SIGNIFICANT DATES IN LEE'S LIFE
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1864
January 4th, 1864. Lee is authorized to commandeer food supplies in order to feed his starving troops. The authorization is issued by President Davis.
February 6th, 1864. Union troops cross the Rapidan to probe Lee's strength in the area. They come under heavy attack by the Confederates and withdraw again during the night.
March 1st, 1864. A cavalry force from Lee's army, commanded by Wade Hampton, repell a Union attempt to invade Richmond. The Union cavalry force, commanded by Brigadier-General Judson Kilpatrick, retreats rapidly from engagement and is pursued through the darkness.
March 2nd, 1864. General Lee receives documents that suggest that Richmond was to be burned and the Confederate Cabinet executed. The documents were recovered from the body of Union officer, Ulric Dahlgreen. Lee is not 100% convinced of the authenticity of the documents, nevertheless he forwards photographic plates of them to General Meade, along with a strongly worded letter of protest.
April 7th, 1864. Lee orders Longstreet to return from east Tennessee and rejoin the main army in Virginia.
May 4th, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia (66,000 men) moves to intercept The Army of the Potomac (Now commanded by Grant with a strength of 122,000 men)which has crossed the Rapidan once again. Lee's plan is to engage Grant's force in The Wilderness, the same place he and Jackson defeated Hooker a year ago. It is hoped that the tangled growth there will help eliminate Union artillery superiority.
May 5th, 1864. Battle in The Wilderness begins in earnest. Warren's V Corps (Union) engages Ewell's Confederate II Corps early in the morning on the Orange Turnpike. Later in the day, Hancock's II Corps (Union) engages A.P. Hill's. Neither of these battles are decisive. The tangled undergrowth and numerous trees works to the Confederate's advantage by disguising the fact that they are numerically inferior on the field.
May 6th, 1864. A.P. Hill's force is slowly, but surely driven back by the Union forces. Things look grim, but Confederate spirits receive a lift with the arrival of Longstreet's corps on the field. Longstreet is successful in overrunning part of the Union's left flank. Longstreet is poised to do major damage to the Union force, when he is accidently shot and badly wounded by his own men (Amazingly, this incident occurs less than 5 miles from where Stonewall Jackson met the same fate). The Confederate attack begins to slow due to the lack of leadership and Lee is forced to take personal command of the troops later in the afternoon - he is eventually pulled back by his own men however. The day of brutal close-quarters fighting results in Confederate losses of 7,500, (killed, wounded or missing), from a total force of 60,000.
May 7th, 1864. Lee is forced to pursue Grant's Union force, due to Grant's determined advance on Richmond.
May 8th, 1864. A Confederate force, commanded by General Richard H. Anderson,sets out on a very early march and arrives at the Spotsylvania Cross Roads before the Union does. Heavy fighting is initiated throughout the day, the end result being that Grant fails in his attempt to get between Lee and Richmond. Lee's force is now entrenched and are able to repel a number of Union attacks.
May 9th, 1864. General Lee has his forces concentrated, in entrenchments, between the Ny and Po rivers. Sporadic gunfire is exchanged between the two armies during the day.
May 10th, 1864. Union forces probe Lee's defenses at Spotsylvania all day, launching a fast attack at 6pm the Union makes an incursion into Lee's center. None of these engagements prove to be overly successful.
May 11th, 1864. General Lee begins to make preparations to pull his force away from their current position. The first major Confederate redeployment is the removal of 30 cannons from the center of his positions (known as 'The Mule Shoe'). J.E.B. Stuart is shot and mortally wounded this day in a separate battle at Yellow Tavern.
May 12th, 1864. Confederate Genral Johnston, along with almost the entire 'Stonewall' brigade, is captured in a Union assault against 'The Mule Shoe' at 4.30am. Lee's force immediately launches a counter-attack and manage to block any further penetration of their defenses. The weather turns bad during the day, and from 10am to nightfall, there are fierce, bloody engagements along the northwest face of Lee's entrenchments - known as 'Bloody Angle'. Wave after wave of Union troops assault this position in the pouring rain.
May 13th, 1864. The assaults on "Bloody Angle' finally cease at 4am. The fighting there is amongst the most ferocious of the entire war. The casualty rates so far have been high at Spotsylvania. The Union losses are estimated at 6,800, whilst the Confederates are estimated at 5,000.
May 14th, 1864. The heavy rain continues to fall at Spotsylvania. There is little action this day due to trench flooding and the muddy ground being unsuitable for maneuvering on.
May 17th, 1864. The torrential downpour finally stops at Spotsylvania. In the sunshine, both sides bail out water and repair their trenches. Every man knows a new assault is now imminent.
May 18th, 1864. Hancock leads his men in a fresh assault on Lee's trenches. The attack stalls, as the Union is met by a virtual wall of gunfire from the Confederates. Union General Meade claims that the Army of the Potomac is just, "...knocking our heads against a brick wall.". Union commander Grant also sees that nothing will be gained here, and begins to redeploy his troops, sending them southwards once again.
May 19th, 1864. General Lee begins to suspect that Grant is shifting his men past the right of the Confederate lines. To test his theory, Lee sends Ewell's II Corps on a probing mission of the Union lines. As Ewell makes his demonstrations against the enemy, savage fighting begins anew. The main facet of the Union attack comes from their heavy artillery. The barrage is so effective, that Ewell is forced to withdraw. This action marks the last of the fighting at Spotsylvania. Lee has again triumphed, but his victories are proving far too costly in terms of men - The South can ill afford this level of attrition.
May 21st, 1864. Aware that the Union army is on the move again, Lee orders his men to fall back to North Anna.
May 22nd, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia heads on a parallel course to that of The Army of the Potomac. The destination of both armies is the North Anna River. Lee wins the race, with Ewell's corps arriving at Hanover Junction before the Union troops. Ewell's men set about digging in and awaiting contact with the enemy.
May 23rd, 1864. Battle is once again initiated between the Union and the Confederates. A.P. HIll attacks a union force, Warren's V Corps near Jericho Mills in the evening. The Union army has become momentarily divided, and there is serious potential for Lee to exploit this. He is unable to however, due to the fact that he is suffering from a serious fever, and is confined to his tent.
May 24th, 1864. The Union army begins to concentrate near, and cross, the North Anna River. Lee is still firmly gripped by fever, and his men adopt a purely defensive strategy.
May 25th, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia successfully blocks Grant's advance. Rather than waste more time in futile assaults, Grant redeploys his men in another attempt to outflank Lee.
May 27th, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia begins to move again, heading south and east again. There are cavalry clashes all day, as Confederate cavalry attempt to determine the exact line of Grant's march.
May 28th, 1864. Lee hurries his men past Mechanicsville and swings south toward Cold Harbor. Once again Lee has avoided being outflanked and managed to get between Grant and Richmond.
May 29th, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia busies itself with preparing new defensive entrenchments.
May 30th, 1864. There are minor exchanges of gunfire as Grant reaches the new Confederate position and embarks on probing the Confederate line.
May 31st, 1864. Grant swings his force east toward Cold Harbor. Lee immediately gives chase and is able interpose his force between Grant and his objective once more.
June 1st, 1864. The Army of the Potomac begin to launch assaults against Lee's new entrenchments at Cold Harbor. The Union forces make limited gains, and begin to dig themselves in for an extended siege.
June 2nd, 1864. The majority of this extremely hot day is spent by both sides improving their entrenchments. Lee sends Early with a force to probe the Union's left flank, but little is gained from the incursion.
June 3rd, 1864. Union commander Grant sends three corps to assault Lee's defenses at 4.30 am. The situation is desperate for the Confederates - if the assault breaks through, Richmond will fall ( It is a mere 8 miles away from the current fighting!). Lee's men, no doubt fired by the urgency of the situation, greet the Union forces with overpowering gunfire. Well positioned Confederate guns are able to sweep every avenue of approach (In fact this excellent field of fire will inflict 7,000 casualties on the Union forces in just an hour). Grant calls off the assault at noon, and once more Lee's rag-tag veterans have prevailed.
June 4th, 1864. The armies at Cold Harbor spend the day burying their dead and sniping at each other.
June 5th, 1864. Lee orders Breckinridge to leave the Shenandoah Valley and rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia.
June 13th, 1864. General Lee withdraws his force from Cold Harbor (Grant has withdrawn his men during the previous night). Lee heads back towards Richmond, he is expecting Grant to attack Richmond via Malvern Hill and White Oak Swamp.
June 14th, 1864. There is a clash between Confederate and Union cavalry at Harrison's Landing.
June 16th, 1864. Lee sends Pickett with two divisions to bolster the Confederate defenses at Petersburg. Lee is unwilling to send more troops, as he believes Grant's main attack will be launched from further north of the James River.
June 17th, 1864. Lee is finally persuaded that Grant's main body is now concentrated at Petersburg, he therefore sends A.P. Hill's and R.H. Anderson's corps to aid in the defense.
June 18th, 1864. Lee marches the main body of the Army of Northern Virginia to the Confederate defenses at Petersburg.
June 22nd, 1864. Union commander, General David B. Birney, attempts to extend the Union line to the south and west. He sends II and VI Corps to make the maneuver, but they run into A.P. Hill on Jerusalem Plank Road. Vicious fighting ensues and the Union force is driven back.
June 25th, 1864. Union engineers begin working on a tunnel at Petersburg. The objective is to tunnel right under Confederate positions and emerge amongst them, hopefully taking the Confederates completely by surprise. The tunnel/mine is the brainchild of Colonel Henry Pleasants.
July 7th, 1864. The siege at Petersburg continues. Both armies are busy improving their entrenchments.
July 30th, 1864. The Union puts its tunnel plan into action. Early in the morning, a mine is detonated at the far end of the tunnel to breakthrough the last few metres of dirt. The mine is composed of 900 pounds of gunpowder, and when it detonates it creates a crater 170 feet long, 30 feet deep and roughly 60 to 80 feet wide. The explosion kills 278 Confederates. The Union plan is a great success, but disaster is just around the corner. The Union divisions sent down the tunnel do not fan out correctly on the other side, instead they bunch up together at the bottom of the crater. The Confederates react quickly, bringing cannon up to the edge of the crater and begin to fire a brutal barrage downwards. The Union force, which sustains over 4,000 casualties in three hours, is eventually beaten back.
August 18th, 1864. Warren's V Corps (Union) advance westwards from Petersburg and take control of more than a mile of the Weldon Railroad. Warren attempts to make further gains north, but he is successfully blocked by Heth. The Confederates are suffering from a severe shortage of manpower, the problem is made worse by the fact that Grant no longer allows the trading of prisoners.
August 19th, 1864. Warren's Corps (bolstered by elements of II and IX Corps) comes under attack by a Confederate forces commanded by A.P. Hill. Utilising the support of 30 cannon, Hill makes some progress - capturing 2,000 prisoners and seizing 3,000 rifles. Warren still commands a strong force at Globe Tavern at nightfall.
August 20th, 1864. Minor skirmishing breaks out around Globe Tavern. The Confederates are unsuccessful however, and the Weldon Railroad remains cut.
August 21st, 1864. A.P. Hill launches another assault designed to free the railroad. The Union troops are too well entrenched by now, and the assault fails as a result.
August 24th, 1864. Hill continues his attempts to clear the railroad of Union troops. Small parties of Confederate troops make raids on Union forces all along the Union position.
August 25th, 1864. Leading nine Confederate brigades, A.P. Hill begins a fresh assault to free the Weldon Railroad. The Confederates make a headlong rush towards the entrenched forces of Hancock's II Corps, the Union troops panic and abandon their positions to flee towards the rear. Union artillery batteries (1st Rhode Island Artillery and 10th Massachusetts Battery) attempt bravely to hold off the assault by themselves. They are eventually overrun and the cannons captured. Gibbon's division is ordered to launch a counter-attack against the Confederates, but they refuse to fight. The Confederates continue their assault and drive Hancock even further back. The battle is notable for the surprising figure of Union 'missing' and captured - 2,073!
September 2nd, 1864. General Lee puts forward a proposal to draft slaves to do the labouring tasks for The Army of Northern Virginia. This move is aimed at freeing more men to fight, Lee perhaps hopes to end the stalemate at Petersburg.
September 3rd, 1864. Lee orders Anderson's corps to rejoin the main army. The force runs into Union forces enroute however, and doesn't arrive.
September 16th, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia is running perilously low on food supplies. They receive some relief by sending out raiding parties. Wade Hampton, for example, leads 4,000 cavalry behind Union lines and manages to capture 2,400 head of cattle.
September 29th, 1864. Grant grows tired of the weeks of stalemate at Petersburg. He orders two major assaults on the Confederate lines, hoping to gain some Union momentum once again.
September 30th, 1864. Lee finds his smaller force being strecthed dangerously thin as the siege line stretches another three miles. General Lee begins to write urgent, pessimistic, dispatches to Richmond - he currently has fewer than 50,000 men and is attempting to hold 35 miles of trenches. The dire situation is made worse by the fact that relief forces are extremely unlikely. Lee has so far managed to push extra forces into his weak spots and check Union advances - but he knows that this situation cannot possibly be expected to continue indefinitely. Attempting to relieve some pressure from his own force, Lee personally leads an assault against the now Union-held Fort Harrison. The Confederates find themselves rushing an entrenched opponent, many of whom are armed with repeating rifles. The assault fails and Lee's men are forced to content themselves with constructing new defense positions facing the fort.
October 27th, 1864. Grant launches another offensive against the railroad at Petersburg. The railroad is Lee's lifeline, and the Confederates fight like men possessed to defend it. The Union force consits of 20,000 men under the command of Hancock and Warren. The Confederate forces are commanded by Heth and Mahone, backed up by Wade Hampton's cavalry. The assault is fiercely pressed, but the confederates manage to beat back the Union advance and retain possession of the crucial railroad.
November 13th, 1864. Jubal Early ends the 'Valley Campaign' and detaches most of his men, sending them to bolster Lee's forces at Petersburg. Early's force has managed to occupy the attention of superior Union forces since June and is largely regarded as an outstanding effort by a small force.
December 19th, 1864. The Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah detach more men to join the siege lines before Richmond and Petersburg.
December 31st, 1864. The sieges at Petersburg and Richmond resemble desolate wastelands. The huge demands for wood, as supports for trenches, walls for huts and fires etc, have resulted in the extensive clearing of the surrounding woods. It is now painfully clear to most Confederates that they are beaten. The South can no longer compete militarily and virtually all that is left to do is to contemplate their future.... will it be as a defeated enemy? .... or will they be welcomed back into the Union on Lincoln's generous terms?.
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