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stratagem, that the
Confederates were satisfied that
Butler was about to move on
Richmond in the pathway trodden by
McClellan two years before,
1 and they made preparations accordingly.
They were quickly undeceived, but not until it was too late to prevent the mischief wrought by the deception.
On the night of the 4th,
transports, sent up from
Hampton Roads, conveyed
Butler's army around to the
James River, and by dawn the next morning, artillery and infantry, to the number of thirty-five thousand men, accompanied by a squadron of war vessels, under
Admiral Lee, were rapidly ascending that stream for the purpose of seizing
City Point.
2 At the same time
General A. V. Kautz, with three thousand cavalry, moved out from
Suffolk, forced a passage over the
Blackwater River, and, pushing rapidly westward, struck the Weldon railway at
Stony Creek, some distance south of
Petersburg, and burned the bridge there; while
Colonel Robert M. West, with about eighteen hundred cavalry (mostly colored men), advanced from
Williamsburg up the north bank of the
James River, keeping parallel with the great flotilla of war vessels and transports on its bosom.
This expedition, and the advance of the Army of the Potomac from the north, were grand movements preliminary to another dreadful struggle for the possession of
Richmond in the vicinity of the
Chickahominy River — a region made forever memorable by the seven days battles there, in the summer of 1862.
The expedition moved so unexpectedly and rapidly up the river, that the Confederates could make no effective dispositions for opposing it. Portions of Wilde's brigade of negro troops were landed at Wilson's wharf, on the north side of the river, and at Fort Powhatan, on the south side, thus securing and holding, for the protection of its navigation, important points at bends in the stream.
On the afternoon of the same day, Hink's division landed at City Point, and took possession without any opposition.
That night General Graham captured the Confederate signal-station near, and the war vessels moved up to a position above the mouth of the Appomattox.
At the same time a heavy force landed upon an irregular triangle of land at the mouth of the Appomattox, lying between it and the James River, called Bermuda Hundred, and proceeded to cast up a line of intrenchments across the western side of the camp from river to river, while gun-boats in both streams completely covered each flank of the position.
Thus, in the space of twenty-four hours, Butler gained a commanding and important foothold within fifteen miles of Richmond, in a straight line, and only about eight from Petersburg.3 The movement was a complete surprise to the Confederates,
