This Month in 22nd Massachusetts History...

May 1864: The Battles of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Totopotomoy Creek

[Civil War Reenacting, for the most part, follows a five year cycle.  2009 marks the 145th Anniversary of the events of 1864.  Therefore, in reenacting terms, this month is currently May 1864]

The 22nd Massachusetts left their winter camp at Beverly Ford, Virginia on April 30, moving along with the massive Army of the Potomac, more than 100,000 strong.  Gen. Grant's objective was to turn the flank of Gen. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (numbering about 64,000), still in its winter entrenchments along the Rapidan River.  Electing to move around Lee's right flank, Grant set the Army of the Potomac on a rapid movement towards Wilderness, Virginia in the vicinity of Chancellorsville.

On May 4, the 22nd Massachusetts made a long march, starting from Culpeper, Virginia and bivouacking that night near Wilderness Tavern -- a distance of about 20 miles.  They traveled along the Germanna Plank Road (today's Virginia Route 3) to the Wilderness Tavern and then turned southwest onto the Orange Turnpike (now Virginia Route 20), moving about a mile away from the Wilderness Tavern before halting.  It was a long and severe march but there was little straggling.  The next morning, on May 5, Lee, with characteristic boldness, hurled his army against the Union position, giving Grant little time to organize his forces. 

The engagement would be known as the Battle of Wilderness, fought in tangled forests surrounding the Wilderness Tavern.  By 1 o'clock on May 5, the 22nd was advancing southwest with their brigade through almost impenetrable underbrush south of the Orange Turnpike towards the fight.  Their brigade came up against Confederate Gen. Jones's brigade and, after initially pushing them back, eventually had to retire as Union forces on their right fell back.  On the morning of May 6, the battle was resumed.  Fighting behind improvised breastworks, the 22nd tried in vain to dislodge the troops in their front who also had thrown together breastworks.  The regimental historian wrote, "The logs of the breastworks, and the woods in many places, full of wounded and dead of both armies, were on fire; and in the tangled underbrush, and through the smoke, the lines writhed and wrestled in deadly combat.  At one time, under cover of the smoke, the rebels came over the breastworks, only to be flung out."  Darkness ended the fighting and both sides, in confusion and disorder, withdrew.  The 22nd, numbering about 280 men at that time, suffered 39 casualties, about 14%, during the Battle of the Wilderness (15 killed, 24 wounded).

On the morning of May 7, rather than re-engage, Grant elected to move again by Lee's right flank and the Army of the Potomac set out southeast towards Spotsylvania, Virginia.  After hunkering down behind their breastworks for most of May 7, the 22nd left their position at 10 p.m. and began their march towards Spotsylvania along the Brock Road (now Virginia Route 613).  The night march was painfully slow and wearisome, the roads choked with thousands of men.  By the next morning, May 8, the Army of the Potomac found that elements of Lee's Army had beat them to Spotsylvania.  The opening act of the Battle of Spotsylvania took place north of that town at Laurel Hill as the Army of Potomac struggled to occupy Spotsylvania before the bulk of the Confederates arrived.  The Union forces were unsuccessful.  The 22nd was engaged at Laurel Hill and defended Martin's Battery, saving it from capture.

While the bulk of the 22nd fought at Allsop's farm on Laurel Hill on May 8, a detachment of 60 men had been assigned to the 118th Pennsylvania to serve picket duty the previous day.  Unable to find the rest of 22nd, this detachment followed the 118th Pennsylvania into battle outside Spotsylvania on May 8.  They were attacked that night by a large force of Confederates.  The regimental historian wrote, "The fighting was desperate and bloody...It was a death grapple; men even threw down their arms and went in rough and tumble, taking over sixty prisoners, including one captain."  During this fight, the detachment of the 22nd captured the colors of the 6th Alabama.  The detachment was pleased to finally find the rest of the 22nd on the morning of May 9.  However, they were disappointed when staff officers of Gen. Samuel Crawford demanded that they surrender up the colors of the 6th Alabama (perhaps because the lost detachment had fought in the vicinity of his command when they were taken).

On May 9, the 22nd advanced through Spindler's farm, northwest of Spotsylvania, and their brigade spent the night digging rifle pits.  However, a charge of the Confederates drove them from the pits during the night.  On May 10, the 22nd Massachusetts and the 4th Michigan were ordered to advance and retake the rifle pits at all hazards.  Under the command of Major Mason Burt, the 22nd deployed as skirmishers and, at the run, under a vicious cross-fire of artillery, swept the entrenchments at a horrifying cost.  The 22nd had driven the rebels back to their main breastworks, but were in a partially exposed and deadly position.  There was little to do that night, the regimental historian wrote, "but to lie down, hug close and await our doom."  84 of the regiment (roughly 35%) were casualties in this charge.

On May 11 and 12, Grant launched massive attacks against the center of Lee's line, a salient known as the "Mule Shoe."  This ground was the site of some of the worst slaughter of the entire war.  Fortunately, the 22nd Massachusetts, as part of the V Corps, was not directly involved in the assaults.  They pressed the Confederate works in their front but mostly remained in their rifle pits, exchanging fire with Confederate sharpshooters.

On May 13, a rainstorm began that would last days.  The 22nd remained in their rifle pits which now filled with mud.  During this time, Lee pulled his lines back about 3/4 of a mile.  The Battle of Spotsylvania had ended.  The men remembered their duty in the rifle pits before Spotsylvania as "the most harassing, exhausting and disheartening ever known to the 22nd Massachusetts."  During the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, the 22nd had suffered 123 casualties, about 43% of their numbers.  Now, relieved from their position during a soaking rain, the 22nd hoped for a chance to "recuperate our stiffened, benumbed and exhausted bodies, make some coffee, cook some meat, when orders came at 10 p.m. to move at once..."

Relentless, Grant was again moving his army around Lee's right flank.  On the night of May 13, the 22nd Massachusetts, along with the rest of the V Corps, executed a dreadful march in the rain, slogging through roads deep with mud.  Fires had been lit by the army to mark the lines of march, but they were quickly extinguished by the rain, leaving the V Corps to "flounder in the inky blackness."  They crossed the Ni River, three feet deep, at Landron's Ford.  Then, stumbling through the night, forced to light matches to find their way, the men of the 22nd finally reached what they believed to be their point of attack and dropped to the ground, exhausted. 

Lee had adjusted his lines quickly, and it was found impractical to make an attack.  The 22nd's division therefore dug in during the 15th, 16th and 17th of May.  By May 18th they had built a "magnificent line of breastworks."  The exact position of the 22nd at this time is difficult to determine, but it appears they were close to the south bank of the Ni River, somewhere south of Smith's Mill, Virginia.  On May 18th, the armies engaged in a vigorous artillery duel, and the 22nd Massachusetts expected to be ordered to attack, but Grant postponed.  On May 19th, the regiment rested and, despite the shelling of the day before, fraternized with the rebel pickets.

On May 21st came orders to withdraw.  The 22nd with the V Corps marched southeast, passing near Guinea Station, Virginia.  The rain had finally broken and on the morning of May 22, the regiment hoped to enjoy the fine, balmy weather at rest.  But the inevitable order came to march, and they plodded on, moving through Nancy Wright's Corner and bivouacking that night in the vicinity of Ladysmith, Virginia.  On May 23rd they were once again marching steadily southward.  They reached the North Anna River that morning, and in the afternoon, their division crossed the North Anna River at Jericho Ford. 

The 22nd, owing to their depleted numbers (about 130 at this time) was repeatedly employed during these movements as skirmishers in advance of the main column.  Due to that fact, they were the first regiment of their division to cross the North Anna River on May 23.  The crossing was difficult, with steep, rocky inclines on both banks.  Their Corps commander, General Gouverneur Warren, was present when the 22nd crossed the river and appeared anxious to secure the crossing.  His anxiety was warranted.  The V Corps was the leading element of the Army of the Potomac to cross the North Anna River.  Just south of the river, Lee's army waited.

Once on the other side, the 22nd deployed as skirmishers and advanced about a mile south in search of the Confederate lines.  In this advance, the 22nd was in the van of the V Corps during the Battle of North Anna on May 23 and was among the leading Union regiments in probing the Confederate position.  Soon enough, the 22nd encountered the skirmishers of Confederate General A.P. Hill's Corps and drove them back.  At this point the 22nd halted, began to build breastworks and awaited orders.  It was not long before the Confederates advanced in strong battle lines against their position and the 22nd was forced to fall back to the rest of their brigade.  The Battle of North Anna now raged in earnest.  General A.P. Hill had been ordered to push the V Corps back into the North Anna River.  The 22nd's brigade fought in an open field and held "fast and firm as a rock."  After two hours, Confederates withdrew.  A.P. Hill had failed, earning a severe rebuke from General Lee: "Why did you not do as Jackson would have done, thrown your whole force upon those people and driven them back?"  The 22nd Massachusetts lost 4 killed and 7 wounded.

On May 25th and 26th, Grant continued to probe Lee's lines but could not determine a satisfactory weakness.  On the night of May 26th, the 22nd Massachusetts set out for a long march which would continue for the next two days.  Grant was once again moving by Lee's right flank, drawing ever closer to Richmond.  By May 28th, the 22nd Massachusetts was crossing a pontoon bridge over the Pamunkey River at Dabney Ford into Hanover, Virginia.  As the regimental historian wrote, bands were playing as they crossed and the sun was bright.  The Army of the Potomac was now just 20 miles outside of Richmond.  Victory finally seemed within reach.  "Behind lay the blood-soaked fields of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and the North Anna...We were all in good spirits and ready for the terrible ordeal in store for us in the near future."

Pushing the Army of the Potomac ever southward, Grant forced Lee into a tenuous position along Totopotomoy Creek.  On May 29, the V Corps, with the 22nd in the lead as skirmishers, pressed on and crossed the creek.  On May 30, Griffin's Division (to which the 22nd belonged) was massed in a column of brigades, preparing for an assault on Lee's lines south of Totopotomoy Creek at a place known as Bethesda Church.  Having earned much praise for their performance as skirmishers during the Battle of North Anna, the 22nd was once again placed in front of the division as skirmishers and would lead the advance.  The regiment moved rapidly over two miles across open fields, driving the rebel pickets before them and taking many prisoners.  As they neared Bethesda Church, the resistance became more stubborn and the advance was tough work.  The 22nd fought as skirmishers for 7 long hours before the Confederates in their front finally retreated.  During the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek, the 22nd suffered 3 killed and 12 wounded.

In leading the division, the 22nd Massachusetts earned praise from their brigade commander, General Sweitzer, as well as their division commander, General Griffin, who observed with satisfaction the progress of his division towards Bethesda Church and noted, "There's a good regiment ahead!"

Source: Henry Wilson's Regiment: History of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry, John L. Parker, (Boston: Rand Avery Co., 1887) pp. 400-458.

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