title: Overland Campaign

text: As Hancock bogged down, Grant sent in reinforcements, ordering both Wright and Warren to move forward. The VI Corps division of Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Neill headed for the western leg of the Mule Shoe, at the point where it turned to the south. This sector of the line, where the heaviest fighting of the day would occur, became known as the "Bloody Angle." Heavy rain began to fall, and both sides fought on the earthworks slippery with both water and blood. Warren's attack at Laurel Hill began on a small scale around 8:15 a.m. For some of his men, this was their fourth or fifth attack against the same objective and few fought with enthusiasm. They were repulsed again. Burnside advanced against the eastern leg of the Mule Shoe before dawn, materially aiding Hancock's breakthrough. At 2 p.m., Grant and Lee coincidentally ordered simultaneous attacks in this stalemated sector. The advance by Union Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's division was stopped as Brig. Gen. James H. Lane's brigade moved forward and hit them in the flank.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Throughout the afternoon, Confederate engineers scrambled to create a new defensive line 500 yards further south at the base of the Mule Shoe, while fighting at the Bloody Angle continued day and night with neither side achieving an advantage. At 4 a.m. on May 13, the exhausted Confederate infantrymen were notified that the new line was ready, and they withdrew from the original earthworks unit by unit. The combat they had endured for almost 24 hours was characterized by an intensity of firepower never previously seen in Civil War battles, as the entire landscape was flattened, all the foliage destroyed. May 12 was the most intensive day of fighting during the battle, with Union casualties of about 9,000, Confederate 8,000; the Confederate loss includes about 3,000 prisoners captured in the Mule Shoe.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Despite the significant casualties of May 12, Grant was undeterred. He planned to reorient his lines and shift the center of potential action to the east of Spotsylvania, where he could renew the battle. He ordered the V and VI Corps to move behind the II Corps and take positions past the left flank of the IX Corps. On the night of May 13–14, the corps began a difficult march in heavy rain. Grant notified Washington that, having endured five days of almost continuous rain, his army could not resume offensive operations until they had 24 hours of dry weather. The weather finally cleared on May 17. Grant ordered the II Corps and the VI Corps to attack against the Mule Shoe area again at sunrise, May 18. Unfortunately for the Union plan, the former Confederate works were still occupied by Ewell's Second Corps and they had used the intervening time to improve the earthworks and the obstacles laid out in front of them. Unlike on May 12, they were not caught by surprise. As Hancock's men advanced, they were caught up in abatis and subjected to artillery fire so devastating that infantry rifle fire was not necessary to repulse the attack. Wright and Burnside had no better luck in supporting attacks.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant decided to abandon the Spotsylvania area. He ordered Hancock's II Corps to march to the railroad line between Fredericksburg and Richmond, and then turn south. With luck, Lee might take the bait and follow, seeking to overwhelm and destroy the isolated corps. In that case, Grant would chase Lee with his remaining corps and strike him before the Confederates could entrench again. Before Hancock began to move, Lee ordered Ewell to conduct a reconnaissance in force to locate the northern flank of the Union army. Ewell fought near the Harris farm with several units of Union heavy artillery soldiers who had recently been converted to infantry duty before he was recalled by Lee. Grant's intended advance of Hancock's corps was delayed by the Harris farm engagement, so the troops did not begin their movement south until the night of May 20–21. Lee did not fall into Grant's trap of attacking Hancock, but traveled on a parallel path to the North Anna River.


title: Overland Campaign

text: For the early days of the campaign—the Wilderness and the approach to Spotsylvania Court House—Meade had employed Sheridan's Cavalry Corps primarily in the traditional role of screening and reconnaissance, whereas Sheridan saw the value of wielding his force as an independently operating offensive weapon for wide-ranging raids into the rear areas of the enemy. On May 8, Sheridan told Meade that if his command were freed to operate as an independent unit, he could defeat "Jeb" Stuart. Grant was intrigued and convinced Meade of the value of Sheridan's request.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On May 9, over 10,000 of Sheridan's troopers rode to the southeast with 32 artillery pieces to move behind Lee's army. The column, which at times stretched for over , reached the Confederate forward supply base at Beaver Dam Station that evening. Sheridan's men destroyed numerous railroad cars and six locomotives of the Virginia Central Railroad, destroyed telegraph wires, and rescued almost 400 Union soldiers who had been captured in the Wilderness.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Stuart moved his 4,500 troopers to get between Sheridan and Richmond. The two forces met at noon on May 11 at Yellow Tavern, an abandoned inn located north of Richmond. Not only did the Union outnumber the Confederates by three divisions to two brigades, it had superior firepower—all were armed with rapid-firing Spencer carbines. The Confederate troopers tenaciously resisted from the low ridgeline bordering the road to Richmond, fighting for over three hours. A countercharge by the 1st Virginia Cavalry pushed the advancing Union troopers back from the hilltop as Stuart, mounted on horseback, shouted encouragement. As the 5th Michigan Cavalry streamed in retreat past Stuart, he was shot, and he died in Richmond the following day. The fighting kept up for an hour after Stuart was wounded, Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee taking temporary command.


title: Overland Campaign

text: After Yellow Tavern, Sheridan led his troops southward towards Richmond on May 11, carefully feeling his way through the abandoned outer defensive works. He kept up his movement down the Brook Pike, not realizing that he was boxing himself into a potential trap. Sheridan found himself only two and half miles from his objective, but saw that the intermediate defenses in his front swarmed with enemy troops. His left flank was against the swollen Chickahominy, and Confederate cavalry threatened his rear, hoping to capture the Union force.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Sheridan decided to force a crossing of the river at Meadow Bridge, where the Virginia Central Railroad crossed the river. He assigned the Michigan brigade of Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, part of Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt's division, to seize the span and the high bluffs beyond. The rest of Sheridan's command had to hold the Confederates at bay while Custer executed his orders. The rearguard of Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg's division was assailed on three sides when it was light enough for a brigade of Confederate infantry to sally forth from the fortifications and attack. Soon, other Confederates, including Richmond citizens hastily pressed into military service, joined in the efforts to break through the rear lines. James H. Wilson's men were initially pushed back in some confusion, but Gregg had concealed a heavy line of skirmishers armed with repeating carbines in a brushy ravine. His men poured forth a destructive fire, halting the final Confederate advances, assisted by some of Wilson's men who turned the flank of the attacking column. Federal horse artillery made sure that the Confederate infantry no longer was a threat, and three mounted cavalry regiments skirmished with approaching enemy cavalry, turning them aside and protecting the rear.


title: Overland Campaign

text: In the meantime, Custer's 5th Michigan Cavalry used snipers to suppress Confederate rifle fire while several daring dismounted troopers crossed the damaged railroad bridge, hopping from railroad tie to tie while menaced by persistent enemy artillery fire. Followed by the 6th Michigan, they succeeded in the early afternoon in clearing the north bank of the Chickahominy and gaining a foothold on the Confederate side of the river. Custer's men pinned down remaining threatening enemy units and captured two artillery pieces, while pioneers energetically planked the bridge to provide safe passage for large numbers of men and horses. By mid-afternoon, Merritt's entire division had crossed and engaged the Confederate hasty works on Richmond Heights, driving the defenders back to Gaines's Mill. By 4 p.m., the rest of Sheridan's cavalry had crossed the river.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Sheridan destroyed the Virginia Central Bridge in his wake to prevent further pursuit. After his men had rested, Sheridan brushed aside the remaining Confederate resistance in the area and marched his column to Mechanicsville. They bivouacked that night at Gaines's Mill, which was burned the following morning by some of the stragglers; Sheridan ordered a bucket brigade to douse the flames. Upon reaching Bottom's Bridge over the Chickahominy, they found it had also been damaged and rested there for the night while it was repaired. By this time, Sheridan's men were suffering from hunger and it was becoming urgent that they reach Union lines. On May 14, he led his men to Haxall's Landing on the James River, linking up with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's force, ending his raid. After resupplying with Butler, Sheridan's men returned to join Grant at Chesterfield Station on May 24.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Sheridan's raid was an overall tactical success, having killed Jeb Stuart at Yellow Tavern and beaten Fitzhugh Lee at Meadow Bridge, all with relatively minimal casualties—about 625 men for the entire raid, compared to 800 Confederate. From a strategic standpoint, however, the raid deprived General Grant of the cavalry resources that would have been helpful at Spotsylvania Court House and his subsequent advance to the North Anna River, and there are lingering questions about whether Sheridan should have attempted to assault the city of Richmond. In the latter case, Sheridan believed it would not have been worth the risk in casualties and he recognized that the chances of holding the city for more than a brief time would be minimal; any advantages would primarily result from damage to Confederate morale.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As the armies started their movements from Spotsylvania, the odds between them had become closer. Grant's army totaled approximately 68,000 men, depleted from the start of the campaign by battle losses, illnesses, and expired enlistments. Lee's was about 53,000. For the first time in the campaign he received sizable reinforcements, including three of the four brigades in Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett's division (about 6,000 men) from the James River defenses and two brigades (2,500 men) of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge's command from the Shenandoah Valley.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant's objective following Spotsylvania was the North Anna River, about south, and the important railroad intersection just south of it, Hanover Junction. Grant knew that Lee could probably beat him in a straight race to the North Anna, so he devised a stratagem that might be a successful alternative. He designated Hancock's II Corps to head southeast from Spotsylvania to Milford Station, hoping that Lee would take the bait and attack this isolated corps. If he did, Grant would attack him with his three remaining corps; if he did not, Grant would have lost nothing and his advance element might reach the North Anna before Lee could.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Hancock's corps of 20,000 men started marching the night of May 20–21. He was surprised to encounter some of Pickett's men at Milford Station on May 21, from which he inferred correctly that Lee was being reinforced. Rather than risk his corps in a fight in an isolated location, he decided to terminate his maneuver. Lee was still in the dark about Grant's intentions and was reluctant to disengage prematurely from the Spotsylvania Court House line. He cautiously extended Ewell's Corps to the Telegraph Road and notified Breckinridge, who was en route to join Lee, to stop at Hanover Junction and defend the North Anna River line until Lee could join him. Meanwhile, Grant started the rest of his corps on their marches. Lee ordered Ewell to march south on the Telegraph Road, followed by Anderson's Corps, and A.P. Hill's Corps on parallel roads to the west. Lee's orders were not urgent; he knew that Ewell had to march over relatively good roads, versus Hancock's over inferior roads.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On the morning of May 23, Warren and Hancock approached the North Anna. There were no significant fortifications to their front. Lee had misjudged Grant's plan, assuming any advance against the North Anna would be a mere diversion, while the main body of Grant's army continued its flanking march to the east. At the Chesterfield Bridge crossing the Telegraph Road, a small South Carolina brigade under Col. John W. Henagan had created a dirt redoubt, and there was a small party guarding the railroad bridge downstream, but all the other river crossings were left undefended. Grant had been presented with a golden opportunity if he moved quickly enough to take advantage of it.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Hancock's men, led by the division of Maj. Gen. David B. Birney, overwhelmed Henagan's small force, which fled across the bridge. Union sharpshooters discouraged Confederate attempts to burn the bridge. Hancock's men did not cross the bridge and seize ground to the south because Confederate artillery was laying down heavy fire against them. At Jericho Mills, Warren found the river ford unprotected and established a beachhead south of the river. General Lee convinced his Third Corps commander, A.P. Hill, that Warren's movement was simply a feint, so Hill sent only a single division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox, to deal with Warren's supposedly minor threat. The Union troops were taken by surprise and their right flank was beaten back, but they were supported by three batteries of artillery, which slowed the Confederate advance until Union reinforcements arrived to end the brief battle. The next morning, Lee expressed his displeasure at Hill's performance: "General Hill, why did you let those people cross here? Why didn't you throw your whole force on them and drive them back as Jackson would have done?"


title: Overland Campaign

text: By the evening of May 23, Lee finally understood that a major battle was developing in this location and began to plan his defensive position. He and his chief engineer devised a solution: a five-mile (8 km) line that formed an inverted "V" shape with its apex on the river at Ox Ford, the only defensible crossing in the area. On the western line of the V, reaching southwest to anchor on Little River, was the corps of A.P. Hill; on the east were Anderson and Ewell, extending through Hanover Junction and ending behind a swamp. Lee's men worked nonstop overnight to complete the fortifications. The new position represented a significant potential threat to Grant. By moving south of the river, Lee hoped that Grant would assume that he was retreating, leaving only a token force to prevent a crossing at Ox Ford. If Grant pursued, then Lee hoped the pointed wedge of the inverted V would split Grant's army and Lee could concentrate on interior lines to defeat one wing; the other Union wing would have to cross the North Anna twice to support the attacked wing.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On the morning of May 24, Hancock's II Corps crossed the Chesterfield Bridge with Maj. Gen. John Gibbon's division in the lead. Grant had begun to fall into Lee's trap. Seeing the ease of crossing the river, he assumed the Confederates were retreating. He wired to Washington: "The enemy have fallen back from North Anna. We are in pursuit."


title: Overland Campaign

text: The only visible opposition to the Union crossing was at Ox Ford, which Grant interpreted to be a rear guard action, and ordered Burnside's IX Corps to deal with it. Burnside's division under Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford marched downriver to Quarles Mill and seized the ford there. Burnside ordered Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden's division to cross over at the ford and follow the river's southern bank to Ox Ford and attack the Confederate position from the west. Crittenden's lead brigade was under Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie, who was known for excessive drinking of alcohol in the field. Intoxicated and ambitious, Ledlie decided to attack the Confederate position with his brigade alone. Encountering the Confederate earthworks manned by Brig. Gen. William Mahone's division, Ledlie's men were immediately repulsed. Crittenden sent word to Ledlie not to attack until the full division had crossed the river, but Ledlie, by now completely drunk, ordered a charge. The Confederates waited to open fire until they were at close range, and the effect was to drive Ledlie's leading men into ditches for protection. Two Massachusetts regiments rallied, but Mahone's Mississippi troops stepped out of their works and shot them down. Despite his miserable performance, Ledlie received praise from his division commander that his brigade "behaved gallantly." He was promoted to division command after the battle and his drunkenness in the field continued to plague his men, culminating in his humiliating failure at the Battle of the Crater in July, after which he was relieved of command, never to receive another assignment. Hancock's II Corps began pushing south from Chesterfield Bridge at about the same time that Ledlie was initially crossing the river, but the combined divisions of Maj. Gens. John Gibbon and David B. Birney could not break the Confederate line.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Although the Union army had done precisely what Lee had hoped it would do, Lee's plan came to naught. The morning of the river crossing, Lee suddenly suffered a debilitating attack of diarrhea and was forced to remain in his tent, bedridden. Unfortunately, he had not sufficiently empowered a subordinate commander to take over during his illness. Lee lamented in his tent, "We must strike them a blow—we must never let them pass again—we must strike them a blow." But Lee lacked the means to execute his plan. Grant identified the situation he faced with a divided army and ordered his men to stop advancing and to build earthworks of their own.


title: Overland Campaign

text: A significant command change occurred on the evening of May 24. Grant and Meade had had numerous quarrels during the campaign about strategy and tactics and tempers were reaching the boiling point. Grant mollified Meade somewhat by ordering that Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and his IX Corps would henceforth report to Meade's Army of the Potomac, rather than to Grant directly. Although Burnside was a more senior major general than Meade, he accepted the new subordinate position without protest.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On May 25, light skirmishing occurred between the lines and Union soldiers occupied themselves by tearing up 5 miles of the Virginia Central Railroad, a key supply line from the Shenandoah Valley to Richmond. Grant's options were limited. The slaughter at Spotsylvania Court House ruled out the option of frontal attacks against the Confederate line and getting around either Confederate flank was infeasible. However, the Union general remained optimistic. He was convinced that Lee had demonstrated the weakness of his army by not attacking when he had the upper hand. He wrote to the Army's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck: "Lee's army is really whipped. ... I may be mistaken but I feel that our success over Lee's army is already assured."


title: Overland Campaign

text: One of a series of protective outposts guarding supply lines for Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's Bermuda Hundred Campaign was a fort at Wilson's Wharf, at a strategic bend in the James River in eastern Charles City, overlooked by high bluffs. Its garrison of predominantly United States Colored Troops (USCT) under Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild had a frightening reputation among Southerners. His soldiers freed and recruited slaves and in one case whipped a plantation owner who had a reputation for harshness to his slaves. The Richmond newspapers denounced these activities and put intense pressure on the government of Jefferson Davis to put a stop to Wild's depredations. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division was ordered to "break up this nest and stop their uncivilized proceedings." Lee took 2,500 men and one cannon on a 40-mile march from Atlee's Station to reach Wilson's Wharf.


title: Overland Campaign

text: At 1:30 p.m. on May 24 Lee demanded the surrender of the garrison. He promised that the black soldiers would be taken to Richmond and treated as prisoners of war, but if they did not surrender, he would not be "answerable for the consequences." Wild and his men interpreted this to mean that some of the men would be returned to their former masters and others would be tried by state authorities for inciting insurrection. Wild sent back a written reply that said "We will try it" and told the two officers sent by Lee, "Take the fort if you can."


title: Overland Campaign

text: Brig. Gen. Williams C. Wickham's Confederate brigade moved east of the fort, while Col. John Dunovant of the 5th South Carolina Cavalry demonstrated on the western end of the fort. Dunovant's men advanced as far as the ditch and abatis, but were driven back by heavy fire. Wickham's men rushed forward across an open field and were met by interlocking fields of musket fire, canister rounds from two 10-pound Parrott rifles, and naval gunfire from the gunboat USS "Dawn". Lee ordered his men to withdraw to Charles City Court House and the next morning they rode back to Atlee's Station.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Casualties were relatively light and the action had little effect on the outcome of the war, but the North scored a propaganda victory. It was the first significant combat encounter between the Army of Northern Virginia and black soldiers, who had fought well in a defensive battle against a larger attacking force. Southerners, unwilling to acknowledge their defeat against a predominantly African-American force, claimed that six gunboats and substantial numbers of white Union soldiers were involved in the action.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As he did after the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, Grant now planned to leave the North Anna in another wide swing around Lee's flank, marching east of the Pamunkey River to screen his movements from the Confederates. He ordered (on May 22) that his supply depots at Belle Plain, Aquia Landing, and Fredericksburg be moved to a new base at Port Royal, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River. (Six days later the supply base was moved again, from Port Royal to White House on the Pamunkey.) If Grant had decided to move directly south, he would have been forced to cross three rivers, the Little River, the New Found, and the South Anna, minor obstacles that Lee would have to navigate instead.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Before he could move, however, Grant was faced with the problem of disengaging from Lee's army. Not only were the armies closely situated, Grant's first had to withdraw north over the North Anna, during which it would be very vulnerable to attack. Grant decided on a series of deceptive measures to disguise his intentions. On May 26, he sent a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson to Little River, probing the western end of the Confederate line, while at the same time men from the cavalry divisions of Brig. Gens. Alfred T. A. Torbert and David McM. Gregg were sent to the Little Page Bridge and Taylor's Ford on the Pamunkey, 10 miles upriver from Grant's intended crossing points. Lee, who was still in his tent suffering from the diarrhea that had incapacitated him during the North Anna battle, was fooled by Grant's actions and assumed that the Union general would be moving west for the first time in the campaign.


title: Overland Campaign

text: The Union infantry withdrew stealthily after dark on May 26 and by the morning of May 27 all were safely north of the North Anna. Burnside's IX Corps and Hancock's II Corps stayed in place to guard the river crossings while Warren's V Corps and Wright's VI Corps, led by Sheridan's cavalry, began their march toward crossings near Hanovertown, about 34 miles to the southeast. Once Lee recognized that his opponent had departed, he moved his army swiftly in response. His three corps marched south along the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, and then overland, heading for Atlee's Station on the Virginia Central Railroad, a point only 9 miles north of Richmond. There, his men would be well-positioned behind a stream known as Totopotomoy Creek to defend against Grant if he moved against the railroads or Richmond. He also sent a small brigade of North Carolina cavalry down the southern bank of the Pamunkey to scout and harass the Union advance wherever possible. During the march, Lee's illness forced him to ride in a carriage. Ewell was also laid up with a similar illness and rode in an ambulance. His condition was serious enough that he was temporarily replaced in command by Maj. Gen. Jubal Early.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On May 27, Union cavalry established a bridgehead over Dabney's Ford on the south side of the Pamunkey River. Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's Michigan cavalry brigade scattered the mounted Confederate pickets guarding the ford and an engineer regiment constructed a pontoon bridge. Custer's men fought a brisk engagement north of Salem Church against Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, the 1st Maryland under Col. Bradley T. Johnson and the brigade of North Carolinians under Col. John A. Baker. The Confederates withdrew under the pressure of superior numbers. The rest of Torbert's division then crossed the river, followed by Gregg's cavalry division and a division of Union infantry.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Lee knew that his best defensive position against Grant would be the low ridge on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek, but he was not certain of Grant's specific plans. If Grant was not intending to cross the Pamunkey in force at Hanovertown, the Union army could outflank him and head directly to Richmond. Lee ordered cavalry under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to make a reconnaissance in force, break through the Union cavalry screen, and find the Union infantry.


title: Overland Campaign

text: At 8 a.m. on May 28, Hampton rode off from Atlee's Station. As more of Grant's infantry crossed the pontoon bridge over the Pamunkey, Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg led his cavalry division probing west from Hanovertown, searching for Lee, while Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert's division began to picket along Crump's Creek in the direction of Hanover Court House. Three miles west of Hanovertown, and a mile beyond a large blacksmith shop called Haw's Shop, Gregg's troopers ran into Hampton at Enon Church, finding the Confederate cavalrymen dismounted in a wooded area, hurriedly erecting breastworks made of logs and rails, and well covered by artillery. Brig. Gen. Henry E. Davies, Jr., deployed pickets from the 10th New York Cavalry to Hampton's front, but they were driven back. The Confederates deployed in line in shallow rifle pits faced with log and fence-rail breastworks. Before Hampton could attack the approaching Union cavalry, Col. J. Irvin Gregg's brigade arrived and moved to the right of Davies's men, extending his flank. A Confederate mounted charge, followed by dismounted troopers, was repulsed. Hampton fed in the green troops of the 4th South Carolina on his right and they met Davies's next charge with their longer range Enfield rifles, killing or wounding 256 men. Union return fire was heavy as well, because the troopers were armed with seven-shot Spencer repeating carbines.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As Davies's first attack ground to a halt and the attack of Irvin Gregg's brigade failed to dislodge the Confederates, David Gregg sent for reinforcements from Sheridan, who released two brigades from Torbert's division. Torbert's reserve brigade under Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt extended Gregg's line to the right, thwarting a flanking maneuver attempted by Hampton with Chambliss's newly arrived brigade. There was plenty of infantry nearby that could have been called for reinforcements, with Hancock's II Corps dug in about one mile to the north, and there are disagreements between Sheridan's memoirs and historians about whether he asked for such reinforcements.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Torbert's other brigade, under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, dismounted and deployed in a long, double-ranked line of battle, as if they were infantrymen. Custer inspired his men by staying mounted as he led them forward. Receiving heavy rifle and artillery fire, 41 of the Union cavalrymen fell in the attack. Meanwhile, a mistaken identification of some dismounted Union cavalrymen as infantry concerned Hampton and he gave the order to begin withdrawing. (Hampton had also just received intelligence from prisoners on the location of two Union corps that had crossed the Pamunkey, which meant that his reconnaissance mission had been successfully completed.) As the Confederate brigades withdrew, Custer took advantage of the situation by charging forward for a final attack. Davies's brigade joined the attack and the remaining Confederate line fell apart into a rout, but by nightfall Hampton's cavalry was safely west of Totopotomoy Creek.


title: Overland Campaign

text: The Battle of Haw's Shop lasted for over seven hours and was the bloodiest cavalry battle since Brandy Station in 1863. It was an unusual battle in comparison to previous cavalry engagements in the Eastern Theater because it was fought predominantly by dismounted cavalry, many of which were protected by earthworks. Both sides claimed victory. Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and had again demonstrated their superiority over the Confederate cavalry. Hampton, however, had prevented Sheridan from learning the disposition of Lee's army while delaying the Union advance for seven hours, and General Lee received the valuable intelligence he had sought. He now knew that Grant had crossed the Pamunkey in force, although he was still unclear on the next steps that Grant might take and therefore waited for further developments.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As Lee's army stood in entrenchments behind Totopotomoy Creek, they were short on men. Lee requested that General P.G.T. Beauregard send him reinforcements from his 12,000-man army, sitting relatively idle as they bottled up Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's army at Bermuda Hundred. Beauregard initially refused Lee's request, citing the potential threat from Butler. Lee was determined despite this disappointment. He wrote to President Davis, "If General Grant advances tomorrow I will engage him with my present force."


title: Overland Campaign

text: On May 29, Grant's army advanced southwest to confront Lee. Since most of his cavalry was occupied elsewhere, he decided to use infantry for a reconnaissance in force. Hancock's II Corps followed the Richmond–Hanovertown Road (also known as Atlee Station Road) to Totopotomoy Creek. Finding that Lee was firmly entrenched on the far bank, Hancock's men began digging in. Warren's V Corps extended the II Corps line to the left. Wright's VI Corps was sent northwest from Hanovertown toward Hanover Court House. Burnside's IX Corps was in reserve near Haw's Shop and Sheridan's Cavalry Corps was far to the Union left, near Old Church. The Confederate line, from left to right, consisted of the corps of A.P. Hill, Breckinridge's independent division, and the corps of Anderson and Early. No action beyond minor skirmishing occurred during the day.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant began a general advance on May 30. Wright's corps was to move south against A.P. Hill on the Confederate left, while Hancock attacked across the creek against Breckinridge in the center, and Warren moved west toward Early along Shady Grove Road. Wright's advance became bogged down in the swampy land near Crump's Creek, delaying his VI Corps until late in the day. Hancock's skirmishers captured some of Breckinridge's rifle pits, but made little progress against the main Confederate line. Meade ordered Burnside's reserve corps to assist Hancock, but they arrived too late in the day to affect the battle. On the Union left, Warren moved the rest of his V Corps across the creek and began probing west. Lee ordered Early's corps, which was entrenched across Warren's path, to attack the V corps with the assistance of Anderson's corps. Early planned to send the division of Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes on a flanking march along Old Church Road, turning north at Bethesda Church, and following paths that his cavalry had precut through the underbrush to smash into Warren's rear areas.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As the V corps moved forward slowly, Warren became concerned about the safety of his left flank. He directed Crawford's division to move south along a farm track to Old Church Road, where they erected simple breastworks. Crawford sent forward the brigade of Col. Martin Davis Hardin, men of the Pennsylvania Reserves whose enlistments were due to expire that day. Rodes's men marched directly into Hardin's brigade at about noon and routed them. Crawford's entire division formation collapsed, exposing the V Corps' left flank. Unfortunately for the Confederates, Rodes lost control of his men, who ran beyond their objectives and descended into confusion. Warren began shifting his corps to face south toward Early.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Maj. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur of Early's corps, newly promoted to division command, recklessly charged the Union artillery at 6:30 p.m. Gordon's division was still deploying and could not support the attack. Rodes's men were too occupied with protecting the Confederate right to assist. The only brigade that attacked was Pegram's, commanded by Col. Edward Willis. They advanced through a severe crossfire of rifle and cannon fire and were able to close within 50 yards of the Union position before Willis was mortally wounded and the brigade fell back to its starting point.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Meade ordered a general assault across the line to relieve pressure on Warren, but none of his corps commanders were in positions to comply immediately. However, Warren's men had extricated themselves from their predicament without additional assistance. The repulse of Ramseur's division discouraged Early and he ordered his corps to withdraw a short distance to the west. He blamed Anderson for not arriving in time to assist, but the soldiers blamed Ramseur, who had ordered the charge without sufficient reconnaissance.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Of more concern to Lee than Early's failed attack was intelligence he received that reinforcements were heading Grant's way. Just as Hoke's division was leaving Bermuda Hundred, the 16,000 men of Maj. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith's XVIII Corps were withdrawn from Butler's Army of the James at Grant's request and they were moving down the James River and up the York to the Pamunkey. If Smith moved due west from White House Landing to Cold Harbor, 3 miles southeast of Bethesda Church and Grant's left flank, the extended Federal line would be too far south for the Confederate right to contain it. Lee sent his cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee to secure the crossroads at Cold Harbor.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On May 31 Hancock's II Corps again crossed Totopotomoy Creek, but found that the Confederate defense line stood well behind the actual creek bed. Grant realized that the strength of the Confederate position meant another stalemate was at hand. He began shifting his army southward toward Cold Harbor on the night of May 31.


title: Overland Campaign

text: As the infantry of the two armies fought at Bethesda Church on May 30, Sheridan began to receive requests for assistance from Warren, who was concerned that his isolated advanced position on the left flank of the Union army put him at risk. Sheridan initially paid little attention to Warren's requests because he still harbored ill feelings from arguments the two generals had had at Spotsylvania, but as Warren's requests became more urgent, Sheridan agreed to screen roads leading to Warren's left flank, assigning the task to his division under Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert, who delegated the responsibility to the brigade of Col. Thomas C. Devin, which was encamped at the Old Church crossroads. He placed his brigade in a good defensible position on the north bank of Matadequin Creek and sent a squadron to a forward position at the Barker farm, south of the creek.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sheridan, Lee was concerned about the critical road intersection at Old Cold Harbor, only six miles from Richmond. He dispatched Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butler's brigade of 2,000 troopers from Mechanicsville to determine whether the intersection was threatened. At 3 p.m., an attack by Butler overwhelmed the Union pickets, who fought a vigorous delaying action to prevent the South Carolinians from crossing over the creek. Devin deployed three regiments in line, Butler two, with one in reserve.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Torbert ordered the rest of his division to move up. Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt's reserve brigade was the first to arrive, and fought dismounted with the Confederates into a temporary stalemate.


title: Overland Campaign

text: The stalemate was broken by the arrival of the Union brigade under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer. His attack flanked the Confederates on both ends of the line. As Butler's men fled to the rear, his reserve regiment, the 7th South Carolina, counterattacked in an attempt to maintain the line. The superior Union numbers and firepower—the Michiganders were armed with Spencer repeating rifles—carried the day. The Union troopers pursued the retreating Confederates with enthusiasm. Butler eventually rallied his men at Old Cold Harbor and Torbert's men bivouacked about 1.5 miles northeast of the intersection.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Although Butler had successfully gathered the information that Robert E. Lee needed, for the second time in three days—Haw's Shop and Matadequin Creek—the Confederate cavalry had been driven back by their Union counterparts, and in both cases Custer's brigade had provided the crucial force needed to prevail. The door was open for Sheridan's capture of the important Old Cold Harbor crossroads the next day.


title: Overland Campaign

text: The cavalry forces that had fought at Old Church continued to face each other on May 31. Lee sent a cavalry division under Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee to reinforce Butler and secure the crossroads at Old Cold Harbor and ordered Anderson's First Corps to shift right from Totopotomoy Creek to support the cavalry. The lead brigade of Hoke's division also reached the crossroads to join Butler and Fitzhugh Lee. At 4 p.m. Torbert and elements of Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg's cavalry division drove the Confederates from the Old Cold Harbor crossroads and began to dig in. As more of Hoke's and Anderson's men streamed in, Union cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan became concerned and ordered Torbert to pull back toward Old Church. Grant continued his interest in Old Cold Harbor as an avenue for Smith's arrival and ordered Wright's VI Corps to move in that direction from his right flank on Totopotomoy Creek, and he ordered Sheridan to return to the crossroads and secure it "at all hazards." Torbert returned at 1 a.m. and was relieved to find that the Confederates had failed to notice his previous withdrawal.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Robert E. Lee's plan for June 1 was to use his newly concentrated infantry against the small cavalry forces at Old Cold Harbor, but his subordinates did not coordinate correctly. Anderson did not integrate Hoke's division with his attack plan and left him with the understanding that he was not to assault until the First Corps' attack was well underway, because the Union defenders were disorganized as well. Wright's VI Corps had not moved out until after midnight and was on a march. Smith's XVIII Corps had mistakenly been sent to New Castle Ferry on the Pamunkey River, several miles away, and did not reach Old Cold Harbor in time to assist Torbert.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Anderson's attack was poorly coordinated and driven back by the heavy firepower of the Union cavalry's Spencer repeating carbines. By 9 a.m. Wright's lead elements arrived at the crossroads, but Wright decided to delay Grant's intended attack until after Smith arrived, which occurred in the afternoon, and the XVIII Corps men began to entrench on the right of the VI Corps. At 6:30 p.m. the attack that Grant had ordered for the morning finally began. Both Wright's and Smith's corps moved forward. Wright's men made little progress south of the Mechanicsville Road, recoiling from heavy fire. North of the road, Brig. Gen. Emory Upton's brigade also met with heavy fire from Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Clingman's brigade and fell back to its starting point. To Upton's right, the brigade of Col. William S. Truex found a gap in the Confederate line through a swampy, brush-filled ravine. As Truex's men charged through the gap, Clingman swung two regiments around to face them, and Anderson sent in Brig. Gen. Eppa Hunton's brigade from his corps reserve. Truex became surrounded on three sides and was forced to withdraw.


title: Overland Campaign

text: While action continued on the southern end of the battlefield, the three corps of Hancock, Burnside, and Warren were occupying a 5-mile line that stretched southeast to Bethesda Church, facing the Confederates under A.P. Hill, Breckinridge, and Early. At the border between the IX and V Corps, two divisions of Early's Corps—Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes on the left, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon on the right—attacked at 7 p.m. Warren later described this attack as a "feeler", and despite some initial successes, both Confederate probes were repulsed.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Although the June 1 attacks had been unsuccessful, Meade believed that an attack early on June 2 could succeed if he was able to mass sufficient forces against an appropriate location. He and Grant decided to target Lee's right flank. Meade ordered Hancock's II Corps to shift southeast from Totopotomoy Creek and assume a position to the left of Wright's VI Corps. Once Hancock was in position, Meade would attack on his left from Old Cold Harbor with three Union corps in line, totaling 31,000 men: Hancock's II Corps, Wright's VI Corps, and Baldy Smith's XVIII Corps. Meade also ordered Warren and Burnside to attack Lee's left flank in the morning "at all hazards," convinced that Lee was moving troops from his left to fortify his right.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Hancock's men marched almost all night and arrived too worn-out for an immediate attack that morning. Grant agreed to let the men rest and postponed the attack until 5 p.m., and then again until 4:30 a.m. on June 3. But Grant and Meade did not give specific orders for the attack, leaving it up to the corps commanders to decide where they would hit the Confederate lines and how they would coordinate with each other. No senior commander had reconnoitered the enemy position. Robert E. Lee took advantage of the Union delays to bolster his defenses. When Hancock departed Totopotomoy Creek, Lee was free to shift Breckinridge's division to his far right flank. He also moved troops from A. P. Hill's Third Corps, the divisions of Brig. Gens. William Mahone and Cadmus M. Wilcox, to support Breckinridge, and stationed cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee to guard the army's right flank. The result was a curving line on low ridges, long, with the left flank anchored on Totopotomoy Creek, the right on the Chickahominy River, making any flanking moves impossible. Lee's engineers used their time effectively and constructed the "most ingenious defensive configuration the war had yet witnessed."


title: Overland Campaign

text: At 4:30 a.m. on June 3, the three Union corps began to advance through a thick ground fog. Massive fire from the Confederate lines quickly caused heavy casualties, and the survivors were pinned down. The most effective performance of the day was on the Union left flank, where Hancock's corps was able to break through a portion of Breckinridge's front line and drive those defenders out of their entrenchments in hand-to-hand fighting. However, nearby Confederate artillery turned the entrenchments into a death trap for the Federals. Breckinridge's reserves counterattacked these men from the division of Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow and drove them off. Hancock's other advanced division, under Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, became disordered in swampy ground and could not advance through the heavy Confederate fire. One of Gibbon's men, complaining of a lack of reconnaissance, wrote, "We felt it was murder, not war, or at best a very serious mistake had been made."


title: Overland Campaign

text: In the center, Wright's corps was pinned down by the heavy fire and made little effort to advance further, still recovering from their costly charge on June 1. On the Union right, Smith's men advanced through unfavorable terrain and were channeled into two ravines. When they emerged in front of the Confederate line, rifle and artillery fire mowed them down. The artillery fire against Smith's corps was heavier than might have been expected because Warren's V Corps to his right was reluctant to advance and the Confederate gunners in Warren's sector concentrated on Smith's men instead. The only activity on the northern end of the field was by Burnside's IX Corps, facing Jubal Early. He launched a powerful assault at 6 a.m. that overran the Confederate skirmishers but mistakenly thought he had pierced the first line of earthworks and halted his corps to regroup before moving on, which he planned for that afternoon.


title: Overland Campaign

text: At 7 a.m. Grant advised Meade to vigorously exploit any successful part of the assault. Meade ordered his three corps commanders on the left to assault at once, without regard to the movements of their neighboring corps. But all had had enough. Hancock advised against the move. Smith, calling a repetition of the attack a "wanton waste of life," refused to advance again. Wright's men increased their rifle fire but stayed in place. By 12:30 p.m. Grant conceded that his army was done. He wrote to Meade, "The opinion of the corps commanders not being sanguine of success in case an assault is ordered, you may direct a suspension of further advance for the present." Estimates of casualties that morning are from 3,000 to 7,000 on the Union side, no more than 1,500 on the Confederate.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant and Meade launched no more attacks on the Confederate defenses at Cold Harbor. Although Grant wired Washington that he had "gained no decisive advantage" and that his "losses were not severe," he wrote in his "Personal Memoirs" that he regretted for the rest of his life the decision to send in his men. The two opposing armies faced each other for nine days of trench warfare, in some places only yards apart. The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to June 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this lapse of judgment.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant realized he was again in a stalemate with Lee and additional assaults at Cold Harbor were not the answer. He planned three actions to make some headway. First, in the Shenandoah Valley, Maj. Gen. David Hunter was making progress against Confederate forces, and Grant hoped that by interdicting Lee's supplies, the Confederate general would be forced to dispatch reinforcements to the Valley. Second, on June 7 Grant dispatched his cavalry under Sheridan to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad near Charlottesville. Third, he planned a stealthy operation to withdraw from Lee's front and move across the James River. He planned to cross to the south bank of the river, bypassing Richmond, and isolate the capital by seizing the railroad junction of Petersburg to the south. Lee reacted to the first two actions as Grant had hoped. He pulled Breckinridge's division from Cold Harbor and sent it toward Lynchburg to parry Hunter. By June 12 he followed this by assigning Jubal Early permanent command of the Second Corps and sending them to the Valley as well. And he sent two of his three cavalry divisions in pursuit of Sheridan, leading to the Battle of Trevilian Station.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On June 9, Meade ordered the construction of a new line of entrenchments in the army's rear, extending northward from Elder Swamp to Allen's Mill Pond. On June 11, the construction was complete and he issued orders for a movement to the James River, beginning after dark on June 12. (Also on June 11, Lee ordered Early's Second Corps to depart for Charlottesville, likewise on June 12.) As night fell on June 12, Hancock's II Corps and Wright's VI Corps took up positions on the new entrenchment line. Warren's V Corps cleared the roads heading south, advancing over Long Bridge and White Oak Swamp Bridge, taking up a blocking position just east of Riddell's Shop, facing toward Richmond while Burnside's IX Corps and Smith's XVIII Corps withdrew from the original line of entrenchments. The cavalry brigade of Col. George H. Chapman, part of Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson's division, which did not accompany Sheridan on his raid, screened the roads heading toward Richmond. Burnside headed south, followed by Wright and Hancock. Smith's XVIII Corps marched to White House, where on the morning of June 13 they embarked on steamers for Bermuda Hundred. They arrived at Point of Rocks on the Appomattox River the night of June 14.


title: Overland Campaign

text: While Lee remained unaware of Grant's intentions, Union army engineers constructed the longest pontoon bridge of the war. It stretched over deep water, crossing the James from Weyanoke to Windmill Point at Flowerdew Hundred. Work started at 4 p.m. on June 15 and was completed seven hours later. Although most of Grant's infantry crossed the river by boats, the IX Corps, one division of VI Corps, the animals and supply wagons, and a part of the artillery crossed on the bridge on June 15 and 16. By the morning of June 17, more than 100,000 men, 5,000 wagons and ambulances, 56,000 horses and mules, and 2,800 head of cattle had crossed the river without alerting the Confederates. Before the entire army had crossed, Smith's XVIII Corps, followed by Hancock's II Corps, became engaged in the next campaign, Richmond–Petersburg (the siege of Petersburg), with attacks on Petersburg on June 15.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Sheridan and two cavalry divisions left on June 7 for their raid against the Virginia Central Railroad and to link up with Hunter. In the first two days, plagued by heat and humidity, and by irregular mounted raiding parties, the Federal column advanced only about 40 miles. Scouts passed word of Sheridan's movements to Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton, the senior Confederate cavalry commander, on the morning of June 8. He correctly guessed that the Union targets were the railroad junctions at Gordonsville and Charlottesville, and knew that he would have to move quickly to block the threat. His division and the division of Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee began to move in pursuit early on June 9. Although the Federals had a two-day head start, the Confederates had the advantage of a shorter route (about 45 miles versus 65) and terrain that was more familiar to them. By the evening of June 10, both forces had converged around Trevilian Station. The Federals had crossed over the North Anna River at Carpenters Ford and camped at locations around Clayton's Store.


title: Overland Campaign

text: At dawn on June 11, Hampton devised a plan in which he would split his divisions across the two roads leading to Clayton's Store and converge on the enemy at that crossroads, pushing Sheridan back to the North Anna River. Hampton took two of his brigades with him from Trevilian with his third remaining on his left to prevent flanking. The other division, under Fitzhugh Lee, was ordered to advance from Louisa Court House, making up the right flank. While the Confederates began their advance, Sheridan started his. Two brigades of Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert's division moved down the road to Trevilian Station while a third advanced toward Louisa Court House. The first contact occurred on the Trevilian Road as the South Carolinians of Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butler's brigade clashed with Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt's skirmish line. Hampton dismounted his men and pushed the skirmishers back into the thick woods, expecting Fitzhugh Lee to arrive on his right at any minute. However, Hampton was severely outnumbered and soon he was forced back. Eventually Col. Gilbert J. Wright's Confederate brigade joined in the close-quarter fighting in the thick brush, but after several hours they also were pushed back within sight of Trevilian Station.


title: Overland Campaign

text: After a brief clash on the Confederate right flank between Fitzhugh Lee and the advancing brigade of Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, Custer led his brigade on a road southwest to Trevilian Station. He found the station totally unguarded, occupied only by Hampton's trains—supply wagons, caissons containing ammunition and food, and hundreds of horses. The 5th Michigan Cavalry captured the lot, but left Custer cut off from Sheridan, and in their pursuit of the fleeing wagons, lost a number of their own men and much of their bounty. One of Wright's regiments, the 7th Georgia, got between Custer's force and Trevilian Station. Custer ordered the 7th Michigan to charge, driving the Georgians back. Hampton now learned of the threat in his rear area and sent in three brigades. Suddenly Custer was virtually surrounded, his command in an ever-shrinking circle, as every side was charged and hit with shells. Sheridan heard the firing from Custer's direction and realized he needed help. He charged with two brigades, pushing Hampton's men back all the way to the station, while a third brigade swung into Fitzhugh Lee's exposed right flank, thus pushing him back. Hampton fell back to the west, Lee to the east, and the battle ended for the day with the Federals in possession of Trevilian Station.


title: Overland Campaign

text: That night, Fitzhugh Lee maneuvered south to link up with Hampton to the west of Trevilian Station. Sheridan learned that General Hunter was not headed for Charlottesville as originally planned, but to Lynchburg. He also received intelligence that Breckinridge's infantry had been sighted near Waynesboro, effectively blocking any chance for further advance, so he decided to abandon his raid and return to the main army at Cold Harbor.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On June 12, the Union cavalry destroyed Trevilian Station, several railcars, and about a mile of track on either side of the station. Concerned about the Confederates hovering near his flank, at about 3 p.m. Sheridan sent Torbert's division on a reconnaissance west on the Gordonsville and Charlottesville roads. They found Hampton's entire force in an L-shaped line behind some log breastworks two miles northwest of Trevilian. The Union cavalrymen launched seven assaults against the apex and shorter leg of the "L", but were repulsed with heavy losses. Two brigades of Fitzhugh Lee's division swung around to hit the Union right flank with a strong counterattack. The battle ended about 10 p.m. and the Union withdrew late in the night. It had been the bloodiest and largest all-cavalry engagement of the war. Sheridan, burdened with many wounded men, about 500 prisoners, and a shortage of ammunition, decided to withdraw. He planned a leisurely march back to Cold Harbor, knowing that Hampton would be obliged to follow and would be kept occupied for days, unavailable in that time to Robert E. Lee.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Following the Battle of Trevilian Station, Sheridan's cavalry began to return on June 13 from their unsuccessful raid. They crossed the North Anna at Carpenter's Ford and then headed on the Catharpin Road in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House. On June 16 the column passed through Bowling Green and, traveling along the north bank of the Mattaponi River, arrived at King and Queen Court House on June 18. Hampton's Confederate cavalry left Trevilian Station and followed Sheridan on roughly parallel roads to the south.


title: Overland Campaign

text: While Sheridan's men were off on their raid, Grant's army had begun moving from Cold Harbor to cross the James River. In conjunction with this move, Grant ordered that his principal supply base be moved from White House on the Pamunkey River to City Point on the James. Sheridan learned that the White House depot had not yet been broken up, so he sent his wounded, prisoners, and African-Americans who had been following his column, to White House under escort on June 19, and then marched back to Dunkirk, where he could cross the Mattaponi.


title: Overland Campaign

text: On June 20, Fitz Lee attempted to attack the Union supply depot at White House, but Sheridan's arrival relieved the garrison there. On June 21, Sheridan crossed over the Pamunkey River, leading 900 wagons toward the James River. On June 24, Torbert's division escorted the wagons as Gregg's division followed a parallel route, protecting the right flank. At about 8 a.m., Gregg's division pushed back Confederate pickets to the north and entrenched to the west of Samaria Church (identified in Federal reports as St. Mary's Church). From 3 to 4 p.m., Hampton's five brigades attacked Gregg's two. The pressure was too great on the Union cavalrymen and they began to withdraw down the road to Charles City Court House.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Gregg's division escaped relatively intact and the supply wagons were unmolested. Having been blocked by Hampton's cavalry, Sheridan withdrew on June 25 and moved through Charles City Court House to Douthat's Landing, where the trains crossed the James on flatboats. His cavalry followed on June 27 and 28. The Confederate cavalry attempted to position themselves for another attack, but the Union force was too strong and the Southern horsemen were too worn out. Hampton received orders from Robert E. Lee to continue quickly to Petersburg to deal with the Wilson-Kautz Raid against railroads south of the city. His men crossed the James on a pontoon bridge at Chaffin's Bluff, also on June 27 and 28.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Sheridan's raid to Trevilian Station and back to the Army of the Potomac achieved mixed results. He successfully diverted Confederate attention from Grant's crossing of the James, but was unsuccessful in his objective of cutting the Virginia Central Railroad, a critical supply line to the Confederate capital and Lee's army. He also suffered relatively heavy casualties—particularly in his officer corps—and lost a large number of his horses to battle and heat exhaustion. And yet Sheridan claimed his raid was an undeniable victory. In his 1866 official report on operations he wrote, "The result was constant success and the almost total annihilation of the rebel cavalry. We marched when and where we pleased; were always the attacking party, and always successful."


title: Overland Campaign

text: The results of Hampton's cavalry activities against Sheridan were also mixed, but are usually seen in a more positive light than Sheridan's. He had succeeded in protecting the railroads and, indirectly, Richmond. He achieved tactical victories on the second day of Trevilian Station and against Gregg at Samaria Church, but failed to destroy the Union cavalry or its trains. In August, he was named commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, filling the position that had remained open since the death of J.E.B. Stuart.


title: Overland Campaign

text: Grant's crossing of the James altered his original strategy of attempting to drive directly on Richmond, and led to the siege of Petersburg. After Lee learned that Grant had crossed the James, his worst fear was about to be realized—that he would be forced into a siege in defense of the Confederate capital. Petersburg, a prosperous city of 18,000, was a supply center for Richmond, given its strategic location just south of the capital, its site on the Appomattox River that provided navigable access to the James River, and its role as a major crossroads and junction for five railroads. Since Petersburg was the main supply base and rail depot for the entire region, including Richmond, the taking of Petersburg by Union forces would make it impossible for Lee to continue defending the Confederate capital. This represented a change of strategy from that of Grant's Overland Campaign, in which confronting and defeating Lee's army in the open was the primary goal. Now, Grant selected a geographic and political target and knew that his superior resources could besiege Lee there, pin him down, and either starve him into submission or lure him out for a decisive battle. Lee at first believed that Grant's main target was Richmond and devoted only minimal troops under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard to the defense of Petersburg as the siege of Petersburg began.


title: Overland Campaign

text: The Overland Campaign was a thrust necessary for the Union to win the war, and although Grant suffered a number of setbacks, the campaign turned into a strategic success for the Union. By engaging Lee's forces and not permitting them to escape, Grant forced Lee into an untenable position. But this came at a high cost. The campaign was the bloodiest in American history: approximately 55,000 casualties on the Union side (of which 7,600 were killed), 33,600 (4,300 killed) on the Confederate. Lee's losses, although lower in absolute numbers, were higher in percentage (over 50%) than Grant's (about 45%), and more critically, while Grant could expect reinforcements to replace his army's losses, Lee largely could not. His losses were irreplaceable. Furthermore, the public interprets the results of the campaign based on these casualty lists. Dr. Earl Hess states, "The observer should not be fooled by the gory assaults that riveted everyone's attention from Spotsylvania onward—the Overland Campaign was at its heart a campaign of maneuver...Grant's most significant achievement in the Overland Campaign was not capturing territory or reducing the fighting of strength of the Army of Northern Virginia by 50%; rather, it lay in robbing Lee of the opportunity to launch large scale offensives against the Army of the Potomac."


title: Overland Campaign

text: Estimates vary as to the casualties for the entire campaign. The following table summarizes estimates from a variety of popular sources:


title: Overland Campaign

text: The massive casualties sustained in the campaign were damaging to the Northern war effort. The price of gold almost doubled and Abraham Lincoln's prospects for reelection were put into jeopardy. It was only the later successes at Mobile Bay, the Shenandoah Valley, and Sherman's capture of Atlanta that turned Northern morale and the political situation around. Grant's reputation also suffered. The knowledge that he could more easily afford to replace his losses of men and equipment than Lee may have influenced Grant's strategy. However, historians do not agree that Grant deliberately engaged in numerous attacks merely to defeat Lee solely through attrition, without regard for the losses to his army, needlessly throwing lives away in fruitless frontal assaults to bludgeon Lee. The overall strategy of the Overland Campaign depended on using Grant's numerical superiority to allow progressive shifts to the left by "spare" Union corps while Confederate forces were relatively pinned in their positions by the remaining Union forces. Such a strategy could not succeed without the continuing threat of defeat by direct assault in each of the positions assumed by Lee's army. The strategy failed in that Lee, possessing shorter lines of march (being nearer to Richmond, which was also his base), was able to prevent Grant's forces getting between Lee and Richmond, but was effective in allowing Grant to draw progressively closer to Richmond up to the battle at Cold Harbor. There, with the barrier of the James River and estuary to his left, Grant did not have the room necessary to continue such movements. He had to choose one among three possibilities: attack, shift to the right and thus back toward Washington, or cross the James to get at Lee's supply lines. He attempted the first, then did the third, as the second was unacceptable.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Princess Ozma is a fictional character from the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900).


title: Princess Ozma

text: She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and Baum indicated that she would reign in the fairyland forever, being immortal.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Baum described her physical appearance in detail, in "The Marvelous Land of Oz": "Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow." As originally illustrated by John R. Neill, she fit this description; however, in most subsequent Oz books, Ozma's hair became darker.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Ozma is the daughter of the former King Pastoria of Oz. As an infant, she was given to the witch Mombi of the North by the Wizard of Oz. Mombi transformed Ozma into a boy and called him "Tip" (short for Tippetarius) in order to prevent the rightful ruler of Oz from ascending to the throne. Ozma spent her entire childhood with Mombi in the form of the boy Tip and had no memory of ever having been a girl. During this time, Tip had managed to create Jack Pumpkinhead who was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life. In "The Marvelous Land of Oz", Glinda the Good Sorceress discovered what had happened and forced Mombi to turn Tip back into Ozma. Since then, the Princess has possessed the Throne of Oz (although many realms within Oz remained unaware of her authority).


title: Princess Ozma

text: In some of his last Oz books, namely "The Tin Woodman of Oz" and "Glinda of Oz", L. Frank Baum indicated that Ozma has the appearance of a fourteen-year-old and is therefore older than Dorothy Gale. By that point in time, Baum had also established that the inhabitants of Oz cease to age, suggesting that Ozma would always appear to be an extremely beautiful young girl.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Baum was not inclined to worry about strict continuity in his series, however, and so there were discrepancies in the origins and very nature of Ozma. In her initial appearances, she was portrayed as no more than a human princess, born shortly before the Wizard's arrival in Oz. Later in the series, Baum revealed that Ozma is actually a fairy, descending from "a long line of fairy queens" as stated in "The Scarecrow of Oz". In "The Magic of Oz", Glinda tells Dorothy that no one knows how old Ozma really is. And in Baum's final book, Ozma herself explains that she was in fact a member of the Fairy Queen Lurline's band when Lurline enchanted Oz and turned it into a fairyland.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Jack Snow attempted to reconcile Baum's disparate accounts in "The Shaggy Man of Oz", which explains that the Fairy Queen Lurline had left the infant Ozma in the care of King Pastoria, making the Princess the adopted daughter of the last King of Oz. This does not gel with the version of Ozma's story which says she is an ageless fairy who has ruled Oz for centuries.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Ozma frequently encounters difficulties while ruling her kingdom. In "The Lost Princess of Oz", for instance, the Fairy Princess is kidnapped, although her dearest friend Dorothy comes to her rescue with a search party. Both Dorothy and Ozma are captured by the wicked Queen Coo-ee-oh in "Glinda of Oz", while trying to stop a war between two races, but Glinda manages to save them with the help of the Three Adepts at Sorcery. In order to circumvent trouble, Ozma prohibits anyone other than the Wizard of Oz and Glinda from practicing magic in Oz unless they have a permit.


title: Princess Ozma

text: L. Frank Baum portrayed Ozma as an exceedingly benevolent and compassionate ruler, who never resorts to violence and who does not believe in destroying even her worst enemies. In "Ozma of Oz", she even left Oz in order to rescue the Royal Family of Ev from the clutches of the Nome King, demonstrating that her kindness and concern extends far beyond her own kingdom. When the Nome King tried to conquer and destroy Oz in revenge, Ozma insisted on maintaining a pacifist disposition, which led to the Scarecrow's suggestion that Ozma's enemies be made to forget about their wicked intentions by drinking from the Fountain of Oblivion.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Furthermore, Ozma discontinued the use of money in Oz, and took systematic measures to ensure that all the citizens of Oz receive the land's resources in equal measure, without having to work harder than necessary.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Ozma invited several people from the outside world to come live in the Land of Oz, most notably Dorothy, The Wizard, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Betsy Bobbin, Trot, Button Bright and Cap'n Bill.


title: Princess Ozma

text: When Ozma first meets Dorothy, Oz's greatest heroine, in "Ozma of Oz", they immediately like each other and become best friends; in the canonical "Oz "books by Baum, Dorothy and Ozma are each other's closest relationship.


title: Princess Ozma

text: In "The Emerald City of Oz" Ozma arranges, at Dorothy's request, for Dorothy and her family to move into the palace, and Ozma declares her an official princess of Oz and her "constant companion". In "The Lost Princess of Oz" the first page mentions that Ozma loves Dorothy very much and by page two says that Dorothy is the only one privileged to enter Ozma's rooms without an invitation. In turn, Dorothy often represents Ozma when some task takes the latter away from the Emerald City.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Ozma was born a girl but was magically transformed into a boy named Tip while an infant to hide her from Glinda the Good. Tip was raised as a boy until his early teens, at which point, after the adventures detailed in "The Marvelous Land of Oz", Tip is informed that he was born a girl. After some trepidation, Tip agreed to be transformed back into a girl and assumes rule of The Land of Oz as Princess Ozma.


title: Princess Ozma

text: In Windham Classics' adaptation of the "Oz" books, Tip is made monarch of Oz and no reference at all is made to Ozma.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Jack Snow, Melody Grandy, and Scott Andrew Hutchins have all made divergent attempts to bring Tip back alongside Ozma. Snow's device, which Hutchins followed as if canon, was that Tip seized his life from Ozma, but that Glinda and the Wizard were able to restore them both and make them siblings. Grandy made the characters totally unrelated through the use of a "Switcheroo Spell", with Ozma unrelated to Tippetarius and therefore suitable as a possible love interest. Snow's story, "A Murder in Oz" (1956) was rejected by "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine" and published in "The Baum Bugle". Grandy's "The Disenchanted Princess of Oz" has been published by Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends. Hutchins's "Tip of Oz", heavily mulling over ideas such as Pastoria-as-tailor and the execution of Mombi in "The Lost King of Oz" and similar material in "The Giant Horse of Oz", received a one-paragraph citation in "Eldred v. Ashcroft", and remains unpublished under the Copyright Term Extension Act.


title: Princess Ozma

text: Ozma was a direct influence on the design of the protagonist Padme Amidala in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. In a 2022 interview with "Star Wars Insider", concept artist Iain McCaig related the instructions that Lucasfilm provided its artists to visualize characters, saying, "Amidala was described as 'Kind of like Ozma' from "The Wizard of Oz"." According to McCaig, he chose actress Natalie Portman as a model for his designs because he felt evoked the "Oz" character, saying, "She had Ozma's aura of vulnerability and strength." After producer/director George Lucas spoke with McCaig about this inspiration, Lucas cast Portman to play her.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: Stripe, Inc. is an Irish-American financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company dual-headquartered in South San Francisco, California, United States and Dublin, Ireland. The company primarily offers payment processing software and application programming interfaces (APIs) for e-commerce websites and mobile applications.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: Irish entrepreneur brothers John and Patrick Collison founded Stripe in Palo Alto, California, in 2009. In 2011, the company received investment of $2 million including from PayPal co-founders Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, Irish entrepreneur Liam Casey, and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In 2012, the company moved from Palo Alto to San Francisco. In October 2019, the company announced that it would be moving from the South of Market area to Oyster Point in the neighbouring city of South San Francisco in 2021.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In February 2021, former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, was appointed to the Stripe board.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On October 20, 2021, Stripe acquired accountancy platform Recko; Recko’s solution will be added to Stripe’s existing suite of financial tools.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In January 2022, Stripe entered a five-year partnership with Ford Motor Company; through this deal, Stripe will handle transactions for consumer vehicle orders and reservations. That same month, Stripe partnered with Spotify to help creators monetize subscriptions, accept payments and launch recurring revenue streams. In April 2022, Twitter announced that it will partner with Stripe Inc (digital payments processor) for piloting cryptocurrency payouts for limited users in the platform. “The crypto payments will be routed through Stripe Connect, which will also handle KYC requirements”, Stripe said. The company announced it is also planning to add options for payment in other cryptocurrencies in the future.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: The "Wall Street Journal" reported in July 2022 that the company's internal share price had fallen causing its implied valuation to drop from $95billion to $74bn. In November 2022, the company announced it intended to initiate layoffs, terminating some 14% of their workforce.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: Stripe provides APIs that web developers can use to integrate payment processing into their websites and mobile applications.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In April 2018, the company released anti-fraud tools, branded "Radar", that block fraudulent transactions.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In 2018, the company expanded its services to include a billing product for online businesses, allowing businesses to manage subscription recurring revenue and invoicing.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On June 11, 2019, Stripe's point of sale service, called Terminal, was made available to U.S. users. Terminal had previously been invite-only. The service offers physical credit card readers designed to work with Stripe.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On September 5, 2019, Stripe launched a merchant cash advance scheme called Stripe Capital. The scheme allows Stripe merchants to request an advance on future payments they expect to process through their Stripe merchant account.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On February 24, 2016, the company launched the Atlas platform to help startups register as U.S. corporations. The platform originally launched as invite-only. In March 2016, Cuba was added to the list of countries covered under the program. Companies registered using Atlas can be Delaware-based C corporations, or, as of April 30, 2018, limited liability companies.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In July 2018, Stripe began a platform for companies to issue Mastercard and Visa credit cards. In April 2020, the product's availability was expanded to include all U.S. users.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In 2018, Stripe started a publishing company named Stripe Press to promote ideas that support businesses.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In 2019, Stripe began offering loans and credit cards to businesses in the United States. The company stated that loans are approved automatically using machine learning models, with no human intervention.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In October 2020, Stripe announced Stripe Climate, a service for businesses to fund atmospheric carbon research and capture. In 2022, Stripe started a new subsidiary called Frontier that would direct spending on carbon removal. It announced $925 million in funding from major silicon valley companies to fund start up companies performing carbon capture in order to kick start the industry.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In May 2011, Stripe received a $2 million investment from venture capitalists Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Sequoia Capital, SV Angel and Andreessen Horowitz. Stripe launched publicly in September 2011 after an extensive private beta.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In 2020 Stripe expanded its services to 5 new European markets: the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Malta.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On October 15, 2020, Stripe acquired Paystack, a Nigerian payment processor, in a deal reportedly worth over $200 million with the aim of expanding its services into Africa.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In December 2020, Stripe announced plans to expand in Southeast Asia (SEA), China, India, and Japan. It increased its staff in the region by 200 employees.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In March 2021, Stripe raised another $600 million, reaching a valuation of $95 billion, aimed towards expanding their European HQ.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: In April 2021 Stripe acquired TaxJar, a provider of cloud-based tax services based in Massachusetts. Whilst details of the acquisition were not made public, the deal is thought to have been in the region of $200M.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: Stripe is reported to have participated in two funding rounds for Monzo, a "challenger bank" based in the U.K. Stripe's first investment in Monzo was reported on November 6, 2017, with a second investment in Monzo's Series E fundraising round reported on October 10, 2018. Monzo's valuation grew from approximately $350 million to $1.27 billion through these two rounds of fundraising. Stripe participated in a third round of funding for Monzo on June 24, 2019, which raised approximately $144 million in funding for Monzo at a valuation of approximately $2.5 billion.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: Stripe has invested in companies offering similar services as themselves, but in different geographical regions. In August 2018, Stripe invested in PayStack, a Nigerian payment processor, and, in September 2019, invested in PayMongo, a Philippine payment processor. In February 2021, Stripe invested in Safepay, a Pakistani payment processor.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On June 6, 2019, Stripe led a $22.5 million fundraising round for Step, a financial services startup offering fee-free bank accounts to teenagers.


title: Stripe, Inc.

text: On March 26, 2020, Stripe led a $20 million Series A fundraising round for Fast, a company creating a universal, one-click checkout service. Subsequently, Stripe led a $102 million Series B fundraising round for Fast on January 26, 2021. Fast shut down in April 2022.


title: Architectural drawing

text: An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building (or building project) that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to develop a design idea into a coherent proposal, to communicate ideas and concepts, to convince clients of the merits of a design, to assist a building contractor to construct it based on design intent, as a record of the design and planned development, or to make a record of a building that already exists.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Architectural drawings are made according to a set of conventions, which include particular views (floor plan, section etc.), sheet sizes, units of measurement and scales, annotation and cross referencing.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Historically, drawings were made in ink on paper or similar material, and any copies required had to be laboriously made by hand. The twentieth century saw a shift to drawing on tracing paper so that mechanical copies could be run off efficiently. The development of the computer had a major impact on the methods used to design and create technical drawings, making manual drawing almost obsolete, and opening up new possibilities of form using organic shapes and complex geometry. Today the vast majority of drawings are created using CAD software.


title: Architectural drawing

text: The size of drawings reflects the materials available and the size that is convenient to transport – rolled up or folded, laid out on a table, or pinned up on a wall. The drafting process may impose limitations on the size that is realistically workable. Sizes are determined by a consistent paper size system, according to local usage. Normally the largest paper size used in modern architectural practice is ISO A0 () or in the USA Arch E () or Large E size ().


title: Architectural drawing

text: Architectural drawings are drawn to scale so that relative sizes are correctly represented. The scale is chosen both to ensure the whole building will fit on the chosen sheet size and to show the required amount of detail. On the scale of one-eighth of an inch to one foot (1:96) or the metric equivalent of 1 to 100, walls are typically shown as simple outlines corresponding to the overall thickness. At a larger scale, half an inch to one foot (1:24) or the nearest common metric equivalent 1 to 20, the layers of different materials that make up the wall construction are shown. Construction details are drawn to a larger scale, in some cases full size (1 to 1 scale).


title: Architectural drawing

text: Scale drawings enable dimensions to be "read" off the drawing, i.e. measured directly. Imperial scales (feet and inches) are equally readable using an ordinary ruler. On a one-eighth inch to one-foot scale drawing, the one-eighth divisions on the ruler can be read off as feet. Architects normally use a scale ruler with different scales marked on each edge. A third method, used by builders in estimating, is to measure directly off the drawing and multiply by the scale factor.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Dimensions can be measured off drawings made on a stable medium such as vellum. All processes of reproduction introduce small errors, especially now that different copying methods mean that the same drawing may be re-copied, or copies made in several different ways. Consequently, dimensions need to be written ("figured") on the drawing. The disclaimer "Do not scale off dimensions" is commonly inscribed on architects' drawings, to guard against errors arising in the copying process.


title: Architectural drawing

text: "This section deals with the conventional views used to represent a building or structure. See the Types of architectural drawing section below for drawings classified according to their purpose."


title: Architectural drawing

text: A floor plan is the most fundamental architectural diagram, a view from above showing the arrangement of spaces in a building in the same way as a map, but showing the arrangement at a particular level of a building. Technically it is a horizontal section cut through a building (conventionally at four feet / one metre and twenty centimetres above floor level), showing walls, windows and door openings, and other features at that level. The plan view includes anything that could be seen below that level: the floor, stairs (but only up to the plan level), fittings, and sometimes furniture. Objects above the plan level (e.g. beams overhead) can be indicated as dashed lines.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Geometrically, plan view is defined as a vertical orthographic projection of an object onto a horizontal plane, with the horizontal plane cutting through the building.


title: Architectural drawing

text: A site plan is a specific type of plan, showing the whole context of a building or group of buildings. A site plan shows property boundaries and means of access to the site, and nearby structures if they are relevant to the design. For a development on an urban site, the site plan may need to show adjoining streets to demonstrate how the design fits into the urban fabric. Within the site boundary, the site plan gives an overview of the entire scope of work. It shows the buildings (if any) already existing and those that are proposed, usually as a building footprint; roads, parking lots, footpaths, hard landscaping, trees, and planting. For a construction project, the site plan also needs to show all the services connections: drainage and sewer lines, water supply, electrical and communications cables, exterior lighting etc.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Site plans are commonly used to represent a building proposal prior to detailed design: drawing up a site plan is a tool for deciding both the site layout and the size and orientation of proposed new buildings. A site plan is used to verify that a proposal complies with local development codes, including restrictions on historical sites. In this context the site plan forms part of a legal agreement, and there may be a requirement for it to be drawn up by a licensed professional: architect, engineer, landscape architect or land surveyor.


title: Architectural drawing

text: An elevation is a view of a building seen from one side, a flat representation of one façade. This is the most common view used to describe the external appearance of a building. Each elevation is labelled in relation to the compass direction it faces, e.g. looking toward the north you would be seeing the southern elevation of the building. Buildings are rarely a simple rectangular shape in plan, so a typical elevation may show all the parts of the building that are seen from a particular direction.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Geometrically, an elevation is a horizontal orthographic projection of a building onto a vertical plane, the vertical plane normally being parallel to one side of the building.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Architects also use the word elevation as a synonym for façade, so the "north elevation" is the north-facing wall of the building.


title: Architectural drawing

text: A cross section, also simply called a section, represents a vertical plane cut through the object, in the same way as a floor plan is a horizontal section viewed from the top. In the section view, everything cut by the section plane is shown as a bold line, often with a solid fill to show objects that are cut through, and anything seen beyond generally shown in a thinner line. Sections are used to describe the relationship between different levels of a building. In the Observatorium drawing illustrated here, the section shows the dome which can be seen from the outside, a second dome that can only be seen inside the building, and the way the space between the two accommodates a large astronomical telescope: relationships that would be difficult to understand from plans alone.


title: Architectural drawing

text: A sectional elevation is a combination of a cross section, with elevations of other parts of the building seen beyond the section plane.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Geometrically, a cross section is a horizontal orthographic projection of a building on to a vertical plane, with the vertical plane cutting through the building.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Isometric and axonometric projections are a simple way of representing a three dimensional object, keeping the elements to scale and showing the relationship between several sides of the same object, so that the complexities of a shape can be clearly understood.


title: Architectural drawing

text: There is some confusion over the distinction between the terms isometric and axonometric. "Axonometric is a word that has been used by architects for hundreds of years. Engineers use the word axonometric as a generic term to include isometric, diametric and trimetric drawings." This article uses the terms in the architecture-specific sense.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Despite fairly complex geometrical explanations, for the purposes of practical drafting the difference between isometric and axonometric is simple (see diagram above). In both, the plan is drawn on a skewed or rotated grid, and the verticals are projected vertically on the page. All lines are drawn to scale so that relationships between elements are accurate. In many cases a different scale is required for different axes, and again this can be calculated but in practice was often simply estimated by eye.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Traditional drafting techniques used 30–60 and 45 degree set squares, and that determined the angles used in these views. Once the adjustable square became common those limitations were lifted.


title: Architectural drawing

text: The axonometric gained in popularity in the twentieth century, not just as a convenient diagram but as a formal presentation technique, adopted in particular by the Modern Movement. Axonometric drawings feature prominently in the influential 1970's drawings of Michael Graves, James Stirling and others, using not only straightforward views but worms-eye view, unusually and exaggerated rotations of the plan, and exploded elements.


title: Architectural drawing

text: The axonometric view is not readily generated by CAD programmes which create views from a three dimensional model. Consequently, it is now rarely used.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Detail drawings show a small part of the construction at a larger scale, to show how the component parts fit together. They are also used to show small surface details, for example decorative elements. Section drawings at large scale are a standard way of showing building construction details, typically showing complex junctions (such as floor to wall junction, window openings, eaves and roof apex) that cannot be clearly shown on a drawing that includes the full height of the building. A full set of construction details needs to show plan details as well as vertical section details. One detail is seldom produced in isolation: a set of details shows the information needed to understand the construction in three dimensions. Typical scales for details are 1/10, 1/5 and full size.


title: Architectural drawing

text: In traditional construction, many details were so fully standardized, that few detail drawings were required to construct a building. For example, the construction of a sash window would be left to the carpenter, who would fully understand what was required, but unique decorative details of the façade would be drawn up in detail. In contrast, modern buildings need to be fully detailed because of the proliferation of different products, methods and possible solutions.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Perspective in drawing is an approximate representation on a flat surface of an image as it is perceived by the eye. The key concepts here are:


title: Architectural drawing

text: The normal convention in architectural perspective is to use two-point perspective, with all the verticals drawn as verticals on the page.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Three-point perspective gives a casual, photographic snapshot effect. In professional architectural photography, conversely, a view camera or a perspective control lens is used to eliminate the third vanishing point, so that all the verticals are vertical on the photograph, as with the perspective convention. This can also be done by digital manipulation of a photograph taken with a standard lens.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Aerial perspective is a technique in painting, for indicating distance by approximating the effect of the atmosphere on distant objects. In daylight, as an ordinary object gets further from the eye, its contrast with the background is reduced, its color saturation is reduced, and its color becomes more blue. Not to be confused with aerial view or bird's eye view, which is the view as seen (or imagined) from a high vantage point. In J M Gandy's perspective of the Bank of England (see illustration at the beginning of this article), Gandy portrayed the building as a picturesque ruin in order to show the internal plan arrangement, a precursor of the cutaway view.


title: Architectural drawing

text: A montage image is produced by superimposing a perspective image of a building on to a photographic background. Care is needed to record the position from which the photograph was taken, and to generate the perspective using the same viewpoint. This technique is popular in computer visualization, where the building can be photorealistically rendered, and the final image is intended to be almost indistinguishable from a photograph.


title: Architectural drawing

text: A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing, a quick way to record and develop an idea, not intended as a finished work. A diagram could also be drawn freehand but deals with symbols, to develop the logic of a design. Both can be worked up into a more presentable form and used to communicate the principles of a design.


title: Architectural drawing

text: In architecture, the finished work is expensive and time consuming, so it is important to resolve the design as fully as possible before construction work begins. Complex modern buildings involve a large team of different specialist disciplines, and communication at the early design stages is essential to keep the design moving towards a coordinated outcome. Architects (and other designers) start investigating a new design with sketches and diagrams, to develop a rough design that provides an adequate response to the particular design problems.


title: Architectural drawing

text: There are two basic elements to a building design, the aesthetic and the practical. The aesthetic element includes the layout and visual appearance, the anticipated feel of the materials, and cultural references that will influence the way people perceive the building. Practical concerns include space allocated for different activities, how people enter and move around the building, daylight and artificial lighting, acoustics, traffic noise, legal matters and building codes, and many other issues. While both aspects are partly a matter of customary practice, every site is different. Many architects actively seek innovation, thereby increasing the number of problems to be resolved.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Architectural legend often refers to designs made on the back of an envelope or on a napkin. Initial thoughts are important, even if they have to be discarded along the way, because they provide the central idea around which the design can develop. Although a sketch is inaccurate, it is disposable and allows for freedom of thought, for trying different ideas quickly. Choice becomes sharply reduced once the design is committed to a scale drawing, and the sketch stage is almost always essential.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Diagrams are mainly used to resolve practical matters. In the early phases of the design architects use diagrams to develop, explore, and communicate ideas and solutions. They are essential tools for thinking, problem solving, and communication in the design disciplines. Diagrams can be used to resolve spatial relationships, but they can also represent forces and flows, e.g. the forces of sun and wind, or the flows of people and materials through a building.


title: Architectural drawing

text: An exploded view diagram shows component parts dis-assembled in some way, so that each can be seen on its own. These views are common in technical manuals, but are also used in architecture, either in conceptual diagrams or to illustrate technical details. In a cutaway view parts of the exterior are omitted to show the interior, or details of internal construction. Although common in technical illustration, including many building products and systems, the cutaway is in fact little-used in architectural drawing.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Architectural drawings are produced for a specific purpose, and can be classified accordingly. Several elements are often included on the same sheet, for example a sheet showing a plan together with the principal façade.


title: Architectural drawing

text: Drawings intended to explain a scheme and to promote its merits. Working drawings may include tones or hatches to emphasize different materials, but they are diagrams, not intended to appear realistic. Basic presentation drawings typically include people, vehicles and trees, taken from a library of such images, and are otherwise very similar in style to working drawings. Rendering is the art of adding surface textures and shadows to show the visual qualities of a building more realistically. An architectural illustrator or graphic designer may be employed to prepare specialist presentation images, usually perspectives or highly finished site plans, floor plans and elevations etc.