Darbytown Road, The
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: next day, June 30, Longstreet and Hill came upon the
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Union troops of McCall and Kearney across the Long Bridge Road,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: about a mile west of the Charles City Road intersection
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: at Glendale. Hooker held the left or south flank with
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Slocum on the right, guarding the Charles City Road approach.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Sedgwick was in the rear in reserve. Longstreet and Hill
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: halted and waited for Huger coming down the Charles City Road,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and Jackson supposedly coming on the Federal rear from the
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: White Oak Swamp. Meanwhile, General T.H. Holmes, who had come
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: from the south side of the James River with part
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: of his division and General Henry A. Wise's brigade, had
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: been sent by Lee down the river, or New Market Road,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: in an attempt to get between McClellan and the James River.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: McClellan anticipated the move, however, and Warren of Sykes Division
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: stopped Holmes south of Malvern Hill. Lee then ordered Magruder
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: on the Darbytown Road to reinforce him, but Magruder's forces
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: did not get there in time to help. Huger was
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: delayed by obstructions, mostly felled trees, with which the Federals
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: had blocked his path. Instead of going around the obstructions,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Huger continually halted to clear the road. Thus, it resolved
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: itself into a question of of whether Huger could clear
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: the trees as fast as the Union soldiers cut them down.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: In this so-called Battle of the Axes, Huger lost and
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: did not get to Glendale in time to participate in
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: the engagement. About four that afternoon, however, Longstreet heard artillery
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: firing from Huger's direction, which was supposed to indicate his approach, and,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: expecting Jackson's appearance momentarily, he opened with one of his
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: batteries and thus brought on the battle. Jackson never did
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: show up, being held north of White Oak Swamp by
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: the artillery of Richardson and Smith, and did not get
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: to Glendale until the next day. The fight was particularly vicious,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: with many pockets of hand-to-hand combat, but without the expected
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: support of Huger and Jackson, Longstreet could not break the
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: Union lines in time to inflict any serious damage or
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: to interrupt the withdrawal. Lee stated in his report, Could
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: the other commands have cooperated in the action, the result
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: would have proved most disastrous to the enemy. Gone was
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Lee's last chance to cut McClellan's army in two. McClellan
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: had already selected another naturally strong position, this time on
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Malvern Hill, for the last stand before reaching the James River.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: On the morning of July 1, Morrell and Sykes divisions
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: of Porter's Corps were drawn up on the crest of
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the hill west of the Quaker Road. East of the road,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Couch's division of Key's Corps held the front, with Carney
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: and Hooker of Henselman's Corps flanked to the right and rear.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Summer's troops were in the rear and reserve. The position
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: was flanked on either side by creeks in deep ravines
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: less than a mile apart, and across this narrow front,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Porter placed his batteries with the guns almost hub to hub.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: In front, the ground was open, sloping down to woods, marshes,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: and swamps, through which the Confederate forces had to form
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: for attack within range of the Federal artillery. Lee had
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Jackson on his left, facing Carney, Hooker, and Couch's right. D.H.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Hill was in the center, opposite Couch's left and Murrell's right.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Lee then ordered Magruder to the right of Hill, but
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Magruder was delayed by taking the wrong road, So instead,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: two brigades of Hugers were placed on Hill's right. Longstreet
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and A.P. Hill, their ranks decimated from the actions at
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Gaines Mill and Glendale, were held in reserve. The terrain
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: rendered it almost impossible for effective use of Confederate artillery,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and the few batteries that did get into position were
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: quickly cut to pieces by the massed Union guns. Owing
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: to ignorance of the country, the dense forest impeding necessary communications,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: and the extreme difficulty of the ground, Lee reported, the
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: whole line was not formed until a late hour in
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. The first real assault did not take place
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: until after five, and then it was uncoordinated and confused.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: The signal for the attack was to be a yell
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: from one of Huger's brigades, after the Confederate artillery had
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: blasted a hole in the Union lines. This put the
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: responsibility of where and when to begin the attack on
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: a mere brigade commander. The artillery was unable to put
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: concentrated fire in any one spot, but Huger attacked regardless
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: and was beaten back with heavy losses. Then D.H. Hill attacked,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: only to suffer the same fate. Magruder finally sent his
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: troops in a gallant charge across the open fields right
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: up to the cannon's muzzles. only to be mowed down
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: like wheat at harvest time. Late in the battle, Jackson
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: sent his own division to Magruder's and Hill's support, but
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: in the heavily wooded and swampy ground, they got lost
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: and did not arrive in time to help. Darkness finally
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: put an end to these hopeless attacks. As D. H.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Hill declared bitterly, it was not war, it was murder.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: End of Campaign During the night, McClellan continued his withdrawal,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: and the next day found the Army of the Potomac
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: safe at Harrison's Landing under the protection of the federal
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: gunboats on the James. The seven days were over. Total casualties,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Army of Northern Virginia, 20,614, Army of the Potomac, 15,849.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: In his official report of the campaign, Lee stated, Under
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: ordinary circumstances, the Federal Army should have been destroyed. Its
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: escape was due to the want of correct and timely information.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: This fact, attributable chiefly to the character of the country,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: enabled General McClellan skillfully to conceal his retreat, and to
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: add much to the obstructions with which nature had beset
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: the way of our pursuing columns. But his other objective
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: had been achieved. Richmond was safe, at least for the
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: time being. While McClellan had successfully changed his base of
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: operations from the York to the James River and saved
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: his army in the process, he had failed in his
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: first objective of capturing Richmond and possibly ending the war.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: The decision to remove the army from the peninsula rather
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: than reinforce it for another attempt on Richmond was made
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: in Washington over McClellan's strong objections. He wrote to General
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Henry W. Halleck, It is here on the banks of
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the James that the fate of the Union should be decided.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Although McClellan wisely realized the advantages of another assault on
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Richmond on the line of the James, it was his
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: own mistaken view of Lee's strength that was the major
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: reason for the withdrawal. As Halleck explained to him, you
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: and your officers at one interview estimated the enemy's forces
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: in and around Richmond at 200,000 men, Since then, you
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: and others report that they have received and are receiving
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: large reinforcements from the South. General Pope's army covering Washington
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: is only about 40,000. Your effective force is only about 90,000.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: You are 30 miles from Richmond and General Pope, 80
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: or 90, with the enemy directly between you, ready to
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: fall with his superior numbers upon one or the other
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: as he may elect. neither can reinforce the other in
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: case of such an attack. If General Pope's army be
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: diminished to reinforce you, Washington, Maryland, and Pennsylvania would be
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: left uncovered and exposed. If your force be reduced to
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: strengthen Pope, you would be too weak to even hold
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the position you now occupy should the enemy turn around
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and attack you in full force. In other words, the
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: old army of the Potomac is split into two parts,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: and I wish to unite them. In August, the Army
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: of the Potomac was transported by water back to Washington
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: to support Pope's campaign in Northern Virginia. McClellan's failure to
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: capture the Confederate capital, combined with Lee's failure to destroy
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: the Union Army, assured the nation a long, bitter war
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: that became one of the great turning points in American history.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: The Years Between In August 1862, Lee wrote to Jefferson Davis,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: If we are able to change the theater of the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: war from the James River to the north of the Rappahannock,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: we shall be able to consume provisions and forage now
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: being used in supporting the enemy. So Lee moved into
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: northern Virginia to meet Pope's threatened Overland campaign against Richmond.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: At Second Manassas, Bull Run, the Union Army was defeated
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: again and withdrew into the fortifications around Washington. Lee took
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: advantage of this opportunity and made his first invasion north
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: into Maryland, only to be defeated by McClellan at Antietam, Sharpsburg,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: in September. Lee then withdrew into Virginia, and at Fredericksburg
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: in December, he severely repulsed General Ambrose Burnside's move on Richmond.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: In the spring of 1863, the Union Army, now under Hooker,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: attempted to flank Lee's left and rear, to cut him
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: off from Richmond, but it was decisively defeated at Chancellorsville
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: and driven back across the Rapidan. Lee then made his
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: second thrust north, penetrating into Pennsylvania, but was beaten back
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: by Meade at Gettysburg in the summer of 1863 and,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: once again, retired into Virginia. These gallant armies fought each
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: other across the fields of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia before
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: they clashed again in the outskirts of Richmond two years later.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: End of Section 3. Section 4 of Richmond National Battlefield Park,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Virginia by Joseph P. Cullen. This Libervox recording is in
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Part 2. The Final Struggle for Richmond,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: 1864-65 Section 4. Lincoln's New Commander In March 1864, President
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as commanding general of
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: all the Union armies. Said Grant, In the East, the
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: opposing forces stood in substantially the same relations toward each
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: other as three years before or when the war began.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: They were both between the Federal and Confederate capitals. Battles
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: had been fought of as great severity as had ever
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: been known in war, from the James River to Gettysburg,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: with indecisive results. He hoped to change this situation by
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: putting pressure on all Confederate armies at the same time,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: something that had never been done before. Grant's plan called
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: for General Benjamin F. Butler to march up the south
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: side of the James and attack Petersburg or Richmond or both.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: General Fran Siegel to push down the Shenandoah Valley, driving
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: General Jubal early before him, thereby protecting Washington. General Nathaniel
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: Banks in New Orleans to march on Mobile. General William T.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: Sherman to cut across Georgia, driving Johnston before him, take Atlanta, and,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: if necessary, swing north to Richmond. Meade's Army of the Potomac,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: with Grant in command, to push Lee's Army of Northern
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Virginia and capture Richmond. As Grant stated, Lee, with the
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: capital of the Confederacy, was the main end to which
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: all were working. Lee's objective now was to stop Grant
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: and protect Richmond. Said Lee, we must destroy this Army
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: of Grant's before he gets to the James River. If
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: he gets there, it will become a siege. and then
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: it will be a mere question of time. The campaign
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: started in the spring of 1864 when the Army of
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River and the Army of
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Northern Virginia blocked its path at the wilderness. After a
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: particularly vicious and costly battle, Grant, instead of retreating to
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: lick his wounds, as other federal commanders had done, executed
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: a left-flank movement still heading south and trying to get
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: between Lee and Richmond. A few days later, the two
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: armies clashed again at Spotsylvania in a series of grim battles,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: but still indecisive as far as major objectives were concerned.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Although Grant's losses were staggering, he was slowly but methodically
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: destroying Lee's ability to wage offensive war. Again, Grant executed
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: a left-flank movement to get around Lee, and then, by
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: a series of flanking marches, which the Confederate soldiers called
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: the sidling movement and the Union soldiers the jug-handle movement,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Grant gradually worked his way down to Cold Harbor. Cold Harbor.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Where and what was Cold Harbor? Cold Harbor was a
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: seedy-looking tavern, squatting by a dusty crossroads eight miles from
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: Richmond on the flat, featureless plain intersected by hundreds of
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: small creeks, gullies, and swamps, that is characteristic of the
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: land between the Pamunkey and the Chickahominy rivers. There wasn't
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: a harbor for miles, and it was anything but cold.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: It was the only cold harbor in the United States,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: although there were many cold harbors on the stagecoach routes
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: along the Thames River in England. The name indicated a
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: place to get a bed for the night and something
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: cold to drink, but not hot meals. But these dusty
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: crossroads were strategically important if Grant was to attack Richmond,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: and both Lee and Grant realized it. Also, it was
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Grant's last chance to continue his strategy of trying to
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: get between Lee and Richmond. Any more flanking movements and
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Lee would be in the entrenchments around the Confederate capital
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: where Grant did not want to fight him. As Grant stated,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: Richmond was fortified and entrenched so perfectly that one man
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: inside to defend was more than equal to five outside
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: besieging or assaulting. It is significant that Lee also did
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: not want to fight in the entrenchments around Richmond. There
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: he would be on the defensive, and in such a
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: position could not possibly destroy Grant's army. So both commanders
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: were willing for the test. And what of the lowly
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: foot soldier, the unsung hero in the ranks, the poor
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: bloody infantryman? Was he ready for the awful test? To
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: the average soldier, this whole campaign was fast becoming just
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: a series of hazy, indistinct recollections, like the fragments of
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: a half-forgotten dream. Long columns of sweat-soaked soldiers marching over
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: hills and rivers and swamps, across plowed fields and cornfields,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: down endless dusty roads, through dark, lonely woods. Thirty days
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: of marching by night and fighting by day. until it
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: must have seemed to them that the only things left
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: in life were stupefying fatigue, merciless heat, choking dust, smoke
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: and noise, mud and blood. In the Union ranks, many
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: of the men began to find out for the first
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: time what hunger really was. They had moved so fast
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: and so often, the ration wagons were left far behind.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Hardtack was selling for a dollar apiece, if you could
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: find a cellar, and here at cold harbor the soldiers
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: wrote their names and regiments on pieces of paper and
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: pinned or sewed them to the inside of their dirty
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: blouses with the forlorn hope that if and when they
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: were killed someone might take the time to find out
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: who they were to these barefoot ragged veterans hunger had
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: been a constant companion for a long time but at
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: cold harbor they approached starvation a confederate sergeant recorded in
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: his diary When we reached Cold Harbor, the command to
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: which I belonged had been marching almost continuously day and
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: night for more than fifty hours without food, and for
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: the first time we knew what actual starvation was. When
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: scurvy appeared among the men, owing primarily to a lack
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: of fresh vegetables, Lee advised them to eat the roots
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: of the sassafras and wild grape, if they could find any.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: In the race for initial possession of the crossroads at
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Gold Harbor, Lee's cavalry won by a few hours, but
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon of May 31, General Philip Sheridan's cavalry
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: drove them out and held the crossroads until relieved by
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: the Federal Sixth Corps under General Horatio Wright. Most of
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Sheridan's troops were armed with the new Spencer repeating carbine,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: which made dismounted cavalrymen effective infantry. The next morning, June 1,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: Lee threw General Richard Anderson's corps, Longstreet's old corps, Longstreet
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: having been wounded in the wilderness, against the Federal Sixth
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: Corps in a bold attempt to seize the crossroads and
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: roll up Grant's left flank before he could reinforce it.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: But Anderson was repulsed. Grant then moved the 18th Corps
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: under Baldy Smith, which he had borrowed from Butler's army,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: bottled up on the south side of the James, over
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: to the right of the VI Corps. That afternoon, they
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: attacked Anderson, now supported by General Robert Holt's division. The
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: assault failed to break the Confederate line, but it did
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: bend it back in several places. Grant believed that with
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: a greater concentration, a breakthrough could be achieved. Consequently, he
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: ordered the 2nd Corps under General Winfield Hancock over to
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: the left of the 6th Corps between it and the
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Chickahominy River and planned an all-out attack by the 3
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Corps for the morning of June 2. Anticipating the move,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Lee put A.P. Hill, supported by General John Breckinridge's division,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: over to his right between Anderson and the Chickahominy and waited.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: The expected attack failed to materialize, however, Hancock got lost
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: in the woods and swamps, moving to his assigned position,
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: and after an all-night forced march, men were too exhausted
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: to mount an attack. Any chance the assault might have
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: had for success was now gone. The delay was fortunate
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: for Lee, because Breckenridge also got lost and was not
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: in position to support Hill on the morning of June 2.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: The attack was then ordered for that afternoon. but again
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: postponed until 4.30 the morning of June 5, and each
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: Corps commander received a telegram from Grant's headquarters that read,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Corps commanders will employ the interim in making examinations of
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: the ground in their front and perfecting arrangements for the assault.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Lee's veterans took advantage of this fatal 24-hour delay to
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: entrench themselves quickly and effectively using every creek, gully, ravine,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: and swamp in such fashion that all approaches to their
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: positions could be covered with a murderous fire. A newspaper
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: reporter present at Cold Harbor wrote a vivid description of
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: these entrenchments. They are intricate, zigzagged lines within lines, lines
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: protecting flanks of lines, lines built to enfilade opposing lines,
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: works within works and works outside works, each laid out
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: with some definite design. Lee needed this strong position. He
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: would fight at Cold Harbor without a reserve. He wrote
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: to Jefferson Davis, If I shorten my lines to provide
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: a reserve, he will turn me. If I weaken my
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: lines to provide a reserve, he will break them. Grant's
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: battle plan was relatively uncomplicated. It was essentially a simple
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: frontal assault. Hancock's II Corps and Wright's VI Corps between
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: the Chickahominy and the Cold Harbor Road now State Route 156,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: together with Smith's XVIII Corps north of the road, were
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: to attack all out and break the Confederate lines. General
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Gouverneur Warren's V Corps north of the XVIII was to
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: be held in reserve, while Burnside's IX Corps on Grant's
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: extreme right was not to enter the fight unless Lee
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: weakened his line in that sector, and then it would attack,
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: supported by the V Corps. Lee did not strengthen any
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: part of his line, so these two corps were not
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: engaged to any appreciable extent. Thus, the battle actually took
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: place on approximately a two-and-a-half-mile front, although the armies stretched
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: for six miles from south to north, with the Union
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: army facing west. Grant's total strength was over 100,000 men,
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: but less than 50,000 were actually engaged in the struggle.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Lee now had A.P. Hill, supported by Breckenridge, on his
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: south flank next to the Chickahominy, opposite Hancock and Wright.
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Hoke's division straddled the Cold Harbor Road with General Joseph
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: Kershaw's division just north of Hoke, then Anderson and General
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: Richard Ewell's corps. Lee's total strength consisted of less than 60,000 men,
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: but only about half were involved in the action of
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: June 3. It rained all night the night of June 2,
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: Toward morning the heavy rain died to a soft, sticky
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: mist that held the area in clammy fingers. The first
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: gray streaks of dawn warned of the approach of a
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: scorching sun that would turn the rain-soaked plain with its
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: myriad streams and swamps into a steaming cauldron. Promptly at 4.30
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: the three corps jumped off to the attack, knowing nothing
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: of the strength of the Confederate positions they would have
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: to face. The Corps commanders had ignored Grant's telegraphed order
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: of the previous afternoon, and no proper reconnaissance was made.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: The average soldier saw little in any battle in the
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Civil War, and even less at Cold Harbor, because of
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: the terrain. But as the first yellow rays of the
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: sun shifted the gray mists, most of the Union soldiers
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: could see the main line of Confederate entrenchments across the
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: open spaces in front of them. a tracing of raw
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: earth that had been turned up like a huge furrow
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: along a line of uneven ridges, looking empty but strangely ominous.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Here and there, bright regimental colors perched insolently on the
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: dirt hills. Suddenly, it seemed, the line was dotted with
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: black slouch hats and glistening bayonets. Yellow sheets of flame
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: flashed from end to end, then disappeared in a heavy
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: cloud of smoke. Regiment after regiment exploded into action with
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: a metallic roar. Gigantic crashes of artillery split the air.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: Shells screamed overhead like a pack of banshees, exploding in
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: clouds of earth, horses, and men. The noise roared to
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: a crescendo with a volume of sound that left the
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: men dazed and confused. One veteran said it was more
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: like a volcanic blast than a battle. It was over
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: in less than 30 minutes. But 7,000 killed and wounded
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: Union soldiers were left lying in the sun between the trenches,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: said one general sadly. In that little period, more men
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: fell bleeding as they advanced than in any other like
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: period of time throughout the war. Those not already killed
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: or wounded threw themselves on the ground and desperately heaved
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: up little mounds of earth in front of them with bayonets, spoons, cups,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: and broken canteens. They could neither advance nor retreat. Nothing
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: standing could live long in that hail of lead and iron.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: They just dug in and stayed there. A peculiar thing
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: about the battle came to light afterwards. The three corps
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: commanders sent identical telegrams to Grant's headquarters, each accusing the
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: other of not supporting him in the attack. Later it
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: was discovered what had actually happened. Hancock on the left
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: had veered to his left because of the heavy fire
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: from there and the peculiarities of the terrain. Wright in
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: the center had gone straight ahead, and Smith on the
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: right bore off to his right because of swamps and ravines.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: So the farther they advanced, the more separated they became,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: and the more their flanks were left open to a
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: deadly crossfire. No other major assault was attempted by either army,
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: although the troops stayed in the hot, filthy trenches until
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: June 12, with constant nerve-wracking sharpshooting and skirmishing. From June
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: 1 to 12, the Union losses totaled 12,700. Confederate losses
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: were estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000. Cold Harbor proved
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: to be Lee's last major victory in the field. and
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: although it was a military zero so far as Grant
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: was concerned, it turned out to be one of the
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: most important and significant battles fought during the Civil War.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: The results of this battle changed the course of the
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: war in the East from a war of maneuver to
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: a war of siege. It also influenced the strategy and
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: tactics of future wars by showing that well-selected, well-manned entrenchments
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: adequately supported by artillery were practically impregnable to frontal assaults.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: On June 5, Grant decided to bypass Richmond, cross the James,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and attack Petersburg, an important railway center 25 miles south
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: of the Confederate capital. This would still keep Lee's army
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: pinned down, and if successful, would cut communications between Richmond
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: and the rest of the Confederacy. On June 6, he
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: withdrew Warren's V Corps from the lines and used it
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: to secure the passages across the Chickahominy and down to
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: the James. On June 7, he sent Sheridan, with two
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: divisions of cavalry, back into the Shenandoah Valley against Early.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: To counter this, Lee was forced to send General Wade
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: Hampton's cavalry after Sheridan. which in effect left Lee without
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: adequate cavalry. During the night of June 12, Grant secretly
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: moved all the troops out of the trenches at Cold
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: Harbor without Lee's being aware of the move until the
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: following morning. And by June 16, the Army of the
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: Potomac of over 100,000 men, 5,000 wagons, 2,800 head of cattle,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: and 25,000 horses and mules were all safely across the
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: James River. Richmond was saved for another ten months. Fort
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: Harrison In the predawn darkness of September 29, Grant quietly
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: slipped General David Burney's X Corps and General Edward Ord's
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: XVIII Corps back across the James in a surprise move
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: against the outer defenses of Richmond. The primary purpose was
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: to prevent Lee from reinforcing early in the Shenandoah Valley. If, however,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: any weakness was discovered, it could be exploited fully and
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: it might force Lee to weaken some part of the
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: Petersburg line. Shortly after daybreak, General George Stanner's division of
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: the 18th Corps successfully stormed heavily armed but badly undermanned
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Fort Harrison on the Verena Road. General Hiram Burnham, commanding
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: the leading brigade, was killed in the assault and the
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: Union forces renamed the captured fort for him. A mile
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: and a half farther north, General Adelbert Ames Division of
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: the X Corps was repulsed in a similar attack on
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: another fortification, Fort Gilmer, on the New Market Road. General
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: Lee regarded the loss of Fort Harrison as serious enough
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: to demand his personal attention. The next day, with reinforcements
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: rushed from Petersburg, he directed several vigorous assaults against the fort. However,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: the Union forces had closed in the rear and strengthened it, and,
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: armed with new repeating rifles, successfully beat back the attacks
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: and inflicted heavy losses on the Confederates. The fall of
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: Fort Harrison forced Lee to draw back that part of
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: his outer line and to build new entrenchments to compensate
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: for the loss. It also forced him to extend his
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: line north of the James, thus weakening his already dangerously
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: undermanned defenses in front of Petersburg. The Union forces, to
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: protect their position further and to neutralize Confederate gunboats, constructed
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: Fort Brady a few miles south of Fort Burnham, Harrison,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: on a high bluff overlooking the James River. No further
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: serious efforts were made to enter Richmond from the north
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: side of the James, and the two armies faced each
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: other in these respective positions until Grant finally broke Lee's
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: lines at Petersburg on April 1, 1865, forcing the Confederates
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: to abandon Richmond. End of Section 4 Section 5 of
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia by Joseph P. Collin This
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: Liberbox recording is in the public domain. Part 2. The
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: Final Struggle for Richmond, 1864-65. Section 5. Richmond Falls. Spring
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: came gently to Richmond that year of 1865. The winter
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: had been long and hard. After a cold, wet March, Sunday,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: April 2nd, dawned mild and pleasant. The green buds on
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: the trees and the bright new grass put the breath
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: of seed time in the air. Sap flowed warm in
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: the lilac and the magnolia. Under a rich blue sky,
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: the people strolled leisurely to church amid the cheerful music
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: of the bells and the soft murmur of the James
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: River Falls. In St. Paul's Episcopal Church at the corner
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: of 9th and Grace Streets, Jefferson Davis sat in the
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: family pew listening to the sermon. The sexton walked up
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: the aisle and handed him a message from General Lee.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: i advise that all preparation be made for leaving richmond
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: to-night davis arose quietly and left the church walked a
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: block down ninth street to his office in the war
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: department and gave the necessary orders for evacuation late in
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: the afternoon the official order was posted then pandemonium reigned. Trunks, boxes,
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: bundles of every description were piled on the sidewalks and
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: in the streets. Wagons, carts, buggies, anything that had wheels
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: and could move, were loaded and raced through the city
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: to fight their way across Mayo's Bridge in the mad
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: rush to cross the James and flee south. A frantic
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: mob trampled each other without mercy and jammed the streets
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: leading to the railroad stations, only to be turned back
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: by soldiers' bayonets. The few trains that would manage to
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: leave were reserved for government officials, archives, the treasury, and
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: military personnel. Early in the evening, the character of the
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: crowds began to change. From a city of less than 38,000
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: before the war, Richmond now had over 100,000 people jammed
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: into every available nook and cranny. They had come by
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: the thousands to work for the various government departments and
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: in the munitions factories. Refugees from the many battles fought
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: in Virginia had poured in, as well as the sick
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: and wounded, followed inevitably by deserters, spies, criminals, gamblers, speculators,
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: and derelicts of every kind. and now the cheap hotels, saloons,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: and gambling dens began to empty their customers into the streets,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: many of them half-drunk. All semblance of law and order disappeared.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: When the guards at the state penitentiary fled, the prisoners
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: broke loose to roam the city at will. The provost
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: guard took the prisoners of war from Libby Prison down
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: the river to be exchanged. This left only the local
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: defense brigade, consisting of government and munitions workers but most
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: of them were required in government buildings to pack and
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: burn records some guarded the railroad depots while others were
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: engaged in destruction assignments the order had been given to
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: burn all tobacco and cotton that could not be removed
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: by tossing flaming balls of tar into the warehouses along
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: the river front in the meantime mayor mayo and the
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: city council had appointed a committee in each ward to
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: see that all liquor was destroyed, and shortly after midnight
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: they set to work. Casks and barrels of the finest
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: southern bourbons were rolled to the curbs, the tops smashed open,
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: and left to drain. Like flies around honey, the mobs
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: swarmed and fought their way into the streets where the
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: whiskey flowed like water. Men, women, and children, clawing and screaming,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: scooped it up with bare hands, or used pails, cups, basins, bottles,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: anything that would hold the amber liquid. They used rags
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: on sticks, dipped in whiskey for torches, and went howling
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: through the city in search of food and plunder like
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: a pack of mad wolves looting, killing, burning. The soft
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: night sky became pink, then turned a dull red. The
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: blaze from the Chaco warehouse at 13th and Cary Streets,
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: where 10,000 hogsheads of tobacco was put to the torch,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: flew skyward as if shot from a huge blowtorch. The
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: flames quickly spread to the Franklin paper mills and the
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: Galejo flour mills, ten stories high. Higher and higher they soared,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: and then widened until it seemed a red-hot sea of
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: fire would engulf the whole city. A faint hot breeze
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: began to stir from the southeast, scattering burning embers through
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: the streets and alleys and houses. Powder magazines and arsenals
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: let go with a whooshing boom. Thousands of bullets and
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: shells tore through buildings and plowed up the streets. Shells
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: exploded high in the smoke, cascading a metal spray over
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: the area, followed by the rattle of bursting cartridges in
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: one great metallic roar. Just before daybreak, a deafening explosion
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: from the James River signaled the destruction of the Confederate
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: warships and the Navy Yard. Richmond was now one vast
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: inferno of flame, noise, smoke, and trembling earth. The roaring
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: fire swept northwestward from the riverfront, hungrily devouring the two
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: railroad depots, all the banks, flour and paper mills, and hotels. warehouses, stores,
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: and houses by the hundreds. About dawn, a large crowd
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: gathered in front of the huge government commissary at 14th
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: and Cary Streets on the eastern edge of the fire.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: The doors were thrown open, and the government clerks began
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: an orderly distribution of the supplies. Then the drunken mob
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: joined the crowd. Barrels of hams, bacon, flour, molasses, sugar, coffee,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: and tea were rolled into the streets or thrown from windows.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: Women ran screaming through the flames, waving sides of bacon
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: and whole hams. Wheelbarrows were filled and trundled away. When
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: the building finally caught fire from the whiskey torches, the
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: mob swarmed into other sections of the doomed city, where
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: the few remaining clothing, jewelry, and furniture stores were ruthlessly
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: looted and burned. A casket factory was broken into, the
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: caskets loaded with plunder and carried through the streets and
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: the fiendish rabble roared on unchecked as the drunken night
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: reeled into morning the few remaining regiments of general kershaw's
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: brigade which had been guarding the lines east of richmond
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: galloped into the city on their way south to join
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: lee in his retreat to appomattox they had to fight
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: their way through the howling mob to reach mayo's bridge
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: as the rear-guard clattered over General M. W. Gary shouted,
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: All over! Goodbye! Blower to hell! The barrels of tar
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: placed along the bridge were promptly put to the torch.
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: Soon a tall flame shot high into the air, and
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: with the two railroad bridges already burning, the three high
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: arch structures were like blazing arrows pointing to the very
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: gates of hell. Then down Osborne Turnpike and into Main
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: Street trotted the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, When the smoke and
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: heat blocked their path, they turned into 14th Street, past
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: fire engines blazing in the street, and proceeded up the
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: hill to Capitol Square, where a tragic scene awaited them.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Like a green oasis in a veritable desert of fire
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: and destruction, the sloping lawn around the Capitol was jammed
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: with frightened people seeking safety from the flames, family groups
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: trying desperately to stay together, huddled under the linden trees
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: for protection from the burning sparks. Piles of furniture were
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: scattered in every direction. Beds, chairs, settees, paintings, silverware, gilt-framed mirrors,
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: the few possessions left, the family heirlooms, the treasures faithfully
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: passed down from generation to generation. In the background, in
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: the massive white columns of the Capitol, designed by Thomas
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: Jefferson as a replica of the famous Maison Carré at Nîmes,
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: stood guard over the huddled masses below. The soldiers in
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: blue quickly dispersed the mobs at Bayonet Point. Guards were
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: immediately placed to prevent further looting. The fire was contained
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: by blowing up buildings in its path to create a
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: fire lane, leaving the main part to burn itself out.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: By nightfall, everything was under control, but most of the
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: business and industrial section of the city was gone. The
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: stars shone down that night on the smoldering ruins of
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: more than 700 buildings. Gaunt chimneys stood naked against the
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: black velvet sky. A federal officer, picking his way through
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: thousands of pieces of white granite columns and marble facades
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: that littered the streets to inspect the guard, noted that
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: the silence of death brooded over the city. Occasionally, a
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: shell exploded somewhere in the ruins. Then it was quiet again.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: A week later, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: The war was over. The Park Richmond National Battlefield Park
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: was established on July 14, 1944, as authorized by Act
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: of Congress. The property was originally acquired by a group
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: of public-spirited Virginians who donated it to the Commonwealth of
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: Virginia in 1932. The park occupies nearly 800 acres of
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: land in 10 widely separated parcels. Included are some six
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: acres in Chimborazo Park on East Broad Street, site of
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: Chimborazo Hospital during the Civil War. A complete tour of
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: the battlefields requires a 57-mile drive, which is outlined on
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: the map in this booklet. We suggest that you begin
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: at the main visitor center in Chimborazo Park, 3215 East
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: Broad Street, Richmond, where museum exhibits and an audiovisual program
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: are available to enhance your appreciation of this battlefield area. Markers, maps,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: and interpretive devices along the tour will help you to
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: understand the military operations. You will see parts of the
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: fields of combat, massive forts, and intricate field fortifications. Two
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: houses on the battlefields have wartime associations, the Watt House,
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: General Fitz John Porter's headquarters, and the Garth Wright House,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: Union Field Hospital. End of Section 5. End of Richmond
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: National Battlefield Park, Virginia, by Joseph P. Cullen.