THE ARMY: The Movement South of Petersburgh; Our Guns Command the Petersburgh and Weldon Road (6/27/1864)

New York Times - Times Machine ^ | 6/27/1864

[Homer_J_Simpson]

News to Friday-The Misfortune of Wednesday Partly Repaired-The Batteries Open on Petersburgh-The Rebels Falling Back to Weldon-Scarcity of Water-Ample-Provision for the Wounded.

Special Dispatch to the New-York Times.

The temporary misfortune of Wednesday afternoon has been fully repaired, so far as reoccupation of the ground is concerned, but we have not recovered the fifteen hundred prisoners, four pieces and colors lost, nor the five hundred killed and wounded. The enemy, it appears, were massing upon our left, when, the Sixth Corps not getting into position in time, the enemy seized upon an opening and attacked the Second Corps upon its flank, taking it at great disadvantage, and for a time rolling it up like a piece of paper, and were only repulsed by superhuman efforts.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Friday, June 24, 1864.

This movement was exactly what Gen. GRANT attempted to execute at Cold Harbor, and not force his way across the Chickahominy, for a passage of that river was practicable at any moment by a flank movement, as was subsequently effected. Had the Second Corps there succeeded in securing the coveted position on the left of the enemy, the rebel army, with the Chickahominy in its rear, would have been rolled up like a scroll, when a simultaneous attack upon the front by the whole force would have annihilated the whole army of Gen. LEE, and wiped out in an hour this accursed rebellion. But the fates willed it otherwise, and we have been compelled to stand up against a similar attempt upon our own lines.

This morning the batteries of the Eighteenth Corps, and portions of the Fifth and Second, opened upon Petersburgh, but with what effect is not definitely known at this hour. Certain it is that numerous buildings were set on fire.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

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Link to previous New York Times thread

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Army: The Movement South of Petersburgh – 2-3
From Georgia: Gen. Hooker’s Corps – 3-4
From South Carolina: Barbarities of the Rebels – 4-5
From West Tennessee: Hanging of Five Bushwhackers – 5-6
List of Wounded in the Third Division, Second Corps’ Hospitals, Army of the Potomac, on June 22 – 6-7
News from Washington – 7
Editorial: The Fiendish Character of the Rebellion – 7
Fires – 7