| Weldon Railroad, Va., Aug. 18-21, 1864. 5th and 9th
Army Corps; Spear's and Gregg's Cavalry. During the siege of
Petersburg Maj.-Gen. G.K. Warren, commanding the 5th corps, was sent
on a expedition against the Weldon railroad, which connected
Petersburg with Weldon, N.C. Warren moved at 4 a.m. on the 18th, with
his own corps and Spear's cavalry brigade, and about 7 o'clock
encountered the Confederate pickets about a mile from Globe Tavern, a
small station on the railroad, 5 miles south of Petersburg. Griffin's
division, which was in advance, was formed in line of battle,
skirmishers were deployed and pushed forward, and a number of
prisoners belonging to Dearing's cavalry brigade were captured. Ayres'
division was then moved north along the railroad, the intersection of
the Vaughan road being the objective point, but Dearing had reported
to Beauregard that the Federals were in force at Globe Tavern, and
after proceeding about a mile Ayres found Heth's division in position,
with artillery, to dispute further progress. Heth opened fire with his
battery, Ayres quickly formed his division in line of battle,
Crawford's division was thrown to the right of Ayres to outflank the
enemy, and Hofmann's brigade of Cutler's division was moved up to
support the first line. After some sharp fighting Heth was driven back
and Warren pressed forward to within a mile of the Vaughan road. Meade
now sent word to Warren to hold on at all hazards, and ordered
Maj.-Gen. John G. Parke, commanding the 9th corps, to send forward
reinforcements to assist Warren in retaining his hold on the railroad.
Parke sent forward the divisions of Willcox, Potter and White, and
Mott's division of the 2nd corps, which was temporarily attached to
the 9th. These troops were soon afterward followed by Gregg's cavalry
division and 200 men to engage in the destruction of the track toward
Reams' station. Beauregard also sent out reinforcements, consisting of
three brigades of Mahone's division, W.H.F. Lee's cavalry and Pegram's
artillery, all under command of Lieut.-Gen. A.P. Hill. On the
afternoon of the 19th this force was concentrated at the Vaughan road
junction for an attack on Warren, who had in the meantime moved up to
within half a mile of that point.
On the morning of the 19th Warren sent Bragg's brigade to the
right, with instructions to support Crawford and establish connection
with the skirmishers near the Jerusalem plank road. A little after 4
p.m. Heth attacked Ayres in front, while Mahone moved round Crawford's
right, broke through Bragg's line and struck Crawford's skirmish line
and part of his line of battle in the rear. The skirmish line fell
back and in doing so carried with it Crawford's line of battle and the
right of Ayres' line. Crawford was surrounded and compelled to fight
in all directions. The enemy pressed forward, confident upon victory,
but just at this critical moment Willcox's veteran division arrived on
the field. The brigades of Hartranft and Humphrey were ordered to the
support of Crawford and the Confederates were driven back with
considerable loss. In the melee Lyle's brigade of Crawford's division
suffered heavily in prisoners, Gen. Hays, commanding Ayres' 1st
brigade, was captured, and Crawford was at one time prisoner, but
managed to escape. Humphrey and Hartranft now advanced and drove the
enemy from the captured works, taking a battleflag and a large number
of prisoners. White's division engaged Colquitt's brigade, drove it
back and captured some prisoners. Warren reformed his line and moved
forward, retaking all the ground that had been lost, and, pursuant to
Gen. Meade's orders, intrenched "as close up to the enemy's works as
he could get," though the next day he drew back about a mile to more
open ground, where his artillery could be used to better advantage. At
9 a.m. on the 21st Hill's entire corps, part of Hoke's division and
Lee's cavalry attacked Warren's new position. The Confederates opened
with artillery, which was kept up for about an hour, when assaults
were made simultaneously along the north and west of the Federal
lines, but every attack was repulsed, the artillery doing good
service, which demonstrated Warren's wisdom in falling back out of the
woods. As the enemy fell back the Union skirmish line advanced and
captured about 200 prisoners, besides 139 wounded that were brought
in. Among the prisoners were 39 commissioned officers. Later in the
day Mahone assaulted the left of Warren's works with such energy that
Hagood's brigade got inside the lines, though but very few of the men
belonging to that command got out again, being captured in a body.
The Federal loss during the four days' operations was 251 killed,
1,149 wounded and 2,879 missing. Most of the missing were those
captured during the assault on Crawford on the 19th. The Confederate
loss was not ascertained, but it must have been much heavier, as
Warren's troops buried 211 of the enemy's dead after the assault of
the 21st.
Source: The Union Army, Volume 6, Cyclopedia of Battles,
1908 |