Earl J. Hess - Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign

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Trench Warfare Under Grant & Lee

CIVIL WAR AMERICA

Gary W. Gallagher, editor

2007 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by Kimberly Bryant
Set in Monotype Garamond and The Serif
by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America

This book was published with the assistance of the
Anniversary Endowment Fund of the University of
North Carolina Press.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of
the Council on Library Resources.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hess, Earl J.
Trench warfare under Grant and Lee : field fortifications in
the Overland Campaign / Earl J. Hess.
p. cm. (Civil War America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3154-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Overland Campaign, Va., 1864. 2. Virginia
HistoryCivil War, 18611865Trench warfare.
3. United StatesHistory Civil War, 18611865Trench
warfare. 4. Fortification, FieldHistory19th century.
5. FortificationVirginiaHistory19th century.
6. United StatesDefensesHistory19th century.
7. Confederate States of AmericaDefensesHistory.
8. Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 18221885Military
leadership. 9. Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 18071870
Military leadership. I. Title.
E476.52.H475 2007
973.7'36dc22

2007009466

11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1

For Pratibha & Julie, Three Little Woids

Contents

Illustrations

Cyrus Ballou Comstock

Francis Ulric Farquhar

Members of Company B, U.S. Engineer Battalion

Ira Spaulding

Ewells Line at Saunderss Field, north of Orange Turnpike, Wilderness

Ewells Line at Saunderss Field, south of Orange Turnpike, Wilderness

Confederate parapet at Saunderss Field, Wilderness

Edwin Forbess sketch of Second Corps constructing Brock Road Line, Wilderness

Confederate works near Saunderss Field

Confederate works near Orange Plank Road, Wilderness

Another view of Confederate works at Orange Plank Road

More Confederate works near Saunderss Field

Laurel Hill, Spotsylvania

Confederate line at Laurel Hill

Another view of Confederate works at Laurel Hill

Remnants of Confederate works at East Angle

Remnants of Confederate works at West Angle

Confederate works, possibly at Spindle Field, Spotsylvania

Section of Mule Shoe Salient near West Angle, Spotsylvania

East Angle, Spotsylvania

Henagans Redoubt, occupied by Federals, North Anna

Federals occupying trench near Chesterfield Bridge, North Anna

Federal engineers improving road at Jericho Mill, North Anna

Digging in at Cold Harbor

Federal bombproofs at Cold Harbor

Remnants of Confederate works at angle of line, north of Bloody Run, Cold Harbor

Remnants of Confederate trenches, north of Bloody Run, Cold Harbor

Maps

Union and Confederate Fortifications at the Wilderness, May 57, 1864

Spotsylvania, May 821, 1864

Uptons Attack on Doless Salient, May 10, 1864

Hancocks Attack on Mule Shoe Salient, May 12, 1864

Bermuda Hundred Campaign, May 1864

Union and Confederate Defenses at North Anna River, May 2327, 1864

Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864

Ewells Line at the Wilderness, May 57, 1864

Hills Line at the Wilderness, May 6, 1864

Details of Union and Confederate Fortifications at the Wilderness, May 57, 1864

Doless Salient, Gordons Reserve Line, and Lees Last Line, Mule Shoe Salient, Spotsylvania, May 821, 1864

Confederate and Federal Works, East Side of Mule Shoe Salient, Spotsylvania, May 821, 1864

Left Wing of Lees Last Line, Mule Shoe Salient, Spotsylvania, May 1221, 1864

Heths Salient, Spotsylvania, May 1021, 1864

Galleries on Sixth Corps Line, between Shelton House and Brock Road, Spotsylvania, May 821, 1864

Second Corps Works at Landrum House, opposite Mule Shoe Salient, Spotsylvania, May 1221, 1864

Potters Division Line and Ninth Corps Salient, Spotsylvania, May 1021, 1864

Crittendens Division Line, between Ninth Corps Salient and Willcoxs Division Line, Spotsylvania, May 1021, 1864

Federal Bay Battery and Willcoxs Division Line, Spotsylvania, May 1021, 1864

The Apex of the Confederate Inverted V, North Anna River, May 2327, 1864

Union and Confederate Works, Cold Harbor Unit, Richmond National Battlefield Park, June 112, 1864

Kershaws Works North of Bloody Run, Cold Harbor Unit, Richmond National Battlefield Park, June 112, 1864

Sixth Corps Works North of Bloody Run (Northern Section), Cold Harbor Unit, Richmond National Battlefield Park, June 112, 1864

Sixth Corps Works North of Bloody Run (Southern Section), Cold Harbor Unit, Richmond National Battlefield Park, June 112, 1864

Sixth Corps Works South of Bloody Run, Cold Harbor Unit, Richmond National Battlefield Park, June 112, 1864

Preface

The Overland campaign from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor in the spring of 1864 involved six weeks of fighting that was unprecedented in American history. The campaign involved three field armies, nearly 200,000 men, and produced 64,000 Union casualties and 36,000 Confederate losses. It resulted from Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants determination to pursue the most direct line of approach to the Confederate capital, pushing Maj. Gen. George G. Meades Army of the Potomac on a relentless drive across sixty miles of hostile territory and forcing Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia to fight or retreat to the defenses of Richmond. Lees ability to keep his army in front of Meades while other Confederate forces fended off Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butlers Army of the James enabled the Confederate government to remain in Richmond as the grand drama unfolded, but Federal troops were within ten miles of the capital at Cold Harbor by early June.

Two tactical features of this campaign stand out: Grants decision to remain in close contact with Lees army until it broke, and the widespread use of field fortifications by both armies. The former was a calculated choice, but the origin of the latter was more complicated. Field fortifications were a more common element of Civil War campaigning before the battle of the Wilderness than historians and students of the conflict have realized. They were employed on a sporadic basis in many campaigns of 186163 in both the east and the west. The tendency was for combatants to dig in either before an engagement (due often to a commanders decision to remain on the defensive) or immediately after a pitched battle (due often to the soldiers emotional reaction to the shock of combat). The Peninsula campaign saw widespread use of fieldworks: all of Lees army dug in right after the battle of Fredericksburg, and both sides dug earthworks during the battle of Chancellorsville. Lees decision to fortify at Mine Run altered the course of Meades attempt to attack the Army of Northern Virginia in early December 1863.

In short, there was no earth-shattering break from tradition when Grants and Lees men began to dig in during the Overland campaign. The real difference lay in one of degreethe extent to which the men relied on earthworks, the consistency with which they dug in, and the complexity and strength of the fieldwork systems they constructed. As a whole, American armies tended to dig in more frequently than European armies even before the Civil War. The Overland campaign greatly accentuated that difference.

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