The Battle of North Anna began #OTD in 1864. Part of General @USGrantNPS's Overland Campaign, the battle was actually a series of engagements between parts of The Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. #CivilWar🧵 
After Grant was unable to defeat Lee at the two-week long Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, he met with his commanders and determined to move the army around Lee's flank to the south, hoping again to draw him into a full-scale battle on open ground.
Lee, with interior lines of movement, was able to shift his army southward and arrive at the North Anna River before Grant. Once across, Lee didn't have his men entrench, not knowing if Grant intended to confront them there. This gave Grant's two lead Corps an opportunity.
V Corps, under General Gouverneur Warren, forded the river near Jericho Mills and constructed a pontoon bridge, while II Corps, under General Winfield Scott Hancock, was able to seize control of the Chesterfield Bridge further east.
Confronting Warren was the Corps commanded by A.P. Hill, who elected to attack with just a single division. He was unable to dislodge Warren's men, which infuriated Lee, who could not understand why Hill had attacked without his entire strength.
At Hancock's sector of the line, plunging fire from Lee's artillery, under Porter Alexander, caused Hancock to order his men to entrench rather than force a crossing of the river. The delay would prove costly, as it gave Lee the opportunity to spend the night building defenses.
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