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The Battle of New Market Heights
September 29, 1864
(also known as Chaffin's Farm)
The Battle of New Market Heights, was part of the Siege of Petersburg. While it remains among the lesser-known engagements of the Civil War, its significance in American military history and African-American history deserves recognition. Ulysses S. Grant approved a plan sending Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's Army of the James against the Confederate defenses protecting Richmond. If Butler's men broke through, the capture of the Confederate capital became possible. The campaign involved over 20,000 Union troops including 3,000 black soldiers serving in units designated United States Colored Troops, or USCTs.
During the night of September 28-29, 1864 Butler's Army of the James crossed the James River to assault the Richmond defenses north of the river. Just before dawn on September 29, the Army of the James launched a two-pronged attack. One prong, Major General Edward Ord's XVIII Corps, crossed the James Rivers at Aiken's Landing and attacked up the Varina Road toward Fort Harrison. The other prong, Major General David Birney's X Corps, along with Brigadier General Charles Paine's division of USCTs, crossed the James River at Deep Bottom landing and advanced north toward New Market Heights. General Butler had recommended that Paine's division lead the Union attacks. He believed black soldiers would fight as well as white soldiers, and New Market Heights offered a perfect opportunity for the USCTs to prove their ability.
Advancing north from Deep Bottom, Paine's division suddenly came under Confederate fire. Waiting behind earthworks along the New Market Road were about 2,000 Confederate soldiers belonging to the famous Texas brigade and Brigadier General Martin Gary's dismounted cavalry brigade. Paine's three brigades -- commanded by Colonels John Holman, Alonzo Draper and Samuel Duncan -- formed behind Four Mile Creek and steadied themselves before the massive rush toward the Confederate line.
The Union attacks came in waves rather then the planned all out assault due to harsh terrain and blockades. Duncan's brigade charged first, but was unable to penetrate the two lines of fallen trees and debris the Confederates had set up to protect their position. Next came Draper's attack across the same ground. Under constant infantry and artillery fire, Draper's men spent thirty brutal minutes pinned down by southern firepower. When Confederate fire slowed down the USCTs charged New Market Heights. Union infantrymen rushed up the slopes of the heights only to find most of the Rebel defenders had fled. Paine's division suffered over 800 casualties in just over an hour, the courage and determination shown by those making the attacks could not be denied. For their valor, 14 African Americans received the Medal of Honor. This was an especially significant event in American military history given that only 16 Army medals of Honor were awarded to black troops during the entire Civil War.
Meanwhile, the other prong of the Union offensive, two divisions of the XVIII Corps, advanced north and captured Fort Harrison and a small section of Richmond's outer defenses. After initial Union successes at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison, the Confederates rallied and counterattacked unsuccessfully. The Federals entrenched, and the Confederates erected a new line of works cutting off the captured forts. Union general Burnham was killed. As Grant had anticipated, Lee shifted troops to meet the threat against Richmond, weakening his lines at Petersburg.
The Battle of Chaffin's Farm was the North's most successful effort to break General Robert E. Lee's defensive lines north of the James. The attack at New Market Heights forever established the fighting spirit of the African-American soldier. For the next six months the two armies held fast to their opposite positions just eight miles from Richmond. On April 2, 1865, the Confederate government evacuated its capital city. The following day the Army of the James, including hundreds of USCTs, proudly entered Richmond. |