124 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



force was between six and eight thousand men, 

 with three batteries of four guns each. The 

 column moved to the Petersburg and Weldon 

 Railroad at Reims' station. Here it took up 

 and burned the track for several hundred yards, 

 the water-tank, depot, and public buildings. It 

 thence moved to Sutherland's station, on the 

 Petersburg and Lynchburg Railroad, and ad- 

 vanced to Ford's station in the evening. Here 

 two locomotives, sixteen cars, a depot, and a 

 few stores were burned, and several miles of 

 the road destroyed. On the next morning 

 Gen. Kautz advanced toward Burkesville, 

 which he reached in the afternoon, and de- 

 stroyed the property of the road as at the 

 other stations. Meanwhile the main body fol- 

 lowed, and encountered in the afternoon a 

 body of the enemy near Nottoway. A sharp 

 conflict ensued until night, when the enemy 

 retired. On the 24th the column reached 

 Keysville, and bivouacked for the night. About 

 eighteen miles of the road, besides other prop- 

 erty, were destroyed during the day. On the 

 next day the bridge over Staunton River was 

 reached, but it was found to be well defended 

 by the enemy. The return of the expedition 

 now commenced. On the route they were so 

 harassed by the enemy as barely to escape 

 capture. On Thursday and Friday, July 1st and 

 2d, they arrived within the lines, in straggling 

 parties, in a most pitiable and wretched con- 

 dition, both men and horses being jaded and 

 worn beyond description after their hard 

 march, severe fighting, and the relentless har- 

 assing of the enemy. The entire wagon train, 

 the ambulance train, all the guns (sixteen), 

 nearly all their caissons, and many horses had 

 been lost* and between ten and fifteen hundred 

 men. More than a thousand negroes had been 

 collected and followed the column, but most 

 of them were recaptured by the enemy. It 

 was asserted that about fifty miles of the Dan- 

 ville Railroad had been destroyed. A movement 

 was made by the 6th corps to aid the expedition, 

 on learning its situation, but without important 

 results. 



The weather at this period was exceedingly 

 hot, and the army suffered greatly. At the 

 same time a drouth prevailed, water became 

 scarce, and the dust rose in clouds at every 

 movement. The condition of the army at this 

 time is tlms described by the "Army and ISTa^y 

 Journal " : 



The medical and commissary department had been 

 well conducted, but it is not too much to say that the 

 troops were thoroughly worn out. While their spirit 

 and enthusiasm were, and always have been, beyond 

 all traise, the fatigues of so extraordinary a cam- 

 paign had been overpowering. Officers experienced 

 its effects as well as men. Their conspicuous bravery 

 had stretched out, dead or wounded, commissioned 

 officers of all grades, not by hundreds, but by thou- 

 sands, before the James was crossed. The effect was 

 apparent in some want of skill and experience in suc- 

 ceeding battles. Captains were sometimes command- 

 ing regiments, and majors brigades. The men, 

 missing the familiar forms and voices that had led 

 *,hem to the charge, would complain that they had 



not their old officers to follow. On the other hand, 

 more than one leader of a storming party was forced 

 to say, as he came back from an unsuccessful attempt 

 against the outworks of Petersburg, " My men do not 

 charge as they did thirty days ago." A few com- 

 manders, too, showed the fatiguing effects of the 

 campaign by a lack of health, by a lack of unity and 

 harmony, or of alertness and skill. The last attacks 

 on Petersburg show clearly how the campaign was 

 telling on men and officers, and the two achievements 

 on the Jerusalem road of the 22d and 23d of June, 

 put the matter beyond all doubt. On the former oc- 

 casion, the gallant 2d corps, whose reputation is un- 

 excelled, fell back, division after division, from the 

 enemy's onset, and one of the very finest brigades in 

 the whole army was captured, with hardly a shot 

 fired. In our account at that time the probable cause 

 of the disaster was intimated. But when, in addition 

 to this, the Vermont brigade of the 6th corps was 

 badly cut up on the following day, it became clear 

 that the rapidity of the fighting must be checked 

 awhile. The pace was now too great. There was 

 need of rest, recruitment, and some reorganization. 

 It maybe added, that the influx of raw troops and of 

 Augur's troops from Washington, with new officers, 

 had temporarily changed the character of brigades, 

 of divisions, and almost of corps. These affairs of 

 the 22d and 23d of June were the last offensive move- 

 ments of infantry in force. 



No movements of importance were made be- 

 fore Petersburg, and quiet prevailed for some 

 days, excepting the artillery fire. 



The second movement against the Virginia 

 and Tennessee Railroad, and for the occupation 

 of Lynchburg, thereby to cooperate with Gen. 

 Grant against Richmond, commenced about 

 May 31st. Gen. Sigel was removed from the 

 Department of Western Virginia, and Gen. 

 Hunter placed in command. On taking leave 

 of his command Gen. Sigel issued the following 

 order : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT WEST VIRGINIA, ) 

 May 81, 1864. f 



By order of the President of the United States I am 

 relieved from the command of this department. 



Maj.-Gen. Hunter, United States volunteers, is my 

 successor. 



In leaving the troops under my immediate com- 

 mand, I feel it my duty to announce my most sincere 

 thanks to the officers and men who have sustained 

 me so faithfully during the last campaign. 



Having no other wishes and aspirations but to serve 

 and promote the good cause, which we are all bound 

 to defend, I hope that final success may crown the 

 indefatigable zeal and good will of this army. 



F. SIGEL, Maj.-Gen. 



The commands of Gens. Crook and Averill, 

 which retired to Meadow Bluff, were reorgan- 

 ized and prepared for a simultaneous advance 

 upon the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and 

 Lynchburg. Gen. Burbridge, in Kentucky, 

 Was ready to move upon extreme Southwest 

 Virginia, so as to prevent any advance from 

 that direction upon the rear of the combined 

 forces about to move against Lynchburg. The 

 position of the enemy at this time was most 

 unfavorable for opposing these movements. 

 Gen. Breckinridge, with the only Confederate 

 force of importance west of the Blue Ridge, 

 had been withdrawn to the army of Gen. Lee, 

 leaving nothing but a few small brigades of in- 

 ferior cavalry, about two regiments of infantry, 

 and a small brigade of dismounted troops acting 



