578
GENERAL GRANT ON THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.
reconnoissance with a view to attacking the ene-my’s line if it was found sufficiently weakened hywithdrawal of troops to the north side. In thisreconnoissance we captured and held the enemy’sworks near Poplar Spring Church. In the after-noon troops moving to get to the left of the pointgained were attacked "by the enemy in heavy forceand compelled to fall back until supported by the
'M’pW.
MAJOR-GENERAL ORLANDO B. WILLCOX .
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
forces holding the captured works. Our cavalryunder Gregg was also attacked, but repulsed theenemy with great loss.
On the 7th of October the enemy attackedKautz’s cavalry north of the James and drove itback with heavy loss in killed, wounded, andprisoners, and the loss of all the artillery—eightor nine pieces.| This he followed up by an attackon our intrenched infantry line, but was repulsedwith severe slaughter. On the 13th a reconnois-sance was sent out by General Butler, with a viewto drive the enemy from some new works he wasconstructing, which resulted in very heavy loss tous.J)
On the 27th [of October] the Army of the Poto-mac, leaving only sufficient men to hold its forti-fied line, moved by the enemy’s right flank. The
4 - General Kautz writes to tlie editors, November, 1888 :
“ The new lines which resulted from the success of GeneralButler at Fort Harrison on the 29th of September, gave mydivision the duty of guarding the light flank of the Army ofthe James with pickets as far as White’s Tavern on theCharles City road. The headquarters of the division were atDarbytown, two miles in front of the intrenched infantryline, located in the forks of the swamp which forms FourMile Creek. The error of the position was duly represented.When the enemy at 4 a. m. on the 7th of October tried to ex-tend his lines, the weight of the assault fell upon the cavalry.Two divisions of infantry under I.ongstreet engaged myforce in front, while a superior force of Confederate cavalryunder General Gary, covered by the timber, penetrated tothe rear. The cavalry sustained the attack until 8 o’clock,giving the Tenth Corps ample time to prepare to punish theenemy very severely.”
Second Corps, followed by two divisions of the FifthCorps, with the cavalry in advance and coveringour left flank, forced a passage of Hatcher’s Bun,and moved up the south side of it toward theSouth Side Railroad, until the Second Corps andpart of the cavalry reached the Boydton plank-roadwhere it crosses Hatcher’s Run. At this point wewere six miles distant from the South Side Rail-road, which I had hoped by this movement toreach and hold. But finding that we had notreached the end of the enemy’s fortifications, andno place presenting itself for a successful assaultby which he might be doubled up and shortened,I determined to withdraw to within our fortifiedline. Orders were given accordingly. Immedi-ately upon receiving a report that General Warrenhad connected with General Hancock I returnedto my headquarters. Soon after I left the enemymoved out across Hatcher’s Run, in the gap be-tween Generals Hancock and Warren, which wasnot closed as reported, and made a desperate at-tack on General Hancock’s right and rear. Gen-eral Hancock immediately faced his corps to meetit, and after a bloody combat drove the enemywithin Ms works, and withdrew that night to hisold position.
In support of this movement General Butlermade a demonstration on the north side of theJames, and attacked the enemy on the Williams-burg road, and also on the York River Railroad.In the former he was unsuccessful; in the latterhe succeeded in carrying a work which was after-ward abandoned, and his forces had withdrawnto their former positions.
From this time forward the operations in frontof Petersburg and Richmond , until the spring cam-paign of 1865, were confined to the defense andextension of our lines, and to offensive movementsfor crippling the enemy’s lines of communication,and to prevent his detaching any considerableforce to send south. By the 7th of February ourlines were extended to Hatcher’s Run, and theWeldon Railroad had been destroyed to Hicks-ford. . . .\
After the long inarch by General Sheridan’s cav-alry, from the Shenandoah Valley, over -winterroads it was necessary to rest and refit at WhiteHouse . At this time the greatest source of un-easiness to me was the fear that the enemy wouldleave his strong lines about Petersburg and Rich-mond for the purpose of uniting with Johnston,before he was driven from them by battle or I
| General Kautz writes :
“ On tlie 13th ot October the Cavalry Division participatedin a movement under General Terry, then in command ot theTenth Corps. We engaged tlie Confederate cavalry on tlieCharles City road, while the Tenth Corps troops attacked theenemy’s intrenched line on tlie Darhytovm road.”
\ Among the movements on the left were the exiiedi-tion, December 7th to 10 th, under Warren, by which theWeldon (Railroad was destroyed as far as I-Iicksford, andthe combined movement, February 5tli to 7tb, underWarren and Humphreys (who on the 28th of Novembersucceeded to the command of the Second Corps, Hancockhaving been detailed to organize the Veteran Corps),—which resulted in extending the Union intrenebmentsto Hatcher’s Bun, after some severe fighting with thetroops of A. P. Hill and Gordon.—E ditors.