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.If the fighting on May 12 had not produced amajor breakthrough, perhaps another day would do so.Having failed to bring about a lasting break in the Con-federate lines through a direct frontal assault, Grant set anotherstrategy for May 13.As Lee had predicted before the battle hadopened, the Federal Army began to move by its left again, head-ing southeast, continuing its arc around Richmond.To this end,Grant ordered Major General Gouverneur Warren s 5th Corps,placed on the army s right flank, to pull out of the Union lineand march behind the army s front.They were to then positionthemselves on the left flank.General Horatio Wright s 6th Corpswould then be in position as the new right flank of Grant s army.Then, Grant had Wright s forces do the same thing.This allowedthe Army of the Potomac to move toward the southeast whilealways maintaining direct contact with Lee, presenting a con-stant, strong front.There was little fighting during the several days followingthe May 12 Spotsylvania battle, just some minor engagementsas the two armies squeezed against one another as the UnionArmy moved its positions southward.Grant did plan an at-tack on May 14, which was cancelled by heavy rains.Then, the 128 CIVIL WAR BATTLESUnion commander set a new course of attack, this time againstLee s left by the Federal right.Once again, Hancock s 2nd Corps,Wright s 6th, and Burnside s 9th attacked Lee s right in the earlyhours of May 18.But the Confederates in their path were wellentrenched, and repeated assaults failed until Grant ordereda stand down.That evening, Grant returned to his strategy ofmoving by his left, which left Lee with little to do other than tomatch the Federals moves.On May 19, Lee sent General Ewell forward to examinewhether Grant was, indeed, moving to the southeast again.As Ewell examined the Union left flank, a fight took place atHarris s Farm, which dragged on for the remainder of the day.Little was accomplished, but Ewell did determine Grant s inten-tions of moving by his left.As Union forces drew away from thelandscape around Spotsylvania, the battle was finally over.Inall the fighting during those days of mid-May, the Army of thePotomac suffered 17,500 casualties and Lee s army had 10,000casualties.The battle may have been over, but the fight continuedon for several more weeks.There would be an engagement onMay 23 to 25 along the North Anna River, south of Spotsylva-nia.Both sides bloodied one another until Grant again movedby his left flank to the southeast, closer to Richmond.On June 3,Grant sent thousands of his men to their doom when he at-tacked Lee in a direct frontal assault at Cold Harbor.The mainattack at 4:30 that afternoon lasted little more than 30 minutes;it ended with 3,500 Union casualties.Grant knew he had made a mistake at Cold Harbor.Afterthat attack, he simply moved by his left, putting him southeastof Richmond and on a straight line with Petersburg, a vitalrail center south of the Confederate capital.Here, the UnionArmy attacked Rebel forces defending the city on June 15.Eventhough the Union outnumbered the enemy by five to one, itfailed to break through, due in part to the poor leadership ofUnion general William F. Baldy Smith. Spotsylvania 129For six weeks, Grant had pushed Lee s army, from theWilderness to Petersburg.He had lost tens of thousands ofmen, killed and wounded, but he had managed to fight Lee toa standstill.Outside Petersburg, Grant simply laid down a siege,which would keep the Army of Northern Virginia locked upsouth of Richmond with no way out.The war had always beenabout fighting the Confederates until the South could no lon-ger produce enough manpower to continue the war effectively.Through Grant s nonstop drive against Lee s forces in Virginiafrom spring until summer of 1864, the day of Confederate ex-haustion had finally arrived. GlossaryARTILLERY Large mounted guns or cannons; the part of an armythat uses and manages such guns.BRIGADE A body of troops that generally includes two or more reg-iments or battalions, commanded by a brigadier general or a colonel.Usually part of a division.CANISTER SHOT A can containing hundreds of marble-sized leadprojectiles that was fired from a cannon.CARTRIDGE A paper-wrapped measure of gunpowder that a soldierloaded in the barrel of his musket or rifle.CASUALTY In military terms, any human loss on a battlefield, in-cluding those killed, wounded, missing, and captured.COMMISSION An official granting of rank to a military officer.CONFEDERATES Those who supported secession from the UnitedStates and who fought for the South during the Civil War.DIVISION A military unit made up of several brigades or regimentsplus supporting troops, usually commanded by a major general.EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION An executive order issued byPresident Abraham Lincoln calling for the freeing of slaves in partsof the South engaging in secession and Civil War against the UnitedStates government.FEDERALS Troops who fought for the North, or the Union side,during the Civil War.FLANK Either end of a line of massed soldiers, signified as an army s left or right. 130 Glossary 131GRAPE SHOT A package of nine golf-ball-sized lead balls that werefired in one shot from the barrel of a cannon.INSUBORDINATION Resistance or disobedience to an authority; re-fusal to obey; disobedient or unruly behavior showing a lack of respect.MEMOIRS Personal narrative, remembrance, or autobiography thatrelates the writer s life story.MINIE BALL A cone-shaped projectile fired in a musket or rifle thatwas invented by a French army captain, Claude Minie.MUSKET A handheld weapon featuring a long smooth-bore barrelthat fires a lead projectile or bullet
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Tematy
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