The Battle of Dam #1
Or the Battle of Burnt Chimneys
Newport News, Va.
September 5th, 2005
Virginia is 
one
of this country's most beautiful states, but it seems that it is most difficult
to find a place to wander without walking over musket shot and cannon ball,
fired over the last several hundred years. This is true of the sleepy little
campground on the north edge of Newport News, just a stones throw west of
Yorktown, where the Warwick River flows. The campground is rustic,
water/electric only scattered in many acres of virgin hardwood. On the lake,
boats can be rented and fishing is good. There is an old wooden walk bridge
near the north end. It is truly a quiet and serene place to explore. This
was not the case during the spring of 1862. The Civil War was
raging. Lee had been driven back to Virginia from
Antietam.
Now Northern General McClellan, in an attempt to capture the Confederate Capital
at Richmond, launched what is called the Peninsula Campaign (March to September
of 1862). He came down the east coast, crossed to Newport
and then attempted to marched west toward Richmond. Yorktown and the muddy
gully called the Warwick River stood in the way. When he arrived on the
eastern banks of the Warwick, which runs through the campground, he was surprised.
Confederate General Magruder had dammed up the river in three places and the
trickle was now several hundred yards wide. Magruder knew that his 10,000 men
were outnumbered 10 to 1, but he also know that McClellan had not figured that
out yet. With daft precession, Magruder shifted his troops around so quickly
that McClellan reported that he was facing a force of over 100,000 men, withdrew
his assault and built siege fortifications, to await heavy guns that he
ordered up from the east.
While waiting for the cannons. Colonel Hiram
Berdan's 1st Sharpshooters, concealed behind well defined redoubts, began
targeting Confederate troops on the opposite bank of the Warwick River.
Hiram Berdan, considered the nations' best marksman, organized the regiment from
hand picked volunteers who placed 10 consecutive shots
in a 10 inch circle at 200 yards. The Sharpshooters wore green uniforms
for camouflage and some of the men carried their own 
target rifles with
telescopic sights. The Sharpshooters served as skirmishers in the advance
up the Virginia Peninsula. Although their contribution was outstanding and
their effectiveness unquestioned, this was still a war with honor. Many
thought lying in wait and picking off men singly, a barbarous method of
warfare. The regiment would continue serving
with distinction until the end
of the war, earning the reputation of inflicting the most casualties on the
enemy of any Union Regiment. An
interesting footnote to the sharpshooters' redoubts. One of the Lieutenants who
was responsible for seeing to its construction was the newly made officer,
George Armstrong Custer, having just finished last in his graduating class at
West Point. He would take his only balloon ride from the courthouse, finding it
far to unreliable for his comfort.
Among the artillery pieces which
arrived were the new Parrott Rifles. This was a
muzzle loaded rifled cannon capable of firing a 10 pound projectile
over 3000 yards at
12 degrees elevation. Invented by Robert Parrott, the cast iron Parrott
Rifle gave greater accuracy and longer effective range then comparable
cannons. It was one of the many technological advances that occurred in
the North without a comparable product afforded to the South.
With his guns in place on April 16th, 1862
McClellan sent several hundred troops of the 3rd Vermont
across the river just to the left of the wooden bridge, which did not exist at
the time. With their powder wet and without
re-enforcements they took the first row of fire pits but were beaten back into
the water, suffering terrible losses as they attempted to retreat across the
lake. This ended the Battle of Dam #1. McClellan spent the next two weeks trying
to get the Union Navy to eliminate Confederate Gun emplacements along the York
River so that he might go around the River defenders. When this didn't
happen, McClellan planned for a massive bombardment to begin at dawn on May 4th,
but the Confederate army slipped away in the night. The entire Campaign finely
lost steam and McClellan returned to Washington, with Richmond remaining the
Capital of the Confederacy for a while longer. It's fun to find these
little known points of history and the physical remains of the efforts people
put into what they were trying to accomplish.
*** THE END ***
