Who Needs Reinforcements When You Have Coffee?
I like my morning cup of coffee (all 6 or 8 of them) as much as the next guy…but even I don’t have quite as much faith in a cup of joe as Ben Butler did.
In early October of 1864, General Robert E. Lee shifted troops away from Petersburg and north to Richmond. He sought to regain ground lost a week earlier around Fort Harrison, Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights.
On the morning of October 7, two divisions of the Army of Northern Virginia attacked the right flank of Major General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James along the Darbytown and New Market Roads. Lee’s troops made early gains, routing the Union cavalry, before taking severe casualties in a failed charge against well-entrenched Federals that cost Confederate Brig. Gen. John Gregg his life.[1]
As the sun set, the Army of the James tried to make sense of the carnage while bracing for a second day of attacks. Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel of the XVIII Corps telegraphed Butler, asking for clarification of the line he was supposed to defend against a morning attack that both generals anticipated.
Butler replied, 160 years ago today, with what might be my favorite written order of the entire Civil War: “If your men get their coffee early in the morning you can hold.”[2]
This is the sort of quote that feels apocryphal, right up until you find it in a primary source.
So did the Confederates attack? Was the strength of the Army of the James’ coffee put to the test?
As it turned out, the day’s losses and the repulse of Gregg’s charge convinced Lee to pull back into Richmond’s defenses. On the night of the 8th, Butler simply informed Meade, “All quiet to-day.”[3] It was an anticlimactic end to one of the Army of Northern Virginia’s final offensive operations of the war.
[1] James S. Price, “A little more butchery. A little more slaughter,” American Battlefield Trust.
[2] United States. War Records Office, et al.. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XLII, Chapter LIV. 1893, 117.
[3] United States. War Records Office, et al.. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XLII, Chapter LIV. 1893, 119.
In an alternative history version of this story, the Union troops receive their morning coffee ration but unfortunately it is decaf and they are routed.
This is the Civil War What-If we’ve all been waiting for!
Decaf is an immoral abomination – and it could have cost the Union the war. Who knows – we might all be drinking chicory coffee right now…
Ever read Mckinlay Kantor’s ‘Gettysburg’? His portrayal of coffee is the best account in print.
Ooh I don’t think I have, thanks for the recommendation Eric!
My pleasure. In fact, I’m going to pull it off the shelf and re-read it – over a cup of Vietnamese coffee. That entire book is a gem. It’s labeled “Children’s” or “Young Adult” but it should be read by everyone. A wonderful piece of work.
this is a great find — well done … and maybe the smartest thing General Butler ever said.
Maybe the reason Butler was a beast in New Orleans was he didn’t like chicory coffee. It might have been too much for his New England palate!
Speaking of coffee I just read this about Shiloh:
“It was not heralded by martial music or trumpet blast, but instead the rebs handed us across the creek a few hot balls and shells while we were busy drinking coffee.” – Nickolai, George P. “Shiloh.” The National Tribune, August 19, 1886.