Second Battle of Rappahannock Station: Difference between revisions

|image=<!-- Deleted image removed: [[ImageFile:Rappahannock_pontoon_boatRappahannock pontoon boat.jpg|300px]] -->

|caption=Canvas Pontoon Boat, 50th New York Engineers —— Rappahannock Station, Virginia, March 1864.

|date=November 7,{{Start date|1863|11|7}}

|result=[[Union Victory(American Civil War)|Union]] victory

|combatant1= {{flagicon|USA|18611863}} [[United States]] ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]])

|combatant2= {{flagicon|CSA|18611863}} [[Confederate States of America|CSA (Confederacy)]]

|commander1= [[JohnGeorge SedgwickG. Meade]]<ref name=nps/>

|commander2= [[JubalRobert EarlyE. Lee]]<ref name=nps/>

|strength1= Division2,000 <ref name=cwsac/>

|strength2= 2,000 <ref name=cwsac/>

|casualties1=419 (Killed, wounded or captured)<ref name=nps/>

|casualties2=1,670 (Approx 1,600 captured)<ref name=nps/>

The '''Second Battle of Rappahannock Station''' took place on November 7, 1863, near the village of Rappahannock Station (now [[Remington, Virginia]]), on the [[Orange and Alexandria Railroad]],.

It was between [[Confederate States|Confederate]] forces under [[Major General (CSA) | Maj. Gen.]] [[Jubal Early]] and [[Union Army|Union]] forces under [[Major general (United States) | Maj. Gen.]] [[John Sedgwick]] as part of the [[Bristoe Campaign]] of the [[American Civil War]].

The battle resulted in a victory for the Union.

After the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] in July 1863, the Union and Confederate armies drifted south and for three months sparred with one another on the rolling plains of [[Northern Virginia|northern Virginia]]. Little was accomplished, however, and in late October General [[Robert E. Lee]] withdrew his Confederate army behind the [[Rappahannock River]], a line he hoped to maintain throughout the winter.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

A single [[pontoon bridge]] at the town of Rappahannock Station was the only connection Lee retained with the northern bank of the river. The bridge was protected by a bridgehead on the north bank consisting on two redoubts and connecting trenches. Confederate batteries posted on hills south of the river gave additional strength to the position.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

The bridgehead was an integral part of Lee's strategy to defend the Rappahannock River line. As he later explained, by holding the bridgehead he could "threaten any flank movement the enemy might make above or below, and thus compel him to divide his forces, when it was hoped that an opportunity would be presented to concentrate on one or the other part." The Union [[Army of the Potomac]]'s commander, Maj. Gen. [[George G. Meade]], divided his forces just as Lee expected. He ordered Maj. Gen. [[John Sedgwick]] to attack the Confederate position at Rappahannock Station while Maj. Gen. [[William H. French]] forced a crossing five miles downstream at Kelly's Ford. Once both Sedgwick and French were safely across the river, the reunited army would proceed to [[Brandy Station, Virginia | Brandy Station]].<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

Sedgwick first engaged the Confederates at 3 p.m. when Maj. Gen. [[Albion P. Howe]]'s division of the [[VI Corps (ACW) | VI Corps]] drove in Confederate skirmishers and seized a range of high ground three-quarters of a mile from the river. Howe placed Union batteries on these hills that pounded the enemy earthworks with a "rapid and vigorous" fire. Confederate guns across the river returned the fire, but with little effect.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

Maj. Gen. [[Jubal Early]]'s division occupied the bridgehead defenses that day. Early posted [[Brigadier General (CSA) | Brig. Gen.]] [[Harry T. Hays]]'s [[Louisiana Tigers|Louisiana brigade]] and Captain Charles A. Green's four gun Louisiana Guard Artillery in the works and at 4:30 &nbsp;p.m. reinforced them with three North Carolina regiments led by Colonel [[Archibald C. Godwin|Archibald Godwin]]. The addition of Godwin's troops increased the number of Confederate defenders at the bridgehead to nearly 2,000.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

Sedgwick continued shelling the Confederates throughout the late afternoon, but otherwise he showed no disposition to attack. As the day drew to a close, Lee became convinced that the movement against the bridgehead was merely a feint to cover French's crossing farther downstream. He was mistaken. At dusk the shelling stopped, and Sedgwick's infantry rushed suddenly upon the works. Col. Peter Ellmaker's brigade advanced adjacent to the railroad, preceded by skirmishers of the [[6th Maine VolunteersVolunteer Infantry Regiment|6th Maine Infantry]]. "No Union regiment gained more laurels that day nor suffered higher casualties," according to the National Park Service. At the command "Forward, double-quick!" they surged over the Confederate works and engaged Hays's men in hand-to-hand combat. Without assistance, the 6th Maine breached the Confederate line and planted its flags on the parapet of the easternmost redoubt. Moments later the [[5th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment|5th Wisconsin]] swarmed over the walls of the western redoubt, likewise wresting it from Confederate control.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

On the right, Union forces achieved comparable success. Just minutes after Ellmaker's brigade penetrated Hays's line, Col. [[Emory Upton]]'s brigade overran Godwin's position. Upton reformed his lines inside the Confederate works and sent a portion of the [[121st New York Infantry|121st New York]] to seize the pontoon bridge, while the rest of his command wheeled right to attack the confused Confederate horde now massed at the lower end of the bridgehead.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

Confederate resistance dissolved as hundreds of soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered. Others sought to gain the opposite shore by swimming the icy river or by running the gauntlet of Union rifle fire at the bridge. Confederate troops south of the Rappahannock looked on hopelessly as Union soldiers herded their comrades to the rear as prisoners of war.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

In all, 1,670 Confederates were killed, wounded, or captured in the brief struggle, more than eighty percent of those engaged. Union casualty figures, by contrast, were small: 419 in all.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

For the North the battle had been "a complete and glorious victory," an engagement "as short as it was decisive," reflecting "infinite credit upon all concerned."{{who}}<ref name=NPSbrochure>[http://www.nps.gov/frsp/rapp.htm NPS brochure]</ref> Maj. Gen. [[Horatio G. Wright]] noted that it was the first instance in which Union troops had carried a strongly entrenched Confederate position in the first assault. Brig. Gen. Harry Hays claimed to have been attacked by no less than 20,000 to 25,000 Union soldiers&mdash;asoldiers—a figure ten times the actual number.{{cn}}<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

The battle had been as humiliating for the South as it had been glorious for the North. Two of the Confederacy's finest brigades, sheltered behind entrenchments and well supported by artillery, had been routed and captured by an enemy force of equal size. Col. [[Walter H. Taylor]] of Lee's staff called it, "the saddest chapter in the history of this army," the result of "miserable, miserable management." An enlisted soldier put it more plainly. "I don't know much about it," he said, "but it seems to be that our army was surprised."<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

Lee would later call on subordinates to submit reports on the battle in an effort to determine what had gone wrong, but on the night of November 7 more pressing matters demanded his attention. Loss of the bridgehead destroyed his plans for an offensive and left his army dangerously extended on a now indefensible front. Meade, acting quickly, might pin Lee's army against the [[Rapidan River]] just as Lee had tried to pin Maj. Gen. [[John Pope (military officer) | John Pope's]] army against the Rappahannock River one year earlier in the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]]. Lee immediately canceled his plans for an attack on French and within hours had his army marching south.<ref name=NPSbrochure/>

* [httphttps://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va043.htm National Park Service battle description]

[[Category:1863 in the United StatesVirginia]]

[[Category:Battles of the Bristoe Campaign of the American Civil Warcampaign|Rappahannock Station II]]

[[Category:Battles of the Main Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Rappahannock Station II]]

[[Category:VirginiaBattles inof the American Civil War in Virginia|Rappahannock Station II]]

[[Category:Fauquier County in the American Civil War|Rappahannock Station II, Battle of]]

[[Category:Culpeper County, Virginiain the American Civil War|Rappahannock Station]]