Editing Siege of Petersburg (section)

===Meade's assaults (June 15–18, 1864)===
{{Further|Second Battle of Petersburg}}
[[File:Petersburg June15-16.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Siege of Petersburg, assaults on June 15–18]]

Grant selected Butler's Army of the James, which had performed poorly in the Bermuda Hundred campaign, to lead the expedition toward Petersburg. On June 14 he directed Butler to augment the [[XVIII Corps (Union Army)|XVIII Corps]], commanded by Smith, to a strength of 16,000 men, including Kautz's cavalry division, and use the same route employed in the unsuccessful attacks of June 9. Since Beauregard had insufficient men available to defend the entire Dimmock defensive line, he concentrated 2,200 troops under Wise in the northeastern sector. Even with this concentration, infantrymen were spaced an unacceptable {{convert|10|ft|m}} apart. His remaining 3,200 men were facing Butler's army at Bermuda Hundred.<ref>Trudeau, pp. 38–39; Davis, pp. 37–39.</ref>

Smith and his men crossed the Appomattox shortly after dawn on June 15. Kautz's cavalry, leading the advance, encountered an unexpected stronghold at Baylor's farm northeast of Petersburg. Hinks's men launched two attacks on the Confederates and captured a cannon, but the overall advance was delayed until early afternoon. Smith started his attack after delaying until about 7 p.m., deploying a strong skirmish line that swept over the earthworks on a {{convert|3.5|mi|km|adj=on}} front, causing the Confederates to retreat to a weaker defensive line on Harrison's Creek. Despite this initial success and the prospect of a virtually undefended city immediately to his front, Smith decided to wait until dawn to resume his attack. By this time Hancock, the [[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]] commander, had arrived at Smith's headquarters. The normally decisive and pugnacious Hancock, who outranked Smith, was uncertain of his orders and the disposition of forces, and uncharacteristically deferred to Smith's judgment to wait.<ref>Trudeau, pp. 37–45, 51; Davis, pp. 39–44; Salmon, pp. 403–05.</ref>

Beauregard wrote later that Petersburg "at that hour was clearly at the mercy of the Federal commander, who had all but captured it." But he used the time he had been granted to good advantage. Receiving no guidance from Richmond in response to his urgent requests, he unilaterally decided to strip his defenses from the [[Howlett Line|Howlett defensive line]], which was bottling up Butler's army in Bermuda Hundred.<ref>The Howlett defensive line spanned the land north of the Appomattox River to the James River. It commenced approximately {{convert|2.5|mi|km}} down river from the Dimmock defensive line, running northward toward [[Dutch Gap Canal|Dutch Gap]]. It is approximately {{convert|1|km|mi|order=flip|sigfig=1}} east of [[Interstate 95]]. See [https://www.google.com.au/maps/@37.3375718,-77.3765007,13z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D Google Maps] and [[:File:NPS marker for Parker Battery.jpg|National Park Service marker]] for Parker's battery.</ref> This made the divisions under Hoke and Johnson available for the new Petersburg defensive line. Butler might have used this opportunity to move his army between Petersburg and Richmond, which would have doomed the Confederate capital, but he once again failed to act.<ref>Fuller, p. 226; Davis, p. 43.</ref>

By the morning of June 16, Beauregard had concentrated about 14,000 men in his defensive line, but this paled in comparison to the 50,000 federals that now faced him. Grant had arrived with Burnside's IX Corps, addressed the confusion of Hancock's orders, and ordered a reconnaissance for weak points in the defensive line. Hancock, in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac until Meade arrived, prepared Smith's XVIII corps on the right, his own II Corps in the center, and Burnside's IX Corps on the left. Hancock's assault began around 5:30&nbsp;p.m. as all three corps moved slowly forward. Beauregard's men fought fiercely, erecting new breastworks to the rear as breakthroughs occurred. Upon the arrival of Meade, a second attack was ordered and led his division forward. Although Barlow's men managed to capture their objectives, a counterattack drove them back, taking numerous Union prisoners. The survivors dug in close to the enemy works.<ref>Davis, pp. 44–45; Trudeau, pp. 47–48; Welsh, p. 120.</ref>

June 17 was a day of uncoordinated Union attacks, starting on the left flank where two brigades of Burnside's IX Corps under Potter stealthily approached the Confederate line and launched a surprise attack at dawn. Initially successful, it captured nearly a mile of the Confederate fortifications and about 600 prisoners, but the effort eventually failed when Potter's men moved forward to find another line of entrenchments. IX Corps assaults at 2 p.m., led by the brigade of Brigadier General [[John F. Hartranft]], and in the evening, by Ledlie's division, both failed.<ref>Davis, pp. 45–46; Salmon, p. 405; Trudeau, pp. 48–49.</ref>

During the day, Beauregard's engineers had laid out new defensive positions a mile to the west of the Dimmock line, which the Confederates occupied late that night. Lee had systematically ignored all of Beauregard's pleas for reinforcements until now, but dispatched two divisions of his men, exhausted from the Overland campaign, to Petersburg, beginning at 3 a.m. on June 18. With the arrival of Lee's two divisions, under Kershaw and Field, Beauregard had over 20,000 men to defend the city, but Grant's force had been augmented by the arrival of Warren's [[V Corps (Union Army)|V Corps]] and 67,000 Federals were present.<ref>Davis, pp. 46–50; Salmon, pp. 405–06; Trudeau, pp. 51–53.</ref>

On the morning of June 18, Meade went into a rage directed at his corps commanders because of his army's failure to take the initiative and break through the thinly defended Confederate positions and seize the city. He ordered the entire Army of the Potomac to attack the Confederate defenses. The first Union attack began at dawn, started by the II and XVIII Corps on the Union right. The II Corps was surprised to make rapid progress against the Confederate line, not realizing that Beauregard had moved it back the night before. When they encountered the second line, the attack immediately ground to a halt and the corps suffered under heavy Confederate fire for hours.<ref>Welsh, p. 121; Davis, pp. 46–50; Salmon, pp. 405–06; Trudeau, pp. 51–53.</ref>

By noon, another attack plan had been devised to break through the Confederate defenses. However, by this time, elements of Lee's army had reinforced Beauregard's troops. By the time the Union attack was renewed, Lee himself had taken command of the defenses. Willcox's division of the IX Corps led the renewed attack but it suffered significant losses in the marsh and open fields crossed by the watercourse, Taylor's Branch.<ref>On the battle map, though not named, it is to the immediate front of the Confederate line facing Burnside's assault.</ref> Warren's V Corps was halted by murderous fire from the position known as Rives' salient, an attack in which Colonel [[Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain]], commanding the 1st Brigade, First Division, [[V Corps (Union Army)|V Corps]], was severely wounded. At 6:30&nbsp;p.m., Meade ordered a final assault, which also failed with more horrendous losses. One of the leading regiments was the [[1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment]], which lost 632 of 900 men in the assault, the heaviest single-battle loss of any regiment during the entire war.<ref>Welsh, p. 121; Davis, pp. 49–52; Eicher, p. 690; Salmon, p. 406; Trudeau, pp. 53–54.</ref>

Having achieved almost no gains from four days of assaults, and with Lincoln facing re-election in the upcoming months in the face of a loud public outcry against the casualty figures, Meade ordered his army to dig in, starting the ten-month siege. During the four days of fighting, Union casualties were 11,386 (1,688 killed, 8,513 wounded, 1,185 missing or captured), while Confederate casualties were 4,000 (200 killed, 2,900 wounded, 900 missing or captured).<ref>Bonekemper, p. 313. The author presents casualty figures from a wide variety of sources and provides his best estimate. Trudeau, p. 55, agrees with the 4,000 Confederate losses, but cites Union killed and wounded at 8,150, with an additional 1,814 missing. Kennedy, p. 353, cites 9,964–10,600 for the Union, 2,974–4,700 for the Confederates; Salmon, p. 406, cites 8,150 Federal and 3,236 Confederate casualties; Welsh, p. 122, provides the breakdown of the 4,000 Confederate casualties.</ref>