With the Federal armies stalled at Cold Harbor, Gen. U.S. Grant decided to move on Petersburg. The march began under cover of darkness on the evening of June 12, 1864, and covered some 20 miles before reaching the James River crossings. From June 14 to 17, at Wilcox’s Landing and three miles downstream at Weyanoke Point, the Army of the Potomac, along with artillery and several thousand supply wagons, moved south of the James. It was one of the few times a Union commander outmaneuvered Confederate commander Gen. Robert E. Lee. The crossing supported a simultaneous advance and attack on Petersburg that nearly ended the war. At Dr. Wilcox’s house on Tuesday, June 14, Col. Charles Wainwright of the U.S. V Corps Artillery wrote that tents stood on the south side of the house under old locust trees, with a grass field in front and the James River in the distance, and that the house stood about half a mile from the river and a couple of hundred yards from the road.
