Tide Turns Case 4
The Cost of Victory
The Second Battle of Deep Bottom/Fussell’s Mill was part of the larger Petersburg Campaign led by Ulysses S. Grant starting in June 1864, aimed to break insurgent defenses and enter Richmond, Virginia. The prolonged nature of the campaign, cost many lives on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line.
The featured letter from Colonel Thomas O. Osborn, commanding the 39th Illinois Infantry, provides a glimpse into the toll that battle took on family members left behind. Mary Williams, wife of Captain W. Chaucey Williams, is informed by Osborn that Chauncey has died at the second Deep Bottom skirmish southeast of the James River. It is estimated that 2,899 soldiers died, therefore Osborn and others in leadership wrote many more letters that informed families and expressed their condolences.