From Chattanooga to Petersburg under Generals Grant and Butler

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From Chattanooga to Petersburg under Gen

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 13

ment is known to all the world, writes under date of August 3, 1892, that " on the day pre- ceding the assault on Missionary Ridge by Sher- man's forces, I was selected by General Sherman to lead the assaulting column, and was taken by him to General Grant, when the general plan was shown and explained to me, and my position designated. In the course of the conversation General Grant gave General W. F. Smith the credit of the plan and spoke of him in the strongest terms of confidence and respect. Gen- eral Macfeely, the late Commissary Genera,l of the army, said that Grant told him that ' Baldy ' Smith was the ablest general in that army, and that the successful movement against Bragg was due to Smith."

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 87

While my plan for the seizure of Brown's Ferry and its execution, and my contribution to the success of the battle of Chattanooga may have led to more important results, because they were followed by the great victory won by General Grant, I have always regarded the operation of June 15, including the concen- tration of the troops, the method of assault by lines of skirmishers, alnd the careful selection of the point of attack, as my best achievement. I have no doubt that General Grant at that

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 27

In addition to what General Grant had seen of me at Chattanooga and in the West, he now knew how I had handled troops in the most ex- posed part of the field at Cold Harbor ; he also knew how, by a careful reconnoissance and the use of skirmishers, I had captured the works at Petersburg. With this knowledge, on the 1st of July, 1864, General Grant wrote the follow- ing letter to General Halleck, to which reference has been made above (p. 2).

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 45

relieved in a form which was disgraceful. A reason was earnestly sought for not only by me, but by my friends, without sohcitation on my part. The only reason given me by General Grant at our first interview was that I had severely criticised General Meade, and had instigated an attack upon General Hancock in the " New York Tribune." This was highly absurd. In view of my relations to General Grant, having been con- stantly with him from October 23, 1863, until he brought me with him in his private car to Washington, and having been encouraged to give my opinions on all questions affecting the war, I should have failed in my duty if I had not criticised the battle of Cold Harbor. Gen- eral Sherman, in his private congratulatory letter to General Grant on his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-General, March 10, 1864, says, with reference to his success, " My only points of doubt were as to your knowledge of grand strategy and of books of science and history; but I confess your common sense seems to have suppUed all this." This common sense was shown in his readiness to receive suggestions from any he believed competent to make them, and he knew that any criticism I might make would be made in good faith. As to the letter in the " New York Tribune " of June 27, 1864, I knew nothing of it until after it was pubUshed. It was unjust to General Hancock, and I wrote a note to him stating the fact and regretting its

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 65

When I left Bermuda Hundred for Cold Har- bor I had about 16,000 infantry.^ After the forced march in excessively hot weather, from White House to Cold Harbor by way of New 'Castle, and the days of fighting in the most exposed part of the field at Cold Harbor, the number was reduced to 10,324 men.^ From the time of that count we lay in the intrenchments under fire for nine days, and then made a forced march to White House. We lost many officers and men in the intrenchments, and some fell out, and some stragglers returned. On arriving at Bermuda Hundred I had three divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Brooks, Martindale, and Ames. General Ames's divi- sion, or the most of it, was taken from me, and filled the place of Kautz's cavalry in defending Bermuda Hundred, and General Hincks's divi- sion of colored troops, about 3,747 in all, was 1 War Records, vol. 67, p. 998. = lb., p. 90.

CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG. 121

I now come to the period subsequent to the battle of Cold Harbor, and shall show in the Records who was responsible for the failure to capture Petersburg on the 15th of June. On the 11th of June, when General Grant had de- cided to make the flank movement across the James River, he sent a letter to General Butler