Attack on Fort Stedman

Attack on Fort Stedman

Part of: American Civil War

Shelter at Fort Stedman, by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1865

date	March 25, 1865
place	Petersburg, Virginia, USA
output	Union victory

Parties to the conflict
United States	Confederate States of America
Commander
Ulysses S. Grant George G. Meade	Robert E. Lee John Brown Gordon
Troop strength
IX. corps	II Corps
losses
1,044 killed : 72 wounded: 450 missing / captured: 522	~ 2,900 killed / wounded: 1,000 missing / captured: 1,900

The attack on Fort Stedman was a battle during the American Civil War . He ended the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign on March 25, 1865 east of Petersburg , Virginia . General Robert E. Lee intended to restore his freedom of action by attacking US Fort Stedman. The attack remained the Confederate’s last serious attempt to end the siege of Petersburg.

Starting position

Since the beginning of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign in July 1864, the Union armies had increasingly strengthened its troops between Richmond and Petersburg and until March 1865 moved to the south of Petersburg the leftmost edge ever further west to the Northern Virginia Army to outstrip. The positions of the Northern Virginia Army were so thinned out that Lee feared that he would no longer be able to stop a forceful attack by a Union army or that the only supply line of the Northern Virginia Army to the west - the Southside Railroad  - could no longer be interrupted . The cutting off of the Southside Railway also meant the encirclement of the Northern Virginia Army. With the planned attack, Lee hoped to force Grant to withdraw troops from the western part of the Union's positions. He then intended to evade the Northern Virginia Army along the railroad line and unite with General Johnston's Tennessee Army .

Lee therefore commissioned Major General John B. Gordon with the II.  Corps east of Petersburg to break through the positions of the Potomac Army in a surprise attack, to roll up the positions to the left and right of the break-through section and to advance to the east. To this end, Lee placed four brigades of the III. Corps and the cavalry division Major General Rooney Lees, in order to be able to expand the breakthrough into the depths with the latter.

The attack

Operation plan

Gordon planned to begin the attack before dawn. Gordon chose Fort Stedman as the breakthrough point. This fortification was very close to the Confederate positions and was less fortified than other parts of the front with Spanish horsemen . After taking the fort, artillery positions were to be taken in the depths and, with their support, the fortifications north and south of Fort Stedmans were to be conquered. The main offensive should follow, first taking a supply depot a mile east and then pushing further east. To this end, he had about 10,000 men in the reinforced II Corps and 5,000 men in reserve.

Spanish riders in front of Petersburg

execution

The attack began at four in the morning with a ruse. Disguised as deserters, snipers and pioneers approached the Union alarm posts in order to overwhelm them and eliminate the Spanish horsemen who could interfere with the approach of the infantry. The surprise succeeded and the southerners captured Fort Stedman with the artillery batteries X and XI. These storm troops also included artillerymen who were supposed to use the captured artillery immediately against the former owners.

The defenders, members of a heavy New York artillery battery, were unable to organize an effective defense. Mortar fire from artillery position XII into the fort also had no effect. By this time the Confederates had taken around 1,000 prisoners, including the local commander of the Union forces, Brigadier General Napoleon McLaughlen.

The southerners attacked further to the east in order to be able to take the field fortifications beyond Fort Stedman, which were recognizable in the approaching dusk, and from there to be able to shift the fire to the rear of the defenders of the forts north and south of the break-in point. These were not rear forts of the Union, but abandoned field fortifications of the Confederate under General Beauregard in June 1864. Therefore, fire support was not provided to continue the attack.

At the same time the defensive fire of the Potomac Army increased from the artillery positions IX and XII and from rapidly concentrated field artillery, whereby the artillery position XII was temporarily hit by its own fire. Gordon realized that it was impossible to continue the attack without fire support, and around eight o'clock, in agreement with General Lee, ordered the operation to be abandoned.

Counterattack

The counterattack by the IX began around eight. Potomac Army Corps with the Reserve Division under Major General John Hartranft . With the support of all available artillery in the army, the newly formed regiments from Pennsylvania succeeded not only in intercepting the attack by the Confederates, but in repossessing Fort Stedman and restoring the Union's original positions.

Many of the Confederate soldiers who advanced through Fort Stedman were unable to evade the artillery barrage to their own positions in the course of the counterattack, and the Confederates suffered losses of around 3,500 soldiers.

Effects

The attack on Fort Stedman was a four-hour battle without affecting the position of the field fortifications of the Potomac Army. Both opponents were back in their original positions.

Lieutenant General Grant was convinced that General Lee must have withdrawn and deployed troops from positions to the west on the Southside Railway. He therefore ordered an attack against the right flank of the III. Corps Lieutenant General AP Hills near Hatchers Run. The Potomac Army overran the Confederate outposts, occupied their positions and was now within sight of the field fortifications of the III. Corps. The starting positions for the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, which marked the beginning of the Appomattox campaign , were thus won .

The losses of the Northern Virginia Army were high, but the decisive factor was the weakening of the field fortifications in western Petersburg. General Lee's attempt to regain freedom of action had failed with defeat. The defeat of the Northern Virginia Army was now only a matter of time.

literature

• Shelby Foote : The Civil War. A narrative. Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox. 1st Vintage Books edition. Vintage Books, New York NY 1986, ISBN 0-394-74622-8 .
• Ulysses S. Grant : Personal Memoirs of US Grant. 2 volumes. Webster & Company, New York NY 1885-1886, ( Digitized Volume 1 , Digitized Volume 2 ).
• Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel (Eds.): Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Volume 4. The Century Co, New York NY 1884-1888, ( digitized ).
• Bernd G. Längin : The American Civil War. A chronicle in pictures day after day. Image documentation by Hanns Michael Schindler. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-900-8 .
• James M. McPherson (Ed.): The Atlas of the Civil War. Courage, Philadelphia PA et al. a. 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0 .
• James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom. The Civil War Era (= The Oxford History of the United States. Vol. 6). Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2003, ISBN 0-19-516895-X (In German: Die für die Freiheit. The history of the American civil war. List, Munich et al. 1988, ISBN 3-471-78178-1 ).
• United States War Department: The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 1880-1901.

Web links

• Petersburg National Battlefield
• Battle Summary (National Park Service)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Union losses. Cornell University Library, 2010, accessed August 10, 2012 (Official Records, Vol. 46, Part 1, pp. 70f). 
2. ↑ Confederate losses. National Park service, accessed December 17, 2017 (Battle Summaries). 
3. ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom. 2003, p. 844 f.
4. ↑ Shelby Foote: The Civil War. Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox. 1st Vintage Books edition. 1986, p. 843.