Nine Months: The Siege of Petersburg, Episode One: An Overview of the Campaign

Nine Months: The Siege of Petersburg, Episode One: An Overview of the Campaign

In this episode of the American Civil War & UK History Podcast, in collaboration with The Dramatic Historian, host Daz is joined by historian Dr. Nathan Provost—The Dramatic Historian himself—to begin our new series, Nine Months: The Siege of Petersburg. Together, they explore the origins of the Petersburg Campaign, setting the stage for one of the longest and most significant operations of the American Civil War.

The Petersburg Campaign (June 1864–April 1865) was a prolonged struggle for the vital railroad hub of Petersburg, Virginia. After crossing the James River, Union General Ulysses S. Grant attempted to seize the city, but failed assaults led to a nine-month siege marked by trench warfare and continuous fighting. As Union forces cut Confederate supply lines, General Robert E. Lee was forced to abandon Petersburg and Richmond following the Union victory at Battle of Five Forks. The campaign led directly to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and the end of the American Civil War.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

To keep up to date with everything American Civil War and UK history, head over to our website ACW and UKhistory.com. And remember, this podcast has a PowerPoint presentation that goes along with the show. So if you would like to see the PowerPoint presentation, then head over to our YouTube channel at American Civil War and UK History. Cheers. Hello everyone, I'm Daz and welcome to American Civil War and UK History Podcast. This presentation is in collaboration with the Dramatic Historian and is available as a video on the YouTube channel or as a podcast from wherever you get your podcast from. And if you're watching on YouTube, remember to hit the subscribe button and give us a big thumbs up. And check out our website at www.acw and ukhistory.com where you'll find podcast blog posts and links to all of our social media pages. The um link is also available in the podcast description. And joining me today is the dramatic historian himself, Dr. Nathan Profost. Welcome, Nate. Hey Daz, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me on. Okay, so this is a series uh that we're gonna do, and it is called Nine Months, The Siege of Petersburg. Um, and this is episode one, an overview of the campaign. Um so, Nate, would you like to start with giving us an overview of how we sort of get to Petersburg in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, it's uh it's pretty crazy actually how we got here because really by this at this point in time, we're now entering really the third year of the war, it's the spring of 1864. Um, hundreds of thousands of men are are dead from all of the different battles, both in the eastern theater and western theater, um, from you know everything from fighting and disease. And even though the Union managed to score this great victory at Gettysburg, it really just did not seem like the war in Virginia was ever going to end. Uh, it just continued on. Uh, we still have you know the Mind Run campaign, and before that we had Bristow Station. Uh, but Lincoln eventually found his general. President Lincoln found his general out west, um, that being Ulysses S. Grant. And we've done, I know we've done multiple videos talking about Ulysses S. Grant. Um, but he's going to be a key player here. Uh, but in this siege, there is so much that actually transpires that oftentimes Grant isn't going to be involved at all. Um, but needless to say, before the siege even begins, uh, he's going to command uh all the armies moving us in a single direction in the United States. So this strategy will hopefully bring the Confederacy to its knees and they will surrender. So you'll have these multiple columns moving uh in Georgia and in Virginia, all in conjunction with one another in hopes that the Confederates actually can't reinforce one or the other. And of course, uh George Meade, who is the commander of the Army of the Potomac and the victor of Gettysburg, uh, he is still going to remain in command of the Army of the Potomac even when Grant comes east. So that's important to know. So the campaign actually kicks off in May of 1864. Uh, you're going to have multiple engagements as they between Robert E. Lee's Army of the Northern Virginia, Army of Northern Virginia, and the Army of the Potomac, and then, of course, the Ninth Corps that will eventually be merged together and all of that. But they eventually arrive at the battlefield of Cold Harbor, and it's at this place where Grant conceives this plan, and it's a brilliant plan, to move across the James River with the with his entire army, because at this point he's run out of space to actually outmaneuver Lee. So he can't he devises this plan to move south and capture the all-important city of Petersburg. And the reason why that's so significant is because this city is what is uh giving the army of Northern Virginia its supplies as well as Richmond. So if Grant can capture this city, it's going to force Richmond to fall, and Lee will eventually be defeated. Um several missteps are actually going to take place, uh, but that will actually come later. Uh, because initially this movement goes very well, and Lee is completely caught off guard. Uh and in fact, Lee is unsure where this army went, this army of a hundred thousand men. I I don't know how you can lose track of that, but but he does. And he'll eventually realize or he'll suspect that Grant is moving to Petersburg. And the reason for that is because PGT Beauregard, who's already in charge of the Confederate defenses there at Petersburg, is already telling Lee, like, hey, the Union, they're coming here. They attacked me a few days ago. I need reinforcements. But Lee isn't sure, so he cannot send them reinforcements. So Grant is going to arrive with his army outside the gates of Petersburg by June 15th. And of course, this will only be with a single corps at the time that actually doesn't really belong to the Army of the Potomac, it actually belongs to the Army of the James. Uh, but needless to say, that's actually how we get there.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Excellent. Thanks, uh Nate, for explaining that. Okay, so um how did Petersburg suddenly become the focal point of the war, as you said, in June 1864, please?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Right. So there was uh stalemate there at Cold Harbor. Um, and so you can actually see from that map, uh, you can see the route that uh Grant devised for each one of the corps to actually get to Petersburg. Uh, but the first corps that's actually going to arrive is going to be William Baldy Smith's 18th Corps. And they technically belong to the Army of the James, but Grant had actually brought them to Cold Harbor uh to help them fight in that battle. But they'll be the first to arrive. Um and when they initially get there, um they do meet some resistance uh at Baylor's farm, but they push them back. Um and they will actually be able to go up to Petersburg. Now it's important to note on June 15th, PGT Beauregard um he didn't have many men, so it really did seem like William Baldy Smith could just walk in and it would just fall easily. Uh, but again, as I already said previously, Petersburg is very, very important for Confederate supplies because you're going to have multiple railroads actually leading into it. You're going to have the uh Weldon Railroad, you're gonna have the Southside Railroad, uh, and then you're even gonna have the uh Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad that actually uh leads in as well. So it's going to feed in quite a few supplies, and then of course that heads north to Richmond. Um now that said, um as the 18th Corps actually approach, um, uh they've already lost a lot of daylight after fighting at Baylor's Farm. So there's not much daylight left on June 15th when uh the fighting initially breaks out. And the bad news for the Confederates is that there is no way Lee is getting them reinforcements this day. There's just no possible way. Lee still is not completely sure where Grant's at. So uh it just kind of leaves this door wide open for the Union Army if they want to take that opportunity. Um, and Grant, unfortunately for him, he actually is still dealing with uh building pontu bridges to get his men all of the different corps over uh the James River to Petersburg. Uh one of the first to actually get over is Hancock's second corps. So he's not too far behind William Baldy Smith. Uh but the Fifth Corps isn't not going to be over the James River by June 15th. Uh, neither is uh Burnside's Ninth Corps.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Okay, thank you, mate. Um, okay, so who initially defended Petersburg?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Right. So as I mentioned before, it uh that was PGT Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Tutante Beauregard. He was a Louisiana native. Um I should it should be mentioned that Petersburg was attacked on June 9th, and it was even less defended then. It was a pathetic excuse of a Union attack that actually took place from the Army of the James, where you have uh both Couts and Gilmore who attempt to take Petersburg uh but fail because Gilmore is too hesitant. So Beauregard is already very suspect that Petersburg is going to become the next target. And again, he only has 2,500 men defending this whole city. Now, I will say there's a series of readout as well as uh very strong fortifications that would seem very intimidating to the Union Army as they actually approach the city itself. So um Beauregard did try to warn Lee on multiple occasions that the Union Army was targeting them. Um but again, nothing came of it really until later, not until June 16th, where he finally started receiving some reinforcements. Um but Beauregard's generalship, though, on June 15th, uh, I mean, it really should be uh uh applauded uh to a certain extent, given that um he had so little men. Um and Beauregard knew of Grant. For for those uh listeners that don't know, Beauregard had actually faced Grant in the Western Theater uh before any of this. He actually uh was in command of the Confederate Army on the second day during the Battle of Shiloh. So Beauregard knows who Grant is, he is very aware of how aggressive he is. And if anyone knows Grant better, it's it's probably Beauregard at this point in time. Um but the issue is that uh Beauregard didn't have the same political connections or a great relationship with Jefferson Davis. Um but that isn't to say he wasn't a confident general because he absolutely proved that um at Petersburg.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah. So what was it? Can I just quickly ask, what was a communication between Beauregard and Lee at this point? And like you said, Lee is not actually in the where is Lee at this point in time when Beauregard is still protecting Petersburg?

SPEAKER_00 11:24

His army is still up at Cold Harbor. Um, that's what's crazy, is they did, I mean, they did move uh east to go occupy the the Union lines that were there, but Lee could not do anything until he realized where Grant's army was because he didn't realize if Grant was going to go strike towards Richmond, he didn't know anything of the sorts. And I should probably even mention before you even have the Battle of Cold Harbor, there is a conference or a meeting between Robert E. Lee and Beauregard, and they both are trying to convince one another to lend each other their armies to actually take to the offensive to attack uh either Grant's Army of the Potomac, or I'm sorry, Grant and Meade's Army of the Potomac, or Butler's Army of the James. And both of them can't convince the other that they should either strike for the other first and then turn to go attack the other. Because Grant has put them in such a predicament that if either man went to go reinforce the other, they would lose, essentially, because that would mean it would leave an opening for either Butler or Grant to attack Richmond, and that just was not going to happen. So they already had disagreements about reinforcing one another long before the Siege of Petersburg even began.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Okay, yeah, and I know you mentioned Richmond there again, but just for my myself, I want to sort of clarify in my own head. So obviously, they've had the battle of Cold Harbor, um, and then they both go off, obviously. And uh obviously, so Grant's objective has always been Robert E. Lee, defeat the army of Northern Virginia, isn't it? Yeah. So although they're going for Petersburg, do they also want to get hold of Richmond as well? Is that is that also part of the the main goal?

SPEAKER_00 13:25

That's that's a that's a really great question. Um I always like talking about this because I always find it interesting. Um, so I want to be clear. There was never a point in time where Grant did not want to go after um the army in Northern Virginia. But that doesn't mean that you know, if they leave Richmond open, it's not like Grant is not going to take advantage of it because he realizes it is like a uh it's a political goal, um, if it's available. Because what the northern public wants is battlefield victories. They love battlefield victories a lot. And if they're if they announce through the news, hey, we just captured Richmond, that is going to secure Abraham Lincoln's uh victory in the next election. So I'm not saying that you know Richmond was Grant's goal, but if there was ever an opening, it's not like Grant was just going to say, uh no, that's not my objective. No, he's going to take advantage of that. And we're actually going to see that a couple of times during the Siege of Petersburg. And we we'll probably have a couple of separate episodes about that and and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah, where you can where you can dig a bit more deeper into that, yeah. Yeah that that that for me is like because also when you think about it, at this point, Grant and Lee don't really know what each other are doing, do they? So, you know, what why has Grant made it his goal to and I know Petersburg is this really important railway hub and then it feeds Richmond, but has he already got this once the Battle of Cold Harbor's over, has he already got it into his head that I need to get to Petersburg and I need to take that town?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

This is what is crazy to me. Um, when I was actually working on my dissertation, um, I came across uh Grant's initial plans for his Virginia campaign, and he said they would go after one of two places, probably. He said it would either end in uh capturing Richmond and laying siege to Richmond, or they would end up at Petersburg. He saw that from the beginning. Um and I find that very impressive that he has that foresight, but um, you know, so I think he realized that those two places were very important. Uh, what I what his is referred to as uh centers of gravity, um and just very important objectives for him. Uh it's so he realized that Lee would probably be caught off guard very quickly if he went for Petersburg, especially over if he was trying to get again between him and Richmond. Um, I think it was kind of a it was a surprise move on on Grant's end.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, so again, Lee thinks he's going for Richmond, but he actually crosses the James and heads towards Petersburg. At that point, Lee has got to act quickly and get his army down to Petersburg because again, that is the the lifeline of Richmond, isn't it? At the end of the day, that is where they're getting their food and their supplies from, isn't it? So yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, what what missed um so uh was uh this a missed opportunity for the union? Um and we're talking about June 15th with Smith and the 18th.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah, and and there's there's a plethora of scholarship out there that really talks about this, and of course, um I'll I'll even cite Gordon Ray's work on the subject. Uh the reality is is that um I I mentioned before that you have an entire Union corps that's just facing uh 2,500 Confederate soldiers, but you have to look at it from the perspective of those Union soldiers. When they arrive near Petersburg, all they see are these huge fortifications and artillery emplacements. And of all the battles that they fought in, they realize, you know, number one, they don't know how many men are in there, so they're not a hundred percent sure. Um also, there's not much daylight left, so it's gonna get to a point where they won't really be able to see anything that they're moving towards. And that's really going to hinder their ability to capture Petersburg on June 15th. They absolutely could have. Um but due to um those factors, and they and I should mention, they actually still managed to take a huge swath of those entrenchments and readouts and artillery emplacements, uh, but they were eventually they eventually stopped, and Smith didn't feel comfortable continuing uh the order to move forward. Um so they didn't capitalize on the situation and the Confederates still hold Petersburg. And then it's on June 16th that Union forces actually had a window uh before Lee's main army actually arrived, where they also could have captured Petersburg. And the unfortunate part here is that Grant even directly told General Hancock, who's in charge of the Second Corps, if there's an opening, take it. The problem is Hancock's old wound from Gettysburg actually flared up at this time. So Hancock's really not in any situation to take advantage of this opportunity. Um so once again, Lee starts slowly sending reinforcements down to Petersburg from Richmond, and now all of a sudden, Petersburg becomes heavily defended and a lot harder to take. And over the course of the next couple of days, you have poor coordination, exhaustion, and cautious command decisions that are going to allow the Confederates to successfully defend the city. And it's by June 18th that Lee's entire army is there and they're entrenched. Uh, so the result is going to be that Petersburg is not going to fall, um, and it they're ultimately going to decide on a siege, and that Union casualties um in this four days of attacks is going to amount to 11,000 men. While Confederate casualties aren't definitive, but they probably lost about half of what the Union did.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Mm-hmm. Now, I know obviously at this point, obviously the defenses around Richmond are really strong because obviously they learned their lesson in 62. They built uh is it this so obviously when we start seeing the siege of Petersburg, we imagine the trenches are a lot of those already there, or or or is this something that they start you know working on as soon as they get that bulk of the army into to Petersburg?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Well, many of the trenches are already there. I mean, we have to remember, like they when they approached, I mean, they're these guys are I mean, they're intimidating. Um, the amount of ground they're gonna have to cross is I mean, it's a huge swath of ground they're going to have to cover. And the fact that these assaults begin in the afternoon, and I mean they're they're there for like three, four hours, and then nighttime falls. Um, no, these defenses were already there. Now, one thing that is going to be important to note, they it's not like the Confederates are just going to say, oh, these fortifications are good enough. No, no, no. They're going to improve upon these works throughout the entirety of the siege. And in fact, that area that Smith is actually going to attack is going to become one of the most heavily defended areas of the entire siege, and they're never going to break through the main line of works there.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Okay, let's let's move to uh June the 22nd through to the 24th. Right railroad actions, and then of course we have the disastrous Battle of the Crater. But um, just talk us through the uh the first attempts of uh of the railroad uh actions.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, so this this part's interesting, um, and honestly, very, very confusing. And for anyone that uh wants to uh read more. About it, you should look up uh John Horne's uh book on the subject, it's very, very good. Uh, but essentially what happens here in a nutshell is that okay, well, they want to conduct a regular siege. So, what that means is they want to completely surround the city of Petersburg to starve it out, okay, much like what Grant did at Vicksburg. But what that means, though, is they have to take their entire army and stretch them out because they are only located in really that northeastern section of the city. Um, so their act their goal, their hope is to eventually get to the south side railroad uh much further south than their current position. And, you know, they the amount of men that that actually required, they needed thousands of more soldiers to actually reach the south side railroad. But Grant was not, you know, stupid here. He he recognized he needed more men, but he wanted his guys to stretch as far as they possibly could, and he said so in his orders. And his hope was to at least get to the Weldon Railroad, which they did. But the problem was uh you have the second corps, who is now under the command of General Bernie because Hancock's wound is acting up, so he can't command. And you have the sixth corps, who is supposed to be stay connected with the second corps as they move. Um, that's under the command of General Horatio Wright. And as they move, the line splits. So now there is this gap between the VI Corps and the II Corps, and that's what the Confederates are actually going to exploit, and they are going to completely roll up the uh Second Corps left flank, uh, and they will drive them back towards the Jerusalem Plank Road, but they don't drive them back any further because they will be repulsed there. At the same time, Meade and Grant have James Wilson and August Couts lead this cavalry raid behind Petersburg, deeper into Virginia, in hopes that they would cut the railroads behind Petersburg. Which they do. Uh they're defeated, obviously, in each engagement, um, but their hope is that they would get to um the Weldon Railroad, where they would meet the Union Army. So this plan centered around the whole idea that the Union Army would be at the Weldon Railroad by the time Wilson and Couts got back. And here lies the problem. Because you have the Union Army or the Union Sixth Corps under Wright, who gets to the Weldon Railroad, tears up a few miles of track, um, he feels isolated. Meade tells him to stay there. Wright disobeys orders, he goes back to the Jerusalem Plank Road. And even though they send out um a Union Corps again to the Weldon Railroad to look for the return of both August Couts and James Wilson, um, the Union Army they don't stick around long enough to wait for them. And they return to their old lines. So this gives the Confederates time, that being Wade Hampton, uh, to actually attack them. And the casualties the Union suffers are horrendous. They will eventually get back to the main Union lines, but with horrific casualties. So this whole raid is often debated if it was successful or not. Um, they did manage to cut off supplies for a couple of weeks, and then there was one railroad they were actually able to cut off for, I believe, roughly a month. And so people question was this worth the cost? And that's where you have the difference of interpretation. Um, Grant believed it was worth its cost. Um, August Couts, who took part, believed it was worth the cost. Uh, but other guys like James Wilson actually uh became very resentful around this time towards the Union High Command um because he felt like he was somewhat betrayed. Um it was it was a very, very difficult scenario. And because the Union Army lost so much um in their initial fight to try to get to the Weldon Railroad, Lee feels emboldened and he tries to attack the Union Army on along the Appomattox River, uh, but it was a horribly communicated and discoordinated attack that resulted in um I believe uh over a thousand casualties for the for the Confederates. It might be a little less than that, but um, it was a death disaster for them. So it's just kind of like stalemate across the entire front, it seems like at this time.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Do do do you think both men know at this stage it's gonna turn into a siege? Is that what they're they're both well is that more their mindsets?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

They said so as much, and that's actually why they launched these operations. That's a good question. Uh, because um they the way that they were trained as military officers, if they wanted to conduct a siege, that meant you had to cut off all the roads leading into that fortress or that city. So that's what this whole movement was actually about. It was it was actually about surrounding Petersburg and trying to starve it out traditionally. Um but clearly that doesn't go over well, and it's kind of this weird unorthodox siege that's going on because it's not fully surrounded. And so um they're going to have to get very creative uh very, very quickly, um, which which I'm sure we'll talk about here in just a second.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, and I believe there's other um attempts at other rail roads in there, so uh Reims Station and uh the Confederates have a success there, and um yeah, because also so what at what point obviously because the reason I was asking that question about whether they their mentality recedes, because obviously, you know, Grant and the Union Army set up at City Point, and so at what stage of this do they start setting up a base at City Point, you know?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Oh yeah, no, that's a good question. So they actually start setting up for um they set up headquarters there at City Point. And by the way, if you go there today, it it makes all the sense in the world why they actually would set up uh their headquarters at City Point. Um, it is a it's great access um to the water. You can bring in multiple ships uh every day full of goods, and from City Point, you can actually uh send those supplies uh using a railroad to the front lines. And throughout the siege, Grant actually orders the construction of new railroads to uh get those supplies to his men. So the one good thing that happens at the start is that Grant is going to take City Point and use it as his headquarters and supply base, really. Uh City Point kind of becomes this like kind of the brain of this entire siege. It's where this is why the siege works is because they're getting everything they need from City Point. Um so super important. And then the other thing I actually quickly forgot to mention is one of the other important things that comes from those initial movements uh around Petersburg. Uh one of them actually takes place, I believe, on June 20th, and that is the Union seized a very important bridgehead at Deep Bottom. Because I because as my own interpretation is um, I believe Grant already knew he was going to try to poke and prod Richmond uh by taking deep bottom. Because deep bottom is actually not too terribly far from Richmond, and it's a it's north of the river. So by securing a bridgehead at Deep Bottom, it's actually going to allow him to move troops freely north of the river. Um at the Bermuda hundred, I should, I should mention. Uh so that's a very important point as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Okay, so in between, so uh this is obviously mid June, uh late June, sorry. Yeah, this yes, yes. So so how is there uh is there much going on between that and then obviously then you get the battle of the crater? Is there stuff going on in between that?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

So again, we could do a whole episode on this if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Yeah, well that's that that's the whole point of this series, is so that we can you know deep dive into some of the the things in between, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

So the the big thing that happens, and this is probably what most um kind of amateur civil war kind of kind of aficionados know about, which is um Robert E. Lee actually orders one of his generals, Jubal Early, uh, to take his men out to uh Lynchburg to fight off David Hunter's Union army that's about to take Lynchburg. And Jubal Army, or not Jubal Army, Jubal Early wins that engagement, and uh that's on June 18th. Well, Robert E. Lee gives Jubal Early two options. He tells him, you can either come back to Petersburg, and he says, I deeply need your help, so that would be much appreciated if you came back. But the other option he gave him was you could move against Washington, D.C. And that was the option Jubal Early took. So Jubal Early is going to move his army uh uh north towards uh DC, and this catches Grant off guard. Um he did not think that Jubal Early would actually try to make this uh attempt, but he learns from both Halleck, who is stuffing his face with alcohol at this point, um, and from Lincoln that uh yeah, a Confederate army is moving on DC, so that's a big problem. And so Grant is gonna have to deal with that, um, which he does, and he actually exploits that opportunity later by sending Sheridan out there. Uh, but you also have Grant having to deal with PR disasters across the front because there are a lot of angry Union officers, and so Grant is trying to calm everyone's nerves. This is when you actually see William Baldy Smith get sacked. Um, there's a very uh contentious episode between Benjamin Butler and William Baldy Smith. Um, and then of course, uh many of the officers themselves are just worn out, they're exhausted. I mean, it's everyone's in a bad mood, it's extremely hot. Um, it's just not fun. And uh this is when you actually start to see uh I think morale start to sink a little bit. Uh so Grant is doing everything he can at this point to ensure that number one, uh his officers start getting along and that he tries to uh speak with some of his own family members and um Lincoln and ensure them that hey, look, things are actually going really, really well for us. Uh, despite the casualties and everything else, things are actually really good. We are not far from Richmond, we are not, we're just right outside Petersburg. Sherman is coming up on Atlanta. Things look good. People just need to stay confident and be patient because patience is not something they have. So, yeah, that's kind of what goes on between then and then the battle of the crater. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Yeah, so obviously a lot of people will know about the battle of the crater. It's an absolute disaster. But just give us a quick overview, uh, nate of that um horrendous disaster.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Yeah, it's unfortunate. It was supposed to go really, really well. You have some miners, I believe it was from the 48th Pennsylvania. Yeah, I think so. Um, I'll probably be corrected on that later, but uh that's okay. So 48th Pennsylvania, um, they actually were the ones responsible for digging this mine. It was this uh the brainchild of this whole thing was it was Burnside. They thought if they could dig underneath Confederate lines and blow it up, they could then attack through an opening that would uh be presented. And initially Grant and Mead were a little bit doubtful of this operation, but they decided to go along with it. And um, Grant tries to help out by diverting attention north of the James River at deep bottom, um, trying to strike at Richmond. And so Lee sends a lot of his soldiers north, which left Petersburg uh not very well defended. Uh they launched the mine, it actually went really well. Uh the soldiers attacked, but they got caught up in the actual mine itself, um, and they kept getting fired upon from different directions. And at that point, it it just became completely bogged down. The Union soldiers couldn't go further or beyond uh the main line of Confederate works, and then it became they couldn't even retreat because they were being killed. So they eventually were able to withdraw after many heavy losses. Uh, this is actually where you see uh accusations of war crimes where the Confederates started killing uh United States colored troops that took part in this assault in the crater. Um, even though they had surrendered, they still shot them anyway. Um, you know, so the unions are gonna lose something like I don't know, it was 3,800, 4,000 in this attack, uh while the Confederates really only lost around 1,500.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah, and uh of course James Ledley was uh one of the worst commanders. Oh shouldn't even be in charge at this point, should he? Because he shouldn't have to be yeah, no, they needed to fire him um a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Yeah, long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

So who who who actually takes the blame for this? I mean, really in true, obviously it's got to be Burnside, isn't it? But do you think Mead and Grant have some accountability for this for the city?

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Everyone is culpable, uh, every single person is responsible for this debacle, as Grant called it. Um, obviously, um Burnside is gonna be the sacrificial lamb, unfortunately. Um, because there's gonna be hearings about this battle. Burnside is gonna be let go, um, he's he's gonna be fired, much to his disappointment. He's gonna try to ask Grant later if he can come back, but Grant just kind of waves him off like, no, you can't. Um But the reality is that Meade disapproved of Burnside's original plan to use Ferrero's division to attack the Confederate line. Ferrero's division consisted of United States colored troops. Um Meade didn't like that. So the issue was taken up to Ulysses S. Grant. Grant agreed with Mead for whatever reason. I think probably at this point just to please Meade, who knows? But he did also see that it couldn't be a political liability by saying, Oh, they'll become cannon fodder. Um, so that's a problem. And at that point, uh, you actually Ferrero's division is not used in the first attack. And instead, Burnside dis Burnside decides to have them draw straws, which which for whatever reason I have no idea why they decide to do that. Um because the reality is, even though you have Potter's division and Wilcox's division being heavily overused in the initial attacks, they were probably uh I they ha probably had the most veteran troops available. Um that probably would have performed a lot better or at least resulted in fewer casualties. Uh, but instead you have James Ledley, who is awful, and there's there's reports of him being drunk and whatever else, but um he's responsible for this. Um and it's a disaster, it's a total disaster.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

So what happens to James Ledley after this? I've never found out. I don't know why. That's a good question, actually.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

I've never looked I've never bothered to go look up what happens to James Ludley. I'm sure I I actually won't be surprised if he's also um relieved of command. That wouldn't surprise me.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Exactly, yeah. Yeah, sorry for springing on you, but uh all the times I've spoken about this to Barkle, I've never even asked that question to anyone. And uh I've now asked myself, and I'm gonna have to go and find the answer myself. Um, but you know, if people know, put put down in the comments, you know, that um that's you know, I I don't even know we we like a bit of interaction with the uh the you know the audience, so yeah. So anyway, let's move on to the um the Globe Tavern and Weldon Railroad in August 1864, and uh when Grant did finally sever a major rail connection.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Yeah, this was actually finally this is when they have a good amount of success. Grant had already planned on he already had a plan in his back pocket about how to go take the Weldon, um, and so he was finally able to use it. So what ends up happening is Warren's Fifth Corps moved out to the Weldon Railroad. They were the ones going to be responsible for um capturing it. And keep in mind uh that at this point in time, Grant actually had fewer troops available than he did at the beginning of July because he had to send Wright's VI Corps away uh to go help protect Washington, D.C. So he no longer has the VI Corps with him. Um so they're now trying to operate offensively with fewer men. But luckily, Warren is able to make it and he's going to tear up several miles of track. Uh, there's going to be quite a bit of back and forth fighting. Um, his guys will eventually repel a Confederate attack. It is positioned at Globe Tavern, and uh this is actually officially when the Union are able to secure a portion of the Weldon Railroad as a part of their main line. And uh even the the well-known historian Earl Hess actually praises uh Warren's ability to use uh what I will call well, what he calls bite and hold tactics, and then uh he gives that same credit to Grant for using that tactic um elsewhere later.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

I've just realized I'm gonna have to do a bit of editing because when I asked you about Ream Station earlier, I was on the wrong bit. So it's okay. Yeah, I'll go back and edit that bit out. Um, so why was uh this significant?

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Well, because by capturing the Weldon Railroad, it's um going to cut off a very significant portion of supplies to Petersburg. And in fact, Lee is now going to have to draw up supplies further south on the Weldon Railroad using wagons. Um and it just strained the Confederate um uh logistical uh uh situation. I mean, it it was it was awful. Um, the Union did lose pretty heavily in this engagement, uh, but the fact that they were actually able to hold the Weldon Railroad um made up for those losses. It was really important that they actually secured this part of the line.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Okay, yeah. So um why was um so we're gonna talk about Ream Station now as well, and uh such a disaster.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Um yeah. So Ream Station, I I I see a lot of similarities between the Wilson Couts raid and Ream Station and how people interpret it. Because uh tactically it was a Confederate victory, uh very much so, and the Union are going to lose or sustain a lot of casualties, mainly in prisoners. Uh but both Grant and Meade, they actually wanted more of the Weldon Railroad actually severed so that way Lee would even have to draw his supplies even further south. So Grant is going to bring back the second corps from north of the James River because they had taken part in another operation at D bottom there. Um so Hancock and the second corps, they uh they arrived at Ream Station. They they tore up uh several miles of track. Um, but Confederates are going to meet them there and they're going to attack them. And initially, they were repelled because Hancock's men actually were entrenched to an extent. But they are going to be overwhelmed on their flank. And they would this is when it becomes a total route for the second corps. Hancock tried to rally his guys, it just did not work. And they actually had to retreat all the way back to their main line. And again, this is something that you could interpret one way or the other. Because again, Grant thought this was worth the cost. Because once again, he managed to tear up supply lines. But the cost was really excessive. Meade publicly supported Grant. He said, yep, nope, it was worth the cost. But privately to his wife, he did not, he he said he didn't think so. And this is when uh you know you could say that Hancock's second corps wasn't the same as it once was. You don't have the same veteran troops, they were overused. And over the years, I've actually come to agree with that sentiment a little bit because uh the second corps was used all the time. They were basically the main core that Grant used throughout the entire Virginia campaign, really up until the Siege of Petersburg. So I'm sure those guys are exhausted at this point in time. Um anyway, I won't I won't ramble on about that.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Yeah, they get chewed up through the wilderness and all the way through, don't they? Really? Uh yes, they do. They have a hard time. Okay, yeah, so thanks for that. Um okay, let's talk about Pebbles Farm and uh Westwood expansion. What was Grant's next move?

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yeah, this next move uh was this was great, and I actually refer to this as the uh turning point in uh the the Siege of Petersburg, uh, because this is when everything starts going right for the Union. So Grant knew that he could actually play with uh Lee's lines both uh at Richmond and Petersburg, so it would force him to divert uh soldiers uh both north and south. So either Petersburg would be weakened or Richmond would be weakened. And uh Grant also had to reconsider consider the fact, too, that Lee might be receiving reinforcements from the Shenandoah Valley at this time. Because uh Phil Sheridan has actually just won a couple of victories against Jubal early in the Shenandoah Valley at um Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill. So Grant was aware that Early might return um back to Richmond or Petersburg, or it could be that maybe Lee would send reinforcements to Jubal early, so Grant wanted to prevent this. Now, um around the same time, Lee is going to launch a raid uh on Union supply lines where they're actually going to capture quite a few uh heads of cattle, and this is going to get a lot of public attention, and and Grant's you know, he's gonna make some some joke about it to the press and and how um they're not gonna win if they keep playing Lee steal their cattle or whatever. But um needless to say, um the upcoming election of 1864 was was going to take place soon, and that was in November, early November of 1864. Uh so Grant wanted to try to poke and prod both Richmond and Petersburg again. Um he wanted to stretch them thin. So the goal was this: he would actually try to extend um the left flank of the Army of the Potomac around Petersburg. Um, he would see how far he could get, but of course, the hope was to get to the South Side Railroad. And then north of the James River, uh Butler's Army of the James would actually attack Confederate lines and fortifications around Richmond. And it was there that they actually managed to capture a very important fort, Fort Harrison, that they rate re that they later renamed to Fort Burnham. Um, and you and I we did a whole episode on that. But down at Petersburg, uh, you have Governor Warren in the Fifth Corps, once again, they actually attacked People's Farm out near Poplar Church. Um, and they actually extended the Union line further west around Petersburg doing this. Um, so it's pretty close to uh the Boydeton Planck Road at this time. And so now the new Union line at Petersburg stretched from the Appamax River all the way over to uh Poplar Grove. And north at Richmond, you have the Union line that now stretched from Deep Bottom uh toward Fort Harrison, which was really roughly like 10 or 15 miles just south of Petersburg, or south of Richmond. So, you know, it was a really impressive uh operation that took place.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Absolutely, yeah. And uh as Nate said, we did cover Fort Harrison and the Battle of Newmarket Heights um in an episode, so go and check that out. Um that was quite some time ago now, I think.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

But yeah, I know that was I think that was a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Yeah, it was a couple of years ago, but so yeah, don't expect an episode on that one, guys. Anyway, no, I'm only joking around. Um, yeah, okay, so the Boyd and Plank Road. So that this is going to come into play now um in uh uh late October, isn't it? So what happened on a Boyd and Plank Road?

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Yeah, so Grant thought he might be able to make one last attack or try to take Petersburg before the election. Um, and it was it was actually a very well-planned movement. Um, Grant saw that uh Warren could probably get it the flank of the Confederate line, however, the terrain didn't really allow for this. It was a very uh heavily wooded area, it just was not suitable for uh any type of flank march. Um, and then of course you have Hancock Second Corps taking part, um, and they also come under heavy fire. And both Grant and Mead said, you know what, we should probably just try to abandon giving up on taking these lines. Uh, we don't want to lose too many men. Uh, so let's just say no more. Well, after they decided on this, Hancock was actually attacked, um, and the fighting was very like crisscrossed. You couldn't tell where the front line was. But luckily, Hancock was able to drive back the Confederates. Uh, but due to the fact that he was low on ammunition, he was isolated from the rest of the Union line, uh, he returned to the main Union line. So both sides ended up uh leaving the battlefield. Um, so even though it was tactically a Union victory, strategically it really didn't have significant importance, other than, you know, Grant quickly learned what he had to do next.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

Okay, excellent. And so did he achieve his objectives then?

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Yeah, I I'd say no. But, you know, the the reality is that um he Grant should be praised for realizing uh when to take a risk and when not to take a risk. And he decided against attacking those Confederate fortifications there. He said, I'm not going to risk my men's life or this election to try and tank the Confederate right flank. Um, and at this point, Grant at least learned about the terrain of that area, and um, he knew exactly what he needed to do the next time he was going to make any type of attack there.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks. And this one's a new one on me because I've not ever heard of this, and uh, I'm a bit uh yeah. So Applejack Raid. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Yeah, so the so this one is not very well known. Um the the late Peter Carmichael, who I am a great admirer of, um he actually did a whole talk on the Applejack Raid. Um, I I recommend you guys check that out. I think it's on C-SPAN, but um, it's very good. And the Applejack Raid was actually um a raid conducted by Governor Warren's Fifth Corps um because Grant wanted more of the supply lines south of the Weldon Railroad destroyed, which they did manage to do, but this is really an awful episode of Union soldiers um committing horrendous acts. Um there's accounts of this raid that Union soldiers actually got drunk off of Applejack. Uh uh, I believe it was Applejack brandy. Um, and they uh this is when you actually see them burning homes, destroying property. Um, and there's um a few cases of um supposedly a few cases of sexual assault that do take place, um, unfortunately. The Union soldiers that they they became enraged at the fact that they found, I guess, a few uh few of their men murdered, um, but they didn't know who to blame for it, and so it became a very confusing it the enemy it became very gray to them as to who the enemy actually was. Um it's it's not often talked about it talked about, but once again, Peter Michael did did uh um did a fantastic job actually talking about this. But um, I think we should probably discuss this one in more detail in a later later episode, but um it's it's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 54:31

Yeah, okay, so there is a a a little bit of a lull, isn't there, throughout the winter months, and a bit of a stale, mate. And then uh again, this is actually um an episode I have covered with a um a good uh fellow Brit and uh Nigel Lambert, um done an episode on Hatcher's Run. But um just give us a run through of what a Hatcher's Run is, Nate, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Yeah, um it's a this one I I actually think this one is equally confusing. So props to Nigel for uh really taking this one on. Uh but basically this was this started out as a plan for another raid that turned into an extension of Union lines. Uh so the plan actually changed multiple times uh between Grant and Meade. And uh the hope was that uh Grade's uh Greg's Greg's cavalry uh would actually capture a large portion of Confederate wagons that was supplying Petersburg. Uh but ultimately they only found a few, I believe it was 17, uh wagons at Dinwiddie Courthouse. Uh but the but the important action actually took place um uh near uh I believe the Vaughn Road, just a little north of there, uh where you have Hunt Humphrey, who's now commanding the second division, Andrew Humphrey, uh, because Winfield Scott uh he he left that command due to his wound. Um so he gets into an engagement with the Confederates there and Hatchers Run. There's a lot of back and forth fighting. Uh, but ultimately uh for the Union they will extend their line out from Poplar Grove now, uh just south of the Boydeton Plank Road. Okay, thank you, Nate.

SPEAKER_01 56:23

And uh of course, we we're gonna move forward to uh the spring of 1865, and of course, you're gonna start seeing the um the window of the war really, but the breakthrough at Petersburg, um, and uh this is something that I've never covered, so this is definitely gonna be one we deep dive on, hopefully. Um, so this but give us an overview, please, Nate, if you won't mind.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Yeah, um, so by March 28th, uh Lee is really in a hor it he he's in an awful position. He uh has to make the decision to either uh abandon Petersburg, try to make a run out west. Um he could uh launch an attack, which is ultimately what he uh opts for, uh, but there just weren't many options left for him. Uh they were running very, very, very low on supplies because of all these union movements. So he attacks at Fort Stenman, it's a disaster. His guys lose like 4,000 men to uh the Union only losing roughly a thousand. Um, and that's losses he cannot afford. Grant already has a plan in place to attack certain areas of the Confederate line on their right flank. Uh, and these actually go very, very well that culminates in the Battle of Five Forks, uh, that Phil Sheridan and Governor Warren take part in. Phil Sheridan is gonna fire Governor Warren on the spot in front of all the soldiers. Uh, but of course, he has permission from Grant to do that. Um, well, we can talk about that more later, but um, there's questions about if that was justified or not. Uh, but ultimately what happens is uh Grant orders an attack across the line, and it's gonna be the 6th Corps who is returned from the Shenandoah Valley that will pierce the Confederate line first. Um, and from there you're going to have um Humphreys command uh attack as well as John Gibbon. John Gibbon is now in the command of uh commanding the 24th Corps. Uh they also break through, and there the image that you actually see on the screen there is actually the uh engagement at Fort Gregg, uh, where it's going to take quite a few Union soldiers to actually break through that Confederate defense. Um, and then of course you have the Ninth Corps, they do their best trying to uh push the Confederates um out from their trenches. They manage to capture a few pickets, um, but ultimately they need the help uh from the Union flank attack uh on the south side of Petersburg for them to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

And of course, Richmond is gonna pretty much fall.

SPEAKER_00 59:04

Richmond falls the next day. Yeah, they can't hold Richmond if they don't have Petersburg, and that's why it was such a brilliant move.

SPEAKER_01 59:11

Now um I I'd love to know what um you know the there must have been jubilation when they finally got over these, especially after nine months. I know obviously they're still coming up against opposition, but of course it's not that strong, is it? So I wonder what it was like for these union soldiers finally to get over that those entrenchments and get into those trenches. It must have been jubilation.

SPEAKER_00 59:35

It actually was it, it it wasn't easy. Um, A. Wilson Green, I know he's mostly known for his uh his series on um Richmond and Petersburg, but he wrote a book before that. And it was called The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign. And he talks about the breakthrough, and he actually says that it was a lot harder than it was initially believed. So it's very impressive. Very, very impressive they were able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:08

Well, hopefully, we can do a bit of a deep dive on that that uh saga, Nate. Um, but yeah, no, thank you so much for um coming on on this episode and and uh giving us an overview of the Siege of Petersburg, of course. Nine months, the Siege of Petersburg series. Um, this is episode one. There will be more episodes, guys, um, and uh in the future, so keep watching out for that. Please go and give um Nate a follow. Um at the dramatic historian. Nate, just give everyone a quick overview of where they can find you.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

Yeah, you can uh find me over on uh YouTube. I now am on Spotify as well, uh, so please make sure to give me a follow there. Uh, you can even go over on Facebook where I have uh the dramatic historian page. Uh so please make sure to follow me there as well. And you're going to see um me interview all kinds of different historians about their work. Uh, and I'm very excited to say that I have a couple others that are uh coming up between uh Ralph Ashby talking about Napoleon uh and uh Frank Scaturo talking about Grant's presidency. So I'm very excited for that in the in the coming weeks. Excellent. And all that is left to say, ladies and gentlemen, is cheers.