to be destroyed by mining operations. The mine was fired and produced a crater 150 ft. long, 60 ft. wide and 25 ft. deep, into which the Federals poured (see Fortification and Siegecraft). But the troops could be got no farther before the Confederate counter-attack was upon them, and Burnside’s corps lost 4300 men.
In August Sheridan was detached to operate against General Early in the Shenandoah Valley, and in order to prevent Lee reinforcing Early another demonstration against Richmond was planned. But Lee again strengthened his left and the result of the fighting was a loss to the Federals of nearly 3000 men. Meanwhile another attack on the Weldon railroad by Warren’s corps was met by General A. P. Hill on the 20th of August and the possession of the railroad cost the Federals 3000 men. A further attempt on this railroad by Hancock’s II. corps and Gregg’s cavalry division at a point 3 m. south of Ream’s Station was foiled by A. P. Hill, now aided by Hampton’s two cavalry divisions, and the Federals here lost 2372 men and nine guns. The Confederates therefore still retained possession of the railroad to a point within one day’s hauling by wagon to Petersburg. During September another Federal enterprise north of the James with two corps (X and XVIII.) resulted in the capture of Fort Harrison near Chaffin’s Bluff, and when General Lee reinforced his left and counter-attacked his troops were repulsed with heavy loss. The Federals lost over 2000 men and failed in the attempt to take Fort Gilmer, Confederate gunboats below Richmond aiding in the defence. While this operation was in progress on the Confederate left under General Grant’s personal supervision General Lee was apprised of attacks on his extreme right at Peebles Farm by four divisions, which captured a Confederate redoubt covering the junction of two routes to the south-west. General A. P. Hill prevented a further advance of the enemy by a vigorous counter-attack which caused Warren and Parke (IX.) a loss of 2000 men, of whom nearly three fourths allowed themselves to be captured; for the ranks, since the losses of the May battles, had been swamped with drafted and substitute recruits of poor quality and almost insignificant training. The Federals had, however, by these operations pushed their entrenchments beyond the Weldon railroad westward and established new works within a mile of the Confederate right. A minor engagement north of the James on the 7th of October between the Confederates and troops of the Army of the James was without result. At the end of the month, however, General Grant resolved to make a serious effort to bring the South Side railroad within his lines and deprive the enemy of this important line of supply. Parke (IX.), Warren (V.) and Hancock (II.) took each some 11,000 infantry with four days’ rations on pack animals. Gregg’s cavalry (3000) were attached for the operation, and both Grant and Meade accompanied the troops. General A. P. Hill encountered this force with three divisions 14,000 and Hampton’s cavalry (5500), and he contrived to hold two corps with one division and attack Hancock (II.) with his main body. The Federals were stopped when 6 m. from the railway, and Hancock lost 1500 men at Hatcher’s Run on the 27th of October.
General Lee meanwhile had been called to Chaffin’s Bluff, where again Butler was demonstrating with the Army of the James (X. and VIII.) on the approaches to Richmond. But General Longstreet signalized his return to duty with the Army of Northern Virginia by driving Butler off with a loss of over 1000 men (action of Fair Oaks, Oct. 27). General Warren in December contrived to evade A. P. Hill and destroy the Weldon railroad at a point on the Meherrin river 40 m. from Petersburg.
There seemed now little to tie Lee to the lines he had so painfully constructed, for his army was without coffee, tea or sugar, and though of foreign meat they had 312 million rations and of bread 212 million rations in reserve, the troops lived chiefly on corn-bread. A. P. Hill on the right held on from Hatcher’s Run to Fort Gregg, whence Gordon and Anderson prolonged to the left as far as the Appomattox River, and Longstreet continued the line northwards along the Bermuda front across the James as far as White Oak Swamp (37 m. in all). The winter was very severe, and the continual
trench-work and outpost duty overtaxed the patriotism of Lee’s 50,000 infantry and stimulated desertion. Supplies were brought in by wagons, as the rolling stock on the railways was worn, and on the 5th of February 1865 General Gregg moved out to the Boydton Plank road to intercept the Confederate convoys. He was supported by Warren, while Humphreys’s (II.) corps connected the detachment with the left of the Federal entrenchments. Gregg failed to locate the wagons, and General Lee, hearing of the expedition, sent out A. P. Hill and Gordon, who drove him back with a loss of 1500 men. Sheridan, after driving Early from the Valley in October, destroyed the railways about Staunton, Charlottesville, Gordonsville and Lynchburg, and even rendered the James Canal useless as a line of supply.
Grant recalled Sheridan to the main army in March, and at the end of the month prepared for a turning movement westward with the object of drawing Lee out of his lines. General Lee had anticipated such an attempt, and had resolved to abandon his lines and unite with Johnston in North Carolina, but the roads were not
