Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

Virginia, May–October 1864 351
This panoramic view by the artist Edwin Forbes shows the ground across which the XVIII
Corps attacked on 15 June 1865. The Confederate line ran along the widely spaced trees
in the middle distance.
but a pleasant one to remain in,” Sgt. Maj. John Arno of the 1st USCI wrote for
readers of the Anglo-African, “with the scorching sun on the backs of the troops
and the cannons belching forth their murderous missiles.” 29
At 7:00, half an hour before sundown, the entire XVIII Corps line, black soldiers
and white, advanced. By General Smith’s calculation, Hinks’ division captured Batteries
7 and 8 in about twenty minutes. “They shouted ‘Fort Pillow,’ and the rebs
were shown no mercy,” Pvt. Charles T. Beman of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry told
his father. Night fell, but a three-quarter moon and muzzle flashes of the Confederate
guns guided them to the next bastions by way of a 600-yard ravine choked with
tree stumps, fallen timber, and water. Afterward, there were disputes about which
regiment captured which position, but everyone was pleased with the day’s results,
including General Smith, who had been a notorious doubter of the Colored Troops’
abilities. Lieutenant Verplanck sent his mother a diagram of the fight: “You can see
that they enfiladed us and fronted us & generally ripped us but it didn’t stop us,” he
wrote. “I have come through all right but I have smelt powder sure.” 30
Smith suspended operations at about 9:00 p.m. because of darkness. Even
while his troops assaulted the ring of artillery positions outside Petersburg, the
first Confederate reinforcements were arriving in the city by rail. By midmorning
the next day, General Lee himself was at Drewry’s Bluff, only fifteen miles north
of Petersburg, with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia close behind. Just
arrived on the south bank of the James, Grant began to move the four corps of the
Army of the Potomac toward the city, but the moment had passed when its capture
by a single bold stroke had been possible. The attack might not have failed if Grant
29 OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, pt. 1, pp. 721–22; vol. 51, pt. 1, pp. 266–67. Anglo-African, 9 July 1864;
Paradis, Strike the Blow for Freedom, pp. 54–55.
30 OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, pt. 1, pp. 705–06, 722; vol. 51, pt. 1, p. 267–68. Beman quoted in Redkey,
Grand Army of Black Men, p. 99. R. N. Verplanck to Dear Mother, 17 Jun 1864, Verplanck Letters.