Turning Lee’s Flank

Turning Lee’s Flank. Battle of North Anna River. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia arrived here at the North Anna River on May 22, 1864. The next day, the Union Army of the Potomac followed, having maneuvered around the Confederates from the Wilderness through Spotsylvania Court House. Fighting raged along the river at Jericho Mill, Telegraph Road Bridge, Doswell House, and here at Ox Ford until May 26., Lee’s health declined just when his army needed him the most. His son Capt. Robert “Rob” E. Lee, Jr., worried, “Suppose disease should disable him, … or, worse, should take him forever from the front of his men! … It was too awful to consider.” Confined to his tent, Lee muttered, “We must strike them a blow. We must not let them pass us again. We must strike them a blow.” On May 27, however, the Federals turned Lee’s flank again and marched south. The siege of Richmond that Lee feared was imminent, and the end of the Confederacy loomed., The fighting also affected nearby civilians as Union soldiers plundered houses, carried off furniture and artwork, destroyed libraries, and scrawled graffiti on walls., Slaves who escaped through the lines brought useful intelligence to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. “Lee’s army is really whipped,” Grant wrote. “I feel that our success … is already assured.” A week later, the disastrous assault at Cold Harbor on June 3 dashed his hopes, and the struggle continued for another eleven months until the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House., (captions) , (upper left) Gen. Robert E. Lee Courtesy Library of Congress , (lower left) Jericho Mill on the North Anna River, 1864 , Courtesy Library of Congress , (lower right) Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Courtesy Library of Congress