Overland Campaign Essay Outline

Improved Essays
The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. The first war in the Overland Campaign was the Battle of the Wilderness.Midnight on May 3-4, 1864, the Army of the Potomac and the Independent Ninth Corps, with approximately 120,000 men, left camps in Culpeper County and headed south toward the Rapidan River fords. They fought in the dense thickets known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania against the Army of Northern Virginia. Over the course of two days, the armies fought an extremely bloody battle, introducing a new era of violence in the war in the East. Grant suffered some 20,000 casualties in the Wilderness, nearly twice as many as Lee, but his troops had not lost hope. They cheered their new leader when they were given the orders to advance. They had finally found a general determined to lead them to victory

The next battle, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, lasted for the better part of two weeks
…show more content…
It was the final battle of Grant's Overland Campaign and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest battles. Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against General Robert E. Lee's army. Union cavalry seized the crossroads of Old Cold Harbor, holding it against Confederate attacks until the Union infantry arrived. Both Grant and Lee whose armies had suffered many casualties received reinforcements. On June 2, the remainder of both armies arrived and the Confederates built a detailed series of fortifications seven miles long. Grant said in one of his battle memoirs, “I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made...No advantage was ever made. ... No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Vicksburg Mission Command

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Vicksburg was heavily fortified and would not be an easy battle. The full campaign claimed over 10,000 Union Soldiers4. Grant was determined to out-camp the enemy, and to incur no more…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold Harbor was one of the bloodiest, most lopsided battles known. The battle was also fought on the same ground as the battle of Gaines´ Mill. The Battle of Cold Harbor was originally fought because of Ulysses S. Grant's Wilderness Campaign. Cold Harbor took place from May, 31st through June 12th, 1864. It was fought outside of the Confederate capital in Hanover county, Virginia during the American Civil War.…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The battle would begin on February 14, with Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote’s ironclads started bombardment of the fort after coming down the river, although due to heavy machinery from the Confederates the ironclads and Officer Foote were both left in bad condition. Confederate forces had come up with a plan to mass their troops against the Union soldiers and escape which was successful as on February 15 the Confederates started the plan, the soldiers struck an assault toward the Union's right side and were able to push the union soldiers back from Dudley Hill. The union's soldiers were trying to form a straight line but the attacks from the Confederates would cause the soldiers to go southeast and later retreat. The soldiers that were attacking the Union soldiers would have to go back to earthwork, leaving their hard work. Grant decided to take the opportunity and take back the land and ride to the union to order an attack on the opposite side of the division that attacked them prior.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Battle of Vicksburg was a significant military campaign during the Civil War and took place from May 18 to July 4th, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. This siege overall lasted 47 days and was fought between the Union and Confederate forces. Before the Siege of Vicksburg even began, both the Union and Confederate forces had been fighting for control over various different regions. In the early spring of 1863, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led the Army of the Tennessee down the western side of the Mississippi River during his march. On April 29th, Union Soldiers attempted to cross the Mississippi at Grand Gulf but were immediately pushed back after a long bombardment.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history. A battle so decisive, that it changed the course of the American Civil War. This battle brought the North a great victory and the South an utter defeat. Many lives were lost, up to 6,500 Union and Confederates on September 17, 1862, with many more wounded, with limbs and souls. The losses that day will be felt for many years to come.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is located at Spotsylvania and Orange Counties between the dates May 5-7, 1864. The Battle of the Wilderness began Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign against the Confederate army of Northern Virginia. After many weeks and horrendous casualties, it forced General Robert E. Lee’s men back to the defenses at Richmond. The fighting took place in an area of Virginia where tangled underbrush and trees had grown up in long-abandoned farmland. Close-quarters fighting among the dense woods created high casualties, but the battle proved inconclusive for both sides.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was the fourth of the seven days battle. The battle started with 108,000 soldiers from the Union, and, 59,000 from the Confederate. At first the Confederate was too disorganized to pursue the Union, and the Union’s attack was more of a disjointed attack, but eventually both sides got organized and the number of casualties started to increase. The Union army was lead by George B, McClellan and Fitz John Porter; the Confederates army was lead by Robert E. Lee. The Battle of Gaines’ Mill was very important to Robert E. Lee because it was his first major victory of the Civil War.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On this day in 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia repulses a series of attacks by General Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The defeat was one of the most decisive loses for the Union army, and it dealt a serious blow to Northern morale in the winter of 1862-63. Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862 after George McClellan failed to pursue Lee into Virginia following the Battle of Antietam in Maryland on September 17. Burnside immediately crafted a plan to move against the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.…

    • 136 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Battle of Stones River was the major turning point in the Western Theater that ultimately resulted in the Union victory of the west. The Union Army of the Cumberland suffered 12,906 causalities while the Confederate Army of Tennessee suffered 11,739 casualties. (The Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro),…

    • 2331 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The second battle of Bull Run also known as the “Second Battle of Manassas” was Larger in scale than the first. There were four primary generals, General Robert E. Lee, Major General John Pope, and Major General George B. McClellan. It had four times the amount of casualties than the original Battle of Bull Run. Taken place in Northern Virginia it was a battle between Union and Confederate Armies on August 28-30 1862. John Pope led the Union army, and on the Confederate side General Robert E. Lee led the way.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Civil War was fought over slavery. One of battles fought during the middle of the war was The Battle of Cold Harbor. The Battle of Cold Harbor was an extremely blunt battle. It was fought between the Union General Ulysses S. Grant's and the Confederate General Robert E. Lee's armies. Grant's goal for this particular battle was to attack and capture Richmond, the capitol of the Southern Confederate states, while Lee was to fight off Grant's army.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Trail of Tears is the journey the Indians took after being forced by the federal government to leave their land and move west because white settlers wanted their land to grow cotton. The government forced the Indians to walk thousands of miles on foot to a reserved territory across the Mississippi River. This event is important because so many Native American lives were lost during the walk due to starvation, exhaustion and disease. The Civil War began April 12, 1861 after the Confederate army attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antietam Turning Point

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    September 17, 1862 not only marked the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War, but also defined the Battle of Antietam to be the bloodiest day in American history. On this infamous day General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate army, led his troops to Sharpsburg, Maryland, only to be met by General George B. McClellan and the Union army already defensively positioned. This battle initiated a turning point in the war to the Union’s advantage. With a result of more than 22,000 causalities, this gory event enlightened the nation not only on the atrocities of war, but also paved the way for peace by creating an opportunity for President Lincoln’s to announce the Emancipation Proclamation. Following the Union’s success at the Second Battle…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Battle of Fredericksburg was one of the greatest wins for the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Artillery played a major role on many wars during the American Civil War, but none proved to have more of an effect than The Washington Artillery had at Fredericksburg. This battle stood to see the most troops out of any battle that took place during the American Civil War, almost 200,000 men. The Union army outnumbered the Confederates by 40,000 men. The use of artillery in this battle is what makes it so significant.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    There was 23000 Americans killed, wounded, or missing that day; Just one day. With the large amount of mistakes made by the generals of both sides, primarily by General McClellan, the body count just added up with each mistake. This first push into the north by General Lee’s army was a failure. This drastically killed the momentum created by the past few wins by the Confederacy. Et al…

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays