Posted on 06/03/2019 5:19:21 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
Union General George Meade launches 3 corps of his Army of the Potomac against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s works near Cold Harbor. Meade’s assault is a failure. Over 7000 Union casualties and not one foot of ground gained. Lieutenant General Grant, in ordering Meade to make the attack, called it the worst mistake he ever made.
Grant, for all his genius had some world class goofs to his name.
CC
One could make that statement about almost all Civil War Army Commanders.
Historian James M. McPherson:
“Even in his fighting from the Wilderness to Petersburg during the spring of 1864...Grant’s casualties were proportionately no higher than Lee’s even though Grant was fighting on the offensive and Lee’s soldiers stood mainly on the defensive behind elaborate entrenchments. Lee had lost as many men in Pickett’s assault at Gettysburg (and proportionately four times as many) as Grant did in the equally ill-fated June 3 Assault at Cold Harbor.”
By July, 1864 Grant and the Union army had laid siege to Petersburg, Virginia, this a culmination of the Overland Campaign that had started in May.
Earlier, Lee had stated to Jubal Early: “We must destroy this army of Grant’s before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will be a mere question of time.” Prophetic words. Not only did Grant get to the James, he stole a march on Lee and moved his entire army, unbeknownst to Lee, south of the James over the longest pontoon bridge in military history (more below).
Grant, unlike previous Union generals, was resolved to fight to the finish stating, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” There would no turning back. Sherman was right in his assessment of Grant, stating “Grant has all the tenacity of a Scotch terrier,” also noting that “Grant would make the fur fly.”
The Overland Campaign started when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan in May. The scale of the logistics involved is mind boggling. By his own calculation Grant wrote that his assaulting column, if stretched out, when crossing the Rapidan would be ninety-five miles long. Lee had several advantages being on the defensive: he held interior lines which allowed shorter routes to reinforce weak lines; he was on defense forcing the offensive minded Grant to assault fortified positions, and he knew the topography of the land.
The initial engagement was the Battle of the Wilderness, followed by the carnage at Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. These were some of the most ferocious battles ever to occur in the Western Hemisphere. Grant lost near 40,000 men in the month or so leading up to his crossing of the James. It’s important to note that after the assault at Cold Harbor the war became a siege, just what Lee wanted to avoid at all cost, for once south of the James River Grant could interdict and cut Lee’s railroad supply lines. To Lee’s credit he forced Grant to fight another nine months before capitulating at Appomattox.
Along with Grant’s masterpieces at Forts Henry and Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga the crossing of the James ranks as one of the greatest feats of generalship in history. Again, Grant pulled his army from in front of Lee and crossed the James without Lee’s knowing. This was a movement of 115,000 men, 3,500 animals, over a pontoon bridge, 2,100 feet in length, 13 feet wide in a swift flowing river 80 feet deep, all accomplished with great celerity. Not one man, one animal, or one vehicle was lost in the crossing. According to Theodore Lyman, an aide-de-camp to General Meade, the bridge was completed in ten hours and “over this passed a train of waggons and artillery thirty five miles long. . .”
It all seems so stupendous. And make no mistake, this was all Grant’s doing. Lincoln: “You are vigilant and self- reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon you.” And he didn’t. With Grant as General of the Armies of the United States Lincoln had a competent commander. Add Sherman and Sheridan and you have victory, but make no mistake Grant was, in Sheridan’s words, “the steadfast center about and on which everything else turned.” I find it interesting that Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan were all Ohioans, true sons of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Those western boys could fight.
http://www.beyondthecrater.com/…/150-18640614-crossing-jam…/
True. But there were a few who abused the privilege. Like Braxton Bragg.
The Union had vast superiority in numbers of men, sophistication of armaments, ammunition, logistics, clothing (boots became scarce in the South), and food for the troops. By all accounts the Confederacy should have collapsed in 1863 following the losses in Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the death of Stonewall Jackson. That they held out for almost two more years demonstrated the tenacity of men fighting to defend their homeland. And to those denigrating Robert E. Lee and seeking to tear down his memory, his greatest legacy was in persuading his loyal troops to go home after Antietam and not engage in guerrilla warfare. He did as much as anyone in helping to heal the wounds of a deeply divided nation. He will always be a True American Hero in my books.
I give Grant credit for accepting responsibility and acknowledging his mistake.
That is a hard thing for a high ranking flag officer to do.
A fighting admiral like Halsey had his mistakes that he felt the need to evade, and even though I admire him, I would admire him more if he had just acknowledged them.
To any thinking person, Gen. Lee is a man to be admired.
One can disagree with his decision to join the confederacy, but his loyalty to his men, his humanity, and his generalship in a losing cause are grounds for great respect.
Only the ignorant and SJW types can denigrate him.
Some have it in them to admit a mistake. Others see it as a weakness. Grant was of the former.
CC
(Boots became scarce in the south).
The need for proper footwear was the proximate cause for Gettysburg. Confederate troops went to Gettysburg in search of shoes, where they ran ito an advance element of Meade’s forces.
CC
Indeed, but....Antietam?
If you read the original manuscript of “Look Homeward, Angel” by Thomas Wolfe published as “O Lost” it has a marvelous chapter about the search for shoes near Gettysburg and the impact of the army on the locals. Wolfe’s great uncle was in Lee’s army and must have told Tom many stories about those 3 days. The uncle was a bit of a loony tune but an engaging storyteller.
I see no one here denigrating Lee.
Grant, for all his genius had some world class goofs to his name.
I doubt that he could be classified a genius but, he certainly was ruthless.
That is where that comment came from.
I was born in Virginia, but consider myself a Yankee as a resident for the largest portion of my life, but I honor those men even if I do disagree with aspects of their cause.
I have read several books about Grant as well as his own well-written memoirs, and while he was definitely ruthless in pursuit of the success of a mission, he was in no way heartless.
He and General Patton had that in common in my opinion, they believed that when an enemy was weakening or on the run, to keep up the pressure with less consideration of the toll on their own troops because they thought in the end, it would result in the lowest total loss of life and greatest tactical success.
But they both did understand the toll it took on their own troops, they simply thought it was the best approach in the long run.
Thank you!!!
The Confederates had to play a perfect game. Grant didn't. All he had to do was shove men into the meat grinder and eventually they would win.
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