grant accompanying major general george g. meade's army of the potomac and a portion of the army of the james pulled away from the fortifications at cold harbor and began the movement toward petersburg. some troops to the bermuda region north of petersburg to begin the attack on the city the following day of june 15th. petersburg in 1860 had been virginia's second largest city. with a population 18,266 folks. since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as the -- four railroads radiated from the city by 1860. the petersburg railroad which ran south to weldon, north

put, grant left the strategic details to george meade, and george meade left the details to grant. preparations were spotty. the union core would deliver the assaults but each will left on its own, leaving uncoordinated. in addition, it bowed out slightly so advancing units would follow diverging paths. and thus expose their flanks to heavy fire. a union colonel asserted afterwards that the assault would have shamed the cadet in his first year at west point. lee's line was seven miles long , extending northwest to creek.st from topotomoy by june 2, lee's troops were more entrenched than at any point in the overland campaign. the yanks knew all of those things. that thursday night, june 2, the drizzle of rain, one of lee's -- one of grant's staff officers came across a brigade, the battle scarred second corps. the men seemed to be making repairs to well-worn uniforms. the officer moved closer. to his shock, soldiers were writing their names and addresses on slips of paper and to the back of their shirts so their dead bodies may be recognized and their fates known to their families.

george g. meade.ssues meade issues orders to his sub ordinances. his core commanders.corps and the evidence shows that those three core commanders especially hancock did not do their job on june 3.he in ascertaining where the confederates were and how to move ahead.rag ab and you're right, who else would brag about being in command of cold harbor, but someone who is frustrated about not being in command at all. >> the last assault, the renewal assault was at the end which was again, meade kept on saying, push forward, keep on saying grn what you want. grant saw that as a useless -- d they used to say an effusion ofd blood without any result. i think that's what grant understood, it's one thing to shed blood to achieve something, when blood is shed for no apparent purpose. that's something that moves a guy like grant. >> john lester of chicago illinois. why do you think it took lincole in the north so long to find a commander who wasn't so interested in politics in d.c., such as grants. did it have anything to do with the great popularity of politic

george g. meade.ssues meade issues orders to his sub ordinances. his core commanders.corps and the evidence shows that those three core commanders especially hancock did not do their job on june 3.he in ascertaining where the confederates were and how to move ahead.rag ab and you're right, who else would brag about being in command of cold harbor, but someone who is frustrated about not being in command at all. >> the last assault, the renewal assault was at the end which was again, meade kept on saying, push forward, keep on saying grn what you want. grant saw that as a useless -- d they used to say an effusion ofd blood without any result. i think that's what grant understood, it's one thing to shed blood to achieve something, when blood is shed for no apparent purpose. that's something that moves a guy like grant. >> john lester of chicago illinois. why do you think it took lincole in the north so long to find a commander who wasn't so interested in politics in d.c., such as grants. did it have anything to do with the great popularity of politic

is a fair amount of turmoil still at the army high command, the relationship between grant and george meadeas never really acrimonious, but it was an uneasy relationship because grant was giving meade a fair amount of discretion at the wilderness and even in spotsylvania. >that relationship did not alwas produce sufficient results. let's turn to our spotsylvania map. the red marks the confederate line. this in the center of the map is where the confederates blunted the union advance coming out of the wilderness on may 8. once the union advance was halted, the line spread to the southeast all the way down to on the far, left-hand corner of the map, and extended to the north and east. you can see how the confederate line takes the shape of a big bulge. we will talk a little bit about lee. we haven't really mentioned lee at all here. there is the idea that lee had prescience, that he could anticipate his adversary's next advance. we supposedly saw that on many battlefields. we saw that, according to some, after the wilderness, that lee anticipated the advance to spotsylvania courthouse and was

grant accompanying major general george g. meade's army of the potomac and a portion of the army of the james pulled away from the fortifications at cold harbor and began the movement toward petersburg. some troops to the bermuda region north of petersburg to begin the attack on the city the following day of june 15th. petersburg in 1860 had been virginia's second largest city. with a population 18,266 folks. since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as the -- four railroads radiated from the city by 1860. the petersburg railroad which ran south to weldon, north carolina. the richmond in petersburg, obviously connecting those two places. the south side which ran from city point, modern day hopewell, virginia, through petersburg, to lynchburg. and the norfolk and petersburg. in addition to petersburg's railroads, the city possessed four cotton factories, three flour mills, four iron foundries and three planing mills. the discussion we were just having about the importance of places are going to be cranking out supplies and food fo

one reason why he relinquished s so much control to george gordon meade, because he simply could h not handle those administrative duties. so he had lots of other responsibilities and he did that brilliantly. bringing about simultaneous nfer advances throughout the fro confederacy was a waym to stop the confederacy from shifting he troops from various critical pre areas to meet uncoordinated union advances. grant was able, i think, to solve that problem. and then and then to rely on it on a ratings strategy. certainly grant wore down the confederacy, he didn't simply do it byan lining up his men and attacking.nt out >> al mackey from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. lee's actual target was the northern morale, so that they would get depressed and then force the lincoln administration to negotiate an end to the war e endingat confederate independen? how would this retreat that you postulate play into that? it seems to me that would be mat counterhi productive, if gallagr is correct? >> well, dr. gallagher is right about many things, he's wrong about this. he had a great job training ere. gr