What was the details of the civil war battle of Drewrys Bluff?

Answer 1

The Battle of Drewry's Bluff was a Union defeat that can be blamed either on General US Grant, or on Major General Benjamin F. Butler, depending on whom is writing the story.

Politics played a significant role in the US Civil War. Many people are not aware of the extent of this. It began early on with the disputes between President Lincoln and General George B. McClellan and carried forward through much of the war.

When the Civil War was at its earliest stages, Lincoln had policy, but there was a failure of converting that policy into a successful strategy. One can say that the Union policy was to end the rebellion and the strategy to do so was, number 1, to capture Richmond.

Indeed, the failure to put together an overwhelming army to capture Richmond, with all the resources at the disposal of the Union is hard to understand. At the battle of Drewry's Bluff, it's almost like a "here we go again" situation.

Here is a summary of this battle that could have ended the war sooner than it did.

A. The first battle of Bull Run was a demonstration of the policy to end the rebellion by capturing Richmond, and along the way capture the rail head at Mananas for good measure;

B. This failed with a Union defeat and the reasons for it have been answered in an earlier question;

C. Fast forward to early 1864, and General US Grant is in charge of Union military forces, reporting only to the Commander in Chief, President Lincoln;

D. Apparently at this juncture, a monumental assault on Richmond was not possible. Therefore Grant decided as a first step, to cut of Richmond's railroad supply lines that fed into Richmond from Petersburg. This city lay south of Richmond and also a short distance south of the Appomattox River;

E. Grant made a political decision in order to please Lincoln. That decision was to place General Butler in charge of destroying the rail links. It's not clear why Butler was a powerful political figure, but he couldn't be one unless he had political support with Lincoln, Grants superior commander;

F. Grant was fully aware of the importance of having Richmond fall. It would be a military victory in the greatest sense of the word. And it would be a political victory, a goal of Lincoln's from 1861;

G. Grant understood that Butler was the least capable general for this crucial mission. Grant would make Butler only the nominal victor in Grant's eyes as he assigned two experienced major generals, Smith and Gilmore, to command the important segments of Butler's army. In Grant's mind, the latter two generals would carry the day, and no military harm by having Butler taking the claim as victor;

H. On May 5, 1864, Butler marched his 30,000 troops to the outskirts of Richmond. Apparently, Butler had no planned attack strategy from Grant as Butler decided to divide his forces into 2 groups. One group near the James River and the other at a point where the rivers James and the Appomattox met;

I. Apparently Butler planned to surprise the Confederates by making a night march towards Richmond along the James River. His Grant appointed commanders, however, believed this was a wrong approach and talked Butler out of it;

J. By the next morning, however, Butler decided to follow his own ideas and ordered an attack on Richmond and march to capture Petersburg, thereby cutting the rail links to Richmond;

K. Butler's generals saw the errors of Butler's ways and did not fully commit their forces as commanded to do so. General Gilmore made no move at all and apparently General Smith ordered a half hardy if at all march towards Petersburg;

L. The surprise was "over" and Confederate troops held their ground and defeated further ill advised attacks by Union forces;

M. The assaults became back and forth adventures until May 16, 1864. It needs to be remembered that Butler was camped on the out laying areas of Richmond as early as May 5, 1864;

N. This was a huge amount of time. It gave the South time to build up their forces, refortify barriers as needed, and to the dismay of Butler, the time that elapsed brought forward Confederate general Beauregard. He attacked Butler's forces at Drewry's Bluff;

O. Although Beauregard's forces were subject to a counter attack, Butler decided on a retreat. Butler's forces were now held up at Bermuda Hundred with no way to maneuver. Beauregard built fortifications as he pursed Butler; and

P. With Butler's forces now pushed out of the way, and trapped, it gave the Confederates time to redeploy most of Beauregard's to more needed areas.

The Butler attack plan to cut off the rail links failed. The Battle of Drewry's Bluff was over. Grant was disappointed to say the least.