May 21, 1864
Hancock's II Corps passes through Bowling Green, VA
Bowling Green, VA
* The Union army occupied Bowling Green: that's about it. Part of the Grant vs. Lee - Overland campaign, which looms in my distant future [seen here March 2025 while tracing Lincoln's assassins]
"In late May of 1864, 200,000 troops clashed as Lee's forces first met Grant's army. Grant had hoped to maneuver around Lee and make a run for the Confederate Capital of Richmond, but Lee diverted him across Caroline County into the heavily fortified banks of the North Anna River."
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| Bowling Green, VA |
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| #NeverForget |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=207703 |
Caroline County Courthouse
Union Troops Filled the Roads to Richmond
—Lee Vs. Grant - The 1864 Campaign—
On May 21, 1864, Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s Second Corps passed through Bowling Green. Union soldiers broke into stores, looted homes and freed prisoners from the jail. Documents from the ransacked courthouse littered the streets.
A few bold souls ventured outside to hurl epithets at their tormentors. “Are you going to Richmond?” cried one woman. “You’ll all lay your bones in the ground before you get sight of it!”
To help restore order, a young Union captain named Chapman posted guards. Invited for a hot meal by the owner of the nearby Star Hotel, Capt. Chapman would remember Bowling Green with fondness. In 1906, he wrote to Caroline County Clerk Ned Coghill that it was so kind to take an enemy in and feed him.
”War is terrible anyway,” Coghill replied, “but war between brothers is the worst of all. Thank God we are at peace! I was also a soldier in that war, and surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox. I have a warm spot in my heart for the old soldiers of both sides.”
Union soldiers passing the Caroline County Courthouse en route to Richmond depicted in a Sidney King painting. In the midst of the confusion, runaway slave and Confederate officer's body servant Nathaniel Evans hid inside the courthouse and forged the last of many passes, enabling him to escape to Fredericksburg and freedom.
https://co.caroline.va.us/307/Civil-War-Trails
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Meanwhile, North of Richmond...
May 21, 1864
Council of War at Massaponax Church
Spotsylvania County, VA
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1726 |
Massaponax Church
Council of War
— Lee vs. Grant — The 1864 Campaign —
Two weeks of fighting at Spotsylvania had resulted in a bloody draw. On May 21, 1864, the Army of the Potomac left its trenches outside the village and began moving east and south, hoping to lure the Confederates into the open where it could attack them to greater advantage.
At 10 a.m. Gens. U.S. Grant and George Meade broke camp near Spotsylvania. They reached Massaponax Church, on Telegraph Road, about noon. After a brief conference, the generals and the army moved on to Guinea Station.
Photographer Timothy O’Sullivan caught up with the Federal high command during their brief stopover at the church. He recorded a remarkable series of photographs of the generals and their staffs in conference.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1719 |
Massaponax Baptist Church
Massaponax Baptist Church, built in 1859, served a congregation founded in 1788. On 21 May 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his commanders conferred on pews in the churchyard as the Union army marched from the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield to the North Anna River. Photographer Timothy O'Sullivan hauled his heavy stereo camera to the balcony of the church and recorded this conference in a unique series of candid images showing a war council in progress.
Erected 1991 by Department of Historic Resources.
(Marker Number E-78.)
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Also in VA earlier on this same date, Union troops were leaving Spotsylvania and heading towards Guinea Station, just like Jackson's ambulance had a year earlier. [This was Summer 26 while getting reading for the Seven Days Battles, but I'm inching closer to the Overland Campaign.]
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3707 |
Plantations on Guinea Station Road
Antebellum Homes
—Lee vs. Grant – The 1864 Campaign—
Union troops took this road on May 21, 1864, as they left Spotsylvania and headed toward Guinea Station. One year earlier, “Stonewall” Jackson’s ambulance had used this same road to carry the wounded Confederate general from a field hospital in the Wilderness to Thomas Chandler’s home, Fairfield.
Many of the dwellings passed by Jackson and the Union army as they traveled to Guinea Station still exist. One of them, Stirling, stands across the road, directly in front of you. Others are identified by special signs posted along the road.
"Mr. Lacy aroused me up at an early hour to guide the ambulance with General Jackson…to Guiney’s Station…. The general stood the ride very well. We passed crowds of wounded men going the same way, all cheerful and each one wishing himself the badly wounded one instead of General Jackson.”
- Jed Hotchkiss
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Busy day, and not necessarily presented in order: first the troops left the Spotsylvania battlefield. They passed Massaponax Church on the way to here, Guinea Station (where Jackson also died so let's talk about that too). The same troops went on to pass through Bowling Green later, as first previously mentioned. This is Grant starting to slide South...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3308 |
Guinea Station
Grant Maneuvers South
—Lee vs. Grant – The 1864 Campaign—
General Winfield Hancock’s Union Second corps left Spotsylvania Court House after sunset on May 290, 1864. It trudged south along dark roads, headed toward Milford Station on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Grant had ordered Hancock to Milford in the hope of luring the Confederate army out of its Spotsylvania trenches to a place where he could attack it and have the advantage.
Hancock reached Guinea Station about dawn, May 21. Pickets of the 9th Virginia Cavalry fired at the Union column, then disappeared to spread the alarm. Hancock continued south. A soon as his troops left Guinea Station, the Confederates began tearing up the Downer’s Bridge, less than a mile behind you. A spirited attack by the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers saved the bridge for the Union, however, enabling Warren’s Fifth Corps to cross the river there later in the afternoon.
(caption of picture, upper left): The 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers. A Zouave regiment, this unit sported baggy red trousers, blue vests and turbans.
(caption of picture, upper right): Fairfield (left) was a sturdy brick plantation house when Grant dropped by on May 21, 1864. A fire later gutted the building, and in 1911 it was torn down.
(caption of picture, lower right): Grant established his headquarters at the Motley House (above) on May 21. He later wandered over to Fairfield and spoke with Mrs. Chandler about “Stonewall” Jackson’s death there one year earlier.
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Busy days, crowded blog: the very next day the V and VI corps were nearby, again sliding south-east towards Richmond. Grant marches them and others to the North Anna River crossing, for the next big battle a day or two later. Bonus: Some Lewis and Clark stuff.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3318 |
Nancy Wright’s
A little to the east, at Nancy Wright's, Warren's (Fifth) and Wright's (Sixth) Corps, coming from the east, on May 22, 1864, turned south. Wright camped here on May 22.
Erected 1927 by Conservation and Development Commission. (Marker Number E-28.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=47378 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9215 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9214 |
Maneuvering to the North Anna River
Unable to defeat Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederates during the Spotsylvania Courthouse battles 8-19 May 1864, Union commander Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's forces maneuvered east and south forcing Lee to abandon his entrenched position. The Confederates moved south along Telegraph Road (now U.S. Rte. 1) on 21 May. Union troops, marching along a parallel route, missed a golden opportunity to strike Lee's army. The Federals fell behind the Confederates near this point and followed them to the North Anna River. On 22 May a portion of Union Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps passed through here and camped nearby that night. During the Battle of the North Anna River 23-26 May, Confederate and Union forces fought to a stalemate.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3696 |
Here, at Mount Carmel Church, on May 23, 1864, Hancock’s (Second) Corps turned south to the North Anna River; Warren’s (Fifth) Corps and Wright’s (Sixth) Corps here turned west to Jericho Mills on the River. Grant had his headquarters in the church on May 24. On May 27, 1864, the four corps of Grant’s army, returning from the North Anna, here turned east to Cold Harbor.
Erected 1927 by Conservation & Development Commission. (Marker Number E-25.)
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