THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG, VA.
The siege of Petersburg began with a desperate assault, on the evening of the 15th of June, made by Major-General Smith’s troops, against the first line of the rebel works, two miles from the city. This assault was followed up on the 16th, 17th and 18th, and resulted in the capture of the enemy’s outer line of works. The Ninth, Eighteenth, and Second corps were engaged, and the Union loss was very heavy—not far, indeed, from ten thousand men.
The charge on the afternoon of the 15th was made with great gallantry, by the troops under General Smith, many of whom were negroes. The Thirteenth New Hampshire, the Eighth Connecticut, and the Ninety-second and One hundred and eighteenth New York, also participated in this formidable action, which, prosecuted in the face of artillery fire, was excessively difficult and perilous.
On the 16th, the assault commenced at daybreak, General Birney taking the initiative, by driving the rebels out of two lines of rifle pits, and taking many prisoners. Colonel Eagan, of General Birney’s division, was wounded in this charge, as also were Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, of the One hundred and tenth Pennsylvania regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Warner, of the Fortieth New York. About half-past five o’clock in the afternoon, the assault was followed up by a tremendous charge of Hancock’s men. The battle lasted three hours and was desperate and destructive. The Union line was formed thus: General Smith’s corps, the Eighteenth, was on the right; General Hancock’s, the Second, was in the centre, and General Burnside’s, the Ninth, on the left. All the troops fought well. Miller’s brigade, of the central division, especially distinguished itself. The Union loss was about two thousand, killed and wounded. At about eight o’clock the assault was suspended, the National forces holding the advanced position which they had conquered.
General Hancock, suffering much from a wound received at Gettysburg, was now relieved of duty, and General Birney assumed command of the Second corps. The Eighteenth corps, General Smith, was removed to Bermuda Hundred, and its place supplied by the 5th, General Warren. General Burnside directed the assault, on the morning of the 17th, and it was commenced by General Griffin’s brigade, who made an impetuous dash forward, capturing six guns and four hundred prisoners, including sixteen officers. General Ledlie’s division made another charge in the afternoon, capturing a portion of the rebel fortifications. General Burnside then began to shell Petersburg, being distant about a mile and a half from the city, but did not long continue the bombardment.
About nine o’clock in the evening of the 17th, the rebels made a sally, to recover the position they had lost, and a severe hand-to-hand fight ensued. The First Michigan regiment, sharpshooters, sustained the brunt of the attack, and, at the outset, captured two hundred and forty prisoners. But the flank column of the enemy, pushing out to the left, suddenly charged into the Union works, which the enemy at the same time shelled from the front, and so drove out the brave Michiganders. The color-sergeant of this regiment, dreading capture, buried his flag in the intrenchments. The rebels held the line they had taken, until about two o’clock at night, when they abandoned it. On the morning of the 18th, the Michigan regiment marched in and took possession, the color-sergeant disinterring his flag. The National loss was about one thousand.
The operations of the 18th were particularly directed against a rebel line of works near the railroad from Petersburg to Suffolk. Wilcox’s division was assigned the duty of taking these fortifications, and was supported by Colonel Curtin’s brigade of Potter’s division, General Ledlie’s troops acting as a reserve. There was a good deal of skirmishing in the morning, but the general advance was not ordered till noon. Portions of the Eighteenth corps, together with the Sixth, Second, Ninth, and Fifth, were engaged in this day’s assault. The fighting was of the most desperate character in all parts of the field. Up and down ravines, over ditches, and breastworks, under a destructive fire of artillery and musketry, the brave soldiers of the Union forced and fought their way. Desperate and continued charges were made throughout the afternoon and evening; but with no material success. The slaughter, on both sides, was tremendous.
“The scenes in our hospitals,” says a contemporary correspondent, in closing an account of these four bloody days before Petersburg, “during the past few nights, have been of the most ghastly character. Day and night our surgeons have been engaged in the sad duties of their profession. There are not tents enough for the wounded; and numbers of the poor fellows are stretched beneath the trees, awaiting their turn upon the operating tables.”
Sunday, the 19th of June, witnessed a lull in this bloody strife. The enemy’s artillery did, indeed, belch forth now and then—meeting with prompt response—and there was some skirmishing. A rebel charge made at nightfall, on the Union centre, was repulsed. General Butler’s forces also repulsed an attack, made by Longstreet, at Bermuda Hundred. The rebels had, by this time, reached a clear understanding of General Grant’s position and design, and were actively opposing him at every practicable point.
The Siege of Petersburg and of Richmond now began in good earnest—the quiet, steady circumvallation, that is, of the rebel citadels and armies—and it was never relaxed, until the rebellion had fallen. Many important incidents marked its continuance and progress—battles, skirmishes, success and failure, brave deeds and sad losses. It will be the province of this narrative, within a brief compass, to touch upon the most important of these incidents.
An effort to destroy the railroad between Petersburg and Weldon was made on the 21st of June, and resulted in a battle at Davis Farm, in which the Unionists, under General Barlow, were defeated, with a loss of about a hundred men. On the 22d the same effort was repeated, in a more formidable manner, and a yet fiercer battle ensued, in which the rebels made many prisoners, while the National troops gained no material advantage. More fighting took place on the 23d, the 24th and the 25th.