Posted on Jun 17, 2017
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On this day, the bulk of the Army of the Potomac begins moving towards Petersburg, Virginia, precipitating a siege that lasted for more than nine months.
From early May, the Union army hounded Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia as it tried to destroy the Confederates in the eastern theater. Commanded officially by George Meade but effectively directed by Ulysses S. Grant, the Army of the Potomac sustained enormous casualties as it fought through the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.
After the disaster at Cold Harbor, where Union troops suffered horrendous losses when they attacked fortified Rebels just east of Richmond, Grant paused for more than a week before ordering another move. The army began to pull out of camp on June 12, and on June 13 the bulk of Grant’s force was on the move south to the James River. As they had done for six weeks, the Confederates stayed between Richmond and the Yankees. Lee blocked the road to Richmond, but Grant was after a different target now. After the experience of Cold Harbor, Grant decided to take the rail center at Petersburg, 23 miles south of Richmond.
By late afternoon, Union General Winfield Hancock’s Second Corps arrived at the James. Northern engineers were still constructing a pontoon bridge, but a fleet of small boats began to ferry the soldiers across.
By the next day, skirmishing flared around Petersburg and the last great battle of war in Virginia began. This phase of the war would be much different, as the two great armies settled into trenches for a war of attrition.
From early May, the Union army hounded Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia as it tried to destroy the Confederates in the eastern theater. Commanded officially by George Meade but effectively directed by Ulysses S. Grant, the Army of the Potomac sustained enormous casualties as it fought through the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.
After the disaster at Cold Harbor, where Union troops suffered horrendous losses when they attacked fortified Rebels just east of Richmond, Grant paused for more than a week before ordering another move. The army began to pull out of camp on June 12, and on June 13 the bulk of Grant’s force was on the move south to the James River. As they had done for six weeks, the Confederates stayed between Richmond and the Yankees. Lee blocked the road to Richmond, but Grant was after a different target now. After the experience of Cold Harbor, Grant decided to take the rail center at Petersburg, 23 miles south of Richmond.
By late afternoon, Union General Winfield Hancock’s Second Corps arrived at the James. Northern engineers were still constructing a pontoon bridge, but a fleet of small boats began to ferry the soldiers across.
By the next day, skirmishing flared around Petersburg and the last great battle of war in Virginia began. This phase of the war would be much different, as the two great armies settled into trenches for a war of attrition.
Grant swings toward Petersburg - Jun 13, 1864 - HISTORY.com
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Thanks for reminding us TSgt Joe C. that on June 13, 1864 the bulk of the Army of the Potomac began moving towards Petersburg, Virginia, precipitating a siege that lasted for more than nine months.
Maj Gen U.S. Grant recognized that the South did not have the capability to field unlimited armies so he whittled down their numbers through death, wounding and capture in the coming months.
Maj Gen U.S. Grant recognized that the South did not have the capability to field unlimited armies so he whittled down their numbers through death, wounding and capture in the coming months.
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This was the final war winning movement. The Confederates had lost most of their interior lines with the capture of all the major ports and towns on the Mississippi River with Union forces now able to float to any location on the river. The capital of the Confederacy with its great store of cotton and other goods in its warehouses also held the only substantial iron foundry along with the means to make steel and the sinews of war-armor, guns, iron sheets-left to the Confederacy. The loss of the capital would cause the implosion of the means to resist for the Confederates and so any field armies would wilt on the vine.
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"By the Left Flank" pretty much summed up how both Grant And Sherman Defeated the ANV and AOT respectively. Pin the Confederate Forces down and make them dig in. Then because you have superior numbers extend your lines past their flank and make their position untenable. Last but not least do not stop the campaign because of the loss of a single battle. Force the Confederates to protect a single point ( Atlanta or Petersburg/Richmond) continue extending the lines and laying siege then punch a hole through a weak point or cutting supplies off.
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