Roanoke Civil War Round Table Presents John Horn on the “Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 22-July 1, 1864” [May 13]

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Kevin C. Donovan

U.S. Grant had high hopes for his powerful June 1864 cavalry raid against Lee's supply lines.

“Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 22-July 1, 1864”

A Presentation by John Horn, Esq.

If you can’t beat ‘em, starve ‘em. At least that is what U.S. forces set out to do to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in June 1864.

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wasted no time after his Petersburg assaults of June 15-18, 1864, failed to capture the “Cockade City.” He launched his second offensive against Petersburg hours later. Among other things, Grant sent two divisions of cavalry, 5,000 strong, on a raid to cut the Confederate railroads south and west of Petersburg. This would slow any reinforcements sent to the enemy at Petersburg and Richmond. Grant also hoped that in case a planned infantry action failed in its own mission a lack of provisions would force the foe to abandon those cities.

But at Petersburg Grant faced Gen. Robert E. Lee, not the hapless John Floyd as at Fort Donelson in 1862 or the overmatched John C. Pemberton as at Vicksburg in 1863. Lee, cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton, and infantry leader Brig. Gen. William Mahone prepared to react to Grant’s multi-pronged thrusts. The stakes were high. The fate of the Confederate capital, and possibly Lee’s army, hung in the balance.

The “Wilson-Kautz Raid” took place in southern Virginia from June 22 to July 1, 1864. Grant expected that by extending his infantry from Jerusalem Plank Road southeast of Petersburg to the Appomattox River above the city, as well as cutting with his powerful cavalry raid cavalry the vital railroad arteries south and west of the city, he would force Lee to abandon Petersburg and Richmond for want of supplies.

Things did not work out that way. Confederate foot soldiers routed Grant's infantry in the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road (June 21-24, 1864). As his cavalry returned after a 300-mile ride, Rebel forces caught up to them and smashed the Federal horse soldiers at Sappony Church and Reams Station.

Grant was frustrated. Lee, by contrast, took the opportunity only weeks later to launch Lt. Gen. Jubal Early on a daring raid North that reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

To explore this crucial cavalry raid and its results, on Tuesday, May 13, the Roanoke Civil War Round Table—winner of a 2024 Kegley Award for Heritage Education [see https://roanokepreservation.org/preservation-awards/]—hosts author John Horn.

Born and reared in Chicago, John Horn, Esq., a graduate of Columbia Law School, has practiced law there since 1976. He has written three books and co-edited another about Petersburg, Virginia's soldiers, and the siege of that city. His most recent book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie), won the 2019 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History. Mr. Horn is currently working on a history of Grant's second offensive at Petersburg: Grant Besieges Lee at Petersburg: Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 20-July 1, 1864. He has published articles in Civil War Times Illustrated, America's Civil War, Gettysburg Magazine, and North and South Magazine. He blogs at johnhorncivilwarauthor.blogspot.com.

Date, Time & Location: Tuesday, May 13 (7:00 pm). Chapel of the Residents’ Center at Friendship, 397 Hershberger Road, Roanoke, VA, 24012. Admission is free (but becoming a Round Table member welcome).