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The Second Battle of Ream's Station (also Reams or Reams's) was fought during the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War on August 25, 1864, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. A Union force under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock began destroying part of the Weldon Railroad, which was a vital supply line for Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate army in Petersburg, Virginia. Lee sent a force under Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill to challenge Hancock and the Confederates were able to rout the Union troops from their fortifications at Reams Station. However, they lost a key portion of the railroad, causing further logistical difficulties for the remainder of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. ==Background== As the siege of Petersburg began to take hold, Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant continued to look for ways to sever the railroad links supplying the city of Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army, and the Confederate capital of Richmond. One of these critical supply lines was the Weldon Railroad, also called the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, which led south to Weldon, North Carolina, and the Confederacy's only remaining major port, Wilmington, North Carolina. In the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road (June 21–23, 1864), Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps was able to destroy a short segment of the Weldon before being driven off by the Third Corps of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.〔Trudeau, pp. 160–64; Salmon, p. 424.〕 In the Battle of Globe Tavern (August 18–21), Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps with reinforcements from the IX Corps destroyed miles of track and withstood strong attacks from Confederate troops under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. This Union victory forced the Confederates to carry their supplies by wagon to bypass the new Union lines that were extended farther to the south and west. However, this was not yet a critical problem for the Confederates. A member of Lee's staff wrote, "Whilst we are inconvenienced, no material harm is done us."〔Davis, p. 104.〕 General Grant wanted the Weldon closed permanently, destroying of track from Warren's position near Globe Tavern as far south as Rowanty Creek (about north of the town of Stony Creek). He assigned the operation to Hancock's II Corps, which was in the process of moving south from their operation north of the James River at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. He chose Hancock's corps because Warren was busy extending the fortifications at Globe Tavern, although his selection was of troops exhausted from their efforts north of the James and their forced march south without rest; Hancock himself continued to suffer lingering effects from his wounds at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Grant augmented Hancock's corps with the cavalry division of Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg.〔Trudeau, pp. 176–77; Horn, p. 141; Salmon, p. 426; Davis, p. 104.〕 Gregg's division departed on August 22 and, after driving off Confederate pickets, they and the II Corps infantry division commanded by Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles (replacing Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, who was on leave) destroyed the railroad tracks to within of Reams Station.〔Located at the currently unincorporated community of Reams, Virginia, south of Petersburg, this railroad station is referred to variously as Reams, Ream's, and Reams's Station.〕 Early on August 23, Hancock's other division, commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, occupied Reams Station, taking up positions in earthworks that had been constructed by the Union cavalry during the Wilson-Kautz Raid in June. The earthworks were constructed in a partial ellipse with an opening facing to the east, and although they had degraded and were partially filled with water, Hancock's men made little effort to improve them.〔Horn, p. 141; Trudeau, pp. 178–79, 182; Kennedy, p. 360; Salmon, p. 427; Davis, pp. 105–07, describes the earthworks as three sides of a square, each side roughly long.〕 Robert E. Lee considered that the Union troops at Reams Station represented not only a threat to his supply line, but also to the county seat of Dinwiddie County; if Dinwiddie Court House were to fall, the Confederates would be forced to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond because it represented a key point on the army's potential retreat route. He also saw an opportunity—that he could impose a stinging defeat on the Union Army not long before the presidential election in November. Lee ordered Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill to take the overall command of an expedition that included two cavalry divisions of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry, Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's division, part of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division, and part of Maj. Gen. William Mahone's division, about 8–10,000 men in all. Hill, who was suffering from one of his periodic bouts of illness, assigned Heth to tactical command, telling him he "''must'' carry the position.''〔Trudeau, pp. 179, 181–86; Salmon, p. 428; Davis, p. x; Horn, p. 141.〕 Hancock arrived personally at Reams Station on August 24 and by that evening the Union troops had destroyed track for south of the station. On the morning of August 25 they left their earthworks to start working on the remaining of track, but Hancock recalled them when he heard that Confederate cavalry was approaching.〔Salmon, p. 428; Trudeau, pp. 181–82.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Second Battle of Ream's Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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