Lee vs. Grant: The Overland Campaign

Posted on 08 April 2019 by Charles River Editors

The Overland Campaign that pitted Robert E Lee against Ulysses S Grant is one of the most famous campaigns of the Civil War, and perhaps its greatest chess match While Grant sought to destroy Lee s Army of Northern Virginia along the way to Richmond, Lee aimed to defend his capital while staying alert for a golden opportunity to strike a decisive blow against Grant s Army of the Potomac The result was an incredibly costly campaign that saw 4 major battles and near continuous fighting in May and June 1864 At the Battle of the Wilderness May 5 7, 1864 , Ulysses S Grant and Robert E Lee had fought to a standstill in their first encounter, failing to dislodge each other despite incurring nearly 30,000 casualties between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Despite the fierce fighting, Grant continued to push his battered but resilient army south, hoping to beat Lee s army to the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House, but Lee s army beat Grant s to Spotsylvania and began digging in, setting the scene for on and off fighting from May 8 21 that ultimately inflicted casualties than the Battle of the Wilderness In fact, with over 32,000 casualties among the two sides, it was the deadliest battle of the Overland Campaign.After Spotsylvania, Grant and Lee both raced to the next natural defensive line, the North Anna River, where Lee sprang a trap for Grant by establishing an inverted V as a defensive line, with the salient touching the North Anna River, which would allow the Army of Northern Virginia to use interior lines to fall upon the separate wings of the Union army if it tried to cross the river As fate would have it, Grant would fall into Lee s trap, only for Lee to be debilitated by illness at the crucial moments, allowing Grant to realize the potential mistake and avoid a major pitched battle.By the time the two armies reached Cold Harbor near the end of May 1864, Grant incorrectly thought that Lee s army was on the verge of collapse On June 3, 1864, sensing he could break Lee s army, Grant ordered a full out assault at dawn in the hopes of catching the rebels before they could fully entrench Although the story of Union soldiers pinning their names on the back of their uniforms in anticipation of death at Cold Harbor is apocryphal, the frontal assault on June 3 inflicted thousands of Union casualties in about half an hour In just minutes, 7,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded as 30,000 Confederate soldiers successfully held the line against 50,000 Union troops, losing just 1,500 men in the process The Overland Campaign stunned Americans in 1864, but Cold Harbor would be the last major battle of the Overland Campaign because Grant would reach his objective by stealing a march on Lee to cross the James River, beginning the actions that would lead to the siege of Petersburg This book chronicles the campaign with analysis of the generalship, accounts by generals and soldiers, pictures, and. Read Lee vs. Grant: The Overland Campaign – kino-fada.fr A good analysis of the campaign with ample descriptions taken from the memoirs of those who commanded and fought these bloody battles There were ample maps but my one complaint is that the map images did not scale well on my devices iPad iPhone.

English
08 April 2019

Charles River Editors