A report on Battle of Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg, A. P. Hill and Confederate States Army

Battle of Cold Harbor by Kurz and Allison, 1888

The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg. In the foreground, the figure on the right is Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac.

Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

Fredericksburg, Virginia; May 1863. Soldiers in the trenches. Trench warfare would appear again more infamously in World War I

Private Edwin Francis Jemison, whose image became one of the most famous portraits of the young soldiers of the war

Union marches and operations in Central Virginia (1864-65)

A cartoon from the war, showing the Confederates forcibly drafting a Unionist man into the Confederate army. The Unionist man objects, with the Confederates threatening to lynch him if he does not comply.

Movements in the Overland Campaign, May 29, and actions May 30, 1864

Siege of Petersburg, assaults on June 15–18

An 1861 Confederate recruiting poster from Virginia, urging men to join the Confederate cause and fight off the U.S. Army, which it refers to as a "brutal and desperate foe"

Opposing commanders: Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, at Cold Harbor, photographed by Edgar Guy Fawx in 1864; Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1865

Siege of Petersburg, movements against the railroads and A.P. Hill's counterattack, June 21–22

The Burnett Inn at Old Cold Harbor (by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, June 4, 1864)

General Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's most famous general

Positions of the armies on the afternoon of June 1, 1864

"Dictator" siege mortar on the U.S. Military Railroad at Petersburg

Portrait of Hill by William Ludwell Sheppard, 1898

An 1895 illustration showing the uniforms of the Confederate Army contrasted with those of the U.S. Army

A painting of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fighting the U.S. Army at Spotsylvania in 1864

Makeshift Confederate breastworks at the extreme left of their line

Siege of Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, July 30

A group of Confederate soldiers-possibly an artillery unit captured at Island No. 10 and taken at POW Camp Douglas (Chicago); photograph possibly by D. F. Brandon

Earthworks photographed after the battle

Sketch of the explosion seen from the Union line.

Confederate troops marching south on N Market Street, Frederick, Maryland, during the Civil War

7th New York Heavy Artillery (serving as infantry) preparing to leave the trenches and charge the Confederate line, sketched by Alfred Waud

Second Battle of Deep Bottom, August 14–20

A Cherokee Confederates reunion in New Orleans, 1903

"Unburied Dead on Battlefield" by John Reekie; issued as Stero #914 being taken on the 1862 Battlefield of Gaines Mills aka First Cold Harbor April 1865; taken near the Adams Farm where 7th New York artillery was stationed June 1864 see Civil war Talk.

Siege of Petersburg, capture of the Weldon Railroad, August 18–19

Jackson McCurtain, Lieutenant Colonel of the First Choctaw Battalion in Oklahoma, CSA

Siege of Petersburg, actions on October 27

1862 illustration showing Confederates escorting kidnapped African American civilians south into slavery. A similar instance occurred in Pennsylvania when the Army of Northern Virginia invaded it in 1863 to fight the U.S. at Gettysburg.

Union Coehorn mortars in action, drawn by Alfred Waud

Siege of Petersburg, actions preceding Five Forks

An 1862 illustration of a Confederate officer forcing slaves at gunpoint to fire a cannon at U.S. soldiers in battle. A similar instance occurred at the first Battle of Bull Run, where slaves were forced by the Confederates to load and fire a cannon at U.S. forces.

Overland Campaign, from the Wilderness to crossing the James River
Confederate
Union

Grant's final assaults and Lee's retreat (start of the Appomattox Campaign)

An 1864 cartoon lampooning the Confederacy's deliberating on the use of black soldiers, showing them defecting en masse towards U.S. lines if such proposals were adopted.

"Marlboro", an African-American body servant to a white Confederate soldier

Julian Scott's 1873 painting, Surrender of a Confederate Soldier

Corporal of the Artillery division of the Confederate Army

Confederate mortar crew at Warrington, Florida in 1861, across from Fort Pickens

Confederate artillery at Charleston Harbor, 1863

Lt Col. E. V. Nash, 4th Georgia Infantry Doles-Cook Brigade, who was killed in 1864

<Center>Colonel (Infantry shown)</Center>

<Center>Lieutenant-colonel (Headquarters shown)</Center>

<center>Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson</center>

<Center>Major (Medical Corps shown)</Center>

<center>Brig. Gen. August Kautz</center>

<Center>Captain (Marine Corps shown)</Center>

Fascine Trench Breastworks, Petersburg, Va. – NARA – 524792. Although identified as Confederate Trenches this is actually Union Fort Sedgwick aka "Fort Hell" which was opposite Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damnation"<ref>Civil War talk Forum</ref>

<Center>1st Lieutenant (Artillery shown)</Center>

Union Army 9th Corps attacking Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damanation" sketch by Alfred Ward.

<Center>2nd Lieutenant (Cavalry shown)</Center>

Confederate artilleryman killed during the final Union assault against the trenches at Petersburg. Photo by Thomas C. Roche, April 3, 1865.<ref>Frassanito, p. 360.</ref><ref>See website Petersburg Project on location of Many of the Roche photographs at Petersburg April 1865</ref> Although prints of this picture list it as being taken at Ft Mahone, historians at the "Petersburg Project" believe it was taken at Confederate Battery 25<ref>Dead Artilleryman comments Petersburg Project</ref>

Smoke is still rising from the ruins of Richmond, Virginia after surrendering on April 3, 1865 following the Union victory at the siege of Petersburg. Union cavalry mounts with carbines visible are hitched in the foreground.

Richmond–Petersburg Theater, fall 1864
Confederate
Union

Ambrose Powell Hill Jr. (November 9, 1825 – April 2, 1865) was a Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War.

- A. P. Hill

Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army.

- Battle of Cold Harbor

Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond.

- Siege of Petersburg

In the final stage, Lee entrenched his army within besieged Petersburg before finally retreating westward across Virginia.

- Battle of Cold Harbor

This theory was tested at the Battle of Cold Harbor (May 31 – June 12) when Grant's army once again came into contact with Lee's near Mechanicsville.

- Siege of Petersburg

Third Corps, under Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, including the divisions of Maj. Gens. Henry Heth and Cadmus M. Wilcox and Brig. Gen. William Mahone.

- Siege of Petersburg

Third Corps, under Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, including the divisions of Maj. Gens. Henry Heth and Cadmus M. Wilcox, and Brig. Gen. William Mahone.

- Battle of Cold Harbor

Hill held the Confederate left flank at Cold Harbor, but two divisions of his corps were used to defend against the main Union attack on the right flank on June 3; when part of the troops to his right gave way, Hill used one brigade to launch a successful counterattack.

- A. P. Hill

During the Siege of Petersburg of 1864–65, Hill and his men participated in several battles during the various Union offensives, particularly Jerusalem Plank Road, the Crater, Globe Tavern, Second Reams Station, and Peebles Farm.

- A. P. Hill

Some other prominent Confederate generals who led significant units operating sometimes independently in the CSA included Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, James Longstreet, J. E. B. Stuart, Gideon Pillow, A. P. Hill, John B. Gordon.

- Confederate States Army

During the Civil War 28,693 Native Americans served in the U.S. and Confederate armies, participating in battles such as Pea Ridge, Second Manassas, Antietam, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in Federal assaults on Petersburg.

- Confederate States Army

3 related topics with Alpha

Robert E. Lee

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Lee at age 31 in 1838, as a Lieutenant of Engineers in the U.S. Army

Robert E. Lee, around age 38, and his son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, around age 8, c.1845

Robert E. Lee around age 43, when he was a brevet lieutenant-colonel of engineers, c. 1850

Lee mounted on Traveller (September 1866)

Battle of Gettysburg, by Thure de Thulstrup

Lee with son Custis (left) and aide Walter H. Taylor (right) by Brady, April 16, 1865

General Lee and his Confederate officers in their first meeting since Appomattox, August 1869.

Oath of amnesty submitted by Robert E. Lee in 1865

Robert E. Lee, oil on canvas, Edward Calledon Bruce, 1865. Virginia Historical Society

Robert Edward Lee in art at the Battle of Chancellorsville in a stained glass window of the Washington National Cathedral

Facade view of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial — at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, pictured in 2006

Unveiling of the Equestrian Statue of Robert E. Lee, May 29, 1890, Richmond, Virginia

The removal of Lee's statue from a monument in New Orleans

Stained glass of Lee's life in the National Cathedral

Robert E. Lee, National Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C. Edward Virginius Valentine, sculptor, 1909

Robert E Lee, Virginia Monument, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Frederick William Sievers, sculptor, 1917

Robert E. Lee Monument by Mercié, Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, 1890

Statue of Lee at the Confederate War Memorial, Dallas, 1896

University Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general who served the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, during which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army.

Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before the lengthy Siege of Petersburg, which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

On May 1, 1864, General Lee was present at the baptism of General A.P. Hill's daughter, Lucy Lee Hill, to serve as her godfather.

These battles in the Overland Campaign included the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor.

Jubal Early

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Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Early's childhood home in northeastern Franklin County

General Early, disguised as a farmer, while escaping to Mexico, 1865

A plaque praising Early in Rocky Mount, Virginia

On June 19, 1861, Early formally became a colonel in the Confederate army, commanding the 24th Virginia Infantry, including his young cousin (previously expelled from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for attending a tea party), Jack Hairston.

Furthermore, his troops arrived in the nick of time to reinforce Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill on Jackson's left on Stony Ridge during the Second Battle of Bull Run (a/k/a Second Manassas).

Thus, Early commanded that corps in the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Thus Early commanded the Confederacy's last invasion of the North, secured much-needed funds and supplies for the Confederacy and drawing off Union troops from the siege of Petersburg.

Henry Heth

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Heth as a member of the Confederate Army

An illustration of Confederate troops at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863

Henry Heth ( not ) (December 16, 1825 – September 27, 1899) was a career United States Army officer who became a Confederate general in the American Civil War.

He came to the notice of Robert E. Lee while serving briefly as his quartermaster, and was given a brigade in the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by A.P. Hill, whose division he commanded when the latter was wounded at Chancellorsville.

In the subsequent Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, his division was held primarily in the rear, and was positioned on the Confederate left flank at the Battles of North Anna and Cold Harbor.

Heth also participated in the Siege of Petersburg, playing direct roles in the battles of Globe Tavern; Second Ream's Station; Peeble's Farm; Boydton Plank Road; and Hatcher's Run.