The three-day Battle of Hatcher’s Run (February 5-7, 1865) took place in Virginia, the epicentre of the Civil War. It was the only battle fought in Virginia during a February. It pitted Ulysses S. Grant’s Union Army of the Potomac against Robert E. Lee’s Rebel Army of Northern Virginia. As part of the nine-month Petersburg Campaign, it was the only substantial action from mid-December 1864 to late March 1865. Of the roughly 60,000 combatants, over 2,500 became casualties. It resulted in the last Union line extension around Petersburg and provided a springboard for ultimate victory. Fourteen Union soldiers received Medals of Honor, a substantial number. The three days featured many interesting military aspects and individuals. A Southern Newspaper called it “One of the best-fought battles of the war.” Many Union officers claimed it was “The worst performance of the 5th Corps in the war.”

    And yet, despite this impressive resume, the offensive has been misrepresented or ignored by history!! Grant's 1885 memoirs omitted the most extensive action around Petersburg during that winter, in which his army suffered over 1,500 casualties. He wrote, "the winter [around Petersburg] … passed off quietly and uneventfully.” Confederate Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon was a corps commander whose troops featured prominently on all three days. His proclaimed memoirs (1904) ignored the battle. In the totemic Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1888), the Hatcher's Run battle received a one-line mention in a larger footnote. Pulitzer Prize winners: Douglas S. Freeman’s Lee’s Lieutenants, Bruce Catton’s Stillness at Appomattox (that covers explicitly the war’s final months), and James M McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom (regarded as the best single-volume account of the war) all ignore the battle! As my published articles highlight, the information written about the event is generally inaccurate and incomplete.

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