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The Strategic Situation at Petersburg – June 9, 1864
Union Major General Benjamin Butler commanded the Union forces at Bermuda Hundred, a short distance north of Petersburg on the west side of the James River. Knowing that the Confederate defences of Petersburg had been stripped to defend Richmond, Butler sent 3,100 infantry under Major General Qunicy A. Gilmore and 1,300 cavalry under August Kautz across the Appomattox in the hopes of breaking through the thin defenses and detroying the Confederate bridges and warehouses.
Defending the city were abut 1,000 Confederates under Brigadier General (and former Governor) Henry Wise. Wise concentrated his men in the northeast defences but could only man the first 13 batteries. A local militia company under Major Fletcher Archer manned Batteries 27 and 28 blocking the Jerusalem Plank Road.
Gilmore’s infantry outnumbered Wise’s defenders by four to one, but the stout earthworks and their handful of guns – Gilmore had no artillery – were too daunting. He gave up the attack, hoping that the flanking move by Kautz’s cavalry would force his opponents to leave their defenses.
Kautz had slowly moved around the eastern side of Petersburg and moved up Jerusalem Plank Road, reaching Archer’s militiamen around noon. Archer’s 125 “old men and boys” had been reinforced by Brigadier General Raleigh Colston, who had been in Petersburg since being relieved of command in early 1863 He brought along one 12-pounder howitzer and six gunners – and the howitzer had no case or canister ammunition.
Kautz attacked with two cannon and with enough men to overlap both Confederate flanks. The plucky militia nevetheless held their ground until almost surrounded by the flanking cavalrymen. The survivors left the gun and 85 casualties and fell back, still fighting, to another blocking position.
They had bought enough time for Confederate reinforcements to arrive – two regiments of cavalry under James Dearing. Gilmore’s continued lack of activity also allowed Wise to send a battery of artillery.
Kautz assumed he was on his own and feared he would be overwhelmed by additional reinforcements if he continued to advance. Just 150 yards from the streets of Petersburg, he pulled back, then made his way to rejoin Gilmore and recross the Appomattox.
The results of the raid were important for what both armies had learned. Three days later Grant would start his army marching in the footsteps of Gilmore’s men, hoping to find Petersburg’s defences still lightly defended but this time attacking them with overwhelming numbers.
The Confederates, too, had become acutely aware of their weakness at Petersburg. The trouble was there was very little they could do about it. A small trickle of reinforcements moved south, but until Robert E. Lee could piece together the mystery of what Grant was up to there could be no major additions. For both sides it was a race against time.
Today you can still see the earthworks of Battery 5 near the Visitor Center of The Petersburg National Battlefield. And although the earthworks around Jerusalem Plank Road (now renamed Crater Road) have long disappeared, you can see a monument to the “Old Men and Boys” who saved Patersburg on June 9.
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