CHAPTER XXXVI.

Withdrawal of Troops from General Beauregard.-Repulse of the Enemy on May 17th.-Construction of Howlett Line Fortifications.—Military Situation. The War Department withdraws more Troops from General Beauregard to Reinforce General Lee.-Attack of Gillmore's Corps.-General Wise's Account of it.-General Beauregard's Telegram to General Bragg (June 7th).- His Letter to the Same (June 9th).-Predicts General Grant's Movements, and Proposes a Plan of Attack and Defence to the War Department. His Proposals not Heeded.-General Grant's Army Crossing the James.-General Beauregard Telegraphs Generals Lee and Bragg to that Effect. His Force at Petersburg.-Attack by Smith's Corps on the 15th.-Arrival of Hagood's Brigade, of Hoke's Division.-General Beauregard Notifies the War Department and General Lee of the Necessity of Calling Bushrod Johnson from the Bermuda Hundred Lines.-War Department Declines the Responsibility, but Blames General Beauregard.— Johnson's Arrival.-Three Federal Corps Assault Petersburg on the 16th. -Repulse of the Enemy.-How General Gracie Arrived and Saved the Line from Destruction.-General Beauregard's Telegrams and Messages to General Lec.-A New Defensive Line.-How General Beauregard Fell Back upon it, at 12.30 A. M., on the 18th.-The Enemy's Surprise thereat. -Mr. Swinton, Mr. McCabe, and Mr. J. E. Cooke.-Their Errors as to the Time of the Arrival of General Lee's Army at Petersburg.-General Lee's Telegrams. Kershaw's Division of the Army of Northern Virginia Reaches Petersburg on the Morning of the 18th.-The Enemy's Assault on that Day. His Repulse.-General Lee's Arrival.—General Beauregard Proposes an Attack on General Grant's Left and Rear.-General Lee Objects. The War Department's Disregard of General Beauregard's Requisitions and Warnings.

AT 1 o'clock P. M., on May 17th, while General Beauregard was still pursuing Butler's army, Ransom's division was withdrawn from him to Richmond, notwithstanding his request that the order should be suspended. General Whiting's forces had just come up, and were not yet assigned to position.

Thus left with about 12,000 men to operate against an enemy not less than 25,000 strong, General Beauregard, after another severe engagement on that day, drove the Federals back behind their intrenchments at Bermuda Hundreds Neck. A number of gunboats and transports, lying near the bend above Dutch Gap,

were repelled by a battery of two 20-pounder Parrotts, just captured from the defeated foe. Across this Neck, from the James to the Appomattox, General Beauregard now constructed a strong line of works (known thereafter as the "Howlett line"). Its left, at the Howlett House Bluff, commanded the part of the Dutch Gap facing that position. Thus it was that Butler and his army-in words attributed to General Grant were so effectually "bottled up."

It remains to be said that all the circumstances of the moment singularly favored the proposed plan of General Beauregard. General Grant, having lost fully 40,000 men from the outset of his campaign down to the battle of May 12th, near Spottsylvania Court-house, was, from that date to the 21st, awaiting reinforcements, without attempting any serious offensive movement. At this favorable period General Beauregard was denied a temporary reinforcement of 10,000 men from the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would have made stronger within forty-eight hours by 23,000 men,* yet, scarcely three weeks afterwards, on the 13th of June, after General Grant had been reinforced by 90,000 men, and General Lee by only 18,000, General Early was detached from the Army of Northern Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley with 12,000 men. As an unfortunate consequence of the failure of the Confederate authorities to comply with General Beauregard's plan of operations, Butler, though badly beaten, was able to effect his retreat upon his strong base at Bermuda Hundreds, and could safely (as he did) detach from that point Smith's corps of 16,000 men, to aid General Grant in the effort made, on June 3d, at Cold Harbor, to break through General Lee's defensive lines, on that side of the James. Meanwhile, Butler, still 13,000 strong, continued to be a threat to the safety of Richmond, on the south side of the James. This rendered it unwise to detach any material part of General Beauregard's force to aid General Lee. So urgent, however, did the Confederate authorities regard the necessity, that they gradually withdrew from General Beauregard most of the troops that had been directly engaged under him in the battle of Drury's Bluff.

It is to be remembered that Butler's base at Bermuda Hundreds

* Including the 10,000 to be taken from General Lee's army, and leaving about 4000 to hold the Bermuda Hundreds line.

was also a constant menace to General Lee's communications, via Richmond and Petersburg, with his main sources of supplynamely, the States and open ports south of Virginia. Wilmington was the only Atlantic harbor through which we could then receive ammunition and clothing from Europe. Communication with South Carolina and Georgia, by way of the Weldon and Danville Railroads, was also endangered by Butler's presence. This produced almost daily conflicts, and severe ones at times, showing that Butler's object was to seize or destroy the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, at the point nearest to Bermuda Hundreds. In consequence of this fully one-third of the Confederate force had to be used on picket service. This force now consisted only of part of Bushrod Johnson's division, about 3200 strong, holding the Bermuda Hundreds lines, and Wise's brigade, together with the local militia of Petersburg,* in all about 2200 men, guarding that city.

On the 9th of June, Gillmore's corps was thrown across the Appomattox, by a pontoon-bridge at Point of Rocks, in a movement against Petersburg. The attack itself was made by a body about 5000 strong, chiefly of Kautz's mounted infantry, and was successfully repulsed. Had Gillmore's large force been handled with more vigor, Petersburg, with the handful of men then available for its defence (so completely had General Beauregard been deprived of troops for the support of General Lee), would have inevitably fallen into the hands of the enemy.

General Wise, in his narrative, gives a correct and graphic description of this affair. The following passage is copied from it:

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They pressed hard upon the left for three or four hours, and then suddenly attacked the militia on my extreme right with a detachment numbering 1000, which were handsomely received by Archer; but they broke through his line, one-half of them taking the road into Petersburg, and the other the road leading to Blandford. Graham's battery, accidentally at the City Water Works, met the first, and a curious force drove back the latter. I had detailed all who could possibly do momentary duty out of the hospitals, calling them the 'Patients;' and from the jail and guard-houses all the prisoners, calling them the 'Penitents;' and the two companies of 'Patients' and 'Penitents' moved out on the Blandford road, while I advanced with three com

* That militia, composed of old men and boys, had brought forth the remark from the Northern Press, that it was made up of men snatched from the grave, and youths taken from the cradle.

panies of the 46th from our left; and the enemy on that road, seeing the head of the column of 'P. P.'s' advancing in their front, and my three companies bearing on their right flank, they wheeled to the right-about at once and retired; and Graham's battery repulsed the other party advancing on the city. This was done with the loss of thirteen killed and a few wounded of the militia. Petersburg was thus barely saved on the 9th; and the defence was so critical, that I demanded additional forces, and General Beauregard at once reinforced my command with my 26th Virginia, and nine companies of the 34th."

It is proper to add here that, before these reinforcements were forwarded, General Beauregard had sent General Dearing and most of his cavalry, from the right of the Bermuda lines-where he had yet no works--to General Wise's assistance. He arrived in time to aid in the repulse of the enemy.

Previous to this, forecasting the strategy of General Lee's adversary, and believing that, persevering in his movement leftward around Richmond, he would pass to the south side of the James, General Beauregard, as early as the 7th of June, forwarded the following telegram to General Bragg:

"DUNLAP'S FARM, June 7th, 1864: 3.30 P. M.

'General B. BRAGG, Richmond, Va. : "Should Grant have left Lee's front, he doubtless intends operating against Richmond along James River, probably on south side. Petersburg being nearly defenceless, would be captured before it could be reinforced. Ransom's brigade and Hoke's division should, then, be returned at once.

"G. T. BEAUREGARD."

The following was General Bragg's answer:

"To General BEAUREGARD:

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RICHMOND, June 8th, 1864.

"My acquaintance with the state of affairs in General Lee's front is not sufficient to enable me to form an accurate opinion on your suggestions of yesterday, as to return of Hoke and Ransom. Have therefore forwarded your despatch to General Lee. BRAXTON BRAGG."

Two days later, with that strategic discernment which characterized both himself and Jackson, General Beauregard forwarded the following written communication to Richmond:

"HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT N. C. AND So. Va., SWIFT CREEK, VA., June 9th, 1864, 7 A. M.

"General BRAXTON BRAGG, Comdg. C. S. Armies, Richmond, Va.:

"General,-The present movements of Grant's army have a significancy which cannot have escaped your observation. He clearly seeks to move

around Lee's forces by an advance upon his left flank, in the direction of the James River, with a view to operate between that river and the Chickahominy, and, in case of his meeting with no adequate resistance, to plant himself on both sides of the former, throwing across it a pontoon-bridge, as close to Chaffin's Bluff as circumstances may permit; and, failing in this scheme, he may continue his rotary motion around Richmond, and attack it by concentrating the whole of his army on the south side of the James, using the fortified position at Bermuda Hundreds Neck as a base for his operations. "In that hypothesis our first object would seem to be to throw him off, as far as practicable, from his objective point (Richmond), unless the Government were to adopt the bold and, perhaps, safer policy of giving him battle, and decide at once the fate of that city, while we remain with a comparatively compact, well-disciplined, and enthusiastic army in the field.

"To accomplish this object the river battery at Howlett's should be completed without delay, and thoroughly armed; the river should be obstructed by rope works and torpedoes, so distributed as to leave passage for only one ironclad at a time, which, in the meanwhile, should prevent the crossing of the river between that battery and Chaffin's Bluff. My defensive line, now nearly completed, and extending from the river battery at Howlett's to Mrs. Dunn's house, would be held by Johnson's division.

"The comparatively level and open country between these two points might be defended by a line of redoubts from Dunn's house to Swift Creek. The short line west of Fort Clifton, between Swift Creek and the Appomattox, would be a barrier against any approach from the intersection of those two streams.

"The defensive line from Mrs. Dunn's to the Appomattox could be defended by a part of Hoke's division, while the rest, taking position in Petersburg, might hold it until reinforcements from Lee's army were obtained.

"Two divisions of about 15,000 men in all would thus prevent any force of the enemy from penetrating between Drury's Bluff and Petersburg, and compel him to take the latter before he could venture a real advance on Richmond.

"With these views hastily thrown on paper I send you a statement of the strength and organization of the forces at the lines around Petersburg, at Drury's Bluff, and in front of Bermuda Hundreds Neck, that you may judge of my resources and ability to face the impending contingencies for which I may from moment to moment have to provide..

'Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"G. T. BEAUREGARD, General."

It is apparent, upon a careful examination of the foregoing letter, and of the reasons there given in explanation of General Grant's predicted movement, that, had the latter looked over the whole field with the same clearness as did General Beauregard, and effected his passage at Bermuda Hundreds, instead of south of the Appomattox, while he might still have attacked Peters