This Month in the Civil War – June, 1864 Cold Harbor to Petersburg- by S. McBride

 

The Union’s Army of the Potomac had suffered a terrible loss of men in May, 1864 in battles at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse, but General Ulysses S. Grant was committed to bringing the bloody and costly War Between the States to an end before the year ended. The Confederates had suffered considerable losses as well.  Grant’s plan to prevent Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from being reinforced as Grant moved his troops toward Richmond was to have diversions in other places. Union General Franz Sigel had fought forces under Confederate General John Breckinridge at New Market in the Shenandoah Valley in mid-May.  Greatly outnumbered, Breckinridge had called up cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, some of them boys as young as 15, and most of whom were killed or wounded.  But they defeated Sigel.

Read the entire article in the June 19th issue of the Express.

 

Battle of the Wilderness Part 2 – by S. McBride

 

As Grant planned to get to the vital crossroads at Spotsylvania before Lee’s army could, Lee met the challenge. He sensed what Grant was thinking, and he was sure of the strategy the Union’s new commander would put in place.  Lee sent Jeb Stuart’s cavalry to delay the advancing Federals at Todd’s Tavern, which gave his infantry time to go by back roads to reach the courthouse before the Union army got there.

 

Read the entire article in the May 22nd issue of the Express.

 

The Red River Campaign April 1864 – by Sandy McBride

Although Ulysses S. Grant’s army had won a crucial victory at Vicksburg in July of 1863, taking control of trade and travel on the Mississippi River for the Union, the Confederacy had maintained control of the Trans-Mississippi region to the west of the river.  They were able to continue trade through Texas and Mexico, selling cotton to the nations of Europe in exchange for guns, thereby keeping their efforts to gain their independence going.

Grant had been given control of all the Union armies in March, 1864, and he had a plan to end the War Between the States by November.  He would concentrate the bulk of Union forces in the east to go after Robert E. Lee in Virginia and Joseph E. Johnston in Georgia.  He would push them back and force them to give up the fight.

Read the entire article in the April 24th issue of the Express