Wilson’s orders were to destroy the Richmond and Danville Railroad to the greatest extent possible

Brigadier General James H. Wilson and his Third Division, along with Brigadier General August V. Kautz’s small cavalry division of the Army of the James, had taken part in Grant’s railroad-breaking expeditions from the beginning and were ordered to lead a raid on the Richmond and Danville Railroad to destroy it as extensively as possible. Unprepared for the difficult work ahead, Wilson and Kautz’s divisions reluctantly set out, and in the days leading to the battle of Staunton River Bridge the Union cavalry was worn down by marching in the worst heat in years, leaving the men parched, hot, exhausted, and being pursued. From the beginning of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864 to the end of the war a year later at Appomattox, General Ulysses S. Grant sought to destroy the railroads that fed Richmond and Petersburg and provided General Robert E. Lee with the route and supplies he needed to keep fighting, with the aim of destroying Lee’s fighting capacity.

Virginia · United States