This article is about the September 1864 American Civil War battle at Laurel Hill, Virginia. For the May 1864 American Civil War battle, see
Battle of New Market
. For the 1861 American Civil War battle at Laurel Mountain or Laurel Hill, West Virginia, see
Laurel Mountain (West Virginia)
.
Battle of the American Civil War
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†
also known as
Richmond?Petersburg campaign
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The
Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights
, also known as
Laurel Hill
and combats at
Forts Harrison, Johnson, and Gilmer
, was fought in Virginia on September 29?30, 1864, as part of the
siege of Petersburg
in the
American Civil War
.
Background
[
edit
]
From the very beginning of the war,
Confederate
engineers and slave laborers had constructed permanent defenses around
Richmond
. By 1864, they had created a system anchored south of the capital on the
James River
at Chaffin's Farm, a large open area at
Chaffin's Bluff
, both named for a local landowner. This outer line was supported by an intermediate and inner system of
fortifications
much closer to the capital. In July and August 1864, these lines were tested by
Union
Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant
in offensives designed to attack simultaneously north and south of the James.
[5]
On July 27?29, the
Army of the Potomac
's
II Corps
under
Maj. Gen.
Winfield S. Hancock
and cavalry under Maj. Gen.
Philip Sheridan
attacked New Market Heights and Fussell's Mill in the
First Battle of Deep Bottom
(named for the section of the James River used for the Union crossing). The attacks failed to break through to threaten Richmond or its railroads, but they did cause Confederate Gen.
Robert E. Lee
to transfer men from the
Petersburg
fortifications in preparation for the
Battle of the Crater
on July 31. The
Second Battle of Deep Bottom
was conducted by Hancock on August 14?20, attacking in almost the same areas once again to draw Confederate troops away from south of the James, where the
Battle of Globe Tavern
(also known as the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad) was an attempt to cut the railroad supply lines to Petersburg. The second battle was also a Confederate victory, but it forced Lee to weaken his Petersburg defenses and abandon plans to reinforce his men in the
Shenandoah Valley
.
[6]
In late September, Grant planned another dual offensive. Historians sometimes enumerate Grant's offensives during the Richmond?Petersburg Campaign. Richard J. Sommers, John Horn, and Noah Andre Trudeau call these operations "Grant's Fifth Offensive".
[7]
Grant's primary objective was to cut the railroad supply lines to the south of Petersburg, which would likely cause the fall of both Petersburg and Richmond. He planned to use a cavalry division under Brig. Gen.
David McM. Gregg
and four infantry divisions from the
V
and
IX Corps
of the Army of the Potomac to sever the
South Side Railroad
, an operation that would result in the
Battle of Peebles' Farm
from September 30 to October 2. Once again hoping to distract Robert E. Lee and draw Confederate troops north of the river, Grant ordered the
Army of the James
under Maj. Gen.
Benjamin F. Butler
to attack toward Richmond.
[8]
Butler devised a plan that historian John Horn called his "best performance of the war."
[9]
Rather than repeat the efforts of July and August to turn the Confederate left, Butler planned surprise attacks on the Confederate right and center. His
XVIII Corps
under Maj. Gen.
Edward O. C. Ord
, would cross the James River to Aiken's Landing by a newly constructed pontoon bridge. At the original Deep Bottom pontoon bridge, his
X Corps
under Maj. Gen.
David B. Birney
would cross, followed by his cavalry under Brig. Gen.
August V. Kautz
. In a two-pronged attack, the right wing (Birney's X Corps, augmented by a
United States Colored Troops
division under Brig. Gen.
Charles J. Paine
from the XVIII Corps) would assault the Confederate lines at New Market Road and drive on to capture the artillery positions behind it on New Market Heights. This action would protect the flank of the left wing (the remainder of Ord's XVIII Corps), which would attack Fort Harrison from the south-east, neutralizing the strongest point of the entire Confederate line. Then, the right wing would assist the left by attacking Fort Gregg and Fort Gilmer, both north of Fort Harrison. Kautz's cavalry would exploit Birney's capture of the New Market Road by driving for Richmond.
[10]
Orders of Battle
[
edit
]
Union
[
edit
]
Confederate
[
edit
]
Battle
[
edit
]
New Market Heights
[
edit
]
Maj. Gen.
David B. Birney
moved the X Corps north from the Deep Bottom bridgehead toward the Confederate works atop New Market Heights manned by
Brig. Gen.
John Gregg
. A brigade of U.S. Colored Troops attacked the heights but was repulsed. In this attack,
Christian Fleetwood
's actions would later earn him the
Medal of Honor
. Birney reinforced the assault force and stormed the heights again.
Alfred H. Terry
's division managed to turn the Confederate left flank, thus turning the tide of the battle. Word of Union success against Fort Harrison then reached Gregg, compelling him to pull Confederate troops back to Forts Gregg, Gilmer and Johnson. Confederate defenders at New Market Heights were Lee's "Grenadier Guards", the First, Fourth and Fifth Texas and the Third Arkansas, numbering about 1,800 men. They inflicted 850 casualties on the attacking 13,000 Union troops while suffering only 50 casualties.
Once Birney's troops had taken New Market Heights, the X Corps turned to the north-west along the New Market Road and moved against a secondary line of works guarding Richmond north of Fort Harrison. Brig. Gen.
Robert Sanford Foster
's X Corps division assaulted a small salient known as
Fort Gilmer
. David Birney's brother, Brig. Gen.
William Birney
, led a brigade of U.S. Colored Troops against
Fort Gregg
south of Fort Gilmer. These attacks were marked by heroism among the Colored Troops but were ultimately repulsed.
Fort Harrison
[
edit
]
At about the same time Birney's first attack moved forward, the Union XVIII Corps under Major General
Edward Ord
, assaulted Fort Harrison to the west of New Market Heights. Ord's assault was led by Brig. Gen.
George Stannard
, a veteran of
Gettysburg
. Stannard's men rushed across an open field and took cover in a slight depression just in front of the fort and, after a moment's rest, took the fort. The Confederate defenders broke to the rear, seeking refuge behind a secondary line. Brig. Gen.
Hiram Burnham
was killed during the attack, and the Union troops renamed the captured fort in his honor.
Once inside the fort, the Union attackers became disorganized. All three of Stannard's brigade commanders were wounded or killed. A supporting column under Brig. Gen.
Charles A. Heckman
veered far off to the north and was repulsed. Ord personally attempted to rally the troops to exploit their success, but he too fell with a critical wound. The loss of commanders and the presence of Confederate
ironclads
on the
James
put an end to the XVIII Corps' drive on Chaffin's Bluff along the James River.
Robert E. Lee
realized the severity of the loss of Fort Harrison and personally brought 10,000 reinforcements under Maj. Gen.
Charles Field
north from Petersburg. On September 30, Lee ordered a counter-attack to retake Fort Harrison, now commanded by Maj. Gen.
Godfrey Weitzel
, replacing the wounded Ord. The Confederate attacks were uncoordinated and were easily repulsed.
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Just as Grant had anticipated, the fighting around Chaffin's Farm forced Lee to shift his resources and helped the Union army south of Petersburg win the
Battle of Peebles' Farm
. After October, the two armies settled into
trench warfare
that continued until the end of the war. The fighting around Chaffin's Farm cost the nation nearly 5,000
casualties
.
Medal of Honor recipients
[
edit
]
The following men received the
Medal of Honor
for action in the battle:
Three Medal of Honor recipients from the
6th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment
are depicted in a painting,
Three Medals of Honor
by artist
Don Troiani
. The painting was unveiled June 24, 2013 at the
Union League of Philadelphia
. Portrayed in the painting are
Nathan H. Edgerton
,
Thomas R. Hawkins
, and
Alexander Kelly
.
[13]
Battlefield preservation
[
edit
]
As of late 2021, the
American Battlefield Trust
and its partners have acquired and preserved 87 acres (0.35 km
2
) of the battlefield.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
References
[
edit
]
- Claxton, Melvin, "Uncommon Valor: The Story of Race, Patriotism and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War", 2005,
ISBN
0-47146-8231
- Bonekemper, Edward H., III,
A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius
, Regnery, 2004,
ISBN
0-89526-062-X
.
- Davis, William C.
, and the Editors of Time-Life Books,
Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg
, Time-Life Books, 1986,
ISBN
0-8094-4776-2
.
- Eicher, David J.
,
The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War
, Simon & Schuster, 2001,
ISBN
0-684-84944-5
.
- Horn, John,
The Petersburg Campaign: June 1864 ? April 1865
, Combined Publishing, 1999,
ISBN
978-1-58097-024-2
.
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed.,
The Civil War Battlefield Guide
, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998,
ISBN
0-395-74012-6
.
- Salmon, John S.,
The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide
, Stackpole Books, 2001,
ISBN
0-8117-2868-4
.
- Sommers, Richard J.,
Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg
, Doubleday, 1981,
ISBN
0-385-15626-X
.
- Trudeau, Noah Andre,
The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864 ? April 1865
, Louisiana State University Press, 1991,
ISBN
0-8071-1861-3
.
- National Park Service battle description
- CWSAC Report Update
- Richmond National Battlefield Park, Chaffin's Farm
- The Remarkable Life of a Quaker Civil War Hero
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Sommers, p. 21.
- ^
Kennedy, p. 363. There were 4,500 defenders on September 29, reinforced by 10,000 on September 30.
- ^
Sommers, p. 499. Bonekemper, p. 317, cites 383 killed, 2,299 wounded, and 645 missing or captured. Trudeau, p. 217, cites 1,040 killed or missing and 2,317 wounded. Horn, p. 167, cites 3,327 total Union casualties. Salmon, p. 433, estimates 4,150 Union casualties.
- ^
Bonekemper, p. 317. Sommers, p. 499, cites 1,737 casualties, including 396 missing or captured. Horn, p. 167, Trudeau, p. 217, and Kennedy, p. 363, estimate 1,700 total Confederate casualties. Salmon, 433, estimates about 1,750 Confederate casualties, mostly on September 30.
- ^
Richmond National Battlefield
description of Chaffin's Farm.
- ^
Salmon, pp. 398?99.
- ^
Sommers, p. x; Horn, p. 169; Trudeau, p. 216. The first four offensives were the
initial assaults on Petersburg
, the
Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road
and the
Wilson-Kautz Raid
, the
First Battle of Deep Bottom
and the
Battle of the Crater
, and the
Second Battle of Deep Bottom
and the
Battle of Globe Tavern
.
- ^
Salmon, p. 399.
- ^
Horn, p. 159.
- ^
Sommers, pp. 21?22; Kennedy, pp. 362, 364; Salmon, p. 429; Trudeau, p. 208; Horn, pp. 158?59.
- ^
"Medal of Honor Recipients"
.
- ^
Beyer, Walter Frederick (1901).
Deeds of Valor
. Perrien-Keydel Company. p.
440
. Retrieved
1 September
2015
.
franklin johndro deeds of valour.
- ^
Price, Jimmy (19 May 2013).
"Freedom by the Sword: Don Troiani's New Market Heights Painting to be Unveiled June 24th"
.
- ^
"Saved Land"
.
American Battlefield Trust
. Retrieved
November 24,
2021
.
External links
[
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]
37°25′36″N
77°22′22″W
/
37.4268°N 77.3729°W
/
37.4268; -77.3729
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