Posted on Jun 2, 2016
What was the most significant event on May 31 during the U.S. Civil War?
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Civil War battle names vary since many were fought around crossroads, streams, creeks and rivers and other places that were relatively obscure. For example, during the Peninsula campaign in 1862 the Battle of Seven Pines was also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station this battle took place on May 31 and June 1, in Henrico County, Virginia.
Biased reporting on casualties from Richmond, VA in1862: John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, describes the scenes in Richmond that night as the wounded come pouring in: “At night. The ambulances are coming in with our wounded. They report that all the enemy’s strong defenses were stormed, just as we could perceive from the sounds. They say that our brave men suffered much in advancing against the intrenchments, exposed to the fire of cannon and small arms, without being able to see the foe under their shelter; but when they leaped over the breastworks and turned the enemy’s guns on them, our loss was more than compensated. Our men were shot in front; the enemy in the back—and terrible was the slaughter. . . . We got a large amount of stores and refreshments, so much needed by our poor braves! There were boxes of lemons, oranges, brandies and wines, and all the luxuries of distant lands which enter the unrestricted ports of the United States. These things were narrated by the pale and bleeding soldiers, who smiled in triumph at their achievement. Not one in the long procession of ambulances uttered a complaint. . . . Every house is offered for a hospital, and every matron and gentle daughter, a tender nurse.”
In the south, under the war changes, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer in 1863: A Confederate Army captain enters Union lines outside of Savannah, Georgia and offers news of conditions in the South: “His accounts of the failure of food at the South corroborate the numerous statements from other sources already published. For some time, the army in Virginia has subsisted on quarter rations of bacon and flour. The existence of such an article as beef has become almost traditional. Luxuries like tea and coffee have almost wholly disappeared. Further South the scarcity is less pinching. Yet in Savannah flour sells for eighty dollars a barrel. Board for a laboring man is ten dollars per week. Georgia is nearly exhausted of meat and there is no young stock coming on to supply future necessities.
The railroad lines are rapidly wearing out. A governmental order has been promulgated prohibiting all trains from running faster than ten miles per hour. . . . If the war continues much longer, the great source of Southern resistance—the power of rapid concentration at threatened points by means of the interior lines of communication—will fail.
Of the temper of the confederates he speaks fully. In Lee’s army the soldiers are tired of the war, and ready to welcome peace on any terms. Convinced of the impossibility of wearying out the North, they desire that the North may finish the war by conquering them. On the contrary, the people at home are still as determined as ever. . . .
Their notions of the peculiar institution are as sublimated as ever. In fact, the subject of slavery constitutes the burthen of Southern thought and the chief topic of Southern conversation. They believe in the divinity and perpetuity of the system, and are resolved in the adjustment of peace to compel the United States to sign a bond to return all fugitives. The colored soldiers who have dug trenches, built fortifications and fought battles for the Union, must all be sent back to servitude. This smacks of the habitual modesty of the rebels.
Under the changes of war, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer. Planters with products to sell have “heaps” of confederate paper, which is now at a discount of seven hundred per cent in Savannah. They take advantage of the necessities of the needy to buy up their Negroes, &c., which these are obliged to sell to procure the means of subsistence.”
1863: Baptists and the American Civil War: Today Isaac E. Howd, pastor of the Whitehall Baptist Church of New York, delivers a war-themed discourse. “God in Providence” is a sermon delivered “in memory of Sergeant L.S. Gillett, Co. C, 123d Regt., N.Y.V.” L.S. Sergeant is Leonard S., who was killed earlier this month in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Gillett is one of many Baptists killed in this month’s fighting, his death adding to the collective mourning and questioning of God’s providence among the family and friends of the deceased.
Preaching of the war from the pulpit is likely not uncommon North and South, and questions posed by the massive loss of lives are doubtlessly addressed from time to time in sermons. And yet posterity has been left with few Baptist sermons from the war years, leaving stunted the historical record of the pulpit during the war.
1863: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — friend and hero to many white Baptists of the South — in preparing for summer military campaigns pauses to write a letter to his wife, in which he expresses hope of God’s hand upon his army: “I pray that our merciful Father in heaven may protect and direct us. In that case I fear no odds and no numbers.”
The Battle of Cold Harbor began on May 31 and ended on June 12, 1864, just outside of the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia. This was the final battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, which began in early May 1864 with the Battle of the Wilderness. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant intended to attack CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s army, cut his supply lines from the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, and isolate him from the Confederate capital. Grant knew he would be able to overpower and outman Lee if he could draw him out of his fortifications and onto an open battlefield, which he had been unsuccessful at doing so far in the campaign.
Pictures: 1862 the Battle of Seven Pines Map; 1862 Soldiers rest on the Seven Pines Battlefield in Virginia (Library of Congress); 1862 Situation on the Peninsula at the outset of the Battle of Seven Pines; Stonewall Jackson marches
A. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith.
B. Saturday, May 31, Shenandoah Valley Campaign. With Federal armies about to close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Brig Gen James Shields is only 10 miles from Strasburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and CSA Col Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Maj Gen John Charles is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
C. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Federals gained the upper hand in Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
D. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
FYI CWO4 Terrence Clark MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter PO3 Edward Riddle MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Byron Hewett CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw COL (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell COL Lisandro Murphy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL] MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Trent Klug CWO3 Dennis M. CPT Kevin McComasKim Bolen RN CCM ACM
Biased reporting on casualties from Richmond, VA in1862: John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, describes the scenes in Richmond that night as the wounded come pouring in: “At night. The ambulances are coming in with our wounded. They report that all the enemy’s strong defenses were stormed, just as we could perceive from the sounds. They say that our brave men suffered much in advancing against the intrenchments, exposed to the fire of cannon and small arms, without being able to see the foe under their shelter; but when they leaped over the breastworks and turned the enemy’s guns on them, our loss was more than compensated. Our men were shot in front; the enemy in the back—and terrible was the slaughter. . . . We got a large amount of stores and refreshments, so much needed by our poor braves! There were boxes of lemons, oranges, brandies and wines, and all the luxuries of distant lands which enter the unrestricted ports of the United States. These things were narrated by the pale and bleeding soldiers, who smiled in triumph at their achievement. Not one in the long procession of ambulances uttered a complaint. . . . Every house is offered for a hospital, and every matron and gentle daughter, a tender nurse.”
In the south, under the war changes, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer in 1863: A Confederate Army captain enters Union lines outside of Savannah, Georgia and offers news of conditions in the South: “His accounts of the failure of food at the South corroborate the numerous statements from other sources already published. For some time, the army in Virginia has subsisted on quarter rations of bacon and flour. The existence of such an article as beef has become almost traditional. Luxuries like tea and coffee have almost wholly disappeared. Further South the scarcity is less pinching. Yet in Savannah flour sells for eighty dollars a barrel. Board for a laboring man is ten dollars per week. Georgia is nearly exhausted of meat and there is no young stock coming on to supply future necessities.
The railroad lines are rapidly wearing out. A governmental order has been promulgated prohibiting all trains from running faster than ten miles per hour. . . . If the war continues much longer, the great source of Southern resistance—the power of rapid concentration at threatened points by means of the interior lines of communication—will fail.
Of the temper of the confederates he speaks fully. In Lee’s army the soldiers are tired of the war, and ready to welcome peace on any terms. Convinced of the impossibility of wearying out the North, they desire that the North may finish the war by conquering them. On the contrary, the people at home are still as determined as ever. . . .
Their notions of the peculiar institution are as sublimated as ever. In fact, the subject of slavery constitutes the burthen of Southern thought and the chief topic of Southern conversation. They believe in the divinity and perpetuity of the system, and are resolved in the adjustment of peace to compel the United States to sign a bond to return all fugitives. The colored soldiers who have dug trenches, built fortifications and fought battles for the Union, must all be sent back to servitude. This smacks of the habitual modesty of the rebels.
Under the changes of war, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer. Planters with products to sell have “heaps” of confederate paper, which is now at a discount of seven hundred per cent in Savannah. They take advantage of the necessities of the needy to buy up their Negroes, &c., which these are obliged to sell to procure the means of subsistence.”
1863: Baptists and the American Civil War: Today Isaac E. Howd, pastor of the Whitehall Baptist Church of New York, delivers a war-themed discourse. “God in Providence” is a sermon delivered “in memory of Sergeant L.S. Gillett, Co. C, 123d Regt., N.Y.V.” L.S. Sergeant is Leonard S., who was killed earlier this month in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Gillett is one of many Baptists killed in this month’s fighting, his death adding to the collective mourning and questioning of God’s providence among the family and friends of the deceased.
Preaching of the war from the pulpit is likely not uncommon North and South, and questions posed by the massive loss of lives are doubtlessly addressed from time to time in sermons. And yet posterity has been left with few Baptist sermons from the war years, leaving stunted the historical record of the pulpit during the war.
1863: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — friend and hero to many white Baptists of the South — in preparing for summer military campaigns pauses to write a letter to his wife, in which he expresses hope of God’s hand upon his army: “I pray that our merciful Father in heaven may protect and direct us. In that case I fear no odds and no numbers.”
The Battle of Cold Harbor began on May 31 and ended on June 12, 1864, just outside of the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia. This was the final battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, which began in early May 1864 with the Battle of the Wilderness. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant intended to attack CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s army, cut his supply lines from the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, and isolate him from the Confederate capital. Grant knew he would be able to overpower and outman Lee if he could draw him out of his fortifications and onto an open battlefield, which he had been unsuccessful at doing so far in the campaign.
Pictures: 1862 the Battle of Seven Pines Map; 1862 Soldiers rest on the Seven Pines Battlefield in Virginia (Library of Congress); 1862 Situation on the Peninsula at the outset of the Battle of Seven Pines; Stonewall Jackson marches
A. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith.
B. Saturday, May 31, Shenandoah Valley Campaign. With Federal armies about to close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Brig Gen James Shields is only 10 miles from Strasburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and CSA Col Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Maj Gen John Charles is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
C. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Federals gained the upper hand in Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
D. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
FYI CWO4 Terrence Clark MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter PO3 Edward Riddle MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Byron Hewett CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw COL (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell COL Lisandro Murphy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL] MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Trent Klug CWO3 Dennis M. CPT Kevin McComasKim Bolen RN CCM ACM
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Bizarre use of philanthropic in North Carolina makes the modern Saturday, May 31, 1862: The Philanthropic Society of the University of North Carolina on this date votes to impose a law that "fifteen lashes be inflicted upon any colored man or woman, who, for the sake of convenience, and unaccompanied by any white person, may walk on forbidden ground after being admonished of the punishment which such a violation of our laws produces." Forbidden ground was identified as certain areas of campus, such as McCorkle Place.
1864: Having recently taken command of all Union armies, LT Gen U.S. Grant chose to remain in the field during the Overland Campaign, in such close proximity to Major General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac that questions had arisen about their roles and responsibilities, leading to confusion in orders and coordination. Their progress toward Richmond from Spotsylvania and Orange counties, where the Battle of the Wilderness took place, was painstaking but steady. By the end of May, Old Cold Harbor, in Hanover County, Virginia, was a now-strategic crossroads 10 miles to the northeast of the city. During the Seven Days Battle in the spring of 1862, the Battle of Gaines Mill had been fought in this same area.
“we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements” that were unoccupied in 1863: Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, of the 11th Iowa Infantry with Grant’s army near Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the raiding expedition his regiment is part of, and the emphasis, apparently, of destroying civilian property: “We camped by the river last night, and early this morning started for Haines’s Bluff. We marched along some fine cornfields. We reached Haines’s Bluff in the afternoon, and went into bivouac to the south of that place. We were as far east as Mechanicsville, forty-two miles from Vicksburg. On this raid we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements. I saw only one residence left standing, and that was where the family had the courage to remain at home. The weather has been hot and the roads dusty.”Sunday, May 31, 1863: Osborn H. Oldroyd, a young officer in the 20th Ohio Infantry Regiment, in Grant’s army, writes in his journal of his experiences on the same raid through the Mississippi countryside---which includes a somewhat surprisingly frank observation about the attractions of being a slave owner: “We were aroused by the bugle call, and in a few minutes on the march again. Halted at noon on a large plantation. This is a capital place to stop, for the negroes are quite busy baking corn-bread and sweet potatoes for us. We have had a grand dinner at the expense of a rich planter now serving in the southern army. Some of the negroes wanted to come with us, but we persuaded them to remain, telling them they would see hard times if they followed us. They showed indications of good treatment, and I presume their master is one of the few who treat their slaves like human beings.
I must say—whether right or wrong—plantation life has had a sort of fascination for me ever since I came south, especially when I visit one like that where we took dinner to-day, and some, also, I visited in Tennessee. I know I should treat my slaves well, and, while giving them a good living, I should buy, but never sell. . . .
May has now passed, with all its hardships and privations to the army of the west—the absence of camp comforts; open fields for dwelling places; the bare ground for beds; cartridge boxes for pillows, and all the other tribulations of an active campaign. Enduring these troubles, we have given our country willing service. We have passed through some hard-fought battles, where many of our comrades fell, now suffering in hospitals or sleeping, perhaps, in unmarked graves. Well they did their part, and much do we miss them. Their noble deeds shall still incite our emulation, that their proud record may not be sullied by any act of ours.
Camped at dark, tired, dirty and ragged—having had no chance to draw clothes for two months.”
Sunday, May 31, 1863 John C. West, a Texan serving in the 4th Texas Infantry in Lee’s army, writes in his journal of his regiment’s move, which indicates how Lee begins to move his army, division by division, west and north in his planned invasion of the North: “This morning about daylight we received orders to be ready to march at 8:30. All is bustle now getting ready. I have been to the spring for water and have just returned; have read the 52nd chapter of Isaiah, and 35th Psalm; am now about to pack up.
Sunday evening at sunset.—We have marched about fourteen miles to-day—a hot dusty march. Nothing of interest occurred. We are now bivouacked in a pine grove twenty miles from Fredericksburg, with our arms stacked with orders to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The march has not fatigued me anything like as much as many hunts I have taken at home. Some friend of the soldiers has been kind enough to send us a number of religious papers, and I am now enjoying the “Christian Observer.”
Pictures: 1862 Battle of Seven Pines; Union Encampment along the Potomac River; 1862 Stonewall Jackson valley campaign map battles; 1862 Capture of Casey’s Redoubt at the Battle of Seven Pines
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith.
B. Saturday, May 31, Shenandoah Valley Campaign. With Federal armies about to close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Brig Gen James Shields is only 10 miles from Strasburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and CSA Col Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Maj Gen John Charles is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
C. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Federals gained the upper hand in Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
D. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
1. Friday, May 31, 1861: P. G. T. Beauregard ordered to assume command of the Alexandria Line
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186105
2. Friday, May 31, 1861: Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard is given command of the Confederate Army forming in northern Virginia, near Manassas.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1861
3. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia [US]. Joseph E. Johnston severely wounded during the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186205
4. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- The Philanthropic Society of the University of North Carolina on this date votes to impose a law that "fifteen lashes be inflicted upon any colored man or woman, who, for the sake of convenience, and unaccompanied by any white person, may walk on forbidden ground after being admonished of the punishment which such a violation of our laws produces." Forbidden ground was identified as certain areas of campus, such as McCorkle Place. Perhaps "philanthropic" meant something different than it does now.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
5. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- The Richmond Daily Dispatch, still fuming over the infamous "woman order" in New Orleans, threatens Gen. Butler with this denouncement: “No Quarter to Picayune Butler! Let this be the sworn resolve of every Southern man. The debased wretch and it human tyrant who has published his proclamation consigning to the horrid embraces of a bestial soldiery the mothers and daughters of a Southern city, which, for the time, is at his mercy, deserves not to be treated according to the laws of honorable warfare. If he is caught, hang him! If he keeps out of harm’s reach, and ventures not upon the field of battle, let poison or the knife do its secret but deadly work. He has forfeited his life, in any manner by which it can be taken, to every man, woman and child, in the Confederacy. As God is our judge, says the Mississippian, we believe that the day of retribution is coming for the monster, and for the Government which sustains him in his crimes.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
6. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, describes the scenes in Richmond that night as the wounded come pouring in: At night. The ambulances are coming in with our wounded. They report that all the enemy’s strong defenses were stormed, just as we could perceive from the sounds. They say that our brave men suffered much in advancing against the intrenchments, exposed to the fire of cannon and small arms, without being able to see the foe under their shelter; but when they leaped over the breastworks and turned the enemy’s guns on them, our loss was more than compensated. Our men were shot in front; the enemy in the back—and terrible was the slaughter. . . . We got a large amount of stores and refreshments, so much needed by our poor braves! There were boxes of lemons, oranges, brandies and wines, and all the luxuries of distant lands which enter the unrestricted ports of the United States. These things were narrated by the pale and bleeding soldiers, who smiled in triumph at their achievement. Not one in the long procession of ambulances uttered a complaint. . . . Every house is offered for a hospital, and every matron and gentle daughter, a tender nurse.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
7. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Jackson's army marches through Winchester.
https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/1862-valley-campaign-timeline.htm
8. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
9. http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.htmlSunday, May 31, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 9
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
10. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 4
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
11. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- The Hartford Courant, of Connecticut, reports a story of a Confederate Army captain who enters Union lines outside of Savannah, Georgia, who offers news of conditions in the South: “His accounts of the failure of food at the South corroborate the numerous statements from other sources already published. For some time the army in Virginia has subsisted on quarter rations of bacon and flour. The existence of such an article as beef has become almost traditional. Luxuries like tea and coffee have almost wholly disappeared. Further South the scarcity is less pinching. Yet in Savannah flour sells for eighty dollars a barrel. Board for a laboring man is ten dollars per week. Georgia is nearly exhausted of meat and there is no young stock coming on to supply future necessities.
The railroad lines are rapidly wearing out. A governmental order has been promulgated prohibiting all trains from running faster than ten miles per hour. . . . If the war continues much longer, the great source of Southern resistance—the power of rapid concentration at threatened points by means of the interior lines of communication—will fail.
Of the temper of the confederates he speaks fully. In Lee’s army the soldiers are tired of the war, and ready to welcome peace on any terms. Convinced of the impossibility of wearying out the North, they desire that the North may finish the war by conquering them. On the contrary, the people at home are still as determined as ever. . . .
Their notions of the peculiar institution are as sublimated as ever. In fact, the subject of slavery constitutes the burthen of Southern thought and the chief topic of Southern conversation. They believe in the divinity and perpetuity of the system, and are resolved in the adjustment of peace to compel the United States to sign a bond to return all fugitives. The colored soldiers who have dug trenches, built fortifications and fought battles for the Union, must all be sent back to servitude. This smacks of the habitual modesty of the rebels.
Under the changes of war, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer. Planters with products to sell have “heaps” of confederate paper, which is now at a discount of seven hundred per cent in Savannah. They take advantage of the necessities of the needy to buy up their Negroes, &c., which these are obliged to sell to procure the means of subsistence.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
12. Sunday, May 31, 1863: --- Osborn H. Oldroyd, a young officer in the 20th Ohio Infantry Regiment, in Grant’s army, writes in his journal of his experiences on the same raid through the Mississippi countryside---which includes a somewhat surprisingly frank observation about the attractions of being a slave owner: We were aroused by the bugle call, and in a few minutes on the march again. Halted at noon on a large plantation. This is a capital place to stop, for the negroes are quite busy baking corn-bread and sweet potatoes for us. We have had a grand dinner at the expense of a rich planter now serving in the southern army. Some of the negroes wanted to come with us, but we persuaded them to remain, telling them they would see hard times if they followed us. They showed indications of good treatment, and I presume their master is one of the few who treat their slaves like human beings.
I must say—whether right or wrong—plantation life has had a sort of fascination for me ever since I came south, especially when I visit one like that where we took dinner to-day, and some, also, I visited in Tennessee. I know I should treat my slaves well, and, while giving them a good living, I should buy, but never sell. . . .
May has now passed, with all its hardships and privations to the army of the west—the absence of camp comforts; open fields for dwelling places; the bare ground for beds; cartridge boxes for pillows, and all the other tribulations of an active campaign. Enduring these troubles, we have given our country willing service. We have passed through some hard-fought battles, where many of our comrades fell, now suffering in hospitals or sleeping, perhaps, in unmarked graves. Well they did their part, and much do we miss them. Their noble deeds shall still incite our emulation, that their proud record may not be sullied by any act of ours.
Camped at dark, tired, dirty and ragged—having had no chance to draw clothes for two months.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
13. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- John C. West, a Texan serving in the 4th Texas Infantry in Lee’s army, writes in his journal of his regiment’s move, which indicates how Lee begins to move his army, division by division, west and north in his planned invasion of the North: This morning about daylight we received orders to be ready to march at 8:30. All is bustle now getting ready. I have been to the spring for water and have just returned; have read the 52nd chapter of Isaiah, and 35th Psalm; am now about to pack up.
Sunday evening at sunset.—We have marched about fourteen miles to-day—a hot dusty march. Nothing of interest occurred. We are now bivouacked in a pine grove twenty miles from Fredericksburg, with our arms stacked with orders to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The march has not fatigued me anything like as much as many hunts I have taken at home. Some friend of the soldiers has been kind enough to send us a number of religious papers, and I am now enjoying the “Christian Observer,” published at Richmond.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
14. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, of the 11th Iowa Infantry with Grant’s army near Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the raiding expedition his regiment is part of, and the emphasis, apparently, of destroying civilian property: We camped by the river last night, and early this morning started for Haines’s Bluff. We marched along some fine cornfields. We reached Haines’s Bluff in the afternoon, and went into bivouac to the south of that place. We were as far east as Mechanicsville, forty-two miles from Vicksburg. On this raid we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements. I saw only one residence left standing, and that was where the family had the courage to remain at home. The weather has been hot and the roads dusty.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
15. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Baptists and the American Civil War: Today Isaac E. Howd, pastor of the Whitehall Baptist Church of New York, delivers a war-themed discourse. “God in Providence” is a sermon delivered “in memory of Sergeant L.S. Gillett, Co. C, 123d Regt., N.Y.V.” L.S. Sergeant is Leonard S., who was killed earlier this month in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Gillett is one of many Baptists killed in this month’s fighting, his death adding to the collective mourning and questioning of God’s providence among the family and friends of the deceased.
Preaching of the war from the pulpit is likely not uncommon North and South, and questions posed by the massive loss of lives are doubtlessly addressed from time to time in sermons. And yet posterity has been left with few Baptist sermons from the war years, leaving stunted the historical record of the pulpit during the war.
Of course, Baptists are not the only ones concerned with the providence of God at this time. This very day, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — friend and hero to many white Baptists of the South — in preparing for summer military campaigns pauses to write a letter to his wife, in which he expresses hope of God’s hand upon his army: “I pray that our merciful Father in heaven may protect and direct us. In that case I fear no odds and no numbers.”
http://civilwarbaptists.com/thisdayinhistory/1863-may-31/
16. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia [May 31, 1864 - June 12, 1864] Robert E. Lee [CS] defeats General Ulysses S. Grant [US] and General George Meade [US]
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
17. Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- Prelude to Cold Harbor: Grant sends troops towards Cold Harbor, to seize the vital crossroads there. His plan involves moving in a flanking maneuver to the left, Wright’s VI Corps taking the lead, followed by Baldy Smith’s newly arrived XVIII Corps. Cavalry from both sides still hold the lines near Old Cold Harbor, as the infantry comes up and takes firm possession of Beulah Church and the Old Cold Harbor crossroads. Skirmishing along this line intensifies.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
18. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: A small convention in Cleveland, Ohio of Republican abolitionists unhappy with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and other things, nominates John C. Fremont for president.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- In Cleveland, Ohio the new Radical Democracy party nominates Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont for President, and John Cochrane as his running mate.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
A Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith. On June 1, the Confederates renewed their assaults against the Federals who had brought up more reinforcements but made little headway. Both sides claimed victory. Confederate brigadier Robert H. Hatton was killed.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/seven-pines/maps/sevenpinesmap1.html
A+ Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. Gen. Joseph Johnston, in command of the Confederate army (that will soon be known as the Army of Northern Virginia) in defense of Richmond, plans a surprise attack on the isolated Union troops in the corps of Keyes and Heintzelman (about 33,000), south of the Chickahominy River, due east of the city of Richmond. The Chickahominy as risen due to heavy rains, so that many of the bridges are impassable, making it nearly impossible for McClellan to send reinforcements. Porter, Franklin, and Sumner with their corps are trapped north of the river. Johnston plans an attack at dawn, and the participating divisions are assigned specific roads that converge near Fair Oaks and Seven Pines. But things do not go according to plan. For one thing, there has been scattered skirmishing, some of it severe, in the Seven Pines area, in preceding days.
U.S. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan Army of the Potomac 110,000
C.S. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston Army of Northern Virginia 74,000
Day 1: Johnston’s transmission of orders was inconsistent: Gen. James Longstreet was given orders verbally, and the rest of the Southern commanders received written orders that were contradictory. Also–the division commanders were not told that Longstreet was in command south of the river: a problem, since two of them outranked him. A.P. Hill and Magruder were to launch a diversionary assault north of the Chickahominy. South of the river, Longstreet was to take his six brigades and the division of D.H. Hill (4 brigades), supported by Whiting’s division, and strike the Union line in three places. Huger’’s division was to support Hill on the right flank, and Whiting to support Longstreet on the left. Things were confused in the beginning: Longstreet took the wrong road, going the opposite direction, and thus held up the advance of Huger’s troops, who had gotten a late start. (Johnston was too far to the rear to know what was happening tactically at the front.) Longstreet’s men took most of the morning to build a narrow bridge over a swollen creek so they could cross it. The resulting traffic jam in the heavily-wooded area meant that the attack did not begin until 1:00 PM, when D.H. Hill launched his attack without waiting for Longstreet. Hill struck the Union division of Gen. Silas Casey, whose troops were all green and very new. Casey’s line breaks, but only after heavy casualties on both sides. Hill organizes another attack on the Yankee line, with Casey, and troops from the divisions of Couch and Kearney. A flanking maneuver by Jenkins’ brigade causes this line to give way before the Rebel onslaught also. Longstreet’s brigades are backed up on the Nine-Mile Road, and he is able to get just a few troops into the fight.
Late in the day, Johnston is finally convinced that the battle actually requires his attention, and so he takes Whiting’s division and personally leads it to the battle lines. As he watches the battle from a rise, within musket shot, Johnston is struck in the thigh with a bullet, followed by another in the shoulder–and fragments from a shell pepper him in the chest and legs. He is taken from the field severely wounded, as Gen. Robert E. Lee and Pres. Davis, present on the battlefield, watch him being carried off. Command is turned over to Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, the second-in-command. Failing light at dusk brings the fighting to a halt. The Rebels hope to renew the attacks in the morning and pin the Federals against the swamp of the swollen Chickahominy.
On the Union side, Prof. Thaddeus Lowe and his scouts in his reconnaissance balloon see that the Confederate left flank is not in action, and send a message to McClellan that the opportunity is ripe to attack the Rebels, who are weak on that flank. The suggestion is ignored.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
B Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- With Federal armies about the close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Gen Shields is only 10 miles from Straburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Fremont is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- Sherman puts troops on the road to re-gain his supply line on the railroad. He assigns this move to Gen. Stoneman and his cavalry. He desires also to gain Allatoona Pass itself. Sherman orders McPherson to pull his Army of the Tennessee out of line and to move east.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
C Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864, just outside of the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Cold Harbor was the final battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, which began in early May 1864 with the Battle of the Wilderness. The main part of the Battle of Cold Harbor was a frontal assault on Confederate lines that ended in nearly 7,000 Union casualties after less than an hour—by some accounts most were lost in as little as 10 minutes. It was one of the most brutal confrontations of the war.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant intended to attack CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s army, cut his supply lines from the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, and isolate him from the Confederate capital. Grant knew he would be able to overpower and outman Lee if he could draw him out of his fortifications and onto an open battlefield, which he had been unsuccessful at doing so far in the campaign.
Having recently taken command of all Union armies, Grant chose to remain in the field during the Overland Campaign, in such close proximity to Major General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac that questions had arisen about their roles and responsibilities, leading to confusion in orders and coordination. Their progress toward Richmond from Spotsylvania and Orange counties, where the Battle of the Wilderness took place, was painstaking but steady. By the end of May, Old Cold Harbor, in Hanover County, Virginia, was a now-strategic crossroads 10 miles to the northeast of the city. During the Seven Days Battle in the spring of 1862, the Battle of Gaines Mill had been fought in this same area.
On May 29, Grant ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
Reinforcements were sent to aid Sheridan: Maj. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith’s XVIII Corps and Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright’s VI Corps. Confused orders and bad roads slowed their advance, and the two corps did not arrive until the afternoon of June 1, exhausted.
Meade also ordered Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s II Corps to pull out of the Union position held after the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and provide support at Cold Harbor. Shortly after, in the late afternoon, he ordered an attack on the Confederates. Smith and Wright’s exhausted men were able to briefly overrun the trenches only to be pushed back by a strong counterattack.
Meade next ordered an early morning attack on the Confederates, but Smith refused and Hancock’s II Corps had gotten lost and would not arrive until about 6:30 a.m. on June 2. Meade adjusted the time of attack to 5 p.m. that day but Grant, concerned that Hancock’s men wouldn’t be ready to attack, advised Meade to wait until the early morning of June 3.
There had only been a small force of Rebel infantry facing the increasing Union forces in the area on May 31, but thanks to the Union delays Lee, the experienced engineer, had ample time to dig in and reinforce his positions. In addition, in spite of all the delays, the Union did not conduct adequate reconnaissance to assess the enemy strength and did not have a clear view of the Confederate positions because the terrain was heavily wooded and uneven.
Regardless, Union soldiers, most of them veterans, knew that this attack would be costly. That evening, many of them wrote their names on slips of paper and sewed the slips to their uniform coats—a rudimentary form of dog tags—to keep from being buried as "Unknown."
Finally, early on June 3, the attack began in darkness and dense fog. All five Union corps formed a straight line about seven miles long and advanced. The only coordination from higher command was establishing the time of the advance, marked by a signal gun. The II, VI and XVIII corps were the main attack, on Lee’s right, while Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps and Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IX corps would occupy Lee’s left, preventing the Confederates there from reinforcing his right flank.
As the attack began, the corps became separated by swamps and heavy vegetation, losing contact with each other. Each formation squared off with the Confederate fortifications directly in front of it, providing Lee with the advantage—Confederates were able to easily enfilade the Union troops because of the angles at which Lee had arranged his lines. Estimates are that 7,000 men were killed or wounded in the first hour (some say in the first 10 or 20 minutes) of the assault and the situation did not improve as the Union offensive continued.
The 8th New York Infantry, part of Hancock’s II Corps, sustained the heaviest casualties, losing about a third of their number, most within the first 30 minutes of the battle. The "Bloody 8th," as they became known, had joined the Overland Campaign after the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, coming from Baltimore where they had served in the city’s defenses.
Only one division had mild success; Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow’s division of Hancock’s corps was able to overcome part of Lee’s right flank, but without reinforcements—which were requested and available but not provided—any advantage was lost. Facing considerable musket and artillery fire, the rest of the corps advanced as far as they could and dug in, hoping to survive.
As reports came in to Meade, the confusion and lack of coordination of the attack became apparent. Of the three corps in the main attack, none had committed all of its troops. On the Union right, Warren and Burnside were tardy in preparing for their attacks and therefore were unsuccessful in preventing Lee from transferring men to the threatened area.
Meade sent Grant a message indicating that the attack might not be successful, asking if it should be continued. Grant responded by telling Meade to back off as soon as it was clear the attack would fail "but when one does succeed push it vigorously, and if necessary pile in troops at the successful point from wherever they can be taken." Then Grant moved his headquarters into Meade’s, in effect taking tactical control of the army back.
At 12:30 p.m., after riding the lines himself, Grant suspended the attack, but ordered it renewed later in the afternoon. There were some isolated exchanges of fire, but no advance. Smith flat out refused the order to attack; he never faced any charges or investigation for this act of insubordination.
The following nine days of trench warfare were miserable for both sides, deadly for anyone raising their head above the Union breastworks and deadly for the wounded caught between lines. On June 5, two days after the initial attack, Grant began written communication with Lee to negotiate a truce to retrieve the wounded and dying from between the lines, trying very hard to make it sound as if both sides needed a truce to retrieve casualties. Lee responded he had no casualties to retrieve. Lee had won the fighting and he ultimately won this war of words. Finally, after Grant sent a message that only mentioned his own wounded, Lee agreed. On June 7, a two-hour flag of truce was raised, but by then few of the wounded were found alive. Some had crawled back to their lines under fire, some had been retrieved by comrades during hours of darkness, but thousands died crying out for water under the summer sun over the course of those five days.
Grant, realizing that he could not make further progress, sent Sheridan to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad to the west and planned to send Meade across the James to cut Lee’s supply lines from the south at Petersburg. Finally, late on June 11 or early on June 12, Grant’s aides returned from planning a route for the army across the James River. Grant ordered Meade to leave Cold Harbor as quickly as possible to avoid immediate detection by the Confederates, cross the James, and proceed toward Petersburg. Lee had already guessed that Grant would attack Petersburg and countered by sending II Corps to the Shenandoah Valley in an effort to threaten Washington and distract Grant from Richmond.
Cold Harbor was Grant’s worst defeat of the war. He wrote in his memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made … No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." Confederates called Cold Harbor the easiest victory of the war, though it would be Lee’s last great victory. Less than a year later, following the Battle of Petersburg (aka the Siege of Petersburg), the Appomattox Campaign, and the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, Lee would surrender to Grant.
http://www.historynet.com/cold-harbor
FYI SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin BriantCPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell1stSgt Eugene Harless PO3 (Join to see)MSG Greg Kelly CPT (Join to see) LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant SPC Michael TerrellSPC Robert Treat GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad GySgt Jack Wallace PO1 Sam Deel LTC David Brown LTC (Join to see) SFC Eric Harmon SSG Bill McCoySPC (Join to see)
1864: Having recently taken command of all Union armies, LT Gen U.S. Grant chose to remain in the field during the Overland Campaign, in such close proximity to Major General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac that questions had arisen about their roles and responsibilities, leading to confusion in orders and coordination. Their progress toward Richmond from Spotsylvania and Orange counties, where the Battle of the Wilderness took place, was painstaking but steady. By the end of May, Old Cold Harbor, in Hanover County, Virginia, was a now-strategic crossroads 10 miles to the northeast of the city. During the Seven Days Battle in the spring of 1862, the Battle of Gaines Mill had been fought in this same area.
“we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements” that were unoccupied in 1863: Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, of the 11th Iowa Infantry with Grant’s army near Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the raiding expedition his regiment is part of, and the emphasis, apparently, of destroying civilian property: “We camped by the river last night, and early this morning started for Haines’s Bluff. We marched along some fine cornfields. We reached Haines’s Bluff in the afternoon, and went into bivouac to the south of that place. We were as far east as Mechanicsville, forty-two miles from Vicksburg. On this raid we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements. I saw only one residence left standing, and that was where the family had the courage to remain at home. The weather has been hot and the roads dusty.”Sunday, May 31, 1863: Osborn H. Oldroyd, a young officer in the 20th Ohio Infantry Regiment, in Grant’s army, writes in his journal of his experiences on the same raid through the Mississippi countryside---which includes a somewhat surprisingly frank observation about the attractions of being a slave owner: “We were aroused by the bugle call, and in a few minutes on the march again. Halted at noon on a large plantation. This is a capital place to stop, for the negroes are quite busy baking corn-bread and sweet potatoes for us. We have had a grand dinner at the expense of a rich planter now serving in the southern army. Some of the negroes wanted to come with us, but we persuaded them to remain, telling them they would see hard times if they followed us. They showed indications of good treatment, and I presume their master is one of the few who treat their slaves like human beings.
I must say—whether right or wrong—plantation life has had a sort of fascination for me ever since I came south, especially when I visit one like that where we took dinner to-day, and some, also, I visited in Tennessee. I know I should treat my slaves well, and, while giving them a good living, I should buy, but never sell. . . .
May has now passed, with all its hardships and privations to the army of the west—the absence of camp comforts; open fields for dwelling places; the bare ground for beds; cartridge boxes for pillows, and all the other tribulations of an active campaign. Enduring these troubles, we have given our country willing service. We have passed through some hard-fought battles, where many of our comrades fell, now suffering in hospitals or sleeping, perhaps, in unmarked graves. Well they did their part, and much do we miss them. Their noble deeds shall still incite our emulation, that their proud record may not be sullied by any act of ours.
Camped at dark, tired, dirty and ragged—having had no chance to draw clothes for two months.”
Sunday, May 31, 1863 John C. West, a Texan serving in the 4th Texas Infantry in Lee’s army, writes in his journal of his regiment’s move, which indicates how Lee begins to move his army, division by division, west and north in his planned invasion of the North: “This morning about daylight we received orders to be ready to march at 8:30. All is bustle now getting ready. I have been to the spring for water and have just returned; have read the 52nd chapter of Isaiah, and 35th Psalm; am now about to pack up.
Sunday evening at sunset.—We have marched about fourteen miles to-day—a hot dusty march. Nothing of interest occurred. We are now bivouacked in a pine grove twenty miles from Fredericksburg, with our arms stacked with orders to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The march has not fatigued me anything like as much as many hunts I have taken at home. Some friend of the soldiers has been kind enough to send us a number of religious papers, and I am now enjoying the “Christian Observer.”
Pictures: 1862 Battle of Seven Pines; Union Encampment along the Potomac River; 1862 Stonewall Jackson valley campaign map battles; 1862 Capture of Casey’s Redoubt at the Battle of Seven Pines
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith.
B. Saturday, May 31, Shenandoah Valley Campaign. With Federal armies about to close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Brig Gen James Shields is only 10 miles from Strasburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and CSA Col Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Maj Gen John Charles is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
C. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Federals gained the upper hand in Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
D. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
1. Friday, May 31, 1861: P. G. T. Beauregard ordered to assume command of the Alexandria Line
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186105
2. Friday, May 31, 1861: Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard is given command of the Confederate Army forming in northern Virginia, near Manassas.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1861
3. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia [US]. Joseph E. Johnston severely wounded during the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186205
4. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- The Philanthropic Society of the University of North Carolina on this date votes to impose a law that "fifteen lashes be inflicted upon any colored man or woman, who, for the sake of convenience, and unaccompanied by any white person, may walk on forbidden ground after being admonished of the punishment which such a violation of our laws produces." Forbidden ground was identified as certain areas of campus, such as McCorkle Place. Perhaps "philanthropic" meant something different than it does now.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
5. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- The Richmond Daily Dispatch, still fuming over the infamous "woman order" in New Orleans, threatens Gen. Butler with this denouncement: “No Quarter to Picayune Butler! Let this be the sworn resolve of every Southern man. The debased wretch and it human tyrant who has published his proclamation consigning to the horrid embraces of a bestial soldiery the mothers and daughters of a Southern city, which, for the time, is at his mercy, deserves not to be treated according to the laws of honorable warfare. If he is caught, hang him! If he keeps out of harm’s reach, and ventures not upon the field of battle, let poison or the knife do its secret but deadly work. He has forfeited his life, in any manner by which it can be taken, to every man, woman and child, in the Confederacy. As God is our judge, says the Mississippian, we believe that the day of retribution is coming for the monster, and for the Government which sustains him in his crimes.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
6. Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, describes the scenes in Richmond that night as the wounded come pouring in: At night. The ambulances are coming in with our wounded. They report that all the enemy’s strong defenses were stormed, just as we could perceive from the sounds. They say that our brave men suffered much in advancing against the intrenchments, exposed to the fire of cannon and small arms, without being able to see the foe under their shelter; but when they leaped over the breastworks and turned the enemy’s guns on them, our loss was more than compensated. Our men were shot in front; the enemy in the back—and terrible was the slaughter. . . . We got a large amount of stores and refreshments, so much needed by our poor braves! There were boxes of lemons, oranges, brandies and wines, and all the luxuries of distant lands which enter the unrestricted ports of the United States. These things were narrated by the pale and bleeding soldiers, who smiled in triumph at their achievement. Not one in the long procession of ambulances uttered a complaint. . . . Every house is offered for a hospital, and every matron and gentle daughter, a tender nurse.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
7. Saturday, May 31, 1862: Jackson's army marches through Winchester.
https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/historyculture/1862-valley-campaign-timeline.htm
8. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Greenwich, Virginia - On May 31, Col. John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders had arrived at Grapewood Farm. The farm was the home of Charles Green and was located 2 miles from Greenwich. The Union force had been pursuing the Confederates and Mosby decided to make a stand here. He placed a rear guard and a howitzer at the entrance to the farm. The gun was placed on a knoll beside the farm lane, the gun facing the old post road which the Federals would have to come through. Fences lined both sides of the road, creating an avenue of fire for the Confederates.
When the Federals turned a bend in the post road, the howitzer opened up on them. The Federals started a charge up the road towards the Confederate position. When they were within 10 yards of it, the howitzer fired again on them with grapeshot canister. This leveled the first rank and part of the second rank of the Union column. The Federals halted to regroup and made another charge. Once again, the howitzer fired on them at close range. This time, the Federals did not stop but continued to move forward. Hand-to hand combat quickly ensued.
The Federals gained the upper hand and forced the Confederates to withdraw. They captured a number of prisoners and the howitzer. Afterwards, they headed back to the Union lines at kettle Run.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
9. http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.htmlSunday, May 31, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 9
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
10. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 4
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
11. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- The Hartford Courant, of Connecticut, reports a story of a Confederate Army captain who enters Union lines outside of Savannah, Georgia, who offers news of conditions in the South: “His accounts of the failure of food at the South corroborate the numerous statements from other sources already published. For some time the army in Virginia has subsisted on quarter rations of bacon and flour. The existence of such an article as beef has become almost traditional. Luxuries like tea and coffee have almost wholly disappeared. Further South the scarcity is less pinching. Yet in Savannah flour sells for eighty dollars a barrel. Board for a laboring man is ten dollars per week. Georgia is nearly exhausted of meat and there is no young stock coming on to supply future necessities.
The railroad lines are rapidly wearing out. A governmental order has been promulgated prohibiting all trains from running faster than ten miles per hour. . . . If the war continues much longer, the great source of Southern resistance—the power of rapid concentration at threatened points by means of the interior lines of communication—will fail.
Of the temper of the confederates he speaks fully. In Lee’s army the soldiers are tired of the war, and ready to welcome peace on any terms. Convinced of the impossibility of wearying out the North, they desire that the North may finish the war by conquering them. On the contrary, the people at home are still as determined as ever. . . .
Their notions of the peculiar institution are as sublimated as ever. In fact, the subject of slavery constitutes the burthen of Southern thought and the chief topic of Southern conversation. They believe in the divinity and perpetuity of the system, and are resolved in the adjustment of peace to compel the United States to sign a bond to return all fugitives. The colored soldiers who have dug trenches, built fortifications and fought battles for the Union, must all be sent back to servitude. This smacks of the habitual modesty of the rebels.
Under the changes of war, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer. Planters with products to sell have “heaps” of confederate paper, which is now at a discount of seven hundred per cent in Savannah. They take advantage of the necessities of the needy to buy up their Negroes, &c., which these are obliged to sell to procure the means of subsistence.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
12. Sunday, May 31, 1863: --- Osborn H. Oldroyd, a young officer in the 20th Ohio Infantry Regiment, in Grant’s army, writes in his journal of his experiences on the same raid through the Mississippi countryside---which includes a somewhat surprisingly frank observation about the attractions of being a slave owner: We were aroused by the bugle call, and in a few minutes on the march again. Halted at noon on a large plantation. This is a capital place to stop, for the negroes are quite busy baking corn-bread and sweet potatoes for us. We have had a grand dinner at the expense of a rich planter now serving in the southern army. Some of the negroes wanted to come with us, but we persuaded them to remain, telling them they would see hard times if they followed us. They showed indications of good treatment, and I presume their master is one of the few who treat their slaves like human beings.
I must say—whether right or wrong—plantation life has had a sort of fascination for me ever since I came south, especially when I visit one like that where we took dinner to-day, and some, also, I visited in Tennessee. I know I should treat my slaves well, and, while giving them a good living, I should buy, but never sell. . . .
May has now passed, with all its hardships and privations to the army of the west—the absence of camp comforts; open fields for dwelling places; the bare ground for beds; cartridge boxes for pillows, and all the other tribulations of an active campaign. Enduring these troubles, we have given our country willing service. We have passed through some hard-fought battles, where many of our comrades fell, now suffering in hospitals or sleeping, perhaps, in unmarked graves. Well they did their part, and much do we miss them. Their noble deeds shall still incite our emulation, that their proud record may not be sullied by any act of ours.
Camped at dark, tired, dirty and ragged—having had no chance to draw clothes for two months.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
13. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- John C. West, a Texan serving in the 4th Texas Infantry in Lee’s army, writes in his journal of his regiment’s move, which indicates how Lee begins to move his army, division by division, west and north in his planned invasion of the North: This morning about daylight we received orders to be ready to march at 8:30. All is bustle now getting ready. I have been to the spring for water and have just returned; have read the 52nd chapter of Isaiah, and 35th Psalm; am now about to pack up.
Sunday evening at sunset.—We have marched about fourteen miles to-day—a hot dusty march. Nothing of interest occurred. We are now bivouacked in a pine grove twenty miles from Fredericksburg, with our arms stacked with orders to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The march has not fatigued me anything like as much as many hunts I have taken at home. Some friend of the soldiers has been kind enough to send us a number of religious papers, and I am now enjoying the “Christian Observer,” published at Richmond.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
14. Sunday, May 31, 1863 --- Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, of the 11th Iowa Infantry with Grant’s army near Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the raiding expedition his regiment is part of, and the emphasis, apparently, of destroying civilian property: We camped by the river last night, and early this morning started for Haines’s Bluff. We marched along some fine cornfields. We reached Haines’s Bluff in the afternoon, and went into bivouac to the south of that place. We were as far east as Mechanicsville, forty-two miles from Vicksburg. On this raid we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements. I saw only one residence left standing, and that was where the family had the courage to remain at home. The weather has been hot and the roads dusty.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1863
15. Sunday, May 31, 1863: Baptists and the American Civil War: Today Isaac E. Howd, pastor of the Whitehall Baptist Church of New York, delivers a war-themed discourse. “God in Providence” is a sermon delivered “in memory of Sergeant L.S. Gillett, Co. C, 123d Regt., N.Y.V.” L.S. Sergeant is Leonard S., who was killed earlier this month in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Gillett is one of many Baptists killed in this month’s fighting, his death adding to the collective mourning and questioning of God’s providence among the family and friends of the deceased.
Preaching of the war from the pulpit is likely not uncommon North and South, and questions posed by the massive loss of lives are doubtlessly addressed from time to time in sermons. And yet posterity has been left with few Baptist sermons from the war years, leaving stunted the historical record of the pulpit during the war.
Of course, Baptists are not the only ones concerned with the providence of God at this time. This very day, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — friend and hero to many white Baptists of the South — in preparing for summer military campaigns pauses to write a letter to his wife, in which he expresses hope of God’s hand upon his army: “I pray that our merciful Father in heaven may protect and direct us. In that case I fear no odds and no numbers.”
http://civilwarbaptists.com/thisdayinhistory/1863-may-31/
16. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia [May 31, 1864 - June 12, 1864] Robert E. Lee [CS] defeats General Ulysses S. Grant [US] and General George Meade [US]
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
17. Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- Prelude to Cold Harbor: Grant sends troops towards Cold Harbor, to seize the vital crossroads there. His plan involves moving in a flanking maneuver to the left, Wright’s VI Corps taking the lead, followed by Baldy Smith’s newly arrived XVIII Corps. Cavalry from both sides still hold the lines near Old Cold Harbor, as the infantry comes up and takes firm possession of Beulah Church and the Old Cold Harbor crossroads. Skirmishing along this line intensifies.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
18. Tuesday, May 31, 1864: A small convention in Cleveland, Ohio of Republican abolitionists unhappy with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and other things, nominates John C. Fremont for president.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- In Cleveland, Ohio the new Radical Democracy party nominates Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont for President, and John Cochrane as his running mate.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
A Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. On May 31, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, though not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Sedgwick’s division of Sumner’s II Corps (that crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith. On June 1, the Confederates renewed their assaults against the Federals who had brought up more reinforcements but made little headway. Both sides claimed victory. Confederate brigadier Robert H. Hatton was killed.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/seven-pines/maps/sevenpinesmap1.html
A+ Saturday, May 31, 1862: Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Virginia. Gen. Joseph Johnston, in command of the Confederate army (that will soon be known as the Army of Northern Virginia) in defense of Richmond, plans a surprise attack on the isolated Union troops in the corps of Keyes and Heintzelman (about 33,000), south of the Chickahominy River, due east of the city of Richmond. The Chickahominy as risen due to heavy rains, so that many of the bridges are impassable, making it nearly impossible for McClellan to send reinforcements. Porter, Franklin, and Sumner with their corps are trapped north of the river. Johnston plans an attack at dawn, and the participating divisions are assigned specific roads that converge near Fair Oaks and Seven Pines. But things do not go according to plan. For one thing, there has been scattered skirmishing, some of it severe, in the Seven Pines area, in preceding days.
U.S. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan Army of the Potomac 110,000
C.S. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston Army of Northern Virginia 74,000
Day 1: Johnston’s transmission of orders was inconsistent: Gen. James Longstreet was given orders verbally, and the rest of the Southern commanders received written orders that were contradictory. Also–the division commanders were not told that Longstreet was in command south of the river: a problem, since two of them outranked him. A.P. Hill and Magruder were to launch a diversionary assault north of the Chickahominy. South of the river, Longstreet was to take his six brigades and the division of D.H. Hill (4 brigades), supported by Whiting’s division, and strike the Union line in three places. Huger’’s division was to support Hill on the right flank, and Whiting to support Longstreet on the left. Things were confused in the beginning: Longstreet took the wrong road, going the opposite direction, and thus held up the advance of Huger’s troops, who had gotten a late start. (Johnston was too far to the rear to know what was happening tactically at the front.) Longstreet’s men took most of the morning to build a narrow bridge over a swollen creek so they could cross it. The resulting traffic jam in the heavily-wooded area meant that the attack did not begin until 1:00 PM, when D.H. Hill launched his attack without waiting for Longstreet. Hill struck the Union division of Gen. Silas Casey, whose troops were all green and very new. Casey’s line breaks, but only after heavy casualties on both sides. Hill organizes another attack on the Yankee line, with Casey, and troops from the divisions of Couch and Kearney. A flanking maneuver by Jenkins’ brigade causes this line to give way before the Rebel onslaught also. Longstreet’s brigades are backed up on the Nine-Mile Road, and he is able to get just a few troops into the fight.
Late in the day, Johnston is finally convinced that the battle actually requires his attention, and so he takes Whiting’s division and personally leads it to the battle lines. As he watches the battle from a rise, within musket shot, Johnston is struck in the thigh with a bullet, followed by another in the shoulder–and fragments from a shell pepper him in the chest and legs. He is taken from the field severely wounded, as Gen. Robert E. Lee and Pres. Davis, present on the battlefield, watch him being carried off. Command is turned over to Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, the second-in-command. Failing light at dusk brings the fighting to a halt. The Rebels hope to renew the attacks in the morning and pin the Federals against the swamp of the swollen Chickahominy.
On the Union side, Prof. Thaddeus Lowe and his scouts in his reconnaissance balloon see that the Confederate left flank is not in action, and send a message to McClellan that the opportunity is ripe to attack the Rebels, who are weak on that flank. The suggestion is ignored.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
B Saturday, May 31, 1862 --- With Federal armies about the close in on all sides, Stonewall Jackson pushes his troops southward to safety in the upper Shenandoah Valley. To the east, Gen Shields is only 10 miles from Straburg, where the Valley Pike goes through, but he is waiting for some of his troops in Front Royal to join them, and Turner Ashby’s cavalry is contesting the Yankees’ every step. Fremont is only 4 miles west of Strasburg, but for no apparent reason at all, he stops his march, and camps. When Jackson’s "foot cavalry" come rushing through, they find no Yankees in Strasburg. Jackson calls a halt, builds a semi-circle line of defense, and waits for the Stonewall Brigade (covering their retreat) to rejoin them from Winchester. Jackson had pried open the jaws of death and, in the morning, will escape through the opening.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1862
Tuesday, May 31, 1864 --- Sherman puts troops on the road to re-gain his supply line on the railroad. He assigns this move to Gen. Stoneman and his cavalry. He desires also to gain Allatoona Pass itself. Sherman orders McPherson to pull his Army of the Tennessee out of line and to move east.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+31%2C+1864
C Tuesday, May 31, 1864: The Battle of Cold Harbor occurred May 31–June 12, 1864, just outside of the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Cold Harbor was the final battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, which began in early May 1864 with the Battle of the Wilderness. The main part of the Battle of Cold Harbor was a frontal assault on Confederate lines that ended in nearly 7,000 Union casualties after less than an hour—by some accounts most were lost in as little as 10 minutes. It was one of the most brutal confrontations of the war.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant intended to attack CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s army, cut his supply lines from the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, and isolate him from the Confederate capital. Grant knew he would be able to overpower and outman Lee if he could draw him out of his fortifications and onto an open battlefield, which he had been unsuccessful at doing so far in the campaign.
Having recently taken command of all Union armies, Grant chose to remain in the field during the Overland Campaign, in such close proximity to Major General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac that questions had arisen about their roles and responsibilities, leading to confusion in orders and coordination. Their progress toward Richmond from Spotsylvania and Orange counties, where the Battle of the Wilderness took place, was painstaking but steady. By the end of May, Old Cold Harbor, in Hanover County, Virginia, was a now-strategic crossroads 10 miles to the northeast of the city. During the Seven Days Battle in the spring of 1862, the Battle of Gaines Mill had been fought in this same area.
On May 29, Grant ordered Major General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to probe Lee’s right flank. That took Sheridan into Old Cold Harbor where he confronted infantry and cavalry. After sharp fighting, he took control of the town on May 31. Reconnaissance reported that Lee was extending his right flank, which would cut off the Union’s shortest route to the James River, needed as a critical supply line. If Grant could extend his left flank to the south quickly enough, he could keep access to the James open, overpower the leading edge of Lee’s flank, and come between Lee and Richmond.
Grant by this time seems to have realized the inefficiency of the command system, which had required him and Meade to rely upon multiple exchanges of communications to move troops or initiate attacks. During Cold Harbor, Grant would make strategic decisions, communicate them to Meade, and leave Meade to handle the tactical decisions required to carry out Grant’s orders. Ultimately, no one would fully take control during the fighting, resulting in uncoordinated attacks with disastrous results.
Reinforcements were sent to aid Sheridan: Maj. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith’s XVIII Corps and Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright’s VI Corps. Confused orders and bad roads slowed their advance, and the two corps did not arrive until the afternoon of June 1, exhausted.
Meade also ordered Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s II Corps to pull out of the Union position held after the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and provide support at Cold Harbor. Shortly after, in the late afternoon, he ordered an attack on the Confederates. Smith and Wright’s exhausted men were able to briefly overrun the trenches only to be pushed back by a strong counterattack.
Meade next ordered an early morning attack on the Confederates, but Smith refused and Hancock’s II Corps had gotten lost and would not arrive until about 6:30 a.m. on June 2. Meade adjusted the time of attack to 5 p.m. that day but Grant, concerned that Hancock’s men wouldn’t be ready to attack, advised Meade to wait until the early morning of June 3.
There had only been a small force of Rebel infantry facing the increasing Union forces in the area on May 31, but thanks to the Union delays Lee, the experienced engineer, had ample time to dig in and reinforce his positions. In addition, in spite of all the delays, the Union did not conduct adequate reconnaissance to assess the enemy strength and did not have a clear view of the Confederate positions because the terrain was heavily wooded and uneven.
Regardless, Union soldiers, most of them veterans, knew that this attack would be costly. That evening, many of them wrote their names on slips of paper and sewed the slips to their uniform coats—a rudimentary form of dog tags—to keep from being buried as "Unknown."
Finally, early on June 3, the attack began in darkness and dense fog. All five Union corps formed a straight line about seven miles long and advanced. The only coordination from higher command was establishing the time of the advance, marked by a signal gun. The II, VI and XVIII corps were the main attack, on Lee’s right, while Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps and Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IX corps would occupy Lee’s left, preventing the Confederates there from reinforcing his right flank.
As the attack began, the corps became separated by swamps and heavy vegetation, losing contact with each other. Each formation squared off with the Confederate fortifications directly in front of it, providing Lee with the advantage—Confederates were able to easily enfilade the Union troops because of the angles at which Lee had arranged his lines. Estimates are that 7,000 men were killed or wounded in the first hour (some say in the first 10 or 20 minutes) of the assault and the situation did not improve as the Union offensive continued.
The 8th New York Infantry, part of Hancock’s II Corps, sustained the heaviest casualties, losing about a third of their number, most within the first 30 minutes of the battle. The "Bloody 8th," as they became known, had joined the Overland Campaign after the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, coming from Baltimore where they had served in the city’s defenses.
Only one division had mild success; Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow’s division of Hancock’s corps was able to overcome part of Lee’s right flank, but without reinforcements—which were requested and available but not provided—any advantage was lost. Facing considerable musket and artillery fire, the rest of the corps advanced as far as they could and dug in, hoping to survive.
As reports came in to Meade, the confusion and lack of coordination of the attack became apparent. Of the three corps in the main attack, none had committed all of its troops. On the Union right, Warren and Burnside were tardy in preparing for their attacks and therefore were unsuccessful in preventing Lee from transferring men to the threatened area.
Meade sent Grant a message indicating that the attack might not be successful, asking if it should be continued. Grant responded by telling Meade to back off as soon as it was clear the attack would fail "but when one does succeed push it vigorously, and if necessary pile in troops at the successful point from wherever they can be taken." Then Grant moved his headquarters into Meade’s, in effect taking tactical control of the army back.
At 12:30 p.m., after riding the lines himself, Grant suspended the attack, but ordered it renewed later in the afternoon. There were some isolated exchanges of fire, but no advance. Smith flat out refused the order to attack; he never faced any charges or investigation for this act of insubordination.
The following nine days of trench warfare were miserable for both sides, deadly for anyone raising their head above the Union breastworks and deadly for the wounded caught between lines. On June 5, two days after the initial attack, Grant began written communication with Lee to negotiate a truce to retrieve the wounded and dying from between the lines, trying very hard to make it sound as if both sides needed a truce to retrieve casualties. Lee responded he had no casualties to retrieve. Lee had won the fighting and he ultimately won this war of words. Finally, after Grant sent a message that only mentioned his own wounded, Lee agreed. On June 7, a two-hour flag of truce was raised, but by then few of the wounded were found alive. Some had crawled back to their lines under fire, some had been retrieved by comrades during hours of darkness, but thousands died crying out for water under the summer sun over the course of those five days.
Grant, realizing that he could not make further progress, sent Sheridan to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad to the west and planned to send Meade across the James to cut Lee’s supply lines from the south at Petersburg. Finally, late on June 11 or early on June 12, Grant’s aides returned from planning a route for the army across the James River. Grant ordered Meade to leave Cold Harbor as quickly as possible to avoid immediate detection by the Confederates, cross the James, and proceed toward Petersburg. Lee had already guessed that Grant would attack Petersburg and countered by sending II Corps to the Shenandoah Valley in an effort to threaten Washington and distract Grant from Richmond.
Cold Harbor was Grant’s worst defeat of the war. He wrote in his memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made … No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." Confederates called Cold Harbor the easiest victory of the war, though it would be Lee’s last great victory. Less than a year later, following the Battle of Petersburg (aka the Siege of Petersburg), the Appomattox Campaign, and the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, Lee would surrender to Grant.
http://www.historynet.com/cold-harbor
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I would say Seven Pines, not so much for the battle, but in that the wounding of Johnston led to Robert E Lee being given Command. He was much more audaciuos than Johnston, and without a doubt his leadership ensured the war lasted much longer than it would under Johnston. As a side note, as far as the naming of the battle Seven Pines/Fair Oaks, one of the tendencies was for each side to give the battle the name of the area of the field where they held the upper hand. Another practice was the North used creeks and rivers (Antietam, Stones Tiver, Bull Run) while the South used Towns (Sharpsburg, Murfreesboro, Mannassas).
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LTC Stephen F.
CPT Joseph K Murdock I expect you are referring to the top map which depicts CSA Maj Gen D. H. Hill's division in the Battle of Seven Pines which begins on May 31.
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I love Civil War history but too much of the focus is in the East people don't realize Missouri had the third most battles and skirmishes of the war.
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SSG Pete Fleming
LTC Stephen F. - most serving... yes but per capita, percentage of the male population... I think Missouri was one of the most, not the. It is Pennsylvania or Ohio, but I would have to go back over my info
Have you considered complied all this into a book?
Have you considered complied all this into a book?
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LTC Stephen F.
SSG Pete Fleming - another member asked the same question. I try to be scrupulous with attribution of source material. I have about 50 books on the Civil War and would find it difficult to add much that has not already been written.
I use a Word document which I develop for each day and then copy ad paste into RallyPoint.
I use a Word document which I develop for each day and then copy ad paste into RallyPoint.
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SSG Pete Fleming
LTC Stephen F. - well word is perfect. Often it isn't about the information but the presentation of it. A day to day account could make for an entire series of books. This is something I self-publish and is easy. Createspace (Amazon) and Smashwords are tow great examples. They are easy to submit to, it is mostly do it yourself (I think Smashwords is easier)... if you ever decided to pursue this as a actual book I think it would be great!
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LTC Stephen F.
SSG Pete Fleming - thanks my friend. I may consider it. The technological improvements in aerial observation; individual weapon, automatic weapons, rifled artillery and mortars; medical developments including medicines, nurses and surgery as well as triage; ship building including iron clad, tin clad and wooden; tactics for infantry, cavalry and artillery; communications including signals and telegraph, etc. are aspects I have discussed and expect to expound upon in the future in these daily posts. SrA Christopher Wright SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell Maj William W. "Bill" Price
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