Battle of the Yellow Tavern

Battle of the Yellow Tavern

Part of: American Civil War

date	May 11, 1864
place	Henrico County , Virginia, USA
output	Union victory

Parties to the conflict
United States	Confederate States of America
Commander
Philip Sheridan	JEB Stuart † Fitzhugh Lee
Troop strength
10,000	4,500
losses
around 800 in total	around 800 in total

The Battle of the Yellow Tavern took place on May 11, 1864. She was part of the overland campaign during the American Civil War . The clash between Union and Confederate cavalry became particularly important because it was here that the legendary cavalry commander of the South, Major General J.EB Stuart , was fatally wounded.

foreplay

Lieutenant General Grant's offensive against Lee's Northern Virginia Army in 1864 is referred to as an overland campaign . After the undecided battle in the Wilderness , the two armies met again in the battle at Spotsylvania Court House . Major General Philip Sheridan , the commanding general of the Potomac Army Cavalry Corps under Major General George Gordon Meade , was dissatisfied with the role assigned to him and his corps . Meade saw the tasks of the cavalry in the traditional way in the reconnaissance and the shielding of the rest of the troops, while Sheridan tended to see cavalry as an independent, offensive group of troops, similar to the south, which independently undertook advances deep into the rear of the enemy.

On May 8, Sheridan, bypassing Meades, contacted the Commander-in-Chief of the US Army, Grant, and made it clear that the Union cavalry would only be able to defeat JEB Stuart's cavalry if they could operate as an independent and independent branch of the army. Grant took this point of view and convinced Meade of Sheridan's reasoning.

The battle

On May 9th, Sheridan's corps began marching. It was the largest cavalry force that ever fought in the eastern theater of war - more than 10,000 men and 32 guns. Sheridan marched southeast to get in the rear of the Northern Virginia Army. The push had three objectives: first, to cut off Lee's supplies by destroying the railroad lines; second, to threaten the Confederation capital , Richmond , Virginia, by Sheridan in order to confuse Lee; the third and most important goal was to destroy “JEB” Stuart's cavalry.

On the evening of May 9, the Union cavalry column , which at times stretched 13 miles , reached the Confederate supply base at Beaver Dam Station. The Confederates were able to destroy key military supplies before Union forces took over Beaver Dam Station. Sheridan's forces destroyed some railroad cars and six locomotives on the Virginia Central Railroad, as well as telegraph poles and wires. They also freed hundreds of Union soldiers who had been captured in the " Wilderness ". Stuart took up a position between Richmond and Sheridan with 4,500 men. On May 11, the two cavalry units met at the Yellow Tavern, an abandoned inn six miles north of Richmond.

It was an unequal battle: not only were three divisions of Union cavalry fighting two brigades of Confederate cavalry, the soldiers of the Union were also armed with seven-shot Spencer carbines. For three hours the Confederates stubbornly defended themselves against the overwhelming power of the Union on a low ridge on the road to Richmond. Then a dismounted Union cavalryman (his name was John A. Huff ) managed to fatally wound JEB Stuart from a distance of ten meters. Stuart succumbed to his injury the next day. After Stuart was wounded, Major General Fitzhugh Lee took command; the Confederates fought for another hour.

Aftermath

Sheridan considered breaking through the fortifications in Richmond's north. He failed to do so, however, and turned further south to the Chickahominy to unite with Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler James Army on the James .

Results / final considerations

The losses in the battle of Yellow Tavern were comparatively small with about 800 dead, wounded and missing, the only real success of Sheridan's enterprise was the death of JEB Stuart, with which Robert E. Lee lost his most experienced cavalry commander.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). National Park Service, accessed April 1, 2016 . 

literature

• Rhea, Gordon C .: The Battles for Spotsylvania Courthouse and the Road to Yellow Tavern . Baton Rouge, LA 1997.