On to Petersburg

Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864

Gordon C. Rhea

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2017
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780807167496
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

With On to Petersburg, Gordon C. Rhea completes his much-lauded history of the Overland Campaign, a series of Civil War battles fought between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in southeastern Virginia in the spring of 1864. Having previously covered the campaign in his magisterial volumes on The Battle of the Wilderness, The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, To the North Anna River, and Cold Harbor, Rhea ends this series with a comprehensive account of the last twelve days of the campaign, which concluded with the beginning of the siege of Petersburg. On to Petersburg follows the Union army's movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign. Beginning his account in the immediate aftermath of Grant's three-day attack on Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Rhea argues that the Union general's primary goal was not—as often supposed—to take Richmond, but rather to destroy Lee's army by closing off its retreat routes and disrupting its supply chains. While Grant struggled at times to communicate strategic objectives to his subordinates and to adapt his army to a faster-paced, more flexible style of warfare, Rhea suggests that the general successfully shifted the military landscape in the Union's favor.On the rebel side, Lee and his staff predicted rightly that Grant would attempt to cross the James River and lay siege to the Army of Northern Virginia while simultaneously targeting Confederate supply lines. Rhea examines how Lee, facing a better-provisioned army whose troops outnumbered Lee's two to one, consistently fought the Union army to an impasse, employing risky, innovative field tactics to counter Grant's forces. Like the four volumes that preceded it, On to Petersburg represents decades of research and scholarship and will stand as the most authoritative history of the final battles in the campaign.

Appendix 1

The Union Order of Battle

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
Major General George G. Meade

PROVOST GUARD
Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick
80th New York
68th Pennsylvania
114th Pennsylvania
1st Massachusetts Cavalry, Companies C and D
3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry

ARTILLERY
Brigadier General Henry J. Hunt

VOLUNTEER ENGINEER BRIGADE
Brigadier General Henry W. Benham

50TH NEW YORK ENGINEERS
Lieutenant Colonel Ira Spaulding
15th New York Engineers

BATTALION U.S. ENGINEERS
Captain George H. Mendell

2ND ARMY CORPS
Major General Winfield S. Hancock
1st Vermont Cavalry, Company M

5TH ARMY CORPS^a
Major General Gouverneur K. Warren
12th New York Battalion

6TH ARMY CORPS
Major General Horatio G. Wright
8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company A

9TH ARMY CORPS
Major General Ambrose E. Burnside
8th United States

CAVALRY CORPS
Major General Philip H. Sheridan

18TH ARMY CORPS
Major General William F. Smith

ARMY OF THE JAMES UNITS
INVOLVED IN THE JUNE 15 OFFENSIVE

Appendix 2

The Confederate Order of Battle

ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
General Robert E. Lee

1ST ARMY CORPS
Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson^a

2ND AR...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• I May 5–June 3, 1864: Grant and Lee Deadlock at Cold Harbor
• II June 4, 1864: The Army of the Potomac Tries Advancing by Regular Approaches
• III June 5–6, 1864: Grant Devises a New Plan and Jockeys for Position
• IV June 7, 1864: Grant and Lee Agree on a Truce
• V June 8–10, 1864: Petersburg Steps to Center Stage
• VI June 11–12, 1864: Grant Plans His Next Maneuver
• VII June 13, 1864: The Army of the Potomac Crosses the Chickahominy
• VIII June 14, 1864: The Army of the Potomac Starts across the James
• IX June 15, 1864: Smith and Hancock Advance on Petersburg
• X June 15, 1864: Grant Loses a Sterling Opportunity
• Epilogue: The Overland Campaign in Review
• Appendix 1: The Union Order of Battle
• Appendix 2: The Confederate Order of Battle
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index