Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond
On June 14, 1863, US Major General John Adams Dix received the following directive from General-in-Chief Henry Halleck: “All your available force should be concentrated to threaten Richmond, by seizing and destroying their railroad bridges over the South and North Anna Rivers, and do them all the damage possible.” With General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia marching toward Gettysburg and only a limited Confederate force guarding Richmond, Halleck sensed a rare opportunity for the Union cause.

In response, Dix, who had lived a life of considerable public service but possessed limited military experience, gathered his men and began a slow advance. During the ensuing operation, 20,000 US troops would threaten the Confederate capital and seek to cut the railroads supplying Lee’s army in Pennsylvania. To some, Dix’s campaign presented a tremendous chance for US forces to strike hard at Richmond while Lee was off in Pennsylvania. To others, it was an unnecessary lark that tied up units deployed more effectively in protecting Washington and confronting Lee's men on Northern soil.

In this study, Newsome offers an in-depth look into this little-known Federal advance against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign. The first full-length examination of Dix’s venture, this volume not only delves into the military operations at the time, but also addresses concurrent issues related to diplomacy, US war policy, and the involvement of enslaved people in the Federal offensive.

Gettysburg’s Southern Front also points to the often-unrecognized value in examining events of the US Civil War beyond the larger famous battles and campaigns. At the time, political and military leaders on both sides carefully weighed Dix’s efforts at Richmond and understood that the offensive had the potential to generate dramatic results. In fact, this piece of the Gettysburg Campaign may rank as one of the Union war effort’s more compelling lost opportunities in the East, one that could have changed the course of the conflict.

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Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond
On June 14, 1863, US Major General John Adams Dix received the following directive from General-in-Chief Henry Halleck: “All your available force should be concentrated to threaten Richmond, by seizing and destroying their railroad bridges over the South and North Anna Rivers, and do them all the damage possible.” With General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia marching toward Gettysburg and only a limited Confederate force guarding Richmond, Halleck sensed a rare opportunity for the Union cause.

In response, Dix, who had lived a life of considerable public service but possessed limited military experience, gathered his men and began a slow advance. During the ensuing operation, 20,000 US troops would threaten the Confederate capital and seek to cut the railroads supplying Lee’s army in Pennsylvania. To some, Dix’s campaign presented a tremendous chance for US forces to strike hard at Richmond while Lee was off in Pennsylvania. To others, it was an unnecessary lark that tied up units deployed more effectively in protecting Washington and confronting Lee's men on Northern soil.

In this study, Newsome offers an in-depth look into this little-known Federal advance against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign. The first full-length examination of Dix’s venture, this volume not only delves into the military operations at the time, but also addresses concurrent issues related to diplomacy, US war policy, and the involvement of enslaved people in the Federal offensive.

Gettysburg’s Southern Front also points to the often-unrecognized value in examining events of the US Civil War beyond the larger famous battles and campaigns. At the time, political and military leaders on both sides carefully weighed Dix’s efforts at Richmond and understood that the offensive had the potential to generate dramatic results. In fact, this piece of the Gettysburg Campaign may rank as one of the Union war effort’s more compelling lost opportunities in the East, one that could have changed the course of the conflict.

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Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond

Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond

by Hampton Newsome
Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond

Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond

by Hampton Newsome

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Overview

On June 14, 1863, US Major General John Adams Dix received the following directive from General-in-Chief Henry Halleck: “All your available force should be concentrated to threaten Richmond, by seizing and destroying their railroad bridges over the South and North Anna Rivers, and do them all the damage possible.” With General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia marching toward Gettysburg and only a limited Confederate force guarding Richmond, Halleck sensed a rare opportunity for the Union cause.

In response, Dix, who had lived a life of considerable public service but possessed limited military experience, gathered his men and began a slow advance. During the ensuing operation, 20,000 US troops would threaten the Confederate capital and seek to cut the railroads supplying Lee’s army in Pennsylvania. To some, Dix’s campaign presented a tremendous chance for US forces to strike hard at Richmond while Lee was off in Pennsylvania. To others, it was an unnecessary lark that tied up units deployed more effectively in protecting Washington and confronting Lee's men on Northern soil.

In this study, Newsome offers an in-depth look into this little-known Federal advance against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign. The first full-length examination of Dix’s venture, this volume not only delves into the military operations at the time, but also addresses concurrent issues related to diplomacy, US war policy, and the involvement of enslaved people in the Federal offensive.

Gettysburg’s Southern Front also points to the often-unrecognized value in examining events of the US Civil War beyond the larger famous battles and campaigns. At the time, political and military leaders on both sides carefully weighed Dix’s efforts at Richmond and understood that the offensive had the potential to generate dramatic results. In fact, this piece of the Gettysburg Campaign may rank as one of the Union war effort’s more compelling lost opportunities in the East, one that could have changed the course of the conflict.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780700633470
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Publication date: 10/03/2022
Series: Modern War Studies
Pages: 424
Sales rank: 1,086,450
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Hampton Newsome is the author of Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864 and The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864.

Table of Contents

List of Maps vii

Introduction 1

Part 1 An Opportunity in Virginia

1 Lee Heads North 9

2 John Dix and the Department of Virginia 24

3 The Union Raid on Aylett's Foundry 35

4 Halleck's Plans to Counter Lee's Invasion 48

5 Richmond's Defenders 56

Part 2 Spear's Strike against the Virginia Central

6 Dix Begins His Peninsula Campaign 77

7 Spear's Raid to the South Anna 89

8 Rooney Lee's Capture 111

9 Rebel Diplomacy 127

10 Richmond Prepares 135

Part 3 The Blackberry Raid

11 Dix Prepares the Second Wave 153

12 Keyes's Advance to Bottom's Bridge 167

13 The Fight at Crump's Crossroads 182

14 Getty's Expedition to the South Anna 197

15 To the RF&P Bridge 217

16 The Attack on the RF&P Bridge 231

Part 4 In Gettysburg's Wake

17 The Peace Mission 251

18 The End at Richmond 260

19 Halleck's Bootless Plans 267

Part 5 Conclusion: Looking Back

20 The Forgotten Campaign 277

21 Questions of Supply 285

22 The Broader Scope 292

Appendix A Federal Order of Battle 307

Appendix B Confederate Order of Battle 311

Acknowledgments 315

Notes 319

Bibliography 383

Index 401

Photo gallery appears following page 142.

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