pieces. By a tragic misunderstanding of
orders, only four companies of the 7th
USCT were hurled at the fort. One-third of
the 189 men were shot down before they
approached the works, but the remainder
made it to the deep ditch before the ram-
parts. Some tried to boost other men up
onto their shoulders to climb over the
parapet, but musket fire hit anyone who
looked over the edge. Adding to the mus-
ketry, the defenders improvised 12-
pounder grenades. Cutting artillery fuses
to a two-second length, they lit them and
rolled the shells over the parapet into the
ditch onto the attackers. Only one man of
the four companies made it back to the
Union lines; the rest were either killed or
captured. “Death fairly reveled in that
ravine,” one New York soldier remem-
bered.
That afternoon and on into the night the
Union forces held their gains and prepared
to defend them against the counterattacks
that they expected would come the next
day. Fort Harrison had been built with
some barracks on its western side but no
defensive wall. Now the new occupants
tore down the barracks and threw up anew defensive face to block Confederate
attacks. Cecil Clay remembered, “Every-
body worked with such tools or apologies
for tools as could be had and a sort of rifle-
pit was constructed across the rear or open
space of Fort Harrison.”
Lee judged the fighting at Fort Harri-
son even more serious than the threat to
Petersburg. Coming to Chaffin’s Bluff in
person, he planned to take back the cap-
tured fort. He considered a night attack,
using the first brigades of reinforcements,
but decided that waiting for daylight and
the arrival of more troops promised bet-
ter success. On the morning of Septem-
ber 30, as Lee massed his troops to
attempt the recapture of Fort Harrison,
Richmond’s citizens waited for news of
the peril looming to the east of them. Of
the city’s newspapers, only the Richmond
Whigmanaged to get out an edition, as
nearly all of the city’s printers were now
carrying muskets at the front. Exemption
papers were no more valid that they had
been on the day before. Numerous male
civilians were detained and sent to the
fighting. Overzealously following their
orders, guards temporarily arrested one-third of President Davis’ cabinet: Post-
master General John H. Reagan and
Attorney General George Davis.
Confederate ironclads in the James
reopened their fire in the morning. Eleva-
tion of the naval guns was limited to only
six to seven degrees, which restricted their
range. To reach the enemy, the guns
required charges exceeding those spelled
out in naval regulations. With the extra-
large doses of powder, a 7-inch rifle gun
aboard Fredericksburgexploded on its
third shot of the day. Lee could not accept
a Union force lodged within the Richmond
defenses. He was confident that his troops
could clear the enemy out. Alexander’s
artillery would soften up the fort. Then
Field and Hoke would send in their
infantry, hitting simultaneously from two
directions. Hoke foresaw only a costly dis-
aster, and he vainly tried to persuade Lee
to wait behind a strong new line of fortifi-
cations and draw the Federals out in the
open to attack them.
Alexander asked Hoke where he would
like the artillery placed before the attack.
Hoke replied he would rather Alexander
not fire a shot at all. The bombardment
Library of CongressCWQ-EW16 Chaffins Bluff *missing map_Layout 1 10/22/15 2:02 PM Page 27