PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



725 



NtAK SPOTTSTLTAITIA CoTrar-Housz, VA., May 20, 1864 



The enemy are evidently relying for supplies greatly on 

 such as are brought over the branch road running through 

 Staunton. On the whole, therefore, I think it would be 

 better for General Hunter to move in that direction ; reach 

 Staunton and Gordonsville or Charlottesville, if he does not 

 meet too much opposition. If he can hold at bay a force 

 equal to his own, he will be doing good service. * * 

 U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 



Major-General H. W. HALLECK. 



JERICHO FOKD, VA., May 25, 1864 



If Hunter can possibly get to Charlottesville and Lynch- 

 burg, he should do so, living on the country. The railroads 

 and canal should be destroyed beyond the possibility of re- 

 pairs for weeks. Completing ttiis, ho could find his way 

 back to his original base, or from about Gordonsville join 

 this army. U. S. GRANT, Llcntenant-General. 



Major-General H. W. HALLECK. 



General Hunter immediately took up the offensive, 

 and moving up the Shenandoah Valley, met the ene- 

 my on the 5th of June at Piedmont, and after a battle 

 of ten hours routed and defeated him, capturing on 

 the field of battle 1,500 men, 3 pieces of artillery, and 

 300 stand of small-arms. On the 8th of the same 

 month he formed a junction with Crook and Avcrill 

 at Staunton, from which place he moved direct on 

 Lynchburg, via Lexington, which place he reached 

 and invested on the 16th day of June. Up to this 

 time he was very successful, and but for the difficulty 

 of taking with him sufficient ordnance stores over so 

 long a march, through a hostile country, he would 

 no doubt have captured that, to the enemy an im- 

 po_rtant point. The destruction of the enemy's sup- 

 plies and manufactories was very great. To meet 

 this movement under General Hunter, General Lee 

 sent a force, perhaps equal to a corps, a part of which 

 reached Lynchburg a short time before Hunter. 

 After some skirmishing on the 17th and 18th, General 

 Hunter, owing to a want of ammunition to give bat- 

 tle, retired from before the place. Unfortunately, 

 this want of ammunition left him no choice of route 

 for his return but by way of Kanawha. This lost to us 

 the use of his troops for several weeks from the de- 

 fence of the North. 



_ Had General Hunter moved by way of Charlottes- 

 ville, instead of Lexington, as his instructions con- 

 templated, he would have oeen in a position to have 

 covered the Shenandoah Valley against the enemy, 

 should the force he met have seemed to endanger it. 

 If it did not, he would have been within easy distance 

 of the James River Canal, on the main line of com- 

 munication between Lynchburg and the force sent 

 for its defence. I have never taken exception to the 

 operations of General Hunter, and am not now dis- 

 posed to find fault with him, for I have no doubt he 

 acted within what he conceived to be the spirit of 

 his instructions and the interests of the service. Tho 

 promptitude of his movements and his gallantry 

 should entitle him to the commendation of his 

 country. 



To return to the Army of the Potomac : The Second 

 Corps commenced crossing the Ja.mes River on the 

 morning of the 14th by ferry-boats at Wilcox's Land- 

 ing. The laying of the pontoon bridge was com- 

 pleted about midnight of the 14th, and the crossing 

 of the balance of the army was rapidly pushed for- 

 ward by both bridge and ferry. 



After the crossing had commenced, I proceeded by 

 steamer to Bermuda Hundred to give the necessary 

 orders for the immediate capture of Petersburg. 



The instructions to General Butler were verbal, 

 and were for him to send General Smith immedi- 

 ately, that night, with all the troops he could give 

 him without sacrificing the position he then held. I 

 told him that I would return at once to the Army of 

 the Potomac, hasten its crossing, and throw it for- 

 ward to Petersburg by divisions as rapidly as it could 

 be done ; that we could reenforce our armies more 

 rapidly there than the enemy could bring troops 

 against us. General Smith got off as directed, and 



confronted the enemy's pickets near Petersburg be- 

 fore daylight next morning, but for some reason, that 

 I have never been able to satisfactorily understand, 

 did not get ready to assault his main lines until near 

 sundown. Then, with a part of his command only, 

 he made the assault, and carried the lines northeast 

 of Petersburg from the Appomattox River, for a dis- 

 tance of over two and a half miles, capturing fifteen 

 pieces of artillery and three hundred prisoners. This 

 was about 7 P.M. Between the line thus captured 

 and Petersburg there were no other works, and there 

 was no evidence that the enemy had regnforced 

 Petersburg with a single brigade from any source. 

 The night was clear the moon shining brightly 

 and favorable to further operations. General Han- 

 cock, with two divisions of the Second Corps, reached 

 General Smith just after dark, and offered the service 

 of these troops as he (Smith) might wish, waiving 

 rank to the named commander, wnom he naturally 

 supposed knew best the position of affairs, and what 

 to do with the troops. But instead of taking these 

 troops, and pushing at once into Petersburg, he re- 

 quested General Hancock to relieve a part of his line 

 in the captured works, which was done before mid- 

 night. 



By_ the time I arrived the next morning the enemy 

 was in force. An attack was ordered to be made at l> 

 o'clock that evening by the troops under Smith and 

 the Second and Ninth Corps. It required until that 

 time for the Ninth Corps to get up and into position. 

 The attack was made as ordered, and the fighting 

 continued with but little intermission until 6 o'clock 

 the next morning, and resulted in our carrying the 

 advance and some of the main works of the enemv to 

 the right (our left) of those previously captured by 

 General Smith, several pieces of artillery, and over 

 four hundred prisoners. 



The Fifth Corps having got up, the attacks were 

 renewed and persisted in with great vigor on the 17th 

 and 18th, but only resulted in forcing the enemy to 

 an interior line, from which he could not be dislodg- 

 ed. The advantages in position gained by us were 

 very great. The army then proceeded to envelop 

 Petersburg toward the" Southside Railroad, as far as 

 possible without attacking fortifications. 



On the 6th the enemv, to reenforce Petersburg, 

 withdrew from a part of his intrenchment in front 

 of Bermuda Hundred, expecting, no doubt, to get 

 troops from north of the James to take the place of 

 those withdrawn before we could discover it. Gen- 

 eral Butler, taking the advantage of this, at once 

 moved a force on the railroad between Petersburg 

 and Richmond. As soon as I was apprised of the 

 advantage thus gained, to retain it I ordered two 

 divisions of the Sixth Corps, General Wright com- 

 manding, that were embarking at Wilcox's Landing, 

 under orders for City Point, to report to General 

 Butler, at Bermuda Hundred, of which General But- 

 ler was notified, and the importance of holding a po- 

 sition in advance of his present line urged upon him. 



About 2 o'clock in the afternoon General Butler 

 was forced back to the line the enemy had withdrawn 

 from in the morning. General Wright, with his two 

 divisions, Coined General Butler on the forenoon of 

 the 17th, the latter still holding with a strong picket 

 line the enemy's works. But instead of putting these 

 divisions into the enemy's works to hold them, he 

 permitted them to halt and rest some distance in the 

 rear of his own line. Between 4 and 5 o'clock in the 

 afternoon the enemy attacked and drove in his pickets 

 and reoccupied his old line. 



On the night of the 20th and morning of the 21st a 

 lodgment was effected by General Butler, with one 

 brigade of infantry, on the north bank of the James, 

 at Deep Bottom, and connected the pontoon bridge 

 with Bermuda Hundred. 



On the 19th, General Sheridan, on his return from 

 his expedition against the Virginia Central Railroad, 

 arrived at the White House just as the enemy's cavalry 

 was about to attack it, and compelled it to retire. 



