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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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NWPARK_120923_009.JPG: Battle of Dam No. 1 The Water Boiled with Bullets -- 1862 Peninsula Campaign -- 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 mid-point between two prewar tide mills at Lee's Mill and Wynne'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 Chestnut, "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_120923_017.JPG: Near this spot Four companies of the 3rd Vermont Regiment made the first assault by the Army of the Potomac upon an entrenched line. Led by Captain Samuel Pingree they crossed the Warwick River on a reconnaissance of the Confederate position. Occupying several rifle pits on the far shore, the Vermonters held off four Confederate regiments for nearly an hour. Not being reinforced, the Vermonters withdrew through the river's swollen waters, carrying their wounded while the Confederates kept up a steady shower of musket balls striking the water like hail in a storm.
3. NWPARK_120923_043.JPG: Battle of Lee's Mill (Dam Number 1) April 16, 1862 A stalwart defense of the Warwick River by units of the 15th North Carolina, 7th Georgia and 2nd Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., commanded by General J.B. Magruder is commemorated here. The defensive line extending across the Virginia Peninsula was held under Federal fire during April 1862 by the numerically superior Army of the Potomac under General G.B. McClellan. At the Battle of Lee's Mill (also called Battle of Dam No. 1) companies of the 3rd, 4th and 6th Vermont Infantry twice succeeded in crossing the river to breach the line at this point, but were repulsed, suffering new casualties. The line held until May 4th, 1862 when Confederate positions were evacuated in a general withdrawal towards Williamsburg. This resolute stand at Lee's Mill slowed the Union advance by a full month, contributing to the ultimate failure of the Federal Peninsula Campaign to take Richmond. Twenty Confederates, including Colonel William McKinney Commander of the 15th North Carolina, gave their lives.
4. NWPARK_120923_133.JPG: One-Gun Battery 1862 Peninsula Campaign The twelve miles of Confederate defenses followed the course of the Warwick River one mile from Yorktown to Mulberry Island. Dam No. 1, the mid-point, was protected by this one-gun battery mounting a 12-pound howitzer. In addition, a 6-pound smoothbore and a 24-pound howitzer were situated in the redoubts behind this point. On April 16, 1862, Brigadier General William Smith, a division commander in the IV Corps, directed an attack against Dam No. 1 to break through the Confederate lines. At 8:30 a.m., Captain Thaddeus Mott's 3rd New York Battery opened fire on the earthworks at the dam. Moreover, the 3rd Vermont Infantry and the 4th Vermont Infantry deployed along the Warwick and poured volleys into the Confederate positions. The Confederates had only three cannons to counter the Union barrage, and Captain James Jordan soon withdrew the 12-pound howitzer guarding the dam. However, the Troup Artillery's 6-pounder disabled one of Mott's cannons before the artillery duel ended around 11:00 a.m. Major General George McClellan arrived around noon, and Lieutenant Edwin Noyes, who had crossed the river, reported that the Confederates had abandoned the rifle pits along the Warwick. Consequently, General Smith received permission to cross the river and capture the earthworks.
5. NWPARK_120923_157.JPG: "Their Conduct was Worthy of Veterans" 1862 Peninsula Campaign Brigadier General William Smith massed 18 cannons in an open field within 500 yards of the opposite shore. In addition, General Smith deployed Brigadier General William T.H. Brooks's Vermont Brigade along the Warwick River with two brigades in support. Four companies of Colonel Breed N. Hyde's 3rd Vermont Infantry were selected to cross the river under the command of Captain Fernando Harrington. Moreover, Brooks gave Corporal Alonzo Hutchinson a white handkerchief as a signal for reinforcements. Around 3:00 p.m., the Union attack proceeded under the covering fire of the artillery. The Green Mountain boys waded into the Warwick and met a hail of bullets. Major General George McClellan reported that "their conduct was worthy of veterans." The Vermonters, dragging their wounded onto the bank, captured the Confederate rifle pits and waited for the expected counterattack. Pickets from the 15th North Carolina Infantry fell back, and Colonel Robert M. McKinney stopped his Tarheels from constructing earthworks and charged the soaked Vermonters. The counterattack soon faltered after Colonel McKinney fell with a bullet in the forehead, and the regiment received an unauthorized order to retreat. The Vermont troops, however, occupied a precarious position with wet ammunition and no sign of reinforcements.
6. NWPARK_120923_170.JPG: "Just Like Sap – Boiling, in the Stream" 1862 Peninsula Campaign The Vermont troops waited in vain for reinforcements; Corporal Alonzo Hutchinson was mortally wounded while crossing the Warwick River and died without signaling for support. The Union leaders also failed to exploit the break in the Confederate lines. Brigadier General William Smith had fallen twice from his horse and was knocked unconscious. Moreover, Captain Fernando Harrington was missing from the battlefield. Thus, Captain Samuel Pingree took command and rallied the men against a second attack. He was seriously wounded in the fight, and while serving as governor of Vermont, received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1891. Julian Scott, (a 16-year-old musician) crossed the Warwick several times under fire to remove at least nine wounded comrades, including mortally wounded Private William Scott. William Scott had been caught asleep on sentry duty on August 31, 1861, and a military court sentenced him to death by a firing squad. President Abraham Lincoln pardoned the "sleeping sentinel" who later stated, "I will show President Lincoln that I am not afraid to die for my country." He died of his wounds on April 16, 1862. For his gallantry at Dam. No. 1, Julian Scott was awarded the Medal of Honor in February 1865. He remarked that the Confederate fire was, "just like sap-boiling, in the stream, the bullets fell so thick." After the war, Scott put his battlefield experiences on canvas and enjoyed an art career.
7. NWPARK_120923_223.JPG: "The Bullets Would Whistle Around my Head" 1862 Peninsula Campaign After the 15th North Carolina's repulse, Brigadier General Howell Cobb (a former governor of Georgia and secretary of treasury) rallied the Confederates and prepared to drive the Vermonters into the water. Cobb commanded a brigade in Brigadier General Lafayette McLaw's division and reinforced the line with the 7th, 8th, 11th, and 16th Georgia Infantry regiments. With great noise and shouting, the Georgians attacked Captain Samuel Pingree's beleaguered command and forced their withdrawal across the Warwick River. Thus, Cobb's troops lined the rifle pits and fired at their fleeing enemy crossing the Warwick. This was the first battle for most of Cobb's brigade. Private Eli Landers of the 16th Georgia wrote, "It did not frighten me as bad as I expected it would but I tell you when the bullets would whistle around my head I felt sort of ticklish." Brigadier General William Smith, once again lucid from his fall, planned another attack against Dam No. 1. At 5:00 p.m., 22 Union cannons hurled shot and shell into the Confederate works. Smith ordered Colonel Edwin Stoughton's 4th Vermont Infantry to cross the dam and Colonel Nathan Lord's 6th Vermont Infantry to recapture the rifle pits. General McLaws, however, had his entire division at Dam No. 1 and quickly repelled the Union attack. Darkness prevented another assault, and the fighting resulted in 165 Union and 90 Confederate casualties.
8. NWPARK_120923_261.JPG: "Every Kind of Obstruction was Skillfully Used" 1862 Peninsula Campaign The Battle of Dam No. 1 proved a lost opportunity for the Union Army to break the Warwick-Yorktown line and force a Confederate withdrawal toward Richmond. Instead, Major General George McClellan spent another 17 days completing his heavy artillery emplacements. Furthermore, the Confederates retreated two days before the proposed Union grand barrage on May 5, 1862. Major General "Prince" John Magruder's troop maneuvers and elaborate defenses on the Warwick-Yorktown line halted the Army of the Potomac for one month. The Union engineers detailed the abandoned Confederate artillery and surveyed their fortifications. Brigadier General John G. Barnard (the Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac) reported, "every kind of obstruction which the country offered, such as abatis, marsh, inundation was skillfully used. The line is certainly one of the most extensive known in modern times." Thereby, the Confederacy gained valuable time for preparing Richmond's defenses. Today, the Warwick-Yorktown line remains one of the best preserved Civil War earthen fortifications in the country.
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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