Wednesday, June 1, 1864
Earlier in the week General Ulysses S. Grant, ready to seize an opportunity to break the Confederate lines around Richmond, ordered a temporary detachment of the Eighteenth Corps from the Army of the James to join the Army of the Potomac at Cold Harbor.
Early this morning General William Smith, in charge of the Union Eighteenth Corps, realized he had been ordered in error to New Castle Ferry instead of New Cold Harbor. He immediately began the twelve-mile march to Cold Harbor, arriving around noon. This delay in deployment would prove fateful for the outcome of the ensuing battle.
Around 6:00 P.M. the Sixth Corps and General Smith's Tenth and Eighteenth Corps successfully charged the Confederate lines and took six-hundred prisoners by day's end. Portions of the conflict continued until midnight
1
References:
1S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 : A Diary Covering Three Years and a Day (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888), 338-40.
Showing posts with label William Farrar Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Farrar Smith. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Grant Organizes His Armies
Sunday, May 1, 1864
The Thirteenth New Hampshire remained in camp at Yorktown all week. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant has reorganized the Union Army into three major wings: Grant's former command, the Army of the Southwest; the Army of the James, under Major General Benjamin Butler; and the Army of the Potomac, under Major General George Meade. The Thirteenth New Hampshire was in the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Eighteenth Corps of the Army of the James, under the command of Brigadier General Hiram Burnham. The Eighteenth Corps was commanded by Major General William Farrar Smith. The capture of Richmond was the objective of the Army of the James and the Army of the Potomac in Grant's Overland Campaign. Today the usual regimen of inspection and dress parade was suspended. At 5:00 P.M. the Thirteenth received orders for four days cooked rations and 100 rounds of ammunition per man, indicating an imminent departure for battle. Baggage for officers was reduced to one valise per two officers.1
References:
1S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 : A Diary Covering Three Years and a Day (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888), 252-55.
The Thirteenth New Hampshire remained in camp at Yorktown all week. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant has reorganized the Union Army into three major wings: Grant's former command, the Army of the Southwest; the Army of the James, under Major General Benjamin Butler; and the Army of the Potomac, under Major General George Meade. The Thirteenth New Hampshire was in the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Eighteenth Corps of the Army of the James, under the command of Brigadier General Hiram Burnham. The Eighteenth Corps was commanded by Major General William Farrar Smith. The capture of Richmond was the objective of the Army of the James and the Army of the Potomac in Grant's Overland Campaign. Today the usual regimen of inspection and dress parade was suspended. At 5:00 P.M. the Thirteenth received orders for four days cooked rations and 100 rounds of ammunition per man, indicating an imminent departure for battle. Baggage for officers was reduced to one valise per two officers.1
References:
1S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 : A Diary Covering Three Years and a Day (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888), 252-55.
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