"Walter Jon Williams - No Spot of Ground" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

Sorrel cocked an eyebrow at him, said, "Ewell didn't show you anything?" But he didn't wait for an
answer before beginning his exposition.

The Army of Northern Virginia, he explained, had been continually engaged with Grant's army for three
weeks--first in the Wilderness, then at Spotsylvania, now on the North Anna; there hadn't been a single
day without fighting. Every time one of Grant's offensives bogged down, he'd slide his whole army to
his left and try again. Two days before, on May 24, Grant had gone to the offensive again, crossing the
North Anna both upstream and down of Lee's position.

Grant had obviously intended to overlap Lee on both flanks and crush him between his two wings; but
Lee had anticipated his enemy by drawing his army back into a V shape, with the center on the river,
and entrenching heavily. When the Yanks saw the entrenchments they'd come to a stumbling halt, their
offensive stopped in its tracks without more than a skirmish on either flank.

"You're facing a Hancock's Second Corps, here on our far right flank," Sorrel said. His manicured finger
jabbed at the map. Hancock appeared to be entirely north of the swampy tributary. "Warren and Wright
are on our left, facing Powell Hill. Burnside's Ninth Corps is in the center--he tried to get across Ox Ford


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 No Spot of Ground

on the twenty-fourth, but General Anderson's guns overlook the ford and Old Burn called off the fight
before it got properly started. Too bad--" Grinning. "Could've been another Fredericksburg."

"We can't hope for more than one Fredericksburg, alas," Poe said. "Not even from Burnside." He looked
at the map. "Looks as if the Federals have broken their army into pieces for us."

"Yes, sir. We can attack either wing, and Grant can't reinforce one wing without moving his people
across the North Anna twice."

General Lee had planned to take advantage of that with an offensive against half Grant's army. He
intended to pull Ewell's corps off the far right, most of Anderson's out of the center, and combine them
with Hill's for a strike at Warren and Wright. The attack would have been made the day before if Lee
hadn't fallen ill. In the end he'd postponed the assault by one day.

The delay, Poe thought, had given the Yanks another twenty-four hours to prepare. Confederates aren't
the only ones who know how to entrench.

Plans already laid, he thought. Nothing he could do about it.

Poe looked at the map. Now that Ewell and most of Anderson's people had pulled out, he was holding
half the Confederate line with his single division.

"It'll probably work to the good," Sorrel said. "Your division came up to hold the right for us, and that
will allow us to put more soldiers into the attack. With your division and Bushrod Johnson's, which
came up a few days ago, we've managed to replace all the men we've lost in this campaign so far."

Had the Yankees? Poe wondered.