August 26, 1864---"The Yankees have gone."

AUGUST 26, 1864:    

William Tecumseh Sherman spends the day maneuvering troops for what he hopes will be the final assault on Atlanta. While his units position themselves and reinforcements arrive, he orders General John M. Schofield to “demonstrate” against John Bell Hood’s forces now essentially trapped in Atlanta. The “demonstration” amounts to little more than chest beating en masse, and for a day no shells fall on Atlanta. Carrie Berry, a 10-year-old girl living in Atlanta, tells her diary:

Cousin Henry came in this morning and told us we need not fear the shells any more. The Yankees left there brest works and he hoped they were on the way back to Tennessee. We have had such a delightful day. We all wanted to move to day but we will wait til to morrow and see if the Yankees have gone.

August 25, 1864---The Second Battle of Reams’ Station

AUGUST 25, 1864:   

The Second Battle of Reams’ Station:   

    

Desperate to rescue a remnant of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, Robert E. Lee orders an all-out attack on the Union line. He virtually empties Petersburg in order to stage the attack, which is fierce and bloody and messily repulsed by General George Meade with the loss of 2,747 Union men (over 1000 captured) against only 814 for the Confederacy.

Although the Second Battle of Reams’ Station is a clear Confederate victory in terms of numbers killed, wounded, and missing, otherwise it is a dismal failure. The Confederacy loses over 800 of its vaunted cavalrymen in a time and place it can ill-afford; and the Union, though battered in the battle, seizes and holds 26 more miles of the track, which it quickly destroys.

Supplies moving between Richmond and Petersburg now must be offloaded from the railroad at Stony Creek Depot and must travel via easily attackable wagon trains into Petersburg.

At least after the Second Battle of The Weldon Railroad on August 18th there had been a rail spur (including a 30 mile detour) into the city. Now, only the Southside Railroad remains open.

General George Meade wrote:

These frequent affairs are gradually thinning . . . the enemy . . . but unfortunately, the offensive being forced on us, causes us to seek battle on the enemy's terms, and our losses are accordingly the greatest . . .

Historians still debate a fact that seemingly eluded Meade: In the attack, Lee left Petersburg barely defended and open to seizure. It is one of the great What Ifs of the Civil War to wonder whether General Grant, had he been in command, would have foiled Lee’s attack by trading the rail line for the city. Grant, however, was ill, and confined to his tent for the day.

August 24, 1864---Destruction of the Weldon Railroad

AUGUST 24, 1864:   

The Federal Army moves along the line of the Weldon Railroad tearing up track, fueling huge bonfires with the ties, and deforming rails in the heat of the flames. This is a nightmare for Robert E. Lee. The Weldon is the most direct supply line between Petersburg and Richmond, and the destruction of the railroad bodes very ill for the increasingly isolated Confederate capital. While this destruction is carried out, Union forces are busily raiding Lee’s other supply lines. Petersburg and Richmond are intermittently rendered incommunicado. 

August 23, 1864---Only Wilmington

AUGUST 23, 1864:    

Fort Morgan, in Mobile Bay, strikes its colors. With the surrender of the holdout fort, the Union takes complete control of the Gulf Coast. The Confederacy is left with only one heavily-blockaded large port, Wilmington, North Carolina. 

August 22, 1864---Winnowing the ranks

AUGUST 22, 1864:   

Robert E. Lee asks for a temporary truce and offers to exchange prisoners taken in the Second Battle of The Weldon Railroad. Lee is holding almost 5,000 Union prisoners that he cannot afford to house or feed at this point. Ulysses S. Grant, who is holding 2,000 Confederates, sticks to the Union policy of not exchanging prisoners; knowing that the P.O.W.s are putting additional strain on Lee’s increasingly depleted forces Grant leaves them where they are.

At this point in the Civil War, being a P.O.W. was a fate often worse than death. Prisoner of War facilities had been crude and remained crude throughout the war. Illness was rampant, and prisoner maltreatment a common event. Particularly in the South, food stocks had shrunk to the point where many prisoners could not even receive the thin gruel that was their fare on a daily basis.

Conditions in and around Petersburg were becoming dire for the Rebel troops. Although, after Gettysburg, the Confederate government had worked a literal miracle to ensure that its men were always properly clothed and shod, the siege conditions around Petersburg had disrupted supplies of clothes, food, and armaments. As the Siege dragged on, the Confederates were being starved out. Their uniforms were beginning to fall to rags. Their shoes were beginning to wear and rot away. Their weapons were becoming unusable. Lack of calories was making them weak and they were becoming sick in droves. The stereotype of the barefooted and ragamuffin Confederate soldier was becoming a frightening reality. And the Union’s constant small-scale actions were winnowing the ranks.  At one point, Lee had only 14,000 effectives, and was forced to impress the walking wounded into holding the lines.