BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Newport News -- Battle of Dam No. 1 (Newport News Park)

VA -- Newport News -- Battle of Dam No. 1 (Newport News Park):

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[1] NWPARK_050925_006.JPG	[2] NWPARK_050925_022.JPG	[3] NWPARK_050925_030.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NWPARK_050925_030.JPG: Battle of Dam No. 1: The Water Boiled with Bullets: You are presently standing at the site of Dam No. 1, one of three dams constructed by Confederate commander John Bankhead Magruder to make the sluggish Warwick River into a defensive barrier. Dam No. 1 was the midpoint between two prewar tide mills at Lee's Mill and Wayne's Mill. The Union attack against the Confederate earthworks across the river on April 16, 1862, would veer to the left of the existing foot bridge. On April 5, 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Union army found its progress toward Richmond blocked by the Confederate fortifications at Lee's Mill. As the Union commander investigated the entire Warwick-Yorktown line, "Prince John" Magruder "played his ten thousand before McClellan like fireflies," wrote diarist Mary Chesnut, "and utterly deluded him." McClellan, despite outnumbering the Confederates almost ten to one, resolved to besiege the Southern defenses. Southern soldiers expected an assault at any time, as Surgeon James Holloway of the 18th Mississippi wrote, "why they do not attack is strange for they have a heavy force and every day's delay only gives us the opportunity to strengthen our defenses." An attack finally came on April 16, 1862, when McClellan ordered Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, USA, to disrupt the Confederate control of Dam No. 1. On the morning of April 16, Union artillery, including Mott's 3rd New York Battery, began shelling the Confederate earthworks. By noon it appeared as if the Southerners had abandoned their defenses, and at 3:00 p.m. Smith sent 200 men of the 3rd Vermont forward as skirmishers. The Vermonters dashed across the river and captured the first line of rifle pits held by the 15th North Carolina. The Federal troops, however, were forced to withdraw under the stress of a vicious counterattack by Cobb's Georgia Legion since their ammunition was wet and they had not received any reinforcements. The water "boiled with bullets" as the Vermonters recrossed "that fatal stream." A second attempt to capture Dam No. 1 failed to reach the Confederate lines as the Southerners had reinforced the position. The engagement resulted in 165 Federal and 145 Confederate casualties. Pvt. Wilbur Fisk, of the 2nd Vermont, called the battle, "nothing but a dam failure." The April 16, 1862 Battle of Dam No. 1 (also called the Battle of Burnt Chimneys) was a missed opportunity for the Union to break the Warwick River defenses. Two Federal soldiers, Capt. Samuel E. Pingree and musician Julian Scott, were awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the short, vicious fight along "a creek with a wide dam, which drank the blood of many of our men."
2. NWPARK_050925_047.JPG: This heron stood near the bridge both of the days I came by. People threw bread in for the ducks and he would aim for the fish that came up to get the bread.
Description of Subject Matter: Newport News Park is the location of Battle of Dam No. 1, the first major battle of the peninsula campaign and the first major land battle in Virginia. Union General George B. McClellan planned to move from Fort Monroe, on the end of the tidewater peninsula, move up the peninsula, opening the James River to Union ships, defeat the Confederate army and seize Richmond.
His opponent, Confederate Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, was determined to fight a delaying action which would allow Gen. Joseph Johnston to move his troops into the area. Magruder constructed three defensive lines along the peninsula, using rivers and swamps to his advantage. The three lines -- the first ran from Deep Creek to the Poquoson River which included Big Bethel, the second (the Warwick line) stretched from Lee's Mill to Yorktown along the Warwick River, the third ran through Williamsburg between College and Queen's creeks -- would successfully delay the cautious McClellan for weeks.
In March, 1862, McClellan began landing the first of his hundred-thousand-man army at Fort Monroe. The "On to Richmond" drive began on April 4. Magruder abandoned his first line on April 5 and fell back to the Warwick Line. On that date, the Union line ran into Confederates at Lee's Mill and minor fighting occurred there. McClellan, ever cautious, decided to lay siege to Yorktown. He brought in 100 heavy rifled cannons and mortars. The Confederates, expecting an attack along the line, continued to build up their defenses.
At 3pm on April 16, 200 men from the 3rd Vermont infantry, supported by the 3rd New York Artillery, advanced from the woods toward the Confederate positions across the river at Dam Number 1. They met initial success, killed the defending colonel William McKinney, and sent the Confederate forces backward. However, Confederate reinforcements bolstered their line and started to push the Vermonters back. Unsupported by McClellan, the Vermonters retreated back across the river. The entire engagement was over in an hour.
Later in the day, a second Union attack was launched but it never made it to the Confederate trenches.
Total Union losses during both assaults were 35 killed, 121 wounded, and 9 missing. Confederate losses were smaller.
McClellan continued to ready his attack on Yorktown, scheduling it to begin on May 5. Unknown to him, Johnston ordered the Confederate line abandoned the night before. The Confederates retreated up the peninsula, Union forces in pursuit. The Union armies caught up near Williamsburg and engaged in battle that day. That battle cost both sides about 3,000 casualties (either killed, wounded, or missing).
The Confederate defensive line remains in good shape, sometimes reaching a height of 20 feet. The original Dam No. 1 is now covered by the Lee Hall Reservoir but is said to be still visible just below the surface of the water.
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