Use of a mule shoe has, however, several inherent disadvantages, such as: To complete the connection can be difficult and some axial force is usually necessary to complete the operation and fulfil the required intention. As a result the sub often needs an additional force, by means of a hydraulic pressure, to ensure that it locks into position.

Mule (shoe) - Wikipedia

If the shoe or the matching shape is worn or meet tip to tip, a jam may occur and the unit becomes stuck or may act falsely as connected to the body - if using the mule shoe for orientation of directional drilling tools with an independently rotating internal drive shaft, a locking mechanism or coupling between the drive shaft and the outer body of the drill is needed in order to obtain a reference point.

This locking coupling is sensitive to malfunctioning and will usually be very difficult to operate when the hole gets deep, due to high torque. Moreover, it is difficult to know if the locking device or coupling is in open or closed mode. It is therefore a need for an orientation system that does not need the current mule shoe. Moreover it is a need for an orientation system that can sense the position of a point on the outer body of a device with respect to gravity, independent of the position of the point on the peripheral surface of the outer body at any time.

Moreover, it is also a need for a system that does not depend on a locking mechanism or coupling between the drive shaft and the outer body of a device being a drill or other tools with an independently running internal drive shaft. It is also a need for a orientation system comprising a survey unit that can be removed and brought to surface when orientating tools or bodies that do not require continuous orientation, such as stationary tools, like a wedges or a valves etc. Moreover, its also need for a system that can be brought to surface for downloading data, i.

Such determinations or calculations may be real-time activities or logged for later downloads, on surface or downhole, and if desired, used for adjustment of the position of the device. The adjustment may be automatic, semi-automatic or manual. According to this principle, a reference point member may be arranged on an outer element for example an external body or part of a structure, the well bore, a tube, casing or the like, while detectors or devices sensing the position of the reference point member and gravity are positioned on the device whose position are being identified.

The term "outer element" should be understood to also comprise the situation where the reference point member is arranged on an outer body of the device, and the detectors are arranged internally, for example associated with an inner element arranged inside the device. In both cases, the detectors sense outwards. It should be appreciated, however, that the reference point member and the detectors may be configured in such way that the detectors sense inwards, i.

In the drawings and the detailed description of an embodiment below, only the embodiment having the reference point member arranged on an outer body of the device and detectors arranged on or associated with an inner element, preferably retractable from the outer body, are shown and described, without thereby intending to limit the invention and scope of protection to such embodiment. Also the embodiments comprising a solution where the detectors are arranged on an outer element such as an outer ring surrounding a centrally arranged reference point member is intended to be encompassed by the scope of protection.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system that can provide the same degree of flexibility as the mule shoe, i. An object of the invention is also to obtain a system that can be used for obtaining information of the orientation of a core sample. Another object of the present invention is to provide an alternative way of determining the position of a device, moveably or stationary arranged in a well bore.


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It should be appreciated that another object of the invention is to provide a system that may be used in connection with orientation of multiple types of downhole tools and systems, including but not limited to any type of drilling system, rod orientation, packers, wedges, valves, branches, monitoring and controlling systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method improving the identification or monitoring of the position of a device moving through or stationary in a bore or hole, such as a drill string or a tool, by determining the position of a reference point member on the device relative to gravity. It should be appreciated that the system does not depend on a locking mechanism or coupling between the drive shaft and the body of the device if used on for example a drill with an independently running internal drive shaft.

Moreover the sensing devices and electronics can be removed and brought to surface, leaving only the relatively low cost reference point member downhole. Yet another object of the invention is to provide a orientation system giving good readings close to vertical, something that is known to be a problem for existing systems based on moveable weights, balls and similar to determine the low side of the device. It should also be appreciated that the orientation system according to the invention may in certain cases be seated permanently. The objects are achieved by means of a system and a method as further defined by the independent claims, while embodiments, variants and alternatives are defined by the dependent claims.

According to the present invention a system for identifying or monitoring the orientation and position of a device, such as a tool is provided. The system is intended to be moved through or be stationary arranged in a medium, such as rock, and comprises an orientation unit comprising an outer element and an inner element. The inner element may be retrievable. The system further comprises:.

The data may also be used to calculate the inclination of the device or orientation of a core sample. The first and second detectors are preferably arranged on another element of the orientation unit than the reference point member. According to one embodiment of the system, the fixed reference point member may be mechanically or physically fixed on the outer element, while said at least one first and at least one second detector are arranged on the inner element.

In a preferred embodiment, the outer element is the outer body of the device. According to a second embodiment of the invention, the fixed reference point member may be fixed on a body centrally arranged on the device whose position should be identified, while said at least one first and at least one second detector is arranged on a ring or tube surrounding the centrally arranged fixed referenced point member arranged inside the device.

The reference point member may comprise at least one magnet, the first detector may comprise at least one magnetic field detector, preferably. By "magnet" it is in this application meant permanent magnets, electro magnets or magnetic fields made in any other way. In this application, whenever the word "magnet" is written it should be interpreted as a permanent magnet, electro magnet or a magnetic field made in any other way.

Moreover, the reference point member may be placed in fixed seat s on the outer body of the device, intended to create an artificial magnetic field that can be detected by the first detector. The inner element may comprise a separate rotatable alignment shaft, and a magnet may be fixed to the rotatable shaft, said magnet will always align with the reference point member on the outer element, as said reference point member comprises one or more magnets. Thus the alignment shaft will rotate due to the magnetic forces, and independently of the inner element.

In another embodiment magnets are not fixed to the alignment shaft, but the alignment shaft itself is magnetic, and will rotate to align with the reference point magnets. It should be appreciated that at least one magnet may be fixed to the end of the rotatable alignment shaft, providing a magnetic field that is sensed by a magnetic field detector such as a magnetometer or hall effect sensor, allowing the detector to sense the shaft orientation.

Based on the position of the shaft, the position of the reference point member will be given. Moreover, the reference point member may be chosen from one of a radioactive source, laser, permanent magnet, electromagnet and Radio Frequency Identification RFID. In one embodiment, the entire tool is made non-magnetic, allowing a magnetometer also to read directions relative to magnetic north. The magnetometer may be the first detector, or another separate detector. The present invention also relates to a method for identifying or monitoring the orientation and position of a device, such as a tool.

The method relates to a system, intended to be moved through or left stationary in a medium, such as rock, and comprises an orientation unit comprising an outer element and an inner element. The inner element is preferably retrievable. The method comprises the following steps:. According to one embodiment of the invention, the method comprises fixing the reference point member mechanically or physically to the outer element, while arranging said at least one first and at least one second detector on the retrievable inner element. According to another embodiment, the method comprises fixing the reference point member on a body centrally arranged on the device while arranging said at least one first and at least one second detector on a retrievable outer ring.

The method may comprise arranging one or more magnets to a rotatable alignment shaft, in the inner element of the orientation unit, allowing at least one of said magnet to align with a magnet on the outer element acting as reference point member, by rotating the alignment shaft, and arranging a magnet on an end of said alignment shaft, and using the magnetic field from it as a source for monitoring and identifying the position and orientation of the alignment shaft.

By using the data from the magnetic field detector and a gravitation detector, such as an accelerometer or inclinometer the position of the reference point member may be determined relative to gravity. Moreover, the method may also comprise determining or calculating real-time activities or data can be logged for later downloads, on surface or downhole. Gravitation detectors, such as accelerometers or inclinometers are used together with any one of the detectors for sensing the rotational position of the outer element, and thus the position for the device may be identified.

Moreover, it should also be appreciated that the system according to the present invention is to provide an improved orientation system that can replace the current use of a mule shoe, and when operating a system with internal drive shaft that rotates independently of the tool body, it is not necessary nor required to include a locking device for aligning the mule shoe shed in a known position relative to the outer body. According to the present invention, the detector for identifying the rotational position of the alignment shaft, when aligned with the reference point member, may in lieu of a magnet field detector, be provided at the circumference of the free end of the alignment shaft with a number of separated axially orientated sectors, co- functioning with brushes or shoes, similar to the system used on the commutator on an electric motor, the position of the various sectors with respect to the position of the corresponding magnet on the alignment shaft being known.

In the following principles and an embodiment of the invention shall be described in further detail, referring to the drawings wherein:. Figure 1 discloses schematically one principle for a orientation unit according to the present invention, indicating a suitable position of an embodiment forming the reference point member and the configuration of the first and second detector;.

Figure 2 discloses schematically and in principle for a orientation unit using a second embodiment of the invention, showing the device forming the reference point member, the detectors applied and a second one or more magnets fixed to a rotatable alignment shaft;. Figure 3 shows schematically a directional core drill with the orientation unit according to the present invention for identifying or monitoring the orientation and position of a the drill;. Figure 4 shows mud motor drill unit, with the orientation unit according to the present invention for identifying or monitoring the orientation and position of the unit.

Figure 5 shows schematically a part of the interior of a drilling system, with the orientation unit according to the invention;. Figure 6 shows schematically a retrievable orientation unit in accordance to the invention. Description of the Reference Signs. The following description of the exemplary embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements.

The following detailed description is not meant or intended to limit the invention. Instead, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

Moreover, the embodiments to be discussed next are not limited to these configurations, but may be extended to other arrangements as discussed later. Reference throughout the specification to "one embodiment" or "an. Thus, the appearance of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.

Further, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Figure 1 discloses schematically a orientation unit showing the principle used according to one embodiment of the present invention, indicating a suitable position of the magnet forming the reference point member 13 and the configuration of the first and second detector 15, The Figure indicates schematically a orientation unit 10 provided with an outer element 1 1 and a inner element 12 arranged inside the outer element 1 1.

The orientation unit 10 constitutes as a separate but yet integral part of the drilling tool and is arranged downhole together with the tool. According to the element shown, a reference point member in form of a magnet 13 is arranged in a fixed position on the outer element 1 1 , providing a magnetic field.

The outer element 1 1 may have a cylindrical cross sectional shape, having a centreline A magnetic field detector such as a magnetometer or a halleffect sensor 15 may be incorporated in the inner element 12 and is preferably centrically positioned with respect to the inner element The magnetic field detector 15 may be of any known type measuring the magnetic field of the magnet 13 arranged on the outer element 1 1 , and hence the circumferential position of the magnet The system according to the embodiment shown in Figure 1 , functions in the following way:.

The information from the detectors may either be processed and used in real time downhole or communicated to the surface, or may be saved and processed when the inner element 12 is retrieved to the surface.


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Knowing the magnet's 13 position relative to the earth gravity, it is possible by means of processing to identify the position of e. A conference was arranged to clear up the confusion. Apparently no one was surrendering so the Federal officer made his way back to the line. Even if the officer believed that the informal conference guaranteed his safe return, on a stage such as this what did the murder of one more Federal mean? All the regiments were still mixed, and short lulls in the action allowed troops to seek their own regiments.

She was with the men of her regiment and the sergeant watched her with interest as she moved along the trench with mud spattering her red trousers and dark blue overskirt. She moved without anxiety, her gay laugh cutting through the oppressive atmosphere of carnage, making the war seem trivial and filling the sergeant with admiration. Into the afternoon hours of May12, the fighting was almost continuous up and down the line of the East Angle. A nasty encounter with bayonets ensued. Gingerly, he raised the wounded limb to his chest, holding it there for a few moments until his company sergeant, bearing the Shakespearean appellation of Hamlet Richardson, ordered him to the rear.

The fury of the Confederate assault began to dissipate and young Oliver moved rearwards. Keeping the arm immobilized was a painful and difficult task, but soon Oliver managed to overtake the ambulance corps near the Landrum House where he met his company mate, Vincent P. Kelly, wounded in the right leg two days earlier at Laurel Hill. Wafer was so overworked by the constant parade of broken bodies that Kelly and Oliver had to wait their turn. The pallor of death slowly worked its way into their grim grey faces. As soldiers and artillery passed, these men said nothing but simply watched with a mild detached disinterest.

A passer-by inquired what he was doing. He tried to smile but he knew death was close by and the taste of that last good pipe should not be wasted in conversation. Wafer took Kelly in first, amputated his right leg, then took Peter Oliver and amputated his left arm. Next morning, both men were sent to Fredericksburg where they lay on the brick floor of a church for three days. At the West Angle, which Grant and Lee realized was the key, the armies fought until exhaustion. Finally in the early hours of May 13, Lee withdrew his men back to the second line of works created across the base of the Mule Shoe, leaving the empty salient in Federal hands.

Luckily, the th New York got to be observers for this latest effort at the Mule Shoe.

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Their regiment and brigade were now under new commanders. Pierce, still suffering from his untreated hand wound of May 6, was told by Dr. Wafer after the assault of May 12 that his hand was infected and needed treatment or he would lose his arm. Pierce was in a Washington hospital by May 17th and the command of the regiment fell to the senior captain, Joseph Deverell of Company K.

To take his place at the head of the Third Brigade Colonel Thomas Alfred Smyth, originally of the 1st Delaware and the brigade commander at Gettysburg, returned on May 17th, Smyth had become redundant in the Irish Brigade with the return of the senior colonel, Richard Byrnes of the 28th Massachusetts, so the loss of Carroll allowed Gibbon to transfer Smyth, a more than competent replacement. After Spotsylvania, Grant once more moved by the left flank, but this time with a slight difference.

The Second Corps was dangled as bait on the left, with the hope that Lee would come out from behind his fortifications and attack the isolated corps. If Lee did not make the attempt on the isolated corps, then the movement would become simply a turning or flank operation. Lee may have been aggressive but he was not stupid. He saw the plan for the crude trap that it was and did not bite. Instead Lee set his own trap at the North Anna River which Grant fell into and only narrowly escaped.

During all the maneuvering and continuous skirmishing around the North Anna, the th New York was not heavily involved, losing only 5 wounded from May 22 to June 1. In fact, the entire brigade for the same period recorded a loss of only 73 men but all that was about to change. To the southeast, the North Anna River joined with the South Anna to become the Pamunkey River and on May 27th Grant started his move down the eastern bank of the Pamunkey, bringing him ever closer to Richmond and yet another confrontation with Lee at a dreary crossroads called Cold Harbor.

Consequently, Grant should be given the benefit of the doubt in that he believed the attack could have succeeded and was worth the risk to end the war. However, as a modern historian has pointed out, the handling of the details and tactics of the attack left a great deal to be desired. Atlas plate 97, no. To start with, Grant put Meade in charge of all the details for the attack. No two soldiers could have been more fundamentally different: So when faced with planning the details for a risky frontal assault, Meade emulated Pontius Pilate and washed his hands of the whole affair and left the planning to the corps commanders who did little in the way of reconnaissance for Rebel dispositions and topographical details of the field.

Also, such coordination had yet to be achieved during the entire campaign, why would this time be any different? Francis Walker, the adjutant of the Second Corps, found fault with the plan and asserted that since the Rebel army was securely in position on June 3, then the general assault would not exactly be a surprise. For the third time in 21 days, the Second Corps was expected to march to and attack a fortified line.

Although night had fallen when the troops moved out, the heat from the day had hardly dissipated, the thick air seemed close and cloying. Ankle deep dust stuck to their uniforms and caked the mouth and nostrils with a fine wet powder that made normal breathing an impossibility. To make matters worse, one division got lost.

Meade sent out a guide, Captain William H. On and off all night the rain continued and was replaced in the early morning by swirling fog which obscured vision and covered the killing grounds with a strange ethereal mist — a morning not unlike that of twenty two days earlier at the Mule Shoe. As soon as the Second Division stepped off at 4.

On the afternoon of June 2, when Meade issued the circular that cancelled the 5 p. Traditionally, the battle of June 3 at Cold Harbor has been compared to a slaughter pen but such a description was not entirely accurate. If anything, the battle was a selective slaughter pen. These were two and three year veterans who had lost too many good men in similar futile efforts and they had advanced far enough. By the time the Irish regiments got to Cold Harbor, they were down to men, so the recently formed 8th New York heavy Artillery, a non-Irish unit of men, was added to the Legion.

The casualty counts tell the story. Most of the Jerseymen did not get beyond the swamp and when falling back a great deal of confusion led to extra casualties. For the Irish Legion to the right, the total loss was officers and men killed, wounded or missing, almost four times more than Smyth! Greatest loss was in the 8th New York Heavy Artillery with casualties, including 7 officers and 73 men killed outright. If the New York casualties are removed, then the average loss pre regiment was still over men — over five times greater than the same average for Smyth.

This illustrates what was meant by selective slaughter at Cold Harbor. Veteran regiments in these units averaged casualties of around 24, whereas the newer troops averaged just over 92 per regiment. What no one in the high command of the Union army noticed or, perhaps more accurately, chose not to notice, was that psychologically and physically the Federal troops were falling apart.

Twenty-two days earlier on May 12, , Dr. For over a month, they had been under fire or hunched behind breastworks, most of their waking hours spent avoiding sharpshooters and even when sleep came, they could not truly relax. Proper meals could not be prepared. Now at Cold Harbor, these same troops, subjected to a grueling night march, were asked once more attack invulnerable fortifications.

Colonel Emory Upton, whose May 10th attack on the Muleshoe provided Grant with the idea for the greater assault two days later, wrote to his sister on June I am very sorry to say I have seen but little generalship during the campaign. Some of our corps commanders are not fit to be corporals. Lazy and indolent, they will not even ride along the lines ; yet, without hesitancy, they will order us to attack the enemy, no matter what their position or numbers.

So the veterans advanced as far as their consciences dictated. After the futile 22 minute onslaught, the battle devolved into a brutal physical and psychological ordeal, fought out in the trenches and between the lines. Out on the field, in plain view of his New York comrades, lay Henry Edwards of Company F, shot in the left leg and helpless.

No one was around to assist him once the regiment fell back to the rifle pits and started to dig in. Henry hoped that he could lie still enough and wait for nightfall to cover a rescue attempt. Over the following days, the armies settled into long range sniping and occasional forays.

Mule (shoe)

Darren Skinner moved cautiously along the line of the th New York, being particularly careful to avoid the deadly picket and sharpshooter fire. He collapsed and died in the arms of the officers. Mind numbing fatigue from adrenaline induced anxiety, sleepless days and nights and the persistent example of how quickly life can be snuffed out, caused some men to snap under the ordeal. Kinleyside, the twenty-two year old second lieutenant of Company G, recently rejoined the regiment at Milford, Virginia after a six month absence for recruiting duty and detached service at Elmira, New York.

Seventy two hours of sniper fire and or artillery fire raking the lines was enough for the young lieutenant. Robbins was shot in the right arm, just below the shoulder, while on skirmish duty on the Sunday after the charge. Right behind the battle line, within range of the Rebel guns, Dr. Wafer and Chaplain Thomas G. In the trenches of Cold Harbor nothing could be taken for granted. With a swamp behind them, which contained springs of cool water, but open space to get there, the retrieval of water took on the mantle of an heroic quest.

Once the lucky winner? Another, but unexpected source of danger in the lines, especially for the th New York, originated from their comrades in the line behind them. Occasional Confederate forays to re-capture their old lines had as much success as the Federal charge on June 3. Although these occurrences diminished as the stalemate dragged on, the suffering of the wounded of June 3, still on the open field days after the charge, seemed endless.

Lack of protection and medical care, combined with heat and thirst ended the agony for a great number of these men. Death literally hung in the air as carrion birds circled patiently, waiting, watching for the final gasp of life to expire then descended in decreasing circles to feed on the lifeless forms.

On earth, bloated black beetles continued the work of the birds and fed upon the dead or those too weak to care. Finally on the evening of June 7, almost five full days after the event, a 2 hour truce was negotiated to remove the wounded. More than likely what the New Yorker witnessed was the involuntary movement of the arm by subsequent bullet hits after the charge ended and the various exchanges of fire during the remainder of the battle.

At Cold Harbor, the th New York lost a total of 22 for an overall loss of men for the campaign. As a combat unit the th New York was down and worn out. Before the Wilderness, some recruits augmented the thin ranks but the new men were either killed or wounded or simply gone.

In this war of attrition ranks rarely stayed full. From May 5, the regiment lost 11 officers, including the colonel and lieutenant colonel, At Cold Harbor, the Rochester men were led by Captain Joe Deverell of Company K, who in turn was wounded on June 3 and thus command devolved to Captain William Andrews, the next senior officer. What ailed this New York regiment ailed the Second Corps, which had lost 16, men in the 30 days since crossing the Rapidan.

Fighting at Cold Harbor may have been a mistake since Grant ran out of room to continue his left flank sidles around Lee, but the failure brought forth another plan. Of course, the key to the scheme was the quick capture of Petersburg, 20 miles to the south, before Lee could reinforce it. Initially the plan unfolded well. As late as 6 a. As he did in front of Vicksburg to avoid the specter of a drawn out siege, the Federal commander ordered frontal assaults over the next three days to overrun the city but all failed.

By the time he arrived at Petersburg, the once larger-than-life Hancock was looking and feeling merely mortal. Almost a year before, his knightly presence on Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg instilled confidence and faith into the broken remnants of the First and Eleventh Corps that came within his control on that afternoon of July 1. With additions factored in, the division numbered 11, during the Overland Campaign from May to June 30, but sustained a total loss of All recognized it for what it was, a death trap just like Cold Harbor!

Rebel artillery swept through the Maine line as it moved through the 3 to 4 foot stalks of corn. Of nearly men who had scrambled out of the road, lay dead or dying in the Virginia sun. Mingled with them were many of the wounded, and they had to wait hours for rescue.

Four days later on the 22nd of June, the attitude of these men seemed to be more than justified when Birney, in command of the Second Corps for the ailing Hancock, led them into a disastrous engagement once more at the Jerusalem Plank Road. Such infernal bare faced robbery was never heard of and the villains openly boast of the scandalous swindle they have been guilty of.

Their turn to destroy would come on the next day. The Union line and entrenchments at Reams Station were a defensive nightmare. Railroad tracks ran in a north-south direction through the position about 30 yards east of and parallel to the yard western face. Consequently, troops or batteries placed in the western face could only be reinforced or re-supplied by climbing the over the embankment or traversing the cut, depending on which end needed help. To the east of the tracks, a New York battery took up position on the northern arm of the horseshoe and a final battery, 3rd New Jersey, was located east of the railroad, roughly in the center of the formation.

Troops placed in the northern or southern arm soon discovered that overshoots, whether from artillery or musketry, traversed the entire position so that a shot fired from the north or northwest might miss the initial target but still could hit a victim in the back on the southern arm. Of course, for the Second Corps the worst case scenario came to pass.

While the Rebel troops were setting up camp barely two miles away, Hancock just learned that an enemy force had been sent in his direction, even though that force was spotted earlier at 2. Why it took almost 4 hours to inform Hancock of the threat was not explained. Pierce, were deployed to prevent the Confederates from overlapping the line and gaining the rear of the Federal unit. Over the mid-afternoon hours, the Confederate force attacked both faces of the position but without success. Rebel sharp-shooting, however, did play havoc with the artillery units in the western face of the works in front of the railroad.

Hill from the northwest and Wade Hampton from the south to launch their combined attack on the Union position. In general, the Union line was still in tact when the Rebel infantry made its appearance, even though the Rebel artillery fire shook the resolve of some men and caused considerable demoralization for the troops in position along the extremities of the horseshoe who were exposed to a reverse fire.

At first, it seemed the enemy would have no more success than they had had all day as the Federal troops held on stoutly against the onslaught of the combined attack. Accounts of the ensuing events seem to reflect the confusion that gripped the Union defenders at Reams Station. Hancock witnessed the panic and rode among the routed troops attempting to rally them and sending those that did to aid Miles in shoring up the breeched line.

Miles claimed that he and the 61st New York, his old regiment, unaided stemmed the Rebel tide and pushed forward to retake the captured guns of the 12th New York Battery. By the time I got to the hill I had so few that I was repulsed. I fell back to my old works. I immediately faced my command by the rear rank and ordered an advance. This was not executed with the promptness and alacrity which usually characterizes the movement of the troops of my command, for which I cannot account, unless it was owing to the peculiar position of the troops, part of them being on the reverse side of the work or their exhausted condition after the active operations of the previous part of the day.

They retired again to their former position and reformed after some difficulty. Try as he might, Smyth could not cover the fact that the troops were unwilling to advance. They could hardly be worn out because they had not yet done any work on the railroad. Charles Cowtan, adjutant of the 10th New York, claimed that his regiment as well as the 12th New Jersey and the 14th Connecticut were the three regiments mentioned favorably by Smyth but Miles makes no mention in his report of any help from the Second Division.

The whereabouts of the th New York when all of this occurred was not clear. Smyth perhaps provided a clue when he said that at 6. This version of the trial and tribulation of the th New York at Reams was probably embellished for the regimental history, compiled 30 years later. Since the Rochester regiment sustained a total of 4 casualties for the entire battle, it is quite doubtful that they were surrounded by Rebel troops and were required to carve their way out.

More than likely, the panic created by enemy fire in the front rear and flank, combined with the precipitous flight of the Second Brigade engulfed the boys from Rochester and swept them out the open end of the horseshoe toward the Jerusalem Plank Road. They did, however, suffer one fatality at the battle when Orderly Sergeant John Hughes Jennings was shot and killed. He died on the field at Reams Station and was buried there.

Similar to most Federal regiments that day, the greatest loss for the th New York was in men captured. Twenty-one men were taken, while others such as Alfred Ellwood, who took over for Jennings as Orderly Sergeant, were captured but managed to escape. That night in the descending darkness with the threat of rain in the air, Smyth attempted to ascertain the presence or absence of his regiments. When he called out for the th New York to report, only Lt.

Quite rightly, Humphreys noted the imperfection of the entrenchments at Reams as a contributing factor as did Hancock at the time. Besides the connotation of physical infirmity or weakness, the word also means a lack in intellectual or moral strength. No one seemed willing to face the truth that the Second Corps, who had been involved in continuous grueling action, often spearheading frontal assaults since May 5, was finally used up and finished as an elite combat unit.

It should be noticed that once more Hancock took the defeat as a personal reflection on himself and not necessarily related to his diminished ability as a corps commander. Also, blaming Gibbon almost exclusively was more symptomatic of their deteriorating relationship as general officers and friends than it was to any factual corroboration. In both divisions, the ratio of captured or missing to the total losses was almost the same. In other words, since the numbers of those who stood and fought to those who were captured or ran in each division were roughly identical, it would appear that no one division either outperformed or failed the other The men simply reached the breaking point.

Accounts by the Union high command claimed that the final Rebel assault was not overwhelming and if the troops had resisted for another 5 or 10 minutes, the battle would have been won. So obviously, if the resistance was feeble, how would 5, 10 or 15 minutes have made a difference? Jennings, would never depart from Reams Station.

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Hancock left the Second Corps on November 26 to be replaced by A. Tension that had been building between Gibbon and Hancock came to a head after Reams Station so on Oct. Of the four division commanders who entered the Wilderness in May, only the lackluster Gersham Mott remained by the end of the summer. However, during the pursuit of Lee out of Petersburg, the Second Division played a significant role on April 7 in taking High Bridge, one of the key bridges spanning the Appomattox River that Lee ordered destroyed but was not.

Shortly after the capture of the bridge, the Third Brigade lost Thomas Smyth, their commanding officer. Smyth had been a brigadier general for just over six months, a promotion well deserved but long overdue, and old habits died hard. While skirmishers from the th and 10th New York remained below the crest of a small ridge line, a battery in the Rebel line opened on the men and a lively firefight ensued. Suddenly, Smyth slumped to the right of his horse. The ball continued its course to the neck, fracturing a cervical vertebra, and driving a fragment of the bone upon the spinal cord.

When Smyth died, an incident that occurred at division headquarters a month or two earlier was brought to mind. Many thought we shall see no more fighting, when General Smyth said: On April 8, an attempt was made to move the wounded Irishman to Burksville Station but his condition deteriorated so he was taken to a local residence.

He was the last general officer to die in the war. A detailed discussion of the Overland, Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns is not within the scope of this study. Wilson Greene, William Matter, R. Wayne Maney, some of which have been or will cited in the text but full citations for all are included in the bibliography. This study will continue to focus on the th New York and its actions within each battle. Stackpole Books, ,pp. Castle Books, , pp. Union Publishing Company, , p. Time-Life Books, , p. Even in death, the stigma of drunken recklessness followed Hays to the grave since his death was attributed to his fondness for the bottle.

Downeast Books, , p. The National Tribune, p. The historian of the 14th Connecticut had the unfortunate habit of downplaying the other regiments in the brigade while providing a self-serving interpretation for the actions of the 14th Connecticut. In this case, he asserts that a regiment to their right collapsed and caused a stampede in the brigade which left the 14th Connecticut as the only unit on the field of battle p. Longacre, in his book on the 12th New Jersey, To Gettysburg and Beyond, provides a different scenario:.

The parallel with May 3, grew stronger when the Twelfth learned that the Fourteenth Connecticut, once again holding its [12th NJ. Soon the northern flank of the Twelfth began to dissolve in chaos pp. The whining becomes tiresome. At the Wilderness who could clearly tell what was happening, who broke when and where, who stood where or when?

Gary Gallagher Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, pp. The Archive Society Harrisburg: The Archive Society, pp. Sparkle Publications Harrisonburg, VA.: Sparkle Publications, pp. Morningside Press Dayton, Ohio: Press of Morningside Bookshop, p. Pendleton argues that Anderson decided to march, not out of necessity, but out of awareness of the need for expediency.

Sorrel implies that the conditions around the Wilderness battlefield helped to motivate the move. Louisiana State University Press, , p. Broadfoot Publishing Comapany, ,vol. Hereafter cited as CV followed by volume and page number. Indiana University Press, , p. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press , , pp. Kraus Reprint Company, vol. Fordham University Press, , p.