Bermuda Hundred campaign
The Bermuda Hundred campaign was a series of battles fought at the town of
Background
In March 1864,
Grant and Meade attacked Lee's
Butler was one of several "
The campaign took its name from the fishing village of
Butler's Army of the James disembarked from navy transports at Bermuda Hundred on May 5, the same day Grant and Lee began fighting in the
Battles
The battles fought during the Bermuda Hundred campaign were:
Port Walthall Junction (May 6–7, 1864)
On May 6, Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood's brigade stopped initial Federal probes at Port Walthall Junction, a junction critical to controlling the railroad. On May 7, a Union division drove Hagood's and Bushrod Johnson's brigades from the depot and cut the railroad. Confederate defenders retired behind Swift Run Creek and awaited reinforcements.[1] Soldiers of the Confederate States of America later melted down the railroad tracks leading to the port to manufacture cannons.[2]
Swift Creek (May 9)
Butler made a thrust toward Petersburg and was met by Johnson's division at Swift Creek. A premature Confederate attack at Arrowfield Church was driven back with heavy losses, but Union forces did not follow up. After skirmishing, Butler seemed content to tear up the railroad tracks and did not press the defenders. In conjunction with the advance to Swift Creek, five Union gunboats steamed up the Appomattox River to bombard Fort Clifton, while Brig. Gen.
Chester Station (May 10)
Elements of Maj. Gen.
Proctor's Creek (May 12–16)
Butler moved north against the Confederate line at Drewry's Bluff but again adopted a defensive posture when his attack was not supported by gunboats. On May 13, a Union column struck the right flank of the Confederate line at the Wooldridge House, carrying a line of works. Butler remained cautious, however, giving Beauregard time to concentrate his forces. At dawn on May 16, Ransom's division opened an attack on Butler's right flank, routing many units. Subsequent attacks lost direction in the fog, but the Federals were disorganized and demoralized. After severe fighting, Butler extricated his army from battle, withdrawing again to his Bermuda Hundred line. Butler's offensive against Richmond was effectively ended.[5]
Ware Bottom Church (May 20)
Confederate forces under Beauregard attacked Butler's line near Ware Bottom Church. About 10,000 troops were involved in this action. After driving back Butler's advanced pickets, the Confederates constructed the Howlett Line, effectively bottling up the Federals at Bermuda Hundred.[6]
Aftermath
Butler's expedition was an overall failure, and he was "bottled up" at Bermuda Hundred, unable to move. Although he was able to distract Confederate forces for a brief time, their victories at Proctor's Creek and Ware Bottom Church enabled Beauregard to detach strong reinforcements for Lee's army in time for the fighting at Cold Harbor.
In Grant's Personal Memoirs he described a conversation with his Chief Engineer regarding Butler's predicament:
He said that the general occupied a place between the James and Appomattox rivers which was of great strength, and where with an inferior force he could hold it for an indefinite length of time against a superior; but that he could do nothing offensively. I then asked him why Butler could not move out from his lines and push across the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to the rear and on the south side of Richmond. He replied that it was impracticable, because the enemy had substantially the same line across the neck of land that General Butler had. He then sketched the locality, remarking that the position was like a bottle and that Butler's line of intrenchments across the neck represented the cork; that the enemy had built an equally strong line immediately in front of him across the neck; and it was therefore as if Butler was in a bottle. He was perfectly safe against an attack; but, as Barnard expressed it, the enemy had corked the bottle and with a small force could hold the cork in its place.
— Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs
Butler's forces were eventually used in the Siege of Petersburg. Bermuda Hundred was garrisoned by Federal troops throughout the siege.
See also
Notes
- ^ NPS Port Walthall
- ^ Port Walthall (Historical Highway Markers). Virginia State Route 10 at Enon, Virginia 2.5 miles west of Hopewell, Virginia: Virginia Department of Conservation and Historic Resources. 1987.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ NPS Swift Creek
- ^ NPS Chester Station
- ^ NPS Proctor's Creek
- ^ NPS Ware Bottom Church
References
Further reading
- Chick, Sean Michael. Grant's Left Hook: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, May 5–June 7, 1864. El Dorado Hills, California: ISBN 978-1611214383.
- Robertson, William Glenn. Backdoor to Richmond: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, April–June 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8071-1672-6.
- Schiller, Herbert M. The Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Dayton: Morningside, 1988.
External links
- Civil War in Chesterfield County, with animated battle maps