Grant Reacts

Grant Reacts. May 24, 1864. Although Ledlie's assault resulted in a bloody repulse, Grant clearly understood the Confederates held Ox Ford in strength. The Union General in Chief suddenly realized he had maneuvered the Army of the Potomac into a hazardous position., "Lee now had his entire army south of the North Anna...Our lines covered his front with six miles separating the two wings guarded by a single division. To get from one wing to the other the river would have to be crossed twice." , - General Ulysses S. Grant, Although the Union army was vulnerable in several places, the area where you now stand offered the most promising target for Lee's Army. Crittenden's battered division along with General Samuel Crawford's two small brigades of Pennsylvania Reserves, were isolated here from the rest of the Union army., To General Winfield S. Hancock, Union Second Corps, , "As it now stands, Generals Crittenden and Crawford are cut off from both you and Warren, and also from this side of the river, except by a deep rocky ford." , Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, Union Ninth Corps, May 24, 1864, 10:20 pm, Grant ordered his engineers to construct pontoon bridges to link his divided army, while each corps commander was ordered to halt and dig in. The two Federal divisions here along the river prepared trenches under cover of darkness and rain, expecting the shrill Rebel yell to be echoing through the trees at daybreak., Donated to the People of the United States by Joe Overstreet of Mississippi.