"Grant Turning Lee's Flank"
By Matthew Bolden
The cartoon is a drawing of General Ulysses S. Grant (USA) grabbing and swatting General Robert E. Lee (CSA). Entitled Grant turning Lee’s flank, the cartoon is a visual summary of the Wilderness Battle during the Overland Campaign. Grant had been promoted and reassigned from campaigning in the western portion of the country specifically to counter and defeat Lee [1] after the failures of General Mead to effectively route Lee from Virginia.[2] Grant’s plan was to push toward Mobile, Alabama [3] in a multi-pronged attack [4] that would divide the numerically inferior forces of the Confederates and provide the Union forces with an advantage in battle.[5] To allow for this, Grant would have to engage and defeat or at least detain Lee’s forces in Virginia to prevent Lee from harassing the prongs of the assault force.[6] Grant’s fight against Lee saw to engage in several bloody but largely inconclusive engagements from May 5 to May 12 before a week of bad weather brought any large scale fighting to a standstill.[7] The cartoon itself revolves around Grant’s plans to move around Lee’s right flank in hopes of both breaking the Confederate lines and preventing Lee from simply retreating to a more fortified position and preventing the Union army from making further attacks.[8] On May 18, Grant ordered Hancock to move his men into position around Lee’s flank; Hancock’s men arrived May 23 to find Lee’s army already in position preventing the Union from making any large attack as Grant knew this would lead to a slaughter.[9] On May 30 Grant’s forces again maneuvered around Lee’s forces that were already in a superior position at Totopotomy Creek and secured a position near the town of Cold Harbor.[10] Grant’s original intent was to attack Lee’s forces from Cold Harbor before Lee had time to entrench and gain a defensive advantage as he had done over the course of most of the campaign.[11] Due to his forces being delayed however, Grant’s plan for a swift and surprising attack failed and the Confederate forces had time to erect defenses and cripple Grant’s offensive momentum.[12] Grant ordered a series of small probing attacks to identify weaknesses in the Confederate defenses.[13] After finding no suitable method to gain tactical advantage, Grant order a numerically imposing attack intended to simply overwhelm the defending forces. Grant regretted the attack he ordered on Lee’s defended position. Ultimately, Grant was unable to overcome Lee’s defenses and was forced to retreat after losing too many of his men.[14]
The cartoon from Harper’s Weekly is essentially a depiction of Grant’s strategy throughout the Overland Campaign. Because Lee was fighting a defensive war, he was able to occupy a superior defensive position, either by setting up defenses along a river or building earthwork defenses, throughout most of the campaign. Grant was well aware that a direct assault on an entrenched enemy would lead to a bloody fight with a large number of losses and would more than likely fail. Because of this, Grant doggedly tried to outmaneuver Lee’s forces, typically by sending forces to flank Lee’s army, to draw Lee out and force him to fight on even terms. Despite coming close several times, Grant never could get this plan to work well either due to his forces being delayed or Lee’s repositioning. The cartoon is effectively making a statement on both Grant’s plan and his determination to see his plan through by repeatedly attempting to get it to work. The cartoon is also likely mocking Grant’s repeated failures and obsession with getting his flanking maneuvers to succeed. It is sarcastically congratulating Grant on his outflanking and victory over the Confederates that never happened. The cartoon also might be suggesting that if Grant cannot get around Lee’s metaphorical, military flank, then perhaps he would have better luck physically turning Lee himself around and hitting his bodily flank. In effect, the cartoon is making a joke out Grant’s strategy due to him having difficulties in getting it to work.
Endnotes:
[1] Harry S Laver. The Leadership of Ulysses S. Grant. (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2013), 111.
[2] Ibid, 109
[3] Ibid, 105
[4] Ibid, 112
[5] Ibid, 111
[6] Ibid, 113
[7] Ibid, 115-122
[8] Laver. The Leadership of Ulysses S. Grant, 111.
[9] Ibid, 124
[10] Ibid, 125
[11] Ibid, 125
[12] Ibid, 126
[13] Laura Phillips. “No Retreat Grant's Overland Campaign.” Cobblestone 34 (2014): 13-16.
[14] Ibid, 16
Bibliography:
Laver, Harry S. The Leadership of Ulysses S. Grant. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2013.
Phillips, Laura. “No Retreat Grant's Overland Campaign.” Cobblestone 34 (2014): 13-16.