Grant moves south
Library of Congress
After the debacle at Cold Harbor in May and June 1864, and feeling blocked at every turn in the Union army’s Overland Campaign by the dogged Army of Northern Virginia, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant saw only one remaining good opportunity. He would march his massive army more than 20 miles south, cross the James River, attack Petersburg, and sever its supply lines to the Confederate capital, Richmond. On June 12, tens of thousands of Union soldiers began a night march and by June 14 were being ferried across the river by steamboat as engineers urgently built a pontoon bridge at Weyanoke Point.
In about seven hours, working from both banks, engineers linked 101 pontoons to span the 700-yard width of the river. In this remarkable image by photographer Timothy O’Sullivan, made from atop a wagon, the bridge is seen from the north bank. Several schooners visible in the distance were used to anchor the span against the river’s current. By 11 p.m. on June 14, the bridge was finished. In the next three days, countless thousands of troops crossed it, along with a wagon train estimated to be at least 50 miles long, as Grant’s forces began their assault on Petersburg. When it did not succeed, Grant dug in and laid siege to the city.
Bob Zeller is president of the nonprofit Center for Civil War Photography, which is devoted to collecting, preserving, and digitizing Civil War images.
