Grant and Meade in The Wilderness

[cw1865]

Grant = persistence. He shows it at Shiloh, he DEFINITELY shows its at Vicksburg and he shows it again in Virginia.

[Dred]

Grant was hoping to get the majority of his army through the Wiliderness passing by Spotylvania and turing the Confederate right. The original plan was to have The Federal's preponderace of cavlary screen the front and right of the marching column to keep the Rebs in the dark as to where they were going. By doing this Grant hoped he could get most of the army if not all of it out of the thickets before he had to confront Lee.

Meade was too paranoid about the wagons in the rear, and called back tha majority of the cavalry to pull gaurd duty once the army started moving. This left such a small amount of Cavalry screening that they were pushed aside with hardly a fight at all.

Lee of course, could see the army on the move. From a rise, the entire mobilization of the union army could be seen. Lee was not sure which way they were headed in the woods, but was certain that once the Yanks got there his right or left would be turned. Being seriously outnumbered in manpower, Lee had to find a way to negate the Federal's advantage in numbers. His orders to the commanders were to avoid a general engagement, but find out where the Yanks were headed so he could better plan his next strike. (He wanted to wait for Longstreet coming from Carolinas.)

When Lee attacked and pushed through the cavalry, Meade thought Lee was merely trying to slow down the march, so he deployed the VI, V, and I think also the II corps to keep them from slowing down the march. ( This never makes much sense to me, you are worried your enemy is tyring to slow down your march, so you deploy half your army to stop him from slowing it down?)

Anyway, push comes to shove, and before they know it it is a general engagement. Grant orders immediate attacks as early as 7:30 AM and waits all day for it. Grant and Meade are set up in the same place with the army/general headquarters but somehow Grant still issues orders without Meade knowing and vicca/versa. At this point it comes down to a race of local reenforcements. Each army throughout the day extends the flanks, but the rebs win out on the 5th and are extended beyond the Federal's on the right and left, even though they have less men. Lee gets his wish, a place where numbers don't matter as much. Throughout the fight, whoever is defending generally fairs better than the attackers just because of the terrain.

[Dred]

Originally Posted by trice

Zip-zap-bang. No hesitation by Meade. Lee shows up, he stops his army and turns to the attack on his own authority. Grant gets the message and replies: I am pushing more men up and coming myself; if you get a chance to hit Lee before I get there, go after him quick and hard.

There wsa hesitation tho. Grant wanted an attack IMMEDIATLEY without any corps or regimental commanders waiting for reenforcements. He said GO, and in typical fashion the AoP did what they did best, they stalled. If they ahd attacked without waiting they would have caught the initial confederate units unprepared and unsupported. instead they wait, for hours while the rest of the units come up, giving the confederates time to prepare as well. Something like 4 or 5 hours passes while Grant waits for that first strike he orderd at 7:30. Throughout the day he tries to prod his commanders into attacking again and again, but between each order to attack and each actual attack there is always at least 2 hours more of a wait than can be explained simply as time to get the message.