And Keep Moving on

And Keep Moving on

Katherine Richmond Hist 355 4/18/2008 “And Keep Moving On” In May of 1864, Grant entered the Virginia Theater with three separate offensives simultaneously. About 6,000 troops, under Franz Sigel, moved into the Shenandoah Valley. Benjamin F. Butler and about 35,000 men in the Army of the James started up the Peninsula from Fort Monroe. Grant traveled with almost 120,000 troops in the Army of the Potomac, and crossed the Rapidan River to engage Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The operations were designed to defeat the Confederate forces in Virginia while also depriving Lee's army of needed reinforcements and supplies. After the main Union drive became entangled in the Wilderness, Grant broke off the conflict and sidestepped to the east in an effort to turn Lee's right. The Army of Northern Virginia had suffered over 10,000 casualties, but it won the race to Spotsylvania and they were waiting when Grant's forces arrived. After eleven days of heavy fighting, the climax came in a fourteen-hour battle on May 12, when Federals temporarily overran a section of Lee's lines known as the "Bloody Angle." The stalemate cost Lee untold casualties. Especially painful to Lee was the death of the Jeb Stuart on May 11 in a cavalry fight at Yellow Tavern in Virginia. Grant continued his southeastward movements as he fought with Lee. Early in June, Grant reached Cold Harbor, a strategic crossroads not far from Richmond. However, Lee's men blocked the advance. Grant's frontal attacks on the strong Confederate works were unsuccessful. In just over a month of nearly continuous action, the Army of the Potomac was suffering from its losses. Yet Grant was undeterred. He knew that Lee had suffered much higher casualties than the North, and Grant justified the sacrifices against the greater objective of ending the war. After Cold Harbor, Grant altered his strategy. He secretly began moving his army across the James. He ordered his men across a pontoon bridge about 2,500 feet long...

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