210 The American Civil WarGeneral U. S. Grant's dogged determination dictated
the nature of the 10-month-long investment of
Richmond and Petersburg. (Author's collection)
defensive line around Chaffin's Bluff and
New Market Heights. Federal attackers ran
headlong into a linchpin of the defensive
complex at Fort Harrison, and captured it at
the climax of a bloody assault. A New
Hampshire soldier described the deadly
work: 'Our men fall riddled with bullets;
great gaps are rent in our ranks as the shells
cut their way through us, or burst in our
midst; a solid shot or a shell ... will bore -
straight through ten or twenty men; here are
some men literally cut in two, others yonder
are blown to pieces.'
The cost of the success, which included
the death of General Hiram Burnham,
commander of an attacking brigade, drained
away momentum in the Union ranks. Once
again a temporary advantage wilted for lack
of immediate exploitation. Lee directed a
counterattack in person the next day, hoping
to retake Fort Harrison, but it failed. The
Southern leader faced the necessity of
carving out a new position closer to
Richmond. Fighting in the area continued
intermittently for a week, killing General
John Gregg of the famous Texas Confederate
brigade on Darbytown Road on 7 October,
but no decision resulted. Confederate
territory on the Richmond-Petersburg lines
continued to shrink.