One More River to Cross

From gun pits served by McIntosh’s artillery battalion, the natural strength of the Confederate position was clear. The repulse of Ledlie’s brigade warned Grant that Lee still held the North Anna in great strength and would fight to hold his line. On the evening of May 24, Grant found his army divided by the river into three parts, but Lee, because of personal illness, was unable to take advantage of the mistake. While the enemy was most vulnerable to attack, Lee lay in his tent repeating, “We must strike them a blow -- we must never let them pass us again -- we must strike them a blow.” The Union army quickly dug in on each side of Lee’s “Inverted V,” producing siege warfare for the next two days as periods of rain turned the trenches on both sides into mud baths and constant sharpshooters forced soldiers to stay low in their positions.

Virginia · United States