Were there any successful night attacks?

[gary]

Were there any successful night attacks?

At Battery Wagner Terry column of brigades were visible in the daylight and the Confederates at Wagner could see them. By the time the Union attacked Wagner, it was dark. There was a lot of confusion, lack of coordination and even friendly fire as units shot at their own in the darkness.

I also wonder if Wagner could have been carried during a day attack?

 

[The Pennsylvania Line]

@gary how do you define successful night attacks? While there were very few assaults conducted at dusk/night, I don't believe any could be considered successful since no major results were accomplished.

 

[gary]

Was the primary objective achieved?

1) Place/point captured
2) Raid for something successful
3) While not a full scale attack, trench raid to slow down the enemy, spike his guns, capture his tools and get prisoners.
4) ruse de guerre to attain a more important objective.

I don't count capture of a picket line as a night battle.

Fort Steadman was predawn attack but not quite a night attack. The difficulty of night attacks are confusion, strong possibility of friendly fire, loss of command and control, poor visibility with units getting lost or straying away from the objective (thus poor coordination of attack).

 

[J. Stanley]

There were a couple of night attacks that could count as successful if tactically minor in the grand scheme of things:

1) Cleburne's night assault on September 19, 1864 at the Battle of Chickamauga: this was an engagement brought on only because Bragg and Polk were expecting an attack and D.H. Hill didn't feel like he could ignore another attack order. Cleburne got the better of the fighting, capturing 300 prisoners, but his division was too badly entangled to continue the offensive in the darkness and the ground was tactically insignificant. It was a success, but a minor one.

2) John B. Gordon's attack in the Wilderness, turning Grant's right flank and taking 800 prisoners in the process. It took advantage of the darkness, though it was technically before dark. Again, darkness and enemy reinforcements led to loss of momentum.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Cleburne's night assault on September 19, 1864 at the Battle of Chickamauga:

Believe night assaults/attacks of any reasonable scale were extremely rare during the CW.

At Chickamauga, on Sep. 19, '63. Cleburne reluctantly followed D. H. Hill's orders to launch his stretched brigades in a night attack over the Winfrey Field around 6 pm, which was about ten minutes before nightfall. As might be expected, the ensuing fighting was chaotic and greatly confusing in the darkness and widespread accurate shooting was impossible. A significant number of the attacking Southerners fell to friendly fire in the assault and combatants reported aiming their fire at the flashes of other's guns seen in the blackness.

The following video presentation describes the action:-

 

[J. Stanley]

Believe night assaults/attacks of any reasonable scale were extremely rare during the CW.

Indeed, there's a good reason why the Duke of Wellington swore off on night assaults after Seringapatam (though Wellington would try again later at Badajoz).

To the best of my knowledge, there were only a handful of night battles:

1. Brawner's Farm: Stonewall Jackson's night attack on Rufus King's division failed completely despite outnumbering Federal forces. It had been too poorly planned to succeed. Jackson's attack came in piecemeal: artillery gave away his presence and then only 3 of 14 brigades stumbled through the darkness slowly, allowing the Black Hat Brigade and Doubleday's brigade to face them one by one.
2. Chancellorsville: or rather attempted. Jackson's flank attack slowed in the darkness after Rodes' Division lost momentum. Jackson is mortally wounded by his own men by accident while trying to restart the attack with A.P. Hill's fresh division. Lee made his first and only direct order to attempt a night assault during the Battle of Banks' Ford. Hearing of Sedgwick's retreat, Lee ordered McLaws to pursue but he was not able to catch Sedgwick's main body as it retreated
3. Gettysburg: the attack on Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill was launched in darkness; the former was repulsed and the latter managed a foothold but this was checked.
4. Chickamauga: mentioned previously
5. Wauhatchie: Longstreet's attempt to crack at the Federal effort to open the Cracker Line. It failed.
6. Wilderness: mentioned previously
7. Franklin: The torchlight assault by Allegheny Johnson's Division. It failed

So out of 7 examples, only two were modest, minor tactical successes and one more can be described as a partial success.

Pre-dawn attacks made more sense to me. It exploited darkness for the opening assault and if timed right, would give enough daylight for the reinforcements to proceed without losing cohesion.

 

[rpkennedy]

The closest thing that I can think of is Rappahannock Station on November 7, 1863. The Army of the Potomac's Fifth and Sixth Corps approached the Confederate fortifications in the afternoon and launched their assault around dusk with the fighting ending well after dark.

Ryan

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

John B. Gordon's attack in the Wilderness, turning Grant's right flank and taking 800 prisoners in the process. It took advantage of the darkness, though it was technically before dark. Again, darkness and enemy reinforcements led to loss of momentum.

The dusk/twilight conditions would have been enhanced by the thick tree cover of the Wilderness, especially in areas that had seen fighting in the afternoon as gunsmoke tended to lingering in the woods. Union forces that could still see the sun before it set would have been looking generally westward, into the setting sun.

 

[Miles Krisman]

The Confederate attack on the morning of Oct 19, 1864 at Cedar Creek was completely successful.

The Confederates had initiated their movements in the dark of Oct 18, 1864, formed their lines by about 4:00 AM, and swept through the Union camps at about 5:30 AM. (Still dark). The rout of the Union army continued until that afternoon when Sheridan made his famous ride.

 

[J. Stanley]

The Confederate attack on the morning of Oct 19, 1864 at Cedar Creek was completely successful.

The Confederates had initiated their movements in the dark of Oct 18, 1864, formed their lines by about 4:00 AM, and swept through the Union camps at about 5:30 AM. (Still dark). The rout of the Union army continued until that afternoon when Sheridan made his famous ride.

Per the OP,

Fort Steadman was predawn attack but not quite a night attack.

that would count as a predawn attack.

Truth be told, predawn assaults seem to be underused in the civil war, perhaps because they would depend on having solid knowledge of the enemy's dispositions or risk swinging at nothing or the wrong target. Grant used it several times successfully: the Mule Shoe Assault at Spotsylvania Court House and the Third Battle of Petersburg - both times to crack at a fortified position. The Army of Northern Virginia also did so at Cedar Creek and Fort Steedman, an established camp and Grant's Petersburg siege line. They weren't an "I win" button: the June 3 assault at Cold Harbor was a predawn attack that came to grief and both the Cedar Creek and Fort Steedman assaults sputtered out in the light for different reasons.

 

[LtGenHenryWagerHalleck]

Were there any successful night attacks?

At Battery Wagner Terry column of brigades were visible in the daylight and the Confederates at Wagner could see them. By the time the Union attacked Wagner, it was dark. There was a lot of confusion, lack of coordination and even friendly fire as units shot at their own in the darkness.

I also wonder if Wagner could have been carried during a day attack?

This may be against the spirit of your question but night naval actions occurred for understandable reasons at night

1. At the battle of island no 10 Henry Walke ran the rebel batteries in the USS Carondelet arriving around 1 AM bellow the fort

2.At Fort Jackson and St Philips the Union fleets passed the forts between 2-4 AM

3. At Vicksburg Admiral Porter ran the gauntlet around 9-10 PM passing safely in the night despite the burning if cotton bales on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi

4. Which may satisfy the conditions at the second battle of Fort Fischer fighting went on into the night when the fort was taken

A notable exception is the battle of Mobile Bay which had the fleet passing the fort at dawn though I am not sure why

 

[gary]

That reminds me that two ships of Farragut's squadron ran past Port Hudson at night. 4 ships turned back and the Misssissippi was destroyed. Johnston thought it was proof that Port Hudson could not control the river and ordered Gardner to abandon it.

 

[Sgt. Tyree]

The Confederate States Marine Corps made some successful night raids with boarding parties. One captured the USS Water Witch and she became the CSS Water Witch. Another night raid captured the USS Underwriter and burned her to the waterline.

The ACW had so many big set piece battles that small scale night raids get lost in the footnotes of history.

 

[gary]

In the way of contrast Dahlgren's night time amphibious attempt to take Fort Sumter failed. The Confederates knew they were coming (demand for capitulation during the day and the squadron's ships gathered around the flagship afterward along with intercepted signals).

 

[Stryker65]

Cedar Creek I'd say was successful in its early objectives, similar to Shiloh. But I suppose these would count less as "night" battles and more as "morning" battles.