Each year I write the same post. The Forum's Calendar Events again ignores the Battle of Hatcher's Run Feb 5-7 1865! You're not alone, each year I receive a Civil War calendar as a Christmas present, and each year the battle is omitted.
It involved around 60,000 combatants, there were over 2,500 casualties and 14 Medal's of Honor were awarded to Union personnel.
This was the only substantial Civil War battle ever fought in Virginia in a February. The neglect is quite astounding and can be tracked back all the way to the days following the battle. Grant conveniently ignored the battle in his memoirs, this despite his army losing 1,500 men and the V Corps performance stated by officers as the worst in the war. He even wrote that the winter around Petersburg was quiet. Senior Confederates also omitted the battle from their memoirs. In Battles & Leaders it features as a one line footnote. Eminent 20th century historians like Douglass Freeman, Bruce Catton and James McPherson also overlooked the battle in their award winning books. Obscurity it seems breeds obscurity.
Attached is a magazine article I wrote with Bryce Suderow re-evaluating the battle. Apologies for a couple of typos - there is a live thread on the website Siege of Petersburg Online where the article is discussed.
Hopefully next year this forgotten battle between Grant and Lee will make the calendar.
It involved around 60,000 combatants, there were over 2,500 casualties and 14 Medal's of Honor were awarded to Union personnel.
This was the only substantial Civil War battle ever fought in Virginia in a February. The neglect is quite astounding and can be tracked back all the way to the days following the battle. Grant conveniently ignored the battle in his memoirs, this despite his army losing 1,500 men and the V Corps performance stated by officers as the worst in the war. He even wrote that the winter around Petersburg was quiet. Senior Confederates also omitted the battle from their memoirs. In Battles & Leaders it features as a one line footnote. Eminent 20th century historians like Douglass Freeman, Bruce Catton and James McPherson also overlooked the battle in their award winning books. Obscurity it seems breeds obscurity.
Attached is a magazine article I wrote with Bryce Suderow re-evaluating the battle. Apologies for a couple of typos - there is a live thread on the website Siege of Petersburg Online where the article is discussed.
Hopefully next year this forgotten battle between Grant and Lee will make the calendar.
Bringing the