Grant - 'I Can't Spare This Man, He Fights' Quiz

Answer: The Battle of Pittsburg Landing

It is also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing. The clue 'steely' is a reference to Pittsburgh, PA being the Steel City and the closeness in spelling shared by the two places. Grant's Army of the Tennessee was encamped near a small log church called Shiloh in southern Tennessee, preparing for an attack on Corinth, Mississippi. The Confederates pre-emptively attacked Grant's forces at Shiloh, hoping to destroy Grant's army before Buell's Army of the Ohio could arrive. Grant was roundly criticized at the time for not preparing defensive positions for his army and many called for his firing after the battle. It was also the bloodiest battle in the Civil War up to that time, something Grant's critics blamed him for. In response to the criticism Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man, he fights."

Although the Union army had been caught off-guard during the first day of battle, both Sherman and Grant rallied the troops in an orderly withdrawal that ended near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The Union forces counterattacked along the whole battle line on the second day and drove the Confederates from the field. Although the battle had started out badly, Grant and Sherman turned it into a Union victory. Although Sherman and other generals were given most of the credit at the time for the victory, historians have since recognized the crucial role Grant played in the battle and its successful outcome.

Answer: The Battle of Lookout Mountain

The Battle of Lookout Mountain took place after Shiloh during the Chattanooga Campaign in November 1863 between Union Gen. Hooker and Confederate Gen. Stevenson. The other three all occurred prior to Shiloh.

The first battle in which Grant commanded forces was the Battle of Belmont. Grant led a force of 3,000 men in an attack against Gen. Pillow at Camp Johnson in Belmont, MO. Although the battle proved to be largely inconclusive, Grant and his men gained experience they would need for future battles.

The Battle of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River was a larger operation in which Grant commanded 15,000 troops. The Confederate forces surrendered as Grant was disembarking his men from their transports. The fall of Fort Henry opened the way for Union forces to begin to move into Tennessee and Alabama.

After the fall of Fort Henry, Grant marched his troops 12 miles over land to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. The fort fell to Grant on Feb. 16, 1862 and is where Grant gained his nickname 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant. See Q3 for more details.

Answer: Unconditional Surrender

When asked by Confederate Gen. Buckner for terms of surrender Grant famously replied in part, "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Grant did not plan for a prolonged siege but believed he could storm the fort and take it so his threat was not an idle one. Buckner surrendered his forces to Grant. It was the first of three armies that would surrender to Grant during the war.

The victory was one of the first victories for the North and the press took great joy in reporting it. They declared that Grant's initials stood for "Unconditional Surrender", a nickname even President Lincoln approved of. Grant's birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he was nominated to go to West Point, his name was erroneously submitted as Ulysses S. Grant. The name stuck and Grant adopted it as his own. At West Point he gained the nickname Sam, a reference to his initials 'U.S.' standing for 'Uncle Sam'. But the press never picked up on this nickname, it was reserved for his military colleagues.

Answer: The Siege of Vicksburg

The Vicksburg Campaign had begun in Dec. 1862. After failing to take the city from the north and from the Mississippi River, Grant finally led his forces south and crossed the Mississippi below Vicksburg at the end of Apr. 1863. Then, in a series of battles Grant moved eastward, swung north and attacked the city from the east.

The Confederates were forced back into the city with no means of escape. The Siege of Vicksburg began on May 18 and did not end until July 4 when Pemberton surrendered his forces to Grant.

This was the second Confederate army to surrender to Grant, the first having surrendered at Fort Donelson. The surrender of Vicksburg effectively split the Confederacy in two and gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River.

Answer: Missionary Ridge

The Battle of Missionary Ridge occurred on Nov. 25, 1863. It followed up the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on Nov. 24. Initially, Sherman had been ordered by Grant to attack the northern end of Missionary Ridge at Tunnel Hill but was slow to act and Confederate reinforcements stopped him cold. Grant ordered Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland to attack the middle of the ridge in an attempt to relieve pressure from Sherman's position.

The attack began and, meeting little resistance, continued on until the crest of the ridge had been taken.

This had not been the original intent of Grant but commanders on the ground and individual soldiers themselves took the initiative and carried the day. The center should have been heavily defended but it was not. Combining with this attack on the center of the Confederate line was an attack by Hooker on the southern end of the line.

The successful combination of the two attacks drove the Confederates from the field. The loss forced the Confederates to abandon Tennessee.

The victory in the Chattanooga Campaign led to Grant being promoted to commander of all Union forces and his assignment in the East to face Lee.

Answer: The Battle of the Wilderness

On May 4, 1864, Grant and the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River in an attempt to get between Lee and Richmond. This would have forced Lee to abandon his fixed defensive positions and to fight a battle on the Union's terms. Lee reacted quickly and attacked the Union forces in an area known as the Wilderness. (When the Israelites left Egypt under Moses they wandered in the wilderness of the Sinai for 40 years.) The Wilderness was a tangle of undergrowth that negated the Union artillery advantage, forcing close combat and hand-to-hand fighting.

The battle raged from May 5-7 before Grant decided to halt the attack and instead outmaneuver Lee. He hoped to reach the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House and seize them before Lee could react.

Answer: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House was fought from May 8 through May 21, 1864. (Dick and Jane's dog was named Spot, hence the clue.) Grant had abandoned his direct assaults in the Battle of the Wilderness and attempted to maneuver around Lee and gain the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House.

But Lee anticipated Grant's move and his men arrived at the crossroads first. As was the case throughout the Overland Campaign, the Union forces were slow to carry out Grant's orders and the Confederates were speedy in carrying out Lee's orders.

This led to Lee always being in position ahead of Grant, thus thwarting Grant's attempts to force a battle on terms favorabe to the Union. But unlike previous commanders of the Union forces facing Lee, Grant did not give up after initial failure in achieving his goal.

He instead fought on and drove further into Virginia. The battle was a tactical victory for the South but it did not stop Grant's advance so it was considered a strategic draw.

Answer: North Anna River

After the stalemate at the Spotsylvania Court House, Grant again tried to outflank Lee by getting to the North Anna River before Lee and crossing. (The heroine in the King and I is named Anna.) At first Lee was unaware of Grant's intentions but soon realized that the North Anna was Grant's goal. Lee moved quickly to establish a defensive line that would split the Union army in two, allowing him to concentrate his efforts on defeating half of the army before the other half could come to its aid. The plan worked but before Lee could take advantage of it he became ill and had no subordinate who could take advantage of the situation. Grant quickly realized the danger his army was in, halted his advance and dug in.

Answer: The Battle of Cold Harbor

The Battle of Cold Harbor lasted from May 31, 1864 to June 13, 1864. The battle was one of the most lopsided victories for the South during the war. In many ways it was reminiscent of the slaughter of Fredericksburg back in 1862. The Union army tried frontal assaults against fortified enemy positions with no success whatsoever. In his memoirs Grant even admits that he regretted the final assault at Cold Harbor. Attacking fortified enemy positions by frontal assault was a tactic that was employed over and over again during the Civil War, always with the same results - massive casualties for the attacker. Grant did it at Cold Harbor, Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, Lee at Gettysburg in Pickett's Charge, and Burnside at Fredericksburg.

Realizing he could not overwhelm the Confederate position, Grant again tried to outflank Lee by crossing the James River and heading for the important rail junction at Petersburg. Lee was caught off guard but recovered, leading to the Siege of Petersburg.

Answer: Pennsylvania coal miners

The Siege of Petersburg lasted from June 9, 1864 to March 25, 1865. Although Grant's Overland Campaign had failed in forcing a final confrontation between his armies and Lee's it had succeeded in bottling Lee up in Petersburg. If Lee left his defenses Grant would have captured Richmond. In many ways the siege foreshadowed what was to come in WWI as it amounted to nine months of trench warfare.

Grant did not want to lay siege and was looking for a way to break the stalemate. Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, commander of a Pennsylvania infantry regiment and a mine engineer in peacetime, proposed a bold plan to Grant. Pleasants used Pennsylvania coal miners to dig a tunnel under the Confederate works that was then filled with explosives and ignited. The plan worked brilliantly but the devastation caused in the Confederate works was not easy to pass through and the Union forces were unable to exploit the success of the plan.