In the Spring of 1864, the great armies of the Union and the Confederacy engaged repeatedly as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant tried to move on Richmond and Gen. Robert E. Lee maneuvered to remain between the enemy and the South’s capitol. The two armies were on the move again in late May once they had extricated themselves from the costly engagements at Spotsylvania Courthouse. Lee hoped to avoid getting entrenched in any more deadly salients such as those he had endured in Spotsylvania, but within days the southern general found himself dug in facing Grant’s forces once again. The Battle at North Anna is often referred to as one of the most neglected or under-rated battles of the War.1 One reason this battle lacks the prominence of other fights is because so little fighting occurred. Lee's forces were in such a position of strength that his troops were unassailable and Grant had to move on to find a more advantageous battleground.
      As the Army of Northern Virginia moved South, General Robert E. Lee’s chief engineer, Martin Smith, proposed a defensive position with an apex on the North Anna River at Ox Ford. The proposal was strong enough to capture Lee’s attention and on the evening of May 23 he ordered his army to immediately position itself on the banks of the North Anna River and begin digging earthworks.
      With the apex of the trenches anchored on the North Anna River, the earthworks extended in a sort of inverted V with both its ends touching the Virginia Central Railroad. Therefore, at the point his troops were furthest apart there was a built-in system of transport to whatever side of the battlefield needed reinforcement. The ability to shift troops from one leg to the other provided Lee with a tactical advantage. “‘Our holding a half mile of river made the Federal line very bad,’ observed [Gen. E.P.] Alexander. ‘To go from one of their flanks to the other, [Union forces] must cross the river twice. We had the interior lines.’”2
      Based on information obtained from a couple of slaves who had overheard Confederate General Gordon say that he “was going to march to Richmond at once,” Union General Meade “felt certain that the Confederates had ‘fallen back to the South Anna.’”3 Grant did not know how far the enemy might have retreated, but assumed he would catch up with them later that day.
      Early that morning General Grant issued orders for the Union troops to cross the North Anna River in pursuit of the Confederate army. Of all his Corps commanders only General Ambrose Burnside found his movement blocked. As it turns out, Grant’s terrain maps did not include elevation marks and Burnside’s forces discovered a steep 200 foot embankment on the other side of Ox Ford. A division of soldiers lead by Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox stood on Ox Ford looking virtually straight up at the point of enemy entrenchments. Burnside’s orders were to cross the North Anna at Ox Ford and connect the two wings of the Union forces. As Willcox’s men stood poised waiting for the signal to attack the enemy, they assumed they would all be slaughtered as they attempted to climb what amounted to a cliff overgrown with vegetation. Burnside hesitated and cautiously informed Grant, “The prospects of success are not at all flattering.” At this point, “A single Union division — Willcox’s — connected Grant’s two wings across a six-mile gap. Shifting troops from one wing the other required the Federal troops to cross the river twice.”4 Burnside ultimately countermanded his prior instructions and the Willcox assault was called off as troops were moved upstream to cross. Grant still thought Lee was backing up. Unwittingly, Grant had moved his troops right into Lee’s trap. The Confederate forces were unassailable. A Federal commander by the name of James H. Ledlie was so bent on glory that he did not see the futility of the Union position. Ledlie ordered an attack on one of the flanks only to have his troops cut down in an idiotic, suicidal charge.
      When Grant realized the predicament he was in, he began organizing the withdrawal of his troops. As the sun came up on May 27, the Union forces were nowhere to be seen. Both armies were again on the move. A few days later the Northern and Southern forces would meet again at Cold Harbor and the carnage they had witnessed at Spotsylvania would be repeated. Yet, for a brief time, the fighting had been quieted as result of the incredible earthworks devised by the Army of Northern Virginia.