0023 Confederate Battery 11 at Petersburg Battlefield

The Union Army fortificaton in the siege lines around Petersburg,Virginia,was attack in the pre-dawn Confederate assault by troops led by Major General John B.Gordon.The attack was the last serious attempt by Confederate troops to break the Siege of Petersburg.After an initial success,General Gordon's men were driven back by Union troops of the IX Corps commanded by Major General John G.Parke.

 

In March 1865,Confederate General Robert E. Lee continued defening his position around Petersburg,but his Army was weekened by desertion,disease,and shortage of supplies and he was outnumered by his Union counterpart,Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant,by about 125,00 to 50,00.After the defeat of his subordinate,Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early,at the Battle of Wayneboro in the Shenandoah Valley,general Lee relized that an additional 50,000 men under Major General Philip H. Sheridan would probably join General Grant's Army at Petersburg.Furthermor Major General Willian T. Sherman was marching noth though the Carolinas to join General Grant as well.General Lee had to avoid being outnumbered aloust 4 to 1 by arriving forces he asked Major General John B. Gordon for advice.General Gordon replied that he had three recommendtions,in decreasing order perference;first,offer peace terms of the enemy;secord,reteat from Richmond and Petersburg,link up with the Confederat Army in North Carolina under General Joseph E.Johnson,jointly defeat General Sherman,and the go after General Grant,third,fight without delay.An argument ensued,with General Lee rejecting the political implications of the first choise and indicating the difficulty of the secord,but General Gordon,left the meeting with the impression that General Lee was considering those options.On March 6,1865,however,General Gordon was summoned back to headquaters and General Lee told him "there seened to be but one thing that we could do -fight.to stand still was death.It could only be death if we fought and failed.".

 

General Gordon later wrote in his memoirs that he "labored day and night at exceedingly grave and discouraging problem,on the proper solution of which defended the commander"s decision as to when and where he would deliver his last blow for the life of the Confederacy".He worked on his plans until march 23,1865,and decided to recommend a surprise attack on the Union lines that would force General Grant to contract his lines and disrut his plans to assault the Confederate works(which,unbeknownst to General Lee and General Gordon,General Grant had already ordered for March 29,1865).

 

General gordon planned a pre-dawn assault from the Confederate stronghold known as Colquitt"s Salient against Fort Stedman,one of the fortifcations in Union lines that encircled Petersburg,named for Griffin A. Stedman,a Union colonel from Conneticut who had been killed in the vicinity in August 1864.It was one of the closest sports to the Confederate works,there were fewer wooden chevaux de frise obstructions protecting it,and supply depot on the U.S.Military Railroad was less then a mile behine the fort.Dirctly after capturing Fort Sedman and its artillery,Confederate soldiers would move north and south along the Union lines to clear the neighboring fortifiations and make way for the main attack which would lead to the main Union supply base of City Point (also General Grants"s headquaters),ten miles (16km)northeast on the Appomattox River.

 

The assault force was three divisions of General Gordon"s Secord Corp (under Brigadier General Clement A.Evens,Major General Bryan Grimes,and Brigadier General James A. Walker),tow brigades from the Fourth Corps division of Major General Bushrod R Johnson (under Brigadier General Matthew W.Ransom and Brigadier William H.Wallace) in close support,and two brigaes from Major general Cadums M.Wilcox"s Third Corps division in reserve.General Lee had also ordered the division of Major General George E.Pickett of the First Corps to move from its position north of the James River in time to join the action.This pepresented almost half of General Lee's infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia:11,500 men of General Gordon's corps and General Bushrod Johnson's division,1,700 of General Wilcox's men nearly,and 6,500 fromGeneral Pickett moving up.Major General William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee's cavalry division was designated to exploit the expected infantry breakthough.Opposing them were the Union IX Corps commanded by Major General John G.Parke,defending the first 7 miles (11km)south from the Appomattox River and manning in General Gordon's front (from north to south) artillery Batteries IX and X,Fort stedman,and artillery Batteries XI and XII.General Parke"s 3rd division under Brigadier General John F. Hartranft,was in reserve behnd the lines.While Major General George G.Meade was away at City Point with General Grant,General Parke was the acting commander of the Army of the Potomac,altough he would not relize that until after General Gordon"s attack started.

 

General Gordon's attack started at 4:15 a.m.Lead parties of sharpshooters and engineers masquerding as deserting soldiers headed out overwhelm Union pickets and to remove obdtructions that would delay the infantry advance.They were followed by three groups of 100 assigned to storm the Union works and stream back into the Union rear area.These men relied on surprise and speed they carried unloaded muskets so that no one could accidentally fire and alert the enemy.The main thrust was between Batteries XI and X,with one group moving north Battery XI and other two for Battery X and Fort Stedman.The movement achieved complete surpise.

 

Brevet Brigadier General Nepoleon B.McLaughlen,the officer for the Fort Stedman sector,heard the sound of the attack,dressed quickly in the predawn darkness,and role to Fort Haskell just to the south of the Battery Xii which he found to be ready to defend itself.As he moved north,general McLaughlen ordered Battery XII open fire on Battery XI and ordered a reserve infantry regiment,the 59th Massachusetts,to counterattack,which they did with fix bayonets,brifly recapuring Battery XI.Assuming that he had sealed the olny breach in the line,General McLaughlen rode into Fort Stedman.He recalled "I crossed the parapet and meeting some men coming over curtains,whom in the darkness I supposed to be part of the picket,I established them inside the work,giving direction with regard to position and firing,all of which were instantly obeyed".He suddenly realized he was a Union general,capturing him.He was taken back across no man's land and surrendered his sword personally to General Gordon.

 

General Gordon soon arrived at Fort stedman and found his attack had son exceeded his "most sanguine expectitions".Whithin minutes,Battery X,BatteryXI and BatteryXII and Fort Stedman had been seized,opening a gap nearly 1,000 feet (300m) long in the Union lines.Confederate artillerists under Lieutenant Colonel Robert M.Stribline used the captured guns in Fort Stedman and Battery X open up enfilade fire on the entrenchments to the north and south.The attack began having difficulty at Battery IX to the north the Union troops formed a battle line and the Confederates were too confused by the maze of trenches to attack it effectively.General Gordon truned his attenention to the southern flak of his attack and Fort Haskell,against which he launched his division under Brigadier General Clement Evens.The defenders successfully employed canister rounds from three cannons,halting the assault.The Confederate artillery from Colquitt"s Salient began bombarding Fort Haskell and the Federal field artillery returned fire,alone with massive siege guns in the rear.When the Union flag was knocked down,the Union gunners assumed that it had fallen to the Confederates and opened fire on their own men.Volunteers were found to raise the flag again and four of them were killed before the Federal artillery cease fire.

 

General Gordon sent message back to General Robert E.Lee that the attack was going well but he was unwere to the troubles developing.His three 100-man detachments were wanding around the rear area in confusion and many had stopped to satisfy their hunger withg captured Federal rations.The cavarly had not found any avenue though which to advance into the rear.General Pickett"s division had such difficulty with rail transportion that only three of it four brigades departed on schedule,and they did not arrived until midday,too late to take part in the battle.And the main Union defence forces was begining to mobilzing.General Parke acted decisively,ordering Brigadier General Hartranft"s reserve division to close the gap while his reserve artillery under Colonel John C.Tidball took up positions on a ridge east of Fort Stedman and began shell the Confederates.

 

Brigadier General Hartranft,in the words of historian Noah Trudeau,"was a man possessed.From the instant he received word that Fort Stedman had fallen.General Hartranft worked furiously to limits the Confederate penetration and once that objective had been achieveed,to elimate the pocket".Finding that Major General Orlando B.Wilcox,General Parke"s 1st division commander and a more senior officer,was preparing his headquaters to withdraw,General Hartranft was able to convince General Wilcox to yield tactical command and he organized defensive forses that completely ringed the confederate penetration by 7:30 a.m.,stopping it just of the miliartary railrard depot,General Meade Station.The Union artillery,aware the Confederates occupied the Batteries and Fort Stedman,launched punishing fire against them.

 

General Gordon,who was in Fort Stedman,realized his plan had failed when his men started returning and reported remarkable Union resistance.Whith permission from General Ropbert E.Lee,who had arrived to watch the battle General Gordon scambled to get his forces back to safty.By 7:45 a.m.,4,000 Union troops under General Hartranft were postioned in a semicrle of a mile and a half,ready to counterattack.A messanger arrived with word fromGeneral Parke to delay the attack while reinforcements came up from the VI Army Corps,but General Hartranft ordered his line to charge,writing afterward that "I saw that the enemy had already commence to ,waver and that success was certain.I therefore,allowed the line to charge;beside this,it was doubtful wheather I could communicated with the regiment on the flanks in countermand the movement".The retreating Confederats came under Union crossfire,suffering heavy casualties.Their attack had failed.Fort Stedman was recaptured by squad from the 208th Pennsylvania.

 

A distinguished vistor came close to witnessing the action on March 25,1865.President Abraham Lincoln was conferring with General Grant and a division-size review parade was scheduled nearby for that morning.Because of the Confederate attack,the review was postponed until that afternoon.A Confederate prisoner was amazed to see the general and president so soon after what he considered a massive attack,riding "by us seemingly not the least concerned and as if nothing had happened".He and his fellow prisoners took note of this self-confidence and "with one accord agreed that our cause was lost".Lincpln had telegraphed to Secretary of War Edwin M.Stanton that morning,"arrived here all safe about 9:00 p.m. yesterday.No war news... Robert (Lincoln's son,serving as an aide to General Grant ) just now tell me there was a little rumpus up the lines this morning,ending about where it began."

 

The attack on Fort Stedman turned out to be four-hour action with no impact on the Union lines.The Confederate Army was forced to set its own lines,as the Union attacked further down the front line.To give General Gordon's attack enough stength to be successful,General Lee had weakened his own right flank.The II Army Corps and VI Army Corps seized much of the entrenched Confederate picket line southwest of Petersburg,but found the main line still well maned This Union advace prepared the ground for General Grant's breakthough attack on the Third Battle of pettersburg on Apirl 2,1865.

 

Union casualties in the Battle of Fort Stedman were 1,044 (72 killed,450 wounded,522 missing or captured),Confedaterate casualtties a considerably heavier 4,000 (600 killed,2,400 wounded,1,000 missing or captured).But more seriously,the Confederate positions were weakened.After the battle General Lee's defeat was only a matter of time His final opportunity of break the Union lines and regain the momentum was gone.The Battle of Fort Stedman was the final episode of the Richmond-Petersburg Campain.Immediately following was the Appomattox Campain,including the Battle of Five Forks,the fall of Richmond and Petersburg,and the final surrender of General Lee's Army on Apirl 9,1865.

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