wilderness / spotsylvania - united states army

The Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania

The Space and Missile Defense Command 1

BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS ANDSPOTSYLVANIA

MAY 1864

STAFF RIDE

UNITED STATES ARMY SPACEAND MISSILE DEFENSE COMMAND

MARCH 1998


The Space and Missile Defense Command 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1

2. The Countries and Their Leaders 5

3. The Generals and Their Intent 9

4. Stop-1 Germanna Ford 15

5. Stop-2 Mead Adapts to Changing Situation 19

6. Stop-3 Saunder's Field: Union Perspective 23

7. Stop-4 Saunder's Field: Confederate Perspective 27

8. Stop-5 Lee to the Rear, Sir!! 31

9. From the Wilderness to Spotsylvania 37

10. Stop-1 Forming the Mule Shoe 41

11. Stop-2 Upton's Attack 45

12. Stop-3 The Bloody Angle 49

13. Timeline Until War's End 52

14. The Battles Lessons 54

15. Appendix I: Overview of the Battles 56

16. Appendix II: Confederate Order of Battle 69

17. Appendix III: Union Order of Battle 78

18. Appendix IV: Union Logistics in 1864 91

19. Appendix V: Confederate Logistics in 1864 92

The Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania________________________________________________________________________

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INTRODUCTION

The Civil War’s causes and beginnings can be traced asfar back as the Continental Congress when debates raged aboutslavery. Naturally, no solution emerged, but, like theCompromise of 1820, Congress managed to avoid conflict andto put off the issue for more time.

The election of 1860, however, became the ultimate snubto Southerners because Abraham Lincoln was elected, aRepublican who opposed the spread of slavery. Southern statesbegan to drop from the Union and, by April 1861, all exceptKentucky, Missouri, and Maryland had left the Union to formthe Confederate States of America.

After some futile attempts by Lincoln’s government toreconciliate, Confederates in Charleston, South Carolina firedtheir batteries on a Union garrison housed inside Fort Sumter.The war had begun.

Unfortunately for the Union, leadership became itscurse because Lincoln could not find a general to fight the wilyrebels in Virginia. Incidentally, in the war, the preponderance ofable leadership for the Union lay in the West—U. S. Grant,William T. Sherman, Phil Sheridan, George Thomas, WilliamRosecrans, and James McPherson all rose from the ranks inbattles in Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi. Confederategenerals in the West, on the other hand, lacked ability. BraxtonBragg, Joseph Johnston, and Albert Sidney Johnston hurt theConfederacy more than they helped it. In the East, on the otherhand, the Union lacked ability in leadership (Irvin McDowell,George McClellan, Joe Hooker, Ambrose Burnside, John Pope,and George Meade) while the rebels possessed ability inabundance (Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Thomas Jackson,John Bell Hood, J.E.B. Stuart, and John B. Gordon).

In the West, the Union quickly occupied most ofTennessee with victories at Forts Henry and Donelson andShiloh. They later occupied Nashville and North Alabama bysummer 1862. Grant and Sherman, after a drawn out siege,captured the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863.The Battle of Chickamauga in northern Georgia was a set-backfor the Union; but Grant arrived soon after to lead that defeatedarmy to victory at Chattanooga.

21 July 1861Union army under

McDowell routed byConfederates underBeauregard at FirstBattle of Bull Run

(Manassas)

6-7 April 1862Union Army repels

Confederate attack atShiloh led by A.S.

Johnston—U.S.Grant’s first victory.Union then occupiedmuch of Tennessee.

November 1860Election of Abraham

Lincoln to thePresidency of theUnited States—

secession followed.

30 August 1862Second Bull Run

(Manassas). Lee whipsPope.

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___________________________________________________________Space and Missile Defense Command 2

From left: Governeur K. Warren, William French,George Meade, Henry Hunt, A. J. Humphreys, and JohnSedgwick.



In the East, the war went badly for the union.Despite Lincoln’s hopes for quick victory, he was denied by theArmy of Northern Virginia and the vacillation of his owncommanders. Six commanders of the Army of the Potomac hadcome and gone, all losing face because they balked in the face ofthe perceived genius of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.Irvin McDowell, George B. McClellan, John Pope, McClellanagain, Ambrose Burnside, and Joseph Hooker had all beenbested by the wily and aggressive Lee.

McClellan especially found it difficult to engage Leeeven when the Union Army more than doubled the number ofthe Confederate. He sat miles from Richmond at one point untilLincoln, impatient for progress, declared to McClellan, “Youmust act.”

General George Meade managed a crucial victory atGettysburg in July 1863, but allowed the battered Southerners toescape.

1864 would prove to be crucial because elections werecoming in November and unrest began to emerge in the West,Illinois and Indiana especially, where the ‘Copperheads,’ agroup that opposed the continuation of the war, continued togain favor.

The war had changed in the previous year. AfterMcClellan’s strategic victory at the Battle of Antietam inSeptember 1862, Lincoln thought that the climate was ripe forthe passing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Delivered byexecutive order on New Year’s Day 1863, it changed the waraim from union to freedom. Perhaps most important, itprecluded the chance that Great Britain and France might fightwith a Confederacy fighting to preserve the institution ofslavery. The South would have to gain independence alone.

But while Lincoln handled the political scene, onegeneral was winning, and doing it consistently. The successes inthe West—Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga—allstemmed from the audacity of Ulysses S. Grant. Lincolnhimself commented that, “I can’t spare this man—he fights.”

Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief of the UnionArmy in March 1864. And, as Lee waited in northern Virginiafor the first signs of moving armies, Grant and Sherman planneda grand campaign.

May-June 1862Thomas Jonathan

‘Stonewall’ Jackson’sShenandoahCampaign.

25 June-1 July 1862Seven Days Battles,Peninsula Campaign.

Lee takes command ofthe Army of NorthernVirginia. McClellanbecomes delusional.

13 December 1862Battle of

Fredericksburg whereBurnside is repulsed

by Lee.

1-4 May 1863At ChancellorsvilleLee routs Hooker.

1-4 July 1863Battle of Gettysburg;Meade repulses Lee.

Grant takes Vicksburg.

19-20 September1863

Bragg routs Rosecransat Chickamauga.

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_______________________________________________________________________The Space and Missile Defense Command 7

The Countries and Their Leaders

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICALincoln, Abraham

1809-186516th US President

Born and raised on the edge of the frontier inKentucky, he grew up with scant formal education andfirst saw the world during a flatboat trip to New Orleansin 1828.

His forceful character and honesty made him afavorite in the community, and he served in the Illinoisstate legislature as a Whig. Licensed as a lawyer in 1836,he settled in Springfield, where he married Mary Todd, in1842. After one term in the US Congress (1847-1849) hewas not returned by his constituents and retired frompublic life.

In opposition to Stephen A. Douglas and theKansas-Nebraska Act, he entered the growing debate ofsectionalism and joined the Republican Party in 1856.The famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 ended inDouglas’ election to the Senate, but Lincoln emerged as apowerful national figure, and he was nominated on theRepublican ticket for President in 1860. He was electedon 6 November. The South saw the election as an end toits power in the Union. When Lincoln ordered theprovisioning of Fort Sumter, the Confederacy objected towhat it considered a course of coercion, and the Civil Warbegan.

After the battle of Antietam he issued theemancipation proclamation, giving the Northern cause ahigh moral tone, but the preservation of the Union wasstill his primary purpose. His enemies mustered strengthbefore the 1864 election, and it looked as though hewould be displaced in the White House. But the militarysuccesses of Grant and Sherman swung sentiment towardhim, and he was re-elected.

Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Boothon 14 April at Ford’s Theater. His death put the RadicalRepublicans in control of the nation, condemning it to aprocess of reconstruction that left as many scars as did thewar.

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THE CONFEDRATE STATES OF AMERICADavis, Jefferson 1808-89

Before graduating from Transylvania University,he was appointed to West Point Military Academy. Aftergraduation, he spent seven years on the Northwestfrontier. Eloping with Zachary Taylor’s daughter, heresigned as a 1st Lt. In 1835 he settled in Mississippi andbecame a planter. Unfortunately, his wife died threemonths after their marriage; but in 1845 he remarried.Elected the same year to the US Congress, he resigned tofight in the Mexican War and served under his formerfather-in-law.

After the war, he was elected to the US Senate,and in 1853 was appointed Secretary of War by PresidentFranklin Pierce. He served until 1857 and then reenteredthe Senate, serving until January 1861 when Mississippiseceded. He was chosen provisional president of theConfederate States of America and in November wasformally elected to a six-year term.

As the war progressed, Davis kept a close handupon the management of the Confederate armies. HisSecretaries of War served as little more than clerksbecause of Davis’ managerial skills. Only to Lee didDavis appear to concede preeminence.

On the political front his autocratic ways fostereda large, well-organized anti-Davis faction in theConfederate Congress, especially in the Senate. Issuesarising from strong states rights sentiment hamperedDavis’ efforts to run the government. Newspapers, aswell, proved to be a constant source of criticism of thegovernment. The Richmond Examiner, the CharlestonMercury, and others regularly denounced the President.Under these conditions Davis was never able toaccumulate wartime powers in the ConfederatePresidency such as Lincoln possessed in the North.

Davis fled Richmond on 2 April 1865 and wascaptured one month later at Irwinsville, GA. He was heldfor two years at Fortress Monroe, accused of complicityin the Lincoln assassination. He died poverty stricken inNew Orleans at the age of 82.


The Space and Missile Defense Command

The Generals and Their Intent

“Direct every military operation toward a clearlydefined, decisive, and attainable objective.”

-FM 100-5,Operations, 1993

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Grant’s Spring 1864 Strategy

1. Use the greatest number of troops possible againstthe enemy; prevent him from shifting Corps ordivisions between theaters. Second, to hammer theenemy continuously, until by mere attrition, if noother way, there should be nothing left of him toresist the constitutional laws of the land.

2. The enemy has concentrated the bulk of his forceseast of the Mississippi into two armies, commandedby General R.E. Lee and J.E. Johnston. These armies,and the cities covered by them, will be the mainobjective points of the campaign.

a. Major General Meade’s objective point will beLee’s army. Meade’s Army of the Potomac(AOP) will cross the Rapidan above Lee andmove by his right flank. The intention is to fightLee between Culpeper and Richmond, should hemake a stand. Should he fall back, Meade’s armywill follow and make a junction with Butler’sarmy on the James River.

b. Major General Sigel (Army of West Virginia)will organize his force into two columns, onecommanded by himself, to advance to CedarCreek to threaten the enemy in the ShenandoahValley. The other column, commanded byBrigadier General George Cook, to take

U.S. Grant1822-1885

Grant emerged as thepremiere military leaderof the Union.Undistinguished as acadet, he finished theMexican War as acaptain with twocitations for gallantryand one for meritoriousconduct. Unable to bearthe futility andmonotony of postwarmilitary service on theWest Coast, lonely forhis wife and children,Grant began drinkingheavily and neglectinghis duty. He resigned in1854 to avoid court-martial. When Lincolncalled for volunteers in1861, Grant offered hisservices. He waseventually givencommand of the 2lst Ill.On 7 Nov. 1861, hegained national attentionwith his operations atForts Henry andDonelson, Shiloh, andVicksburg.


The Space and Missile Defense Command

possession of Lewisburg and move down theTennessee Railroad doing as much damage aspossible.

c. Major General Benjamin Butler (Army of theJames) will collect all forces that can be sparedfrom garrison duty, not less than 20,000 men, tooperate on the south side of the James River,Richmond being the objective. The firstmovement will be to take City Point andentrench. Petersburg will be taken and railroadswill be destroyed as far south as possible.

d. General William T. Sherman (Division of theMississippi) will move against Johnston’s army,break it up, and go into the interior of theenemy’s country as far as possible, inflicting alldamage as possible on enemy war resources. IfJohnston’s army shows any signs of joining Lee’sarmy, Sherman will follow him while the AOPwill attempt to prevent the concentration of thetwo forces.

e. Major General Nathaniel Banks (Department ofthe Gulf), on an expedition up the Red River witha portion of Sherman’s troops, will takeShreveport at the earliest moment. If it appearsthe mission will take more than ten to fifteen dayBanks will return Sherman’s troops, even if itmeans abandonment of the Red River expedition.If the expedition appears successful Banks willhold Shreveport with such a force as might deemnecessary, and send the remainder to theneighborhood of New Orleans. Any force sent toNew Orleans may become part of a springcampaign against Mobile.

Promoted to Lt..Gen. on9 Mar. 1864 after hisvictories aroundChattanooga, he wasmade General in Chiefof the Armies of theUnited States on 12Mar. 1864, and tookover the strategicdirection of the war.After the war heremained as head of thearmy, was namedSecretary of War inStanton's place byPresident Johnson.Elected president by asmall popular majorityon the Republican ticketin 1868, and re-electedfor a second term,Grant's political career,although honest andwell meaning, resultedin an administration thatwas corrupt and badlymanaged.



THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICALee, Robert Edward

1807-1870

Lee’s Spring 1864 Strategy

1. The enemy is organizing a large army on theRappahannock, and another at Annapolis. It isbelieved the former is intended to move directlytoward Richmond, while the latter is intended to takeit in flank or rear.

2. The enemy expedition up the Red River hasdiminished his forces about New Orleans and Mobile.I think no attack upon the latter city need to beapprehended soon. Therefore Johnston might drawsomething from Mobile during the summer tostrengthen him.

3. P.G.T. Beauregard with a portion of his troops mightmove into North Carolina to oppose Burnside, shouldhe resume his old position in that state, or be ready toadvance to the James should that route be taken.

4. If General Simon Buckner is able to advance intoTennessee, reoccupy Knoxville, or unite with GeneralJohnston, great good may be accomplished. If he canhold only Nashville I think he had better be called fora season to Richmond.

5. If Richmond can be secured from attack from the east,I propose that I draw James Longstreet to me andmove against the enemy on the Rappahannock.Should God give us crowing glory there, all theirplans would be dissipated, and their troops nowcollecting on the waters of the Chesapeake will berecalled to the defense of Washington.

Robert E. Lee 1809-1870

Lee graduated fromWest Point anddistinguished himselfin the Mexican War1846-48. In 1859 hesuppressed JohnBrown's raid onHarper's Ferry.Ironically, Lee hadfreed his own slaveslong before the warbegan and he wasopposed to secession.However, his devotionto his native Virginialed him to join theConfederacy. At theoutbreak of war hedeclined command ofthe Union army andbecame militaryadviser to JeffersonDavis, and in 1862commander of theArmy of NorthernVirginia. Following thewar he was paroled andserved as president ofWashington College(now Washington andLee University). Hedied in 1870.


Space and Missile Defense Command 13

Lieutenant General William Tecumseh ShermanHe proclaimed before his campaign, “I am going to make Georgia howl!”

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