s was a very unusual battle because it was fought in the woods. The terrain and the trees wouldnt allow for the smoke to clear and it was dark anyway because of the trees. The men described it as eerie. Both sides fired blindly because of the smoke. Artillery was abandoned because they could not transport it through the woods. So those soldiers became infantry as well. Which meant that the sound of the battle was different. One man described it as the most terrific musketry firing ever heard on the American continent. As the wounded fell instead of being quiet and lying still they were crawling all over the ground to get away from the fires that started because of the forest floor.During the battle a number of officers approached Grant at different times, fearful of Lee and his battle prowess. Grant was angered by there cowardice and sent them back to their units to figure out how they were going to beat Lee instead of spending time thinking about what Lee was going to do. By the third day the troops could see that this army was not going to run in defeat. Grant was here to stay and to win.Grant focused not on capturing Richmond, but in destroying Lees army. Grant found that Lees greatest weakness was his supply line from the Deep South. If Grant could stop the trains from delivering supplies to Lee, then Lee would be forced to concede. The campaign of 1864 was also plagued with some of the mis-management of the past. General Butler could have take Petersburg without opposition and instead wandered around and was locked up by a much smaller Confederate army at Bermuda Hundred. The Confederate works were strong by contained few soldiers. The Confederate commander was General Beauregard.General Smith for the Union wanted to attack but didnt and Generals Meade and Hancock was never informed that a battle was to be fought. Hancock also didnt have rations and the map that he was given was in total error. Eventually the Uni...
