1864 Battle of Fort Harrison

In September 1864, with his army stalemated in a siege at Petersburg, Virginia, Ulysses S. Grant approved of a plan by General Benjamin Butler to take two Union corps north of the James River for an attack on Richmond. While Union troops succeeded in capturing a key Confederate defensive position in the Battle of Fort Harrison, their leaders failed to press their gains and perhaps missed an opportunity to seize the Confederate capitol, and Richmond remained in Confederate hands for the next six months. Author Doug Crenshaw recounted the planning, execution, and fighting that lead to Fort Harrison’s fall. This talk was part of a symposium hosted by the “Emerging Civil War” blog. close