an original total of 120,000 for the Union army, 26,000 out of 70,000 for the Confederates.
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| From The Wilderness and Cold Harbor, by permission of Hugh Rees, Limited. |
The next manœuvre attempted by Grant to bring Lee's army to action “outside works” was of an unusual character, though it had been foreshadowed in the improvised plan of crushing Lee against Burnside's corps on the 9th. Hancock was now (20th) ordered to move off under cover of night to Milford; thence he was to march south-west as far as possible along the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad, and to attack whatever force of the enemy he met. It was hoped that this bold stroke by an isolated corps would draw Lee's army upon it, and the rest of the Army of the Potomac would, if this hope were realized, drive down upon Lee's rear while Hancock held him up in front. Supposing, however, that Lee did not take the bait, the manœuvre would resolve itself into a turning movement with the object of compelling Lee to come out of his Spottsylvania lines on pain of being surrounded.
The II. corps started on the night of the 20th-21st. The alarm was soon given. At Milford, where he forced the passage of the Mattapony, Hancock found himself in the presence of hostile infantry from Richmond and heard that more had arrived at Hanover Junction, both from Richmond and from the Shenandoah Valley. He therefore suspended his advance and entrenched. The main army began to move off, after giving Lee time to turn against Hancock, at 10 a.m. on the 21st, and marched to Catlett's, a place a few miles S.W. of Guinea's bridge, Warren leading, Burnside and Wright following. But no news came in from Hancock until late in the evening, and the development of the manoeuvre was consequently delayed, so that on the night of the 21st-22nd Lee's army slipped across Warren's front en route for Hanover Junction. The other Confederate forces that had opposed Hancock likewise fell back. Grant's manœuvre had failed. Its principal aim was to induce Lee to attack the II. corps at Milford, its secondary and alternative purpose was, by dislodging Lee from Spottsylvania, to force on an encounter battle in open ground. But he was only offered the bait—not compelled to take it, as he would have been if Hancock with two corps had been placed directly athwart the road between Spottsylvania and Hanover Junction—and, having unimpaired freedom of action, he chose to retreat to the Junction. The four Union corps, therefore, could only pursue him to the North Anna, at which river they arrived on the morning of the 23rd, Warren on the right, Hancock on the left, Wright and Burnside being well to the rear in second line. The same afternoon Warren seized Jericho Ford, brought over the V. corps to the south side, and repulsed a very sharp counter-stroke made by one of Lee's corps. Hancock at the same time stormed a Confederate redoubt which covered the Telegraph Road bridge over the river. Wright and Burnside closed up. It seemed as if a battle was at hand, but in the night reports came in that Lee had fallen back to the South Anna, and as these were more or less confirmed by the fact that Warren met with no further opposition, and by the enemy's retirement from the river bank on Hancock's front, the Union generals gave orders, about midday on the 24th, for what was practically a general pursuit. This led incidentally to an attempt to drive Lee's rearguard away from the point of passage, between Warren's and Hancock's, required for Burnside, and in the course of this it became apparent that Lee's army had not fallen back, but was posted in a semicircle to which the North Anna formed a tangent. On the morning of the 25th this position was reconnoitred, and found to be more formidable than that of Spottsylvania. Moreover, it divided the two halves of the Union army that had crossed above and below.
Grant gave up the game as drawn and planned a new move. This had as its objects, first, the seizure of a point of passage
