SOLD U.S. Grant Asks Meade For the Status of the Cavalry Action

Union commander U.S. Grant and Confederate commander Robert E. Lee had fought a costly and fast-moving campaign in the spring of 1864, resulting in such battles as the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor.

By June, however, the armies had settled into trench warfare around Petersburg. In the late summer and fall of 1864, Grant made a number of attempts to break the stalemate and drive Lee's men from the trenches. On the night of Sept. 28, 1864, following Grant's orders for a surprise attack against the Richmond lines, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler led 20,000 Union troops from Petersburg around Lee's flank. They captured two strongholds in the Richmond defense system over the next few days, but were unable to penetrate any further. A Confederate counterattack on September 30 failed to recapture the positions.

Coinciding with Butler's offensive, Grant sought to extend his own left flank to interfere with Confederate communications by attacking the fortifications guarding the Boydton Plank Road, which was being used to carry supplies into Petersburg from the Confederate railhead at Stony Creek to the south. He also hoped that launching a strike around the same time as Butler’s at the other end of Lee’s line would keep him from sending reinforcements to both locations. Two divisions of the 9th Corps under General John G. Parke, two divisions of the 5th Corps under General G.K. Warren, and General David M. Gregg's cavalry division were assigned to the operation, which occurred between September 30 and October 2, 1864 and became known as the Battle of Peeble's Farm. At this time, Grant was overall commander of Union forces, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade commanded the Army of the Potomac, the 5th Corps of that army was led by Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren, and the 3rd division of that corps was commanded by Brig. Gen Samuel W. Crawford.

Grant’s plan to complicate Lee’s ability to reinforce both ends of his line worked. On September 30, Lee pulled a division under General Henry Heth from Hill’s corps opposite Grant’s line to aid in the counter attack on Fort Harrison, which had been taken by Butler. Thus initially, Warren (and Crawford) were up against Hill's reduced corps, and their attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their line. This forced Lee to recall Heth’s division from its march towards Fort Harrison. Heth’s return to Hill slowed the Union advance. On October 1, the Confederates mounted a counterattack which had some early success against Parke’s 9th Corps (forcing one of its brigades to surrender), but not gaining against Warren’s 5th Corps. They also sent cavalry General Wade Hampton to move against Gregg’s Union cavalry. However, by day’s end, both assaults had been repulsed by Union forces. The Federals resumed their advance on the 2nd, capturing Fort MacRae and extending their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles' and Pegram's Farms.

In the midst of the action on October 1, Grant wrote Meade that he understood that some Confederate forces were leaving General Crawford’s front and headed toward the other end of Lee’s line to aid against Butler. This was stale information, and Meade responded by informing him that the Confederates were not in fact doing that, and moreover that Gregg had been attacked by Hampton with results unknown. Grant wrote him back very soon after to say he had been wrong about Confederate movements, and requesting information as to the status of the cavalry clash between Gregg and Hampton.

Autograph Letter Signed, City Point, Va., about 9 p.m., October 1, 1864, to General Meade. “I did misunderstand the movements of the enemy in Crawford’s front. I thought they first threatened him, then moved off to the right, our left. Have you heard the result of the attack on Gregg’s cavalry yet?” This is the first letter of Grant to Meade we have ever carried, and it, as well as the entire exchange of letters between Grant and Meade at this time, is included in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

With the successes of the three days of battles, General Meade suspended the offensive. The result of the short campaign was that the Confederate defenders had lost works on both sides of their lines. The Union army extended the siege lines closer to its goal of the Boydton Plank Road, which in a matter of weeks it would attempt to cut. Crawford received a promotion to major general in 1865, in part for his services around Petersburg.