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An old story and timeline of mine...now that I'm getting back into AH after a long time gone:





JOHNNY'S LAST STAND






Act I, Scene I
The War



By early Spring 1865 the war which had raged across the once united States of America seemed to be drawing towards a final battle. For months Federal armies had ravaged the South and now they seemed poised to make one final surge to win the day. William T. Sherman had marched from Chattanooga to Atlanta, defeating Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John Bell Hood along the way. The fall of Atlanta, on September 2, 1864, was a significant factor in the reelection of Lincoln as president. Hood left the Atlanta area to menace Sherman's supply lines and invade Tennessee in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign. Union Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield defeated Hood at the Battle of Franklin, and George H. Thomas dealt Hood a massive defeat at the Battle of Nashville, effectively destroying Hood's army.

Leaving Atlanta, and his base of supplies, Sherman's army marched with an unknown destination, laying waste to about 20% of the farms in Georgia in his "March to the Sea". He reached the Atlantic Ocean at Savannah, Georgia in December 1864. Sherman's army was followed by thousands of freed slaves; there were no major battles along the March. Sherman turned north through South Carolina and North Carolina to approach the Confederate Virginia lines from the south, increasing the pressure on Lee's army. And now, Lee who had been held down at Petersburg south of Richmond for months, was forced to begin making the final plans for the future of his army. With the war seeming to be moving towards the final show down...




Act I, Scene II

The Plan





With the war spiraling out of control for the Confederacy, and one major city after another falling like dominos, Robert E. Lee the man who had held the faith and power of the Southern States for so long was forced to make a decision on the course of the war. Would he abandon the war and with it the Confederacy and surrender his arms to the obviously superior Federal armies that massed against him, or...would he push it all in and gamble on one insane plan that might just win victory and independence for the South?

Contemporaries continue to view Lee’s somewhat optimistic view with suspicion and disbelief, how could Lee hope to still win the war? Everything to the west was collapsing in on itself faster than ice on a hot day, Atlanta had fallen and with it the main point of supply for the entire Confederacy, and on top of that Ulysses S. Grant held a vastly superior army in both men and supplies threatening to overrun Petersburg and with it Richmond. Despite this view we must view this situation not as historians but as Lee would have, a general with the hopes and dreams of not only his army but also his entire country resting on his shoulders. And with that great burden, even the slightest sign of hope, even the smallest window into victory would prove enlightening.

And even with the exhausted condition of the Army of Northern Virginia, even with its ranks depleted by disease and desertion, Lee would rally it. Even though morale was lower than the mud on which his men slept, Lee had proven he could pull his army from the brink of death and could even win, yes win the day even with the odds stacked against him. History had turned on a dime many times before, and so it would again.

His plan was simple yet bold, it would involve all the cunning, resources, and strength left in the waning Confederacy. Lee would go on the offensive, easier said than done, his army had not left their trenches for months and had not seen action such as Lee was demanding in just as long. The concept reveals the desperate straits in which Lee found himself. He would throw a large fraction of his army on a narrow front against Grant's lines, hoping to achieve a breakthrough that would compel Grant to withdraw troops from his extended lines, and this contraction might allow Lee to escape from the Petersburg lines with enough of a head start to enable him to form a junction with Joe Johnston's army in North Carolina. This, at least, is the standard way that the story is presented. It perhaps reveals the circumstances in which the Confederates found themselves that this was considered to be their best remaining option.

The actual tactical planning and execution were entrusted to John B. Gordon, commander of what was left of the old Second Corps. Gordon's plan, presented to Lee on March 22, was actually a sound one for an operation of less ambitious goals. To support him, Lee gave Gordon troops from both Hill's and Longstreet's corps, to the extent that Gordon had control of about half the army. Since large numbers of Confederate troops routinely deserted each night, Gordon would have his assault wave preceded by a collection of men masquerading as deserters. (The Federal policy was to pay each man $10 for his weapon, so it was not even uncommon to see deserters come in with the muskets in hand.) This would allow them to close with and neutralize the Federal pickets and thereby prevent the main Federal line from being alerted. The attacking force would be led by about 50 men with axes, detailed to chop away the Federal abatis and chevaux-de-frise.


General John B. Gordon, the master mind behind the assault on Fort Stedman which is given credit for saving the Army of Northern Virginia from immediate destruction.



The initial objective was Fort Stedman, a solitary enclosed redoubt considered by Col. Henry Abbott, the Federal officer in charge of siege operations, as one of the weak links in the Federal lines. It was located on the right of the Federal lines near the Appomattox River, had no abatis, and was only 150 yards from the Rebel trenches. Once it was secured, the lines would be swept left and right to prevent the adjacent works from firing on the Confederates at Fort Stedman, and three columns of picked men would assail a set of redoubts which backed up Fort Stedman. Gordon even had at his disposal some of the Confederate cavalry which was supposed to pass through the opening in the lines to cause havoc in the Federal rear, possibly even reaching the Federal supply and nerve center at City Point.

Fort Stedman was located near three Federal redoubts, Battery X, to the north, and Batteries XI and XII to the south. All four were located within a 1,000 yard section of the Federal line. The next supporting works to the north were Batteries IX and VIII, and Fort McGilvery, about 2,000 yards from Fort Stedman; and Fort Haskell, about 1,500 yards to the south. Simple trench lines and rifle pits connected the forts and redoubts.






Act I, Scene III

The Attack on Fort Stedman




The attack was made at 4:00 in the morning of March 25, and was initially successful, in that Fort Stedman fell quickly along with the three nearby batteries. (Maj. William Miller, IX Corps Inspector of Artillery, was sent over towards Fort Stedman to check out the situation. He started giving orders in the dark to the men in the fort before he realized they were wearing a different uniform and he was taken prisoner.) The opening phases of Gordon's attack plan went off with few hitches. The working parties cleared the Confederates own obstruction's and the advance squads silently eliminated the enemy's forward positions. Brigadier General James Walker, commanding one of Gordon's divisions, remembered the moment that the storming parties went forward. "The cool, frosty morning made every sound distinct and clear, and the only sound heard was the tramp! tramp! tramp! of the men as they kept step as regularly as if on drill."

The predawn gloom erupted in blinding tongues of flame as the parties met defensive fire from Fort Stedman and its flanking batteries. The initial Union response was ineffective, and well before 4:30 a.m. Stedman and Batteries X and XI had been captured. Rebel soldiers also overran two regimental encampments located nearby, and many of the sleepy Federals were clubbed down as they staggered from their tents in alarm and panic. John Gordon himself crossed the no-mans land with the first wave of infantry to assess how the assault was progressing.

With the Confederates launching follow up assaults against the Federal lines, Union artillery which was the cornerstone of the Union defense failed to halt the advancing Confederates. Due to the various whereabouts of the senior commanders, the Union response fell upon Gen. Hartranft, a divisional commander in the IX Corps.



The first assault made by the Confederates which were able to quickly exert the weakness in the Federal lines as well as the failure of the Federal counter attack is credited with winning the battle for the Confederacy.

Between some confusion among the defending Federals, Union artillery did nothing but harras the advancing Confederates. By 7:30am the Confederate forces were pushing open the breach and the Union artillery was quickly ceasing fire on Fort Stedman. Nevertheless, a coordinated attack started shortly before 8:00am, Hartranft advanced on the fort, however the Confederates who had by now taken up strong positions in Fort Stedman made the land between the lines a true “no man’s land.” Hartranft himself was severely wounded by a Confederate bullet which struck him in the stomach causes the Union forces to lose much of their new found organization.

Gordon, with Lee’s permission kept up pressure on the retreating Federal troops as a flank maneuver was attempted. Lee would immediatley put the rest of his plan into motion as the news of the fall of the fort spread to Grant’s City Point head quarters where none other than President Abraham Lincoln sit visiting with his General In Chief. The stage was set and Lee planned for the retreat from Petersburg, and to put his men in place for the final show down of the war.
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