Battle of Haw's Shop
Battle of Haw's Shop | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
View east across the battlefield from Enon Church | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
David McM. Gregg | Wade Hampton | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
4,000[2] | 4,500[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
365[3] | 378[3] |
The Battle of Haw's Shop
Grant abandoned the stalemate following the
The seven-hour battle was inconclusive, but it was the second significant cavalry engagement of the Overland Campaign and one of the bloodiest of the war. Both sides claimed victory. Union Cavalry Corps commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and demonstrated the superiority of the Union cavalry. But Hampton had held up the Union cavalry for seven hours, prevented it from achieving its reconnaissance objectives, and had provided valuable intelligence to General Lee about disposition of Grant's army.
Background
Following the Battle of North Anna, Grant and Lee were again stalemated in their opposing earthworks. As he had done twice before in the campaign—after the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House—Grant planned to swing around Lee's right flank, getting closer to the Confederate capital of Richmond, hoping to lure Lee into a battle in the open. He chose to move directly east and cross the Pamunkey River. If he had moved directly south, he would have been forced to cross three rivers, the Little River, the New Found, and the South Anna, minor obstacles that Lee would have to navigate instead. On the eastern side of the Pamunkey, he was effectively screened from the Confederates and he could also conveniently receive supplies from the newly formed base at White House Landing on the Pamunkey.[5]
Before he could move, however, Grant was faced with the problem of disengaging from Lee's army. Not only were the armies closely situated, Grant's had to withdraw initially north over the North Anna, a situation in which it would be very vulnerable to attack. Grant decided on a series of deceptive measures to disguise his intentions. On May 26, he sent a cavalry division under Brig. Gen.
The Union infantry withdrew stealthily after dark on May 26 and by the morning of May 27 all were safely north of the North Anna. The
Once Lee recognized that his opponent had departed, he moved his army swiftly in response. His three corps under Maj. Gen.
On May 27, Union cavalry established a bridgehead over Dabney's Ford on the south side of the Pamunkey River.
Lee knew that his best defensive position against Grant would be the low ridge on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek, but he was not certain of Grant's specific plans; if Grant was not intending to cross the Pamunkey in force at Hanovertown, the Union army could outflank him and head directly to Richmond. Lee ordered cavalry under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to make a reconnaissance in force, break through the Union cavalry screen, and find the Union infantry.[10]
Commanders at Haw's Shop |
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Opposing forces
Wade Hampton, who was one of the two leading candidates to succeed the late Maj. Gen.
The Union cavalry force headed directly for Hampton's was the 2nd Division under Brig. Gen.
Battle
At 8 a.m. on May 28, Hampton rode off from Atlee's Station. As more of Grant's infantry crossed the pontoon bridge over the Pamunkey, Gregg led his cavalry division probing west from Hanovertown, searching for Lee, while Torbert's division began to picket along Crump's Creek in the direction of
Before Hampton could attack, Irvin Gregg's brigade arrived and moved to the right of Davies's men, extending his flank. Two batteries of Union horse artillery set up just west of the Haw house, "Oak Grove". A Confederate mounted charge, followed by dismounted troopers, was repulsed by the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, but the Pennsylvanians were soon flanked on both sides. Dismounted men from the 1st New Jersey came to their aid and the lines were stabilized. Hampton fed in the green troops of the 4th South Carolina on his right and they met Davies's next charge with a wall of fire. These Confederates carried Enfield rifles, which had firing ranges superior to the carbines carried by the Federal cavalry, killing or wounding 256 men. As Davies rode into the fighting, his saber was cut in half by a Minié ball and his horse's tail was shot off. Union return fire was heavy as well, because the troopers were armed with seven-shot Spencer repeating carbines. One Pennsylvania trooper estimated that the 200 men in his unit fired 18,000 rounds. Their carbines got so hot that from time to time the men had to pause to let them cool.[14]
As Davies's first attack ground to a halt, and the attack of Irvin Gregg's brigade failed to dislodge the Confederates, David Gregg sent for reinforcements from Sheridan, who released two brigades from Torbert's division. Torbert's reserve brigade under Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt extended Gregg's line to the right, thwarting a flanking maneuver attempted by Hampton with Chambliss's newly arrived brigade.[15]
There was plenty of infantry nearby that could have been called for reinforcements, with Maj. Gen.
Torbert's other brigade, under Brig. Gen.
The Confederate brigades withdrew from north to south. Once Chambliss, Rosser, and Wickham had departed, Rutledge and the 20th Georgia Battalion were uncovered. Custer took advantage of the situation by charging forward, overrunning the Georgians, killing their commander, Lt. Col. John M. Millen, and capturing many of his men. Davies's brigade joined the attack and the remaining Confederate line fell apart into a rout, but by nightfall Hampton's cavalry was safely west of Totopotomoy Creek.[18]
Aftermath
The Battle of Haw's Shop lasted for over seven hours and was the bloodiest cavalry battle since
Union casualties were 256 men in Gregg's division and another 41 from Custer's brigade, including Private John Huff, the cavalryman from the
Both sides claimed victory. Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and had once again demonstrated their superiority over the Confederate cavalry. He has been criticized by historians such as Gordon Rhea for missing an opportunity to destroy Hampton's command while it was isolated and vulnerable in front of the Totopotomoy, something that could have been accomplished if Sheridan had devoted his entire Cavalry Corps to the task. And rather than attempting to maneuver on several of the roads that led to Hampton's rear, Sheridan's command expended their efforts on costly frontal assaults.[22]
Hampton's claim of victory was also credible. He had prevented Sheridan from learning the disposition of Lee's army while delaying the Union advance for seven hours. And General Lee received the valuable intelligence he had sought. He now knew that Grant had crossed the Pamunkey in force, although he was still unclear on the next steps that Grant might take and therefore waited for further developments. The two armies would fight in this general vicinity on May 30 in the Battle of Bethesda Church.[23]
Notes
- ^ NPS
- ^ a b Salmon, p. 290, cites 4,000 Union, 2,500 Confederate. Rhea, p. 68, cites 4,500 Confederate. Longacre, p. 294, cites 3,000 on each side. Starr, p. 118, does not list strength explicitly, but states that "the numerical odds favored the men in gray."
- ^ a b Rhea, p. 87. Salmon, p. 290, and Kennedy, p. 290, cite 344 Union, 400 Confederate.
- Official Recordsand all of the references for this article spell it "Haw's". Rhea, p. 68, refers to the owner as John Haw.
- ^ Eicher, pp. 671, 679, 683; Rhea, p. 22; Welcher, p. 981; Furgurson, p. 43.
- ^ Welcher, 982; Starr, pp. 116-17; Rhea, p. 24.
- ^ Rhea, pp. 32-37; Welcher, p. 982.
- ^ Salmon, p. 288; Furgurson, p. 47; Welcher, p. 982; Rhea, pp. 44-45, 60.
- ^ Rhea, pp. 41-44, 50-57; Welcher, p. 982; Ferguson, pp. 46-47.
- ^ Salmon, p. 288; Furgurson, p. 47; Grimsley, pp. 149-51; Rhea, p. 60.
- ^ Starr, p. 117; Longacre, p. 293; Rhea, pp. 66-68, 416.
- ^ Rhea, p. 407.
- ^ Longacre, p. 294; Rhea, pp. 68-70; Salmon, p. 288.
- ^ Grimsley, p. 151; Starr, p. 118.
- ^ Rhea, pp. 81-82.
- ^ Rhea, p. 88. Grimsley, p. 152, accepts Sheridan's claim as fact.
- ^ Furgurson, pp. 49-50; Longacre, p. 295; Starr, p. 118; Rhea, pp. 82-83.
- ^ Rhea, pp. 83-86; Longacre, p. 295.
- Western Theater under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
- ^ Grimsley, p. 152. Longacre, p. 295, claims 127 Confederate bodies were found.
- ^ Jaynes, p. 149.
- ^ Rhea, p. 88.
- ^ Furgurson, p. 52; Rhea, pp. 87-88.
References
- ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
- Furgurson, Ernest B. Not War but Murder: Cold Harbor 1864. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-679-45517-5.
- Grimsley, Mark. And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May–June 1864. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8032-2162-2.
- Jaynes, Gregory, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Killing Ground: Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1986. ISBN 0-8094-4768-1.
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
- Longacre, Edward G. Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002. ISBN 0-8117-0898-5.
- Rhea, Gordon C. Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 – June 3, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8071-2803-1.
- Salmon, John S. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.
- Starr, Stephen Z. The Union Cavalry in the Civil War. Vol. 2, The War in the East from Gettysburg to Appomattox 1863–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. ISBN 978-0-8071-3292-0.
- U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Recordsof the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
- Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army, 1861–1865 Organization and Operations. Vol. 1, The Eastern Theater. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-253-36453-1.
- National Park Service battle description
- CWSAC Report Update