Relieved of Command at Five Forks: G. K. Warren: Right or Wrong?

By Tom Breiner & Richard Swigert

Presentation to CCWRT on 15 January 2009, Summarized by Dan Bauer

©Cincinnati CWRT, 2009

This month's meeting was billed as a debate between Richard Swigert (left) and Tom Breiner (right) about whether Philip Sheridan's dismissal of Gouverneur Warren as commander of Fifth Corps was right or wrong. The decision may have been controversial at the time, but there was little the debaters disagreed on this night. Three of the main points they agreed on were the following: 1) If one were to look at the performance of Warren at Five Forks in isolation, he did not deserve to be dismissed, 2) Over the course of Warren's tenure as commander of the Fifth Corps, his relationship with Grant, Sheridan, and Meade became strained, 3) It was really Grant's decision to dismiss Warren, not Sheridan's.

David Mowery began the presentation with an overview of the troop movements and other events in the days preceding the battle of Five Forks. Lee asked Pickett to defend the Southside Railroad, the major supply route into Petersburg, at all hazards. Grant assigned Philip Sheridan the task of capturing the Southside Railroad and placed Warren's Fifth Corps under Sheridan's command. On the morning of April 1st, while Sheridan impatiently awaited the arrival of the full body of Warren's forces, he received a dispatch which read: "General Grant directs me to say to you, that if in your judgment the Fifth Corps would do better under one of the division commanders, you are authorized to relieve General Warren, and order him to report to General Grant, at headquarters." Warren's fate as a corps commander was now in Sheridan's hands. Later that night, after the battle had ended, Warren received the following message from Sheridan, "Major General Warren of the Fifth Corps is relieved of duty and will report to General Grant." Warren had been replaced by Brigadier General Charles Griffen.

Tom Breiner was the first debater who came to the podium. He asked us to remember two words: impression and perception. Warren did nothing wrong at Five Forks and probably could do nothing right. Around noon on the first of April, when Orville Babcock gave Sheridan Grant's directive to "use your judgment" in determining whether Warren should be relieved of command, Sheridan interpreted this as a direct order to relieve Warren of command rather than an indirect order to use his discretion. Grant's directive is not a generic statement. Grant does not use the word "any officer" in saying who Sheridan has the authority to relieve. It refers specifically to Warren. Sheridan understood he was the instrument Grant was using to relieve Warren of his command.

Breiner summarized Warren's military career by citing seven occasions which cemented Warren's reputation as being slow in obeying orders: Mine Run, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, and White Oak Road, the day before Five Forks. Warren tended to believe he knew more than his commanding officer, and he had a habit of telling his commanding officers what they should do. After the war, Grant was quoted as saying "these habits were a defect of personality." Although Sheridan did not have as many direct interactions with Warren as Grant and Meade had, Sheridan knew of Warren's reputation. Just after Sheridan returned from his campaign in the Shenandoah, Grant assigned him the task of capturing the Southside Railroad. On March 31st, Warren had been ordered to report to Sheridan. Sheridan was eager to do battle with Pickett immediately. Sheridan was under the impression that Warren would report to him by midnight, and Warren's troops would be positioned to fight early on April 1st. Because of bad weather, the first of Warren's troops did not show up in the Five Forks area until 7:00 a.m. and Warren didn't report to Sheridan until 11:00 a.m. Warren took until 4 p.m. to get his troops into position. The delay made Sheridan furious. Breiner concluded the only way Warren could have kept his job that day was if he were mortally wounded.

Next, Richard Swigert came to the podium to give his take on the dismissal of Warren. It has been said that Warren was relieved of duty due to poor performance on the first of April. However, according to accounts of the battle, Warren performed well that day. Mr. Swigert then went into a detailed account of Warren's actions on that day. The reasons why Warren and his Fifth Corps were not positioned to Sheridan's liking were not Warren's fault. In addition to problems caused by bad weather, Sheridan gave vague or incorrect orders and the diagram that Sheridan provided Warren was inaccurate. The poor directions caused Warren's Corps to be positioned too far to the right. In Sheridan's view, the right half of Warren's Corp got lost. In addition, Sheridan complained that Warren was not to be found. In fact, Warren was off to redirect the right part of his corps, as he should have been doing.

At the Court of Inquiry, called in 1879 to examine the facts surrounding the dismissal, it was discovered that Grant, through statements made by E. R. Warner, wanted Warren relieved long before the battle of Five Forks. It was General Meade who advised Grant to leave Warren in place. The final straw came when Grant received a faulty report as to where Warren was the morning of April 1st. A staff officer told Grant that Warren was building a bridge, when in fact he was in Dinwiddie Court House, right where he was supposed to be. Lastly, Swigert pointed out that Sheridan was smarting from a rebuke from Grant for not capturing Five Forks sooner. Because of this, Sheridan was looking for someone else "to take a shot at." Warren, being an engineer, was naturally inclined to think, to question orders, and to find solutions. He did not blindly follow orders as Grant, Meade, and Sheridan would have liked.

Breiner then returned to the podium to give his rebuttal in the form of a series of quick points. A curious thing about the 1879 Court of Inquiry was that only the facts regarding Five Forks could be admitted. Meade also wanted to get rid of Warren, but he was waiting for a suitable replacement. Shortly after the war, General David Stanley said he was told by Sheridan that it was Warren's provoking language that got Sheridan upset. The commission of an officer says that you "serve at the pleasure of the president." Therefore, no justification or reason is necessary to replace an officer.

Lastly, Swigert came to the podium to give his final thoughts. Rarely is a commander replaced in the midst of battle. It causes confusion and is dangerous and hazardous. Relieving him during the battle was a bad idea. It should have been done at another time. The reason the Court of Inquiry did not convene until 1879 was because Grant refused to one. It was President Hayes that called for the inquiry. Although the Court of Inquiry eventually cleared Warren of misconduct, Warren did not live long enough to hear the verdict. He died three months after the Court of Inquiry was adjourned but before its findings were published.