Grant's Overland Campaign

[Deleted member 9338]

Grant launched ihis multi prong campaign on May 4th 1864, but Butler's troops do not land at Bermuda Hundred until the 6th. Would it of made any difference if Butler landed on the 1st. Would that of pulled Lee south and away from the Wilderness?

 

[profxyz]

The problem was perhaps not the date of the landing but Butler's tardiness in exploiting his descent before he was bottled up by Beauregard. An earlier landing would likely have simply resulted in an earlier construction of the Howlett Line...

 

[spkaca]

Grant launched ihis multi prong campaign on May 4th 1864, but Butler's troops do not land at Bermuda Hundred until the 6th. Would it of made any difference if Butler landed on the 1st. Would that of pulled Lee south and away from the Wilderness?

It wouldn't have made any difference whether Butler landed on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th. The man was unfit for command. If he had had someone to ride herd on him (as Grant at one point considered doing) things might have been different (I come up with a possibly fanciful scenario for that in my George Thomas TL, sigged), but Butler was probably too well-connected politically for that. As for the other side, Lee was not going to be spooked by the news that Ben Butler was active in his rear. He would likely have said to himself something like, 'Butler is quite capable of defeating himself, I doubt that is true of Grant and Meade'. OTL ensues.

 

[Arnold d.c]

Grant launched ihis multi prong campaign on May 4th 1864, but Butler's troops do not land at Bermuda Hundred until the 6th. Would it of made any difference if Butler landed on the 1st. Would that of pulled Lee south and away from the Wilderness?

Probably not. Historically Butler's advance to Richmond was already anticipated, and Confederate troops were already gathered to halt the advance. By April 30 Lee was thoroughly convinced that the main Union effort would be a concentrated attack on the Rapidan Line and that the Army of the James was merely "a strong demonstration made north or south of the James River." Lee was not going to move from the Wilderness until the Army of the Potomac was beaten or moved on; an earlier advance by the Army of the James does not change that.

 

[Deleted member 9338]

Thank you both. Butler and his senior officers seemed to be made for each other. Both corp commanders and the general in charge seemed to have individual ideas on victory. Whould Sheridan have been a better choice.

 

[Arnold d.c]

Thank you both. Butler and his senior officers seemed to be made for each other. Both corp commanders and the general in charge seemed to have individual ideas on victory. Whould Sheridan have been a better choice.

Sheridan is a better choice for what exactly? I'll assume you are asking if Sheridan would have made a better choice as one of two corps commanders of the Army of the James since Benjamin Butler had to be the commander of the Army of the James.

Possibly. Sheridan was a better corps commander than Gillmore and W.F. Smith, and would probably give out a far better performance as a commander of an infantry corps than his poor performance as the commander of the Cavalry Corps.

However, Sheridan had a tendency to be insubordinate and disagreeable. Assuming he replaces W.F. Smith, there would be no improvements in the relationships between Butler and his Corps commanders.

Secondly, the greatest cause of failure of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign is still present in the scenario. Benjamin Butler is still in command of the Army of the James. His two corps commanders' suggestion to seize Petersburg early in the campaign was ignored, and a number of opportunities were lost due to lack of aggression from Butler.