Friday, May 23, 2008
This Day in the History of Losing Battle After Battle Until the War is Won
On this day in 1864, the Battle of North Anna started in Virginia, where General U. S. Grant attempted to outflank Robert E. Lee and failed miserably, as usual, although he inflicted more casualties on the Rebels than he took in this somewhat minor series of battles. Indeed, one could argue that the whole of the fighting in 1864, from the Wilderness to Petersburg, was Grant being out-generaled by Lee (until Lee had no more men left). The next big battle, at Cold Harbor, would be a doomed Union frontal assault against well prepared trench works, where the North took more casualties than the South had men, as described then, not war, but murder.
Labels: American Civil War; Battle of North Anna
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:52 AM 
