200 The American Civil WarBy the time of the slaughter at Cold Harbor, troops in
both armies had become convinced of the value of field
fortifications. They soon constructed elaborate lines that
stretched for many miles. This view depicts a fort on the
line around Petersburg. (Public domain)
Much of the 10 months of war that
remained to be fought in Virginia would
feature such horrors, but the site of most of
those operations would be south of the
James river. On 12 June, Grant began
carefully to extract substantial components
of his army from the trenches and move
them southward toward a crossing of the
river. In managing that successful maneuver,
Grant skilfully and thoroughly stole a march
on General Lee, and achieved his most
dramatic large-scale coup of 1864.
Soldiers would continue to battle in the
outskirts of Richmond for the rest of the
war, but the focus of operations henceforth
would move below the James to the environs
of Petersburg.
Petersburg besieged
For 10 months, the primary armies in the
Virginia Theater of war struggled for control
of Petersburg, Virginia. They fought pitched
battles for possession of key roads and rail
lines; they covered the surrounding
countryside with massive forts and
entrenchments; and Federals fired artillery
into the city. The war came to Petersburg
initially, however, not with a mighty roar,
but in a slowly building rhythm.
General Benjamin F. Butler's 35,000-man
Army of the James posed the earliest threat
to the city when it landed at Bermuda
Hundred on 4 May 1864. Because the
omnipotent Federal navy could land Butler's
troops with impunity, they found themselves
unopposed and only eight miles (13km)
northeast of Petersburg. Confederate General
P. G. T. Beauregard inherited the difficult task
of knitting together the sparse and disparate
units in the vicinity to keep Butler in check.
The Federal general's paramount
goal was Richmond, but he turned first
toward Petersburg. Although steadily
outnumbered by odds of three-to-one,
Beauregard managed to thwart Butler in
four actions between 9 May and 22 May at
Port Walthall Junction, Swift Creek,
Chester Station, and Drewry's Bluff. The
Confederates benefited immeasurably from
Butler's ineptitude, timidity, and
contentiousness with his own subordinates.
By 22 May, Butler had given up and begun
to entrench the neck of the Bermuda
Hundred peninsula. In the memorable
phrase of a disgusted General U. S. Grant,
this left Butler's force 'as completely shut off