The Battle of Globe Tavern

[bschulte]

Today is the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Globe Tavern, fought August 18-21, 1864. This is an excellent example of the Battles of the Petersburg Campaign which could use a good book describing them. The H. E. Howard book covering Second Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern, ad Reams' Station just doesn't cut it anymore.

Here's some additional info:

Globe Tavern

Other Names: Second Battle of Weldon Railroad, Yellow Tavern, Yellow House, Blick’s Station

Location: Dinwiddie County

Campaign: Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (June 1864-March 1865)

Date(s): August 18-21, 1864

Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren [US]; Gen. Robert E. Lee, Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, and Maj. Gen. William Mahone [CS]

Forces Engaged: Corps (34,300 total)

Estimated Casualties: 5,879 total (4,279 US; 1,600 CS)

Description: While Hancock’s command demonstrated north of the James River at Deep Bottom, the Union V Corps and elements of the IX and II Corps under command of Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren were withdrawn from the Petersburg entrenchments to operate against the Weldon Railroad. At dawn August 18, Warren advanced, driving back Confederate pickets until reaching the railroad at Globe Tavern. In the afternoon, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth’s division attacked driving Ayres’s division back toward the tavern. Both sides entrenched during the night. On August 19, Maj. Gen. William Mahone, whose division had been hastily returned from north of James River, attacked with five infantry brigades, rolling up the right flank of Crawford’s division. Heavily reinforced, Warren counterattacked and by nightfall had retaken most of the ground lost during the afternoon’s fighting. On the 20th, the Federals laid out and entrenched a strong defensive line covering the Blick House and Globe Tavern and extending east to connect with the main Federal lines at Jerusalem Plank Road. On August 21, Hill probed the new Federal line for weaknesses but could not penetrate the Union defenses. With the fighting at Globe Tavern, Grant succeeded in extending his siege lines to the west and cutting Petersburg’s primary rail connection with Wilmington, North Carolina. The Confederates were now forced to off-load rail cars at Stony Creek Station for a 30-mile wagon haul up Boydton Plank Road to reach Petersburg. Confederate general John C.C. Sanders was killed on August 21.

Result(s): Union victory

CWSAC Reference #: VA072

Preservation Priority: IV.1 (Class B)

[ewc]

Globe Tavern was another crablike move of Grant's along his left from the trenches SE of Petersburg to reach for the Weldon Railroad, one of Lee's & Richmond's important supply conduits. Taking this position both made subsisting Lee's army that much harder and extending his thin lines even thinner.

General Grant's strategy of putting the Rebs on starvation rations and thinning them out to the breaking point was gradually but inescapably devastating to the continued health and wellbeing of the Confederacy, or lack thereof.