RICHMOND. 



379 



wished to seize. The work of intrenching, however, 

 did not yet supersede all active measures of assault. 

 A vigorous attack was made on the Confederate works 

 to the north of the James on Aug. 13, and repeated 

 on the 16th, while on the 18th the Confederates as- 

 sailed and were repulsed. The result of these opera- 

 tions was a loss of about 5000 Union soldiers and nearly 

 as many Confederates, with no advantage in that 

 quarter beyond that of the depletion of Lee's weak- 

 ened ranks. 



This affair, however, served as a cover to a more 

 important one. Taking advantage of the absence of 

 many of Lee's troops, who had been sent to strengthen 

 the Richmond lines, Grant ordered a vigorous move- 

 ment, to secure possession of the Weldon Railroad. 

 On the 18th Warren advanced with the Fifth corps, 

 and reached the railroad without opposition. Leaving 

 Griffin to hold it, he moved with his other 'divisions 

 towards Petersburg, but ere he had advanced far a 

 Confederate force suddenly attacked his flank, taking 

 200 prisoners. The assailing force was soon repulsed, 

 and Warren held his ground, but with a loss of about 

 1000 men. On the following day Warren was at- 

 tacked in flank by a heavy force under Hill, Craw- 

 ford's and the right of Ayres' divisions being driven 

 back, with a loss of 2500 men as prisoners. But the 

 railroad was held, and reinforcements coming up Hill 

 hastily withdrew, suffering Warren to recover his lost 

 ground. He at once intrenched his position, satisfied 

 that Lee would do his utmost to recover the road. 

 Three days afterwards the expected attack came. A 

 cross fire of thirty guns was suddenly opened upon his 

 jines, and then two columns of infantry advanced, one 

 in his front and the other on his flank. He was well 

 prepared, however, and easily repelled the front attack, 

 while the flanking column was driven back with a loss 

 of 500 prisoners. In this assault the Confederates lost 

 1200 men. Warren's total loss in the movement 

 was 4450 men, but he held possession of the road, 

 which Lee made no further effort at this point to re- 

 cover. 



On the day of this last battle, Aug. 21, Hancock 

 moved in Warren's rear and struck the Weldon Rail- 

 road at Reams' Station, at which point he was vigor- 

 ously attacked by Hill on the 25th, and after a des- 

 perate conflict forced to retire, with the loss of 2400 

 men, 1700 of whom were made prisoners. Hill's loss 

 was little less, and he also soon after retired. But 

 this success was of no avail to the Confederates. The 

 Weldon road was irretrievably lost, and the first step 

 in Grant's purpose of cutting off Lee's communication 

 with the South gained. 



A month passed in comparative quiet, at the end 

 of which time another assault was made upon the 

 Confederate works, this time north of the James, in- 

 tended, as Grant states, to prevent Lee sending rein- 

 forcements to Early. Gen. Butler received orders to 

 cross the river with the Tenth and Eighteenth corps 

 under Ord' and Birney, and Kautz's cavalry, and to 

 attempt by a rapid movement to capture Richmond 

 before Lee could move troops to its defence. The 

 river was crossed on bridges muffled with hay on the 

 night of the 28th, and on the 29th Battery Harrison, 

 the strongest fort in that part of the works, was 

 stormed and carried by Ord's corps, while a strong re- 

 doubt on Spring Hill was captured bv a storming 

 column of colored troops from Birney's command. 

 These positions were strongly contested, both sides 

 losing heavily, and so important did the Confederates 

 consider Fort Harrison that a desperate effort was 

 made to retake it, under Gen. Lee's immediate direc- 

 tion. He massed some of his best troops against it, 

 but they were repulsed with severe loss, and the cap- 

 tured mtrenchments held. Meanwhile Kautz with 

 the cavalry, had reached a point within three or four 

 miles of Richmond, when he was attacked and driven 

 back with loss, his pursuers in their turn encountering 

 the Tenth corps and being repulsed with considerable 



loss. The total Union losses in this enterprise were 

 2272 killed, wounded, and missing. 



The attack on these intrenchments was only a part 

 of Grant's plan. _ While the Confederates were strug- 

 gling desperately in the vain effort to recover their lost 

 works, a vigorous movement was made by Warren on 

 the opposite end of the Union lines, in the direction of 

 the Southside Railroad. This movement took place 

 Oct. 1-2, the Confederates, who fought fiercely to 

 maintain their positions, being gradually pushed back 

 towards the Boydton road. As a result a position wa 

 gained and held about three miles west of the Weldon 

 road, with a loss of about 2500 men. In this connec- 

 tion it is also necessary to speak of an effort, made by 

 Gen. Butler to cut a canal across a narrow neck of 

 land known as Dutch Gap on James River, which 

 would shorten the stream six or seven miles and 

 enable the fleet to flank several important Confederate 

 works. This effort failed, there not being depth 

 enough of water gained for the intended purpose, the 

 bulkhead, which was blown out with gunpowder, fall- 

 ing back and choking the channel. 



The next offensive movement was made by the Con- 

 federate forces. On Oct. 7, Kautz's cavalry, north of 

 the James River, was attacked and driven back, losing 

 heavily in killed, wounded, and missing, and all its 

 artillery. This was followed by an attack in force on 

 the Union intrenchments, which was repulsed with 

 severe slaughter. On the 1 3th Butler made an assault 

 on some new Confederate works, and was similarly 

 repulsed. One further advance movement was made 

 before the armies went into winter quarters. On Oct. 

 27, the Fifth and Ninth corps were put in motion 

 with the hope of flanking the Confederate lines and 

 seizing the Southside Railroad. Part of the force, 

 however, soon found itself in swampy ground covered 

 with dense thicket, which divided and disordered the 

 several divisions. At this juncture a portion of Hill's 

 corps suddenly fell on an advance brigade and drove it 

 back in confusion with the loss of two guns. The 

 triumphant Confederates pursued eagerly, but suddenly 

 found themselves in presence of a supporting column, 

 and were repulsed with a loss of 1 000 prisoners, while 

 200 of their men rushed into Crawford's lines and 

 were also taken. A vigorous push at that moment 

 might have dispersed or destroyed the whole Confed- 

 erate division, but night was at hand, the Union com- 

 manders in ignorance of each other's position, and the 

 country impracticable. Night fell before anything of 

 importance could be accomplished. The losses on both 

 sides were heavy and nothing was gained in position, 

 the Union column being withdrawn during the night 

 to its former position. 



This ended active operations for the winter. For a 

 period of nearly six months the armies had confronted 

 each other, fighting many severe battles, while in the 

 interval almost daily cannonading and picket-firing, 

 with occasional sanguinary encounters, took place along 

 the lines, the total loss from May 1 to November 1 to 

 the Army of the Potomac being given at 88,387. If 

 to this be added the loss of the Army of the James the 

 grand total would be nearly 100,000. Of these 30,000 

 subsequently rejoined the army, making the eventual 

 loss 70,000. The Confederate loss during the same 

 period has been estimated at 40,000. 



In was February, 1865, before further movements 

 of military importance took place. Grant's army had 

 been weakened to aid in operations elsewhere, particu- 

 larly those against Fort Fisher (a. t>.), and the troops 

 lay at rest for months, the only movements being 

 cavalry raids outside the lines, and an ineffectual effort 

 on the part of the Confederates to send a squadron 

 through the canal at Dutch Gap and destroy the pon- 

 toon bridges below. On Feb. 3, 1865, a conference 

 was held at Hampton Roads between Pres._ Lincoln, 

 Secretary Seward, and a party of peace commissioners, 

 including Vice-Pres. A. H. Stephens from the Con- 

 federacy. Nothing came of this, however, and it was 



