May 6, 1864 Friday
The entrenched armies of Grant and Lee awaited each other in the dawn of the Wilderness.
On the Federal right along the Orange Turnpike, Sedgwick and Warren drove westward early in the morning. To the south, on the Federal left, Hancock’s men inched ahead on the Orange Plank Road. Sedgwick and Warren made little or no progress against Ewell, and Hancock was in trouble in his fight against A.P. Hill. At first Hancock made some advance, but troops of Longstreet and another division of Hill’s came up. For most of the morning the firing rolled on with no great advantage won by either side. Toward noon part of Longstreet’s corps struck the Federal line on its left flank and rear. Hancock’s men reeled back and more Confederates drove in, but Longstreet was severely wounded (
http://www.civilwarhome.com/jlongstreetwilderness.htm and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Longstreet ). Brigadier General Micah Jenkins (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Jenkins ), CSA, is mortally wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness, dying from a Federal minie ball that lodged in his brain. .
In late afternoon another Confederate attack by Longstreet’s men was halted at the Union breastworks. Horsemen fought this day also, with Sheridan’s troops opposing Stuart’s near Todd’s Tavern. Toward sunset Gen John B. Gordon’s brigade swept the Federal right flank, proceeding rapidly and successfully until darkness, but without real support, despite Gordon’s pleas to Ewell for full attack. However, “the great fight of the Wilderness” was over. At headquarters, Gen Grant coolly smoked a cigar and whittled. Gen Lee rode among his men and was shouted to the rear by his protective troops. No one supposed it was over – somewhere soon it would start up again, unless of course the Federals pulled back over the river as they had done in the months gone by.
The casualties were staggering. Of over 100,000 Federals engaged, 2246 were killed, 12,037 wounded, and 3383 missing for a total of 17,666; Confederates numbered something over 60,000; losses are uncertain but probably totaled more than 7500. Major General James Samuel Wadsworth (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_S._Wadsworth ), USA, is mortally wounded from a Confederate minie ball lodging in his brain, while he rode his horse leading his troops during the Battle of the Wilderness. He dies two days later, May 8, 1864.
On the James River, Butler’s men saw the steeples of Petersburg seven miles to the southwest. Richmond lay about fifteen miles to the north. There were fewer than 10,000 Confederates in a fifty-mile area around Richmond and Petersburg to oppose the Army of the James, numbering nearly 39,000. Butler ordered troops of his two corps, commanded by W.F. Smith and Quincy A. Gillmore, to break the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. Smith sent one brigade, Gillmore none. Gen Pickett, no longer with Lee, gathered what men he could. After modest skirmishing, the Federals returned to camp; the first of numerous half-hearted attempts at Petersburg, Richmond, and the lines of communication in between had failed.
Far from the Wilderness, guns sputtered as always. On the Red River there were skirmishes at Bayou Lamourie and at Boyce’s and Wells’ plantations, Louisiana. Skirmishing at Princeton, West Virginia marked the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad expedition. Other skirmishes broke out on the Blackwater River in Virginia; at Tampa, Florida (temporarily occupied by Federals); near Boynton’s Prairie, California; and Morganfield, Kentucky. Federals scouted from Bloomfield and Patterson, Missouri. Confederates staged a raid on Napoleonville, Louisiana. In Georgia skirmishing continued at Tunnel Hill. James Samuel Wadsworth, USA, was appointed to Major General; and appointments to Brigadier General were made for John Bratton, CSA; Samuel Jameson Gholson, CSA; and Stand Watie, CSA.
U.S.S. Commodore Jones, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Thomas Wade, was destroyed by a huge 2,000-pound electric torpedo in the James River while dragging for torpedoes with U.S.S. Mackinaw and Commodore Morris. From the Norfolk Naval Hospital, Wade later reported that the torpedo "exploded directly under the ship with terrible effect, causing her destruction instantly, absolutely blowing the vessel to splinters." Other observers said that the hull of the converted ferryboat was lifted completely out of the water by the force of the explosion which claimed some 40 lives. A landing party of sailors and Marines went ashore immediately and captured two torpedo men and the galvanic batteries which had detonated the mine. One of the Confederates, Jeffries Johnson, refused to divulge information regarding the location of torpedoes under interrogation, but he "signified his willingness to tell all" when he was placed in the bow of the forward ship on river duty, and Johnson became the war's "unique minesweeper."
Early in the evening, C.S.S. Raleigh, Flag Officer Lynch, steamed over the bar at New Inlet, North Carolina, and engaged U.S.S. Britannia and Nansemond, forcing them to withdraw temporarily and enabling a blockade runner to escape.
U.S.S. Granite City, commanded by Acting Master C. W. Lamson, and U.S.S. Wave, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Benjamin A. Loring, were captured by Confederate troops in Calcasieu River, Louisiana. Steamer Granite City and tinclad Wave had been dispatched to Calcasieu Pass to receive refugees on 28 April and both ships carried out this duty until the morning of the captures, landing a small army detachment on shore as pickets. The Southerners, with artillery and about 350 sharpshooters from the Sabine Pass garrison, overwhelmed the Union landing party, and took the ships under fire on the morning of 6 May. After an hour's engagement, Granite City surrendered; upon receiving shot in her boiler and steam drum, Wave shortly followed suit.
U.S.S. Grand Gulf, Commander George M. Ransom, captured blockade running British steamer Young Republic at sea east of Savannah with cargo of cotton and tobacco.
Conscious of the double threat to Richmond from the north and from the southeast, President Davis wired Gen Beauregard, commanding south of the capital, “I hope you will be able at Petersburg to direct operations both before and behind you, so as to meet necessities.”