Despite continued skirmishing along the Union held section of the Weldon Railroad south of Petersburg, General Robert E. Lee and his staff had to acknowledge that they could not dislodge Union forces holding the railroad, despite the fact that President Jefferson Davis in a telegram to Lee expressed his personal distress over Union troops controlling that rail line. Lee had no alternative to acknowledge the loss of the Weldon Railroad. Hancock’s Federal corps, unsuccessful in its earlier, strategic diversion north of the James River, returned to its prior positions at Petersburg and Bermuda Hundred, to the east of Richmond. With so many Federal troops once again threatening both Petersburg and Richmond, Lee lacked the manpower to effectively take back the Weldon Railroad, regardless of President Jefferson Davis’ concerns.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.