Tag: Quarles Mill (North Anna River VA)

Wikipedia says: On the morning of May 24, [1864,] Hancock’s II Corps crossed the Chesterfield Bridge with Maj. Gen. John Gibbon’s division in the lead. Grant had begun to fall into Lee’s trap. Seeing the ease of crossing the river, he assumed the Confederates were retreating. He wired to Washington: “The enemy have fallen back from North Anna. We are in pursuit.”

The only visible opposition to the Union crossing was at Ox Ford, which Grant interpreted to be a rear guard action, and ordered Burnside’s IX Corps to deal with it. Burnside’s division under Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford marched downriver to Quarles Mill and seized the ford there. Burnside ordered Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden’s division to cross over at the ford and follow the river’s southern bank to Ox Ford and attack the Confederate position from the west.