North Anna Campaign  "The Trap Is Set"  May 23 - 26, 1864

On May 21, 1864, after more than two weeks of constant fighting at Spotsylvania Court House, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pulled his Army of the Potomac out of the entrenchments. Grant wanted to wage a showdown battle with Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia away from the entrenchments the Confederates were so adept at building and defending, and he felt his opportunity would come at the North Anna River, just north of where two vital Confederate railways crossed at Hanover Junction.

Lee was also glad to leave behind the bloody entrenchments at Spotsylvania and felt the best opportunity to attack Grant would come as the Army of the Potomac was crossing the North Anna River. Having the best roads and the shorter route, Lee's forces reached the river on May 22, a full day before the Union troops arrived. Lee spread his army along the south bank of the river, covering the three crossings: the ford at Jericho Mills on the left, Ox Ford in the center, and Chesterfield Bridge on the right. Union Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, commander of the forces on the right of Grant's advance, pushed his way across the river just west of Jericho Mills and had advanced about a half a mile when he was attacked by a Confederate division under the command of Gen. C.M. Wilcox. The fighting broke off at day's end, during a drenching rainstorm, with a loss of over 600 men on each side. Under cover of the same rainstorm, Union Gen. Winfield S. Hancock assaulted and took the crossing at Chesterfield Bridge on Lee's right.

Grant was delighted with his success. He reinforced his troops and now had only to wait until the next day to attack Lee's army on both its flanks. But a fox as sly as Lee was not so easily trapped. As Lee saw it, Grant was the one that had stepped into a trap. Both generals went to bed looking forward to the next day's battle.

Fascinating Fact:  Lee suffered from an intestinal disorder during the North Anna campaign that wrecked his normally even disposition. In a rare display of temper, he lashed out at one of his generals, "Why did you not do as Jackson would have done, thrown your whole force upon these people and driven them back?"


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