Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant · Chapter
Commencement of the Grand Campaign—General Butler’s Position—Sheridan’s First Raid explained
Grant describes the unified strategy for the spring 1864 campaign, with the main objectives being Lee's army at Richmond and Johnston's army at Atlanta.
What happens
Grant describes the unified strategy for the spring 1864 campaign, with the main objectives being Lee's army at Richmond and Johnston's army at Atlanta. He details the failures of Banks and Sigel, Butler's advance up the James River and subsequent containment at Bermuda Hundred (the 'bottle' analogy), and Sheridan's successful cavalry raid that disrupted Confederate communications, defeated Stuart's cavalry at Yellow Tavern, and reached Butler's lines on the James.
Themes in this chapter
The Horrors and Cost of War
Grant recounts the heavy losses in Sheridan's engagement at Yellow Tavern and the perilous situation of the cavalry, highlighting the human cost of the campaign.
Leadership and Humility
Grant acknowledges his own mistake in using the 'bottle' analogy without attribution and expresses a desire to correct any injustice done to General Butler.
National Union and Constitutional Crisis
The entire campaign is framed as a coordinated effort to preserve the Union by defeating the Confederate armies and capturing their capitals.
Characters to notice
- Ulysses S. Grant
Author and commander, orchestrates the grand campaign and issues orders for Sheridan's raid.
- Benjamin F. Butler
Commands the Army of the James; seizes Bermuda Hundred but is later contained by Beauregard, leading to the 'bottle' analogy.
- Philip H. Sheridan
Leads the first cavalry raid around Lee's army, defeats Stuart at Yellow Tavern, and reaches the James River.
- Henry W. Halleck
Reports Sigel's retreat to Grant.
- Robert E. Lee
Main Confederate objective; his army and Richmond are the primary targets of the campaign.
- James Ewell Brown Stuart
Confederate cavalry commander; mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern while opposing Sheridan.
- George Crook
Leads the successful western column of Sigel's force, destroying railroad and supplies in West Virginia.
- Joseph E. Johnston
Confederate commander at Atlanta, an important secondary objective.
Key passages
“Sigel is in full retreat on Strasburg. He will do nothing but run; never did anything else.”
Halleck reported that Sigel was retreating and had never been effective.
Grant uses Halleck's blunt assessment to illustrate Sigel's failure in the Shenandoah Valley.
“the position was like a bottle and that Butler’s line of intrenchments across the neck represented the cork; that the enemy had built an equally strong line immediately in front of him across the neck; and it was therefore as if Butler was in a bottle.”
General Barnard described Butler's position as a bottle, with his own fortifications as the cork, and the enemy's parallel line sealing him in.
Grant explains the origin of the famous 'bottle' analogy that later caused friction with Butler.
