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RICHMOND National Battlefield Park Virginia
RICHMOND National Battlefield Park Virginia
by Joseph P. Cullen NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 33 Washington, D.C., 1961 The National Park System, of which Richmond National Battlefield Park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people. Richmond, 1858. From a contemporary sketch. The American Civil War was unique in many respects. One of the great turning points in American history, it was a national tragedy of i
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Richmond
Richmond
In session at Montgomery, Ala., in May 1861, the Confederate Congress voted to remove the Capital of the Confederate States to Richmond, Va. This decision, in effect, made Richmond a beleaguered city for 4 years. Essentially, the move was dictated by political and military considerations. The prestige of Virginia, richest and most populous State in the South, was considered necessary for the success of the Confederacy. For political reasons it was believed that the Capital should be near the bor
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The Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac
In July 1861 the untrained Union Army of the Potomac suffered disaster at Manassas (Bull Run) in the first attempt to drive into Virginia and capture Richmond. President Abraham Lincoln then appointed Gen. George B. McClellan the new commander of the demoralized army. McClellan reported: “I found no army to command * * * just a mere collection of regiments cowering on the banks of the Potomac.” To this chaotic situation he brought order and discipline. During the long winter months, the raw recr
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Part One THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN, SUMMER, 1862 On To Richmond
Part One THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN, SUMMER, 1862 On To Richmond
Instead of marching overland, McClellan decided to take advantage of Union control of the inland waters and transport his army, with its vast supplies and materiel, down the Potomac River and across Chesapeake Bay to the tip of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. Then with his supply ships steaming up the York, he planned to march northwestward up the peninsula, join another force under Gen. Irvin McDowell marching overland from Washington, and together, converge on Richmond. McClel
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Up The Peninsula
Up The Peninsula
After landing at Fortress Monroe the Federal troops pushed aside the thinly held Confederate defenses at Yorktown and Williamsburg and proceeded up the peninsula according to plan. But progress was slow. Every day 500 tons of forage and subsistence were required to keep the army in the field. Early in May it rained and kept raining, day after dreary day. Federal soldiers had a saying: “Virginia used to be in the Union—now it’s in the mud.” Dirt roads turned into bottomless muck—creeks and gullie
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Drewry’s Bluff
Drewry’s Bluff
After the fall of Norfolk on May 10 to the Union forces under Gen. John Wool, the crew of the Virginia ( Merrimack ) scuttled their ship. River pilots had advised that the iron-clad vessel could not navigate the treacherous channel up the James River to Richmond. Loss of the Virginia opened the river to Federal gunboats, and McClellan immediately telegraphed the War Department: “I would now most earnestly urge that our gunboats and the iron-clad boats be sent as far as possible up the James rive
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Seven Pines (Fair Oaks)
Seven Pines (Fair Oaks)
Slowed by the heavy rains and the bad condition of the roads, where “teams cannot haul over half a load, and often empty wagons are stalled,” McClellan finally established his base of supply at White House on May 15. Five days later his advance crossed the Chickahominy River at Bottoms Bridge. By the 24th the five Federal corps were established on a front partly encircling Richmond on the north and east, and less than 6 miles away. Three corps lined the north bank of the Chickahominy, while the
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Lee Takes Command
Lee Takes Command
Lee immediately began to reorganize the demoralized Southern forces, and put them to work digging the elaborate system of entrenchments that would eventually encircle Richmond completely. For this the troops derisively named him the “King of Spades.” But Lee was planning more than a static defense. When the time came these fortifications could be held by a relatively small number of troops, while he massed the bulk of his forces for a counteroffensive. He was familiar with and believed in Napole
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The Seven Days Begins
The Seven Days Begins
Lee’s plan of attack. Painting by Sidney King. McClellan’s plan probably would have succeeded had Lee been willing to stand still for it. But the Confederate commander did not intend to let McClellan fight that type of warfare. As he wrote to Jackson: “Unless McClellan can be driven out of his entrenchments he will move by positions under cover of his heavy guns within shelling distance of Richmond.” It was almost as if Lee had read McClellan’s letter to his wife. Lee’s plan to drive McClellan a
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Beaver Dam Creek (Ellerson’s Mill)
Beaver Dam Creek (Ellerson’s Mill)
According to Lee’s plan, Jackson was to march from Ashland on June 25 and encamp that night just west of the Central Railroad. At 3 a.m. on the 26th he was to advance and envelop Porter’s right flank at Beaver Dam Creek. Then, wrote Lee, “A. P. Hill was to cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge when Jackson’s advance beyond that point should be known and move directly upon Mechanicsville.” Confederate attack at Beaver Dam Creek. From a contemporary sketch. But from the beginning, unforeseen cir
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Gaines’ Mill
Gaines’ Mill
The tactical situation was now extremely critical for both Lee and McClellan. Because of the repulse at Beaver Dam, Lee had not yet achieved his first objective, which, according to his battle order, was to “drive the enemy from his position above New Bridge,” about 4 miles east of Mechanicsville. Lee’s whole plan for the defense of Richmond, in the event McClellan should elect to march on the city with his main force south of the Chickahominy, hinged on his ability to cross the river quickly an
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Savage Station
Savage Station
Battle of Savage Station. From Battles and Leaders of the Civil War . McClellan was now engaged in the most difficult move an army can be called upon to make in the face of an aggressive enemy—a flanking movement to effect a change of base. There was no thought given to any offensive movement. President Lincoln telegraphed: “Save your army at all events.” This was now McClellan’s only objective. That McClellan had not tried to fall back on White House surprised Lee, as he had believed he was fac
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Glendale (Frayser’s Farm)
Glendale (Frayser’s Farm)
Lee now ordered Magruder to follow Longstreet and A. P. Hill down the Darbytown road. The next day, June 30, Longstreet and Hill came upon the Union troops of McCall and Kearney across the Long Bridge road about a mile west of the Charles City road intersection at Glendale. Hooker held the left or south flank, with Slocum on the right guarding the Charles City road approach. Sedgwick was in the rear in reserve. Longstreet and Hill halted and waited for Huger, coming down the Charles City road, a
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Malvern Hill
Malvern Hill
McClellan had already selected another naturally strong position, this time on Malvern Hill, for the last stand before reaching the James River. On the morning of July 1, Morell and Sykes’ divisions of Porter’s corps were drawn up on the crest of the hill west of the Quaker road. East of the road Couch’s division of Keyes’ corps held the front, with Kearney and Hooker of Heintzelman’s corps flanked to the right and rear. Sumner’s troops were in the rear in reserve. The position was flanked on ei
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End of Campaign
End of Campaign
McClellan’s withdrawal. From a contemporary sketch. During the night McClellan continued his withdrawal, and the next day found the Army of the Potomac safe at Harrison’s Landing under the protection of the Federal gunboats on the James. The Seven Days were over. Total casualties: Army of Northern Virginia, 20,614; Army of the Potomac, 15,849. Army of the Potomac at Harrison’s Landing. From a contemporary sketch. In his official report of the campaign Lee stated: “Under ordinary circumstances th
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The Years Between
The Years Between
Richmond, summer of 1862. From a contemporary sketch. In August 1862 Lee wrote to Jefferson Davis: “If we are able to change the theater of the war from the James River to the north of the Rappahannock we shall be able to consume provisions and forage now being used in supporting the enemy.” So Lee moved into Northern Virginia to meet Pope’s threatened overland campaign against Richmond. At Second Manassas (Bull Run) the Union army was defeated again and withdrew into the fortifications around W
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Part Two THE FINAL STRUGGLE FOR RICHMOND, 1864-65 Lincoln’s New Commander
Part Two THE FINAL STRUGGLE FOR RICHMOND, 1864-65 Lincoln’s New Commander
In March 1864 President Lincoln appointed Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as commanding general of all the Union armies. Said Grant: “In the east the opposing forces stood in substantially the same relations toward each other as three years before, or when the war began; they were both between the Federal and Confederate Capitals. Battles had been fought of as great severity as had ever been known in war * * * from the James River to Gettysburg, with indecisive results.” He hoped to change this situation
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Cold Harbor
Cold Harbor
Where and what was Cold Harbor? Cold Harbor was a seedy-looking tavern, squatting by a dusty crossroads 8 miles from Richmond, on the flat, featureless plain, intersected by hundreds of small creeks, gullies, and swamps, that is characteristic of the land between the Pamunkey and the Chickahominy Rivers. There wasn’t a harbor for miles and it was anything but cold. It was the only Cold Harbor in the United States, although there were many Cold Harbors on the stagecoach routes along the Thames Ri
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Fort Harrison
Fort Harrison
In the pre-dawn darkness of September 29, Grant quietly slipped Gen. David Birney’s X Corps and Gen. Edward Ord’s XVIII Corps back across the James in a surprise move against the outer defenses of Richmond. The primary purpose was to prevent Lee from re-enforcing Early in the Shenandoah Valley. If, however, any weakness was discovered it could be exploited fully, and it might force Lee to weaken some part of the Petersburg line. Shortly after daybreak Gen. George Stannard’s division of the XVIII
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Richmond Falls
Richmond Falls
Spring came gently to Richmond that year of 1865. The winter had been long and hard. After a cold, wet March, Sunday, April 2, dawned mild and pleasant. The green buds on the trees and the bright new grass put the breath of seedtime in the air; sap flowed warm in the lilac and the magnolia. Under a rich blue sky the people strolled leisurely to church amid the cheerful music of the bells and the soft murmur of the James River falls. In St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at the corner of Ninth and Grac
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The Park
The Park
Richmond National Battlefield Park was established on July 14, 1944, as authorized by act of Congress. The property was originally acquired by a group of public-spirited Virginians who donated it to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1932. The park occupies nearly 800 acres of land in 10 widely separated parcels. Included are some 6 acres in Chimborazo Park on East Broad Street, site of Chimborazo Hospital during the Civil War. A complete tour of the battlefields requires a 57-mile drive which is o
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Administration
Administration
Richmond National Battlefield Park is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. A superindendent, whose address is 3215 East Broad Street, Richmond, Va., is in immediate charge. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1961 OF-588588...
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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES
(PRICE LISTS OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PUBLICATIONS MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.) Roll book of 27th N. Y. Regiment punctured by Confederate bullet...
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