by Bruce Catton
28. Following the Greek Cross, p. 189»
ALL THEIR YESTERDAYS
1. Following the Greek Cross, pp. 189-90.
2. History of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, pp. 421-22. In
General Warren's journal entry for May 7 (Official Records,
Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 540) there is reference to a delay
caused by Meade's cavalry escort. Major Small refers to it in
The Road to Richmond, p. 135, and General Webb mentions
it in Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, p. 164. It should be added,
of course, that various other factors delayed the move to
Spotsylvania Court House, the most important probably
being the job done by the Confederate cavalry under Fite= hugh Lee.
History of the 12th Massachusetts Volunteers, p. 129,
There is an excellent description of the approach, assault, and repulse of Robinsons division, by Brigadier General Charles L. Pierson, in the M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp„ 214-16, supplemented by Colonel Theodore Lyman, pp. 238-39. See also the Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp0 594, 597, 619; The Story of the Regiment, p. 333; Military Memoirs of a Confederate, by E. P. Alexander, pp. 510-12.
Campaigning with Grant, p. 84; Meade's Headquarters, pp. 105-6,n.
Down in Dixie, p. 316; "Sheridan's Richmond Raid" m Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, p. 189.
Down in Dixie, pp. 276-77.
The handling of the Wilderness wounded is treated in detail in the report of Surgeon Thomas A. McParlin, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, in the Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 220. See also Down in Dixie, p. 276; Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals, by a Citizen-Soldier, p, 242; Army Life: a Private's Reminiscences, p. 171.
Surgeon Edward B. Dalton, chief medical officer of Depot Field Hospital, in Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 270; also Surgeon McParlin's report, in that volume, p. 234; South After Gettysburg, pp. 85-86, 88; Three Years in the Sixth Corps, p. 343.
10. Three Years in the Sixth Corps, pp. 344-45.
11. Report of Surgeon McParlin, Official Records, Vol
XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 227 ff.
12. Ibid., pp. 235, 271-74.
13. History of the First Regiment of Heavy Artillery,
Massachusetts Volunteers, p. 151.
14. South After Gettysburg, pp. 88, 90.
Army Life: a Private's Reminiscences, p. 177; Recollections of a Private Soldier, p. 88; History of the Corn Exchange Regiment, p. 410.
Following the Greek Cross, pp. 191-93; Campaigning with Grant, pp. 89-90; Correspondence of John Sedgwick,
Major General, Vol. II, p. 210; Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, p. 175.
Abraham Lincoln: the War Years, Vol. Ill, p. 47o
Campaigning with Grant, p. 83.
SURPASSING ALL FORMER EXPERIENCES
The Life and Letters of Emory Upton, by Peter 8„ Mitchie, pp. 1-9, 12-37, 51-68.
Ibid., pp. 96-98. Uptons formal report on this assault is unusually detailed and graphic. It is in the Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 665-68.
Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p, 517; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 667-68.
History of the Philadelphia Brigade, pp. 242-43,
Ibid., p. 244; M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 436,
Upton's report, op. cit., p. 668.
War Diary of human Harris Tenney, 1861-1865, p. 115$ Meade's Headquarters, p. 110.
Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 230; Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, p. 170.
The Long Arm of Lee, by Jennings C. Wise, Vol. U9 pp. 787-88.
Hancock's report, Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 334.
Ibid., p. 335. General Barlow described the movement of his division in the M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 245-270. His article has been drawn on liberally in the preparation of this chapter.
Personal Recollections of the War of 1861, by Charles A. Fuller, pp. 9-10; The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns, by Captain D. P. Conyngham, p. 474; Mr. Lincoln's Army, by Bruce Carton, pp. 209-10.
Barlow's account, M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 247» See also, in the same volume, the article by Lieutenant Colonel William R. Driver, p. 277.
Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 409-10.
History of the 106th Regiment Pennsylvania Volutin teers, p. 206; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 33S, 470; History of the Second Army Corps, p. 470.
History of the Philadelphia Brigade, p. 246; Barlow, in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 251-52; The Long Arm of Lee, Vol. II, pp. 789-90; Military Memoirs of a Confederate, pp. 519-20.
Lee's Lieutenants, by Douglas Southall Freeman, Vol. Ill, pp. 404-6; Service with the 6th Wisconsin Volunteers, p. 268; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 373-74; M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 281-82.
Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 522; Reminiscences of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment, p. 91; History of the Philadelphia Brigade, p. 247.
Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 522; Barlow's story, in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 254-55; History of the Philadelphia Brigade, p. 248; History of the Second Army Corps, p. 473.
Brigadier General Lewis A. Grant, in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 269. This fighting is graphically described by G. Norton Galloway in Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, pp. 170-74. See also Following the Greek Cross, p. 202. Incidentally, it may be well to emphasize that the famous "bloody angle" was here, and not at the tip of the salient where Barlow's men first broke the line.
Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, pp. 171-72; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 537, 539; History of the 150th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, pp. 196-97.
History of the 24th Michigan of the Iron Brigade, by O. B. Curtis, p. 243; History of the Second Army Corps, p. 475.
Reminiscences of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment, p. 91; History of the 106th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 207; Service with the 6th Wisconsin Volunteers, p. 266; Following the Greek Cross, pp. 200-1.
Following the Greek Cross, p. 200; report of Brigadier General Lewis Grant, Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 704; Reminiscences of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment, p. 92; History of the 24th Michigan in the Iron Brigade, p. 244.
The Road to Richmond, p. 141; Campaigns of the 146th Regiment New York State Volunteers, pp. 205-6.
Recollections of a Private Soldier, pp. 83-86; M.H.S.Mo Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 297-98; Letters of a War Correspondent, p. 72; History of the First Regiment of Heavy Artillery, Massachusetts Volunteers, pp. 152-58. It might be noted that veteran troops called up to stand in support of the heavies in this fight put in a profitable afternoon looting the knapsacks which the green troops had piled in a row before going into action.
27. My Life in the Army, by Robert Tilney, p. 53„
Chapter Three: One More River to Cross
THE CRIPPLES WHO COULD NOT RUN
1. Grant's report of the final year's operations, Official
Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 20-21; Campaigning with
Grant, pp. 124-25.
2. Recollections of a Private Soldier, pp. 91-93.
3. Recollections of the Civil War, by Charles A. Dana,
p. 199.
4. Four Years in the Army of the Potomac, p. 190.
Four Years Campaigning in the Army of the Potomac, pp. 132, 134.
For these incidents involving punishment for cowardice, see The Story of the 48th, by Joseph Gould, pp. 177-78; Reminiscences of the War of the Rebellion, p. 200; Reminiscences of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment, p. 94; Berdans United States Sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac, by Captain C. A. Stevens, p. 355.
Musket and Sword, p. 169; A Little Fifers War Diary, p. 119.
History of the Philadelphia Brigade, p. 247.
The History of the 10th Massachusetts Battery, p. 181,
10. The point is emphasized in Humphreys, p. 118-
Army Life: a Private's Reminiscences, pp. 187-90.
Down in Dixie, p. 86.
; 13. History of the Corn Exchange Regiment, p. 426; His-
tory of the 51st Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, by
Thomas H. Parker, p. 555; Letters of a War Correspondent,
p. 81; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 405; The Story
of the First Massachusetts Light Battery, by A. J. Bennett,
pp. 153-54; The Road to Richmond, p. 200.
14. Musket and Sword, p. 238.
15. Three Years in the Army: the Story of the 13th Massa-
chusetts Volunteers, p. 132.
16. History of the Philadelphia Brigade, pp. 255-56.
Meade's Headquarters, pp. 99-100; Gibbons Personal Recollections, p. 229.
History of the Sauk County Riflemen, by Philip Cheek and Mair Pointon, p. 110.
The organization of the Veterans Reserve Corps, and the amazing adventures of the regiment as described in the text, are fully recovered in the report made at the end of the war by Captain J. W. De Forest, acting assistant adjutant general, to Brigadier General James B. Fry, provost marshal general. It is found in the Official Records, Series 3, Vol. V, pp. 543-55.
Four Years Campaigning in the Army of the Potomac, p. 140; History of the 12th Massachusetts Volunteers, p. 142; History of the 24th Michigan, p. 241.
21. M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. VI, p. 389.
JUDGMENT TRUMP OF THE ALMIGHTY
The enlisted men of the Army of the Potomac referred to this constant shift to the left as "the jug-handle movement." (History of the Corn Exchange Regiment, p. 432.)
Three Years in the Army; the Story of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers, pp. 356, 364; Major William P. Shreve in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 316; Service with the 6th Wisconsin Volunteers, p. 279; manuscript letters of Lewis Bissell; History of the 51st Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 548. Note the sentiment expressed in History of the 50th Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, by Lewis Crater, p. 62: "Notwithstanding the regiment had lost fully 330 men killed, wounded and captured during the month, the very best feeling was exhibited, from the fact that all felt that some progress was being made and that the end of the rebellion was prospectively drawing near."
In the Ranks from the Wilderness to Appomattox Courthouse, by the Rev. R. E. McBride, p. 62.
M.H.SM. Papers, Vol. V, p. 3; Following the Greek Cross, p. 214.
5. M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 326-28.
Following the Greek Cross, p. 208; Three Years in the Sixth Corps, p. 350; History of the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, pp. 54-55.
Grant to Halleck, dispatch of May 22, Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 7; Grant to W. F. Smith, Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 3, p. 371; Smith to Rawlins, ibid., p„ 410.
History of the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, p. 58.
Ibid., pp. 60-62, 65-66; Three Years in the Sixth Corps, pp. 352-53; Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 662, 671.
A brief summary of the reasons for attacking at Cold Harbor is given in Humphreys, p. 181. See also Lee, Grant and Sherman, by Lieutenant Colonel Alfred H. Burne, p. 50. For a detailed account of the battle, strongly critical of Grant, see "Cold Harbor," by Major General Martin T. McMahon, in Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, pp. 213 ff.
An extensive discussion of the way the rifle-trench combination had revolutionized tactics by 1864 can be found in Fuller's The Generalship of U. S. Grant, pp. 51-52, 57-58, 61.
Official Records, Vol. XXVII, Part 1, pp. 761, 775, 778, 831-32; Humphreys, pp. 75-76.
13. History of the 36th Regiment Massachusetts Volun-
teers, by Henry Sweetser Burrage, p. 189; M.H.S.M. Tapers, Vol. V, p. 9.
Meade s Headquarters, p. 138.
History of the Second Army Corps, p. 506.
Meade's Headquarters, p. 139.
Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 3, pp. 482, 489, 491-92, 505, 506; Humphreys, pp. 176-78, 182; History of the Philadelphia Brigade, p. 269; Recollections of a Private Soldier, pp. 127-28; History of the 106th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 219.
The point is stressed by Captain Charles H. Porter in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 339.
Letters of a War Correspondent, p. 96.
Battles and Leaders, Vol. IV, p. 217.
Recollections of a Private Soldier, p. 129; History of the 10th Massachusetts Battery, p. 200.
Reminiscences of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment, pp. 98-99.
Hancock's report on Cold Harbor is in the Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, pp. 344-46. See also Gibbons report, in that volume, p. 433, and Barlow's, p. 369. Humphreys' account, accurate but somewhat prosy, is in his book, pp. 182-85. There are graphic glimpses of the II Corps assault in History of the Philadelphia Brigade, pp. 270-72, and History of the 106th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, pp. 220-21. See also Following the Greek Cross, p. 211, and Meade's Headquarters, p. 144.
Army Life: a Private's Reminiscences, p. 194. The very weight of Confederate fire seems actually to have kept the VI Corps from suffering as many casualties as Hancock's men had, by pinning the assault waves down from the very beginning. Reading the reports of division and brigade commanders in this corps leads one to believe that June 1 was a worse day for the VI Corps than June 3. Emory Upton's report, for instance, disposes of the June 3 assault with the simple statement that "another assault was ordered, but being deemed impracticable along our front was not made." For the VI Corps reports, see the Official Records, Vol. XXXVI,
Part 1, pp. 662, 671, 674, 680, 689-90, 708, 720, 727, 735, 739, 744, 750, 753. Most of these reports contain little indication that June 3 was especially different from any other day at Cold Harbor.
History of the 12th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, pp. 202-8. The account of Cold Harbor in this regimental history is one of the best contemporary battle descriptions in Civil War literature.
Offhand, it would seem both difficult and unnecessary to exaggerate the horrors of Cold Harbor, but for some reason—chiefly perhaps, the desire to paint Grant as a callous and uninspired butcher—no other Civil War battle gets as warped a presentation as this one. It is usually described as a battle in which the entire Federal army attacked "all along the line," losing 13,000 men thereby. Actually, the 13,000 casualties are the total for nearly two weeks in the Cold Harbor lines, and the June 3 assault involved only part of the army. The V Corps did not attack at all on that day and the IX Corps did little more than drive in the Confederate skirmish lines. The VI Corps, as mentioned above, fared worse on June 1 than on June 3, and the real weight of the June 3 attack was borne by two of Hancock's divisions and one—Martindale's—of Smith's. In those three divisions, of course, the loss was genuinely frightful.
Campaigning with Grant, p. 109; manuscript letters of Lewis Bissell.
SECONDHAND CLOTHES
1. Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 3, pp. 672, 870.
2. For trench life at Cold Harbor immediately after the
June 3 attacks, see History of the 106th Regiment Pennsyl-
vania Volunteers, pp. 223-24; Army Life: a Private's Remi-
niscences, p. 195; History of the 12th Regiment New Hamp-
shire Volunteers, p. 214; In the Ranks from the Wilderness
to Appomattox Courthouse, p. 54; Three Years in the Sixth
Corps, pp. 357-58.
3. Recollections of a Private Soldier, p. 120; History of
DurrelVs Battery in the Civil War, pp. 190, 229.
Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 1, p. 365.
Official Records, Vol. XXXVI, Part 3, p. 647.
There is a good discussion of this point by Major William P. Shreve in M.H.S.M. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 316.
Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, by Theodore Reichardt, p. 139.
History of the 12th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, p. 214; History of the 106th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 224; History of the Corn Exchange Regiment, p. 469.
Service with the 6th Wisconsin Volunteers, pp. 277, 284-85; Meade's Headquarter
s, p. 147.
Campaigning with Grant, pp. 107-8.
Following the Greek Cross, p. 211.
12. The Life and Letters of Emory Upton, pp. 108-9. In