Adjutant’s Call - March 2021
Circular Memorandum #524
“Grant vs Lee in the Overland Campaign” Presented by Gordon C. Rhea
Meet our Speaker Gordon C. Rhea
Gordon C. Rhea received his B.A. in history from Indiana University, his M.A. in history from Harvard University, and his law degree from Stanford University Law School. He served as Special Assistant to the Chief Counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities for two years and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington D.C. and the United States Virgin Islands for some seven years. He has been in the private practice of law since 1983.
Mr. Rhea has written seven award-winning books about the American Civil War, including The Battle of the Wilderness, The Battles at Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, To the North Anna River, Cold Harbor, On To Petersburg, Carrying the Flag, and In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee. He has lectured across the country at the invitation of numerous historical societies, universities, and historic preservation organizations on topics of military history and the Civil War era and has served on the boards of historical societies, history magazines, and historical preservation organizations, including the Civil War Library and Museum, Philadelphia, the North and South magazine, and the Charleston South Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. Mr. Rhea conducts tours for organizations that raise funds to purchase and preserve historical sites related to the Civil War era, including the Civil War Trust, the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust, the Blue and Gray Education Society, and the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield. He has also appeared multiple times as a historian and presenter on nationwide television programs, including productions by The History Channel, A&E Channel, Discovery Channel, and C-Span.
“Grant vs Lee in the Overland Campaign”
More than a century and a half has elapsed since the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River and Baldy Smith’s 18th Corps pressed toward Petersburg, aiming to sever the Army of Northern Virginia’s main supply line. The six weeks of combat preceding the movement on Petersburg represents the most intense continuous bout of warfare the continent has ever witnessed. Each side’s premier general – Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – matched wits and endurance in a campaign of combat and maneuver from the Rapidan River to the James. Packed into those six horrific weeks were the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, and Cold Harbor.
My talk will present an appraisal of Grant’s and Lee’s generalship during the Overland Campaign, as the meeting engagement between these two talented warriors is popularly called. The focus will be on the campaign’s final days at Cold Harbor and Grant’s decision to pry Lee from his formidable earthworks by slicing the Army of Northern Virginia’s main supply line at Petersburg. The story is one of the most exciting in the annals of American military history.
Amazon Now a Partner with the Louisville Civil War Round Table!! Amazon Smile!!
You can now donate money to our Round Table without it costing you anything! You read that correctly; we now have the opportunity to receive free money! The LCWRT as a 501(c)(3) organization is a qualified charity and eligible for participation in this program, and we are now a registered charity participant on Amazon Smile. If you make purchases on Amazon as most of us do, you can now make purchases via Amazon Smile and can select LCWRT as the charity to receive 0.5% of the amount spent. This will cost you absolutely nothing! Basically, members make purchases at Amazon Smile, instead of Amazon. On Amazon Smile, you can designate LCWRT as your charity. Once every quarter, the accumulated money will be deposited into our Chase Bank account.
What Is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile offers all of the same items, prices, and benefits of its sister website, Amazon.com, but with one distinct difference. When you shop on AmazonSmile, the retailer's Foundation contributes 0.5% of eligible purchases to the LCWRT. AmazonSmile can be a bit confusing for first-time users. Here are some things to remember.
The Internet address is smile.amazon.com. But the company uses the term AmazonSmile in its explanatory information. To use smile you always log on to smile.amazon.com. If you already have an Amazon account, when you click on smile.amazon.com, you will be asked to sign in. If you don't have an account, you will need to set one up. It doesn't cost anything to set up an Amazon account. There is a fee if you set up an AmazonPrime account. If you already are a Prime customer, Amazon Smile will also be a Prime account automatically when you sign in to Smile.amazon.com.
Once signed into smile.amazon.com, you will be prompted to pick a charity. You will type LCWRT in the search box and then select LCWRT when prompted. Once you do that, a percentage of your purchase price on most, but not all, items will be donated to the charity of your choice. You must remember to go to smile.amazon.com each time you shop for all of this to work. Once you pick LCWRT as your charity, smile will remember this, and you do not have to select it every time you log on. There is absolutely no cost to use smile. You will pay the exact same amount for purchases as you would using regular Amazon. Your Prime account will still ship eligible Prime items free of charge.
How does my donation work?
If you purchase an item for $100, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5 percent of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchase. The purchase price is the amount paid for the item minus any rebates and excluding shipping & handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes, or service charges. So, this will translate into $.50 being donated to the LCWRT. $100 x .005% = .50 or 50 cents. It seems like a small amount and it is, but with enough of our members using AmazonSmile, it will add up over time.
Are AmazonSmile Contributions Tax Deductible?
Because the AmazonSmile Foundation makes the donations, they are not tax-deductible by the consumer. You must donate cash or property yourself to qualify for tax deductions. There is no cost to charities or customers, and 100% of the donation generated from eligible purchases goes to the consumer's charity of choice.
Help Save Core Battlefield Land in the Wilderness
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust is continuing a long-time partnership with American Battlefield Trust to assist with the final fundraising to save 36 acres of the Wilderness Battlefield!
In 2019, the American Battlefield Trust began preservation work on an important 36-acre tract on the Wilderness Battlefield. With the closing deadline looming on April 2, 2021, there’s still $49,000 left to raise to save this piece of historic land. When President David Duncan from American Battlefield Trust called to see if Central Virginia Battlefields Trust could raise half of the remaining funds (just $24,500), CVBT’s President Tom Van Winkle responded with a hearty “yes!”
The 36-acre tract sits near the western edge of the National Park, bordering State Route 20 (Orange Turnpike) and hemmed in by Lake of the Woods subdivision to the north and privately held tracts to the west and east. The land is within the designated Core Battlefield Area and was a key point for the unfolding combat in Saunders’ Field on May 5, 1864.
Through your generous support, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust is rallying to raise our portion to help the American Battlefield Trust close on this tract of hallowed ground. We need to raise $24,500 by April 2 to fulfill this commitment and join our resources to the grants and fundraising already in place to “swing and close the gap,” making the difference between “history saved forever” or land lost to continued development.
In the opening battle of the Overland Campaign, the Federal V Corps pushed down the Orange Turnpike on May 5, 1864, meeting Confederate resistance as General Robert E. Lee hustled divisions into defensive positions. Brigadier General Joseph Bartlett’s brigade from Griffin’s Division lined up along the turnpike on the east side of a piece of open ground called Saunders’ Field.
The charge plunged across the field under heavy fire and crashed through the Confederate lines held by General Jones’s Virginians in the Second Corps near the crest of the high ground on the south side of the turnpike. In the Confederate rear reserve, Brigadier General Cullen A. Battle readied his command of Alabama regiments, the 5th, 3rd, 6th, 61st, and 12th. His men positioned on the northern side of the road (across the exact tract of land that we need to preserve). At this juncture, Battle’s brigade moved up at a double-quick. Surprised to find Jones’s men scurrying in retreat, the majority of the Alabama Brigade swung like a door, sweeping across the Orange Turnpike and slamming into the advancing regiments of Bartlett’s brigade. The 6th and 61st Alabama near the center of the Confederate line captured two artillery pieces and many prisoners.
This 36-acre tract of core battlefield land is where General Battle’s Alabamians started on their swinging maneuver that blocked Bartlett’s advance along the turnpike. National Park historian Bert Dunkerly has observed: “The acquisition of this land would preserve the site of a Confederate counterattack, where no doubt casualties occurred. It would also help protect the western boundary of the National Park Service property along Route 20 from development.”
Help us save this piece of historic battlefield! https://www.cvbt.org/wilderness DONATE