When 20,000 Federals Advanced on Richmond During the Gettysburg Campaign

From the jacket of Gettysburg's Southern Front:

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.

Gettysburg's Southern Front is published by University Press of Kansas.

Gettysburg's Southern Front: Crump's Crossroads East of Richmond, July 2, 1863

Map of New Kent County, Crump's Crossroads Detail (LOC)

Gettysburg's Southern Front includes an in-depth look at Erasmus Keyes' anemic efforts against Richmond's defenses. In early July 1863, Keyes advanced from John Dix's base at White House Landing to demonstrate against Bottom's Bridge on the Chickahominy River. If successful, Keyes would have prevented Confederate reinforcements from intercepting George Getty's march to the South Anna railroad bridges, key components of Robert E. Lee's line of communication with Richmond. But Keyes’ operation came to an abrupt halt after an engagement with D.H. Hill's forces at Crump's ("Baltimore") Crossroads -- on the same day the Union left at Gettysburg managed to hold against James Longstreet's massive assault.

Erasmus Keyes (LOC)

I'm struck by how poorly Keyes performed at Crump's Crossroads. He never got close to Bottom's Bridge and spent several days at Talleysville (Baltimore Store) and Crump's doing pretty much nothing. Though his political views contrasted sharply with those of his professional nemesis, George McClellan, the two shared similar command traits. Cautious and ineffective, Keyes seemed to spend most of his energy in July manufacturing excuses for his failure. The campaign would mark the abolitionist's last field command. He would fade into obscurity - and little would be written about his actions before Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign. His lengthy autobiography, published eleven years before his death in 1884, ends abruptly in 1862 and, not surprisingly, ignores the events of July 1863.

Book Release Day: Gettysburg's Southern Front

The new book is here - Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond! 

Many thanks to Joyce Harrison, Kelly Chrisman Jacques, Derek Helms, and the rest of the staff at University Press of Kansas.  I really enjoyed this project about a little-known chapter of the Gettysburg Campaign - it was a great opportunity to dig deep into some new ground.

Gettysburg's Southern Front: From the Catalog

 

Gettysburg's Southern Front: Available For Preorder

My new book, Gettysburg's Southern Front: Opportunity and Failure at Richmond, is available for preorder from University Press of Kansas (and elsewhere).  

"Gettysburg’s Southern Front by Hampton Newsome illuminates Union efforts to threaten Richmond while Robert E. Lee was invading Pennsylvania. It does so with commendably thorough research, clear writing, and useful analysis about why and how this sideshow was planned and executed and why its results fell short of what was expected. It is a model study of a small, unknown operation of the Civil War.”"  —Earl J. Hess, author of Pickett’s Charge--The Last Attack at Gettysburg