Sowing the Seeds of Transformation: The United States Military Between the Civil War and World War One
Abstract
At the end of the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia in 1864, both the Confederate and the Union soldiers were squared off against each other in trenches, each side spent after several days of brutal, murderous attacks, yet waiting to repulse any offensive attack by their opponent. This battle had featured the South's last regimental charge of the war, by the 20th South Carolina infantry regiment, which had been repulsed in a pulverizing hail of fire from artillery and experienced Union infantry outfitted with rifled weapons. The post-battle tension was such that hundreds of wounded on both sides lay in the no-man's land between the two lines, yet there was no truce, and most of those men died from lack of medical attention, while their comrades faced off at each other. Within weeks, General Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces were to create an elaborate trench system of defenses around Richmond and Petersburg in an attempt to prevent Grant's Union forces from penetrating or outflanking them. This siege was to last over seven months, as the opposing lines essentially did not move until April 1865, when Lee's forces, attempting a breakout to the West, were blocked at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 02, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA441837
Entities
People
- John G. Setter Jr.
Organizations
- National War College