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 The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Background

From the very beginning of the war,

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

engineers and slave laborers had constructed permanent defenses around

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. 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 A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

much closer to the capital. In July and August 1864, these lines were tested by

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Lt. Gen.

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

in offensives designed to attack simultaneously north and south of the James. On July 27–29, the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

's II Corps under

Maj. Gen. Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Winfield S. Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

and cavalry under Maj. Gen.

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

attacked New Market Heights and Fussell's Mill in the

First Battle of Deep Bottom The First Battle of Deep Bottom, also known as Darbytown, Strawberry Plains, New Market Road, or Gravel Hill, was fought July 27–29, 1864, at Deep Bottom in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Siege of Petersburg of the American Civil ...

(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 The Second Battle of Deep Bottom, also known as Fussell's Mill (particularly in the South), New Market Road, Bailey's Creek, Charles City Road, or White's Tavern was fought August 14–20, 1864, at Deep Bottom in Henrico County, Virginia, durin ...

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 The Battle of Globe Tavern, also known as the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad, fought August 18–21, 1864, south of Petersburg, Virginia, was the second attempt of the Union Army to sever the Weldon Railroad during the siege of Petersburg ...

(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. 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". 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 David McMurtrie Gregg (April 10, 1833 – August 7, 1916) was an American farmer, diplomat, and a Union cavalry general in the American Civil War. Early life and career Gregg was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He was the first cousin of fut ...

and four infantry divisions from the V and

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

of the Army of the Potomac to sever the South Side Railroad, an operation that would result in the

Battle of Peebles' Farm The Battle of Peebles's Farm (or Poplar Springs Church or Poplar Grove Church) was the western part of a simultaneous Union offensive against the Confederate works guarding Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, during the Siege of Petersburg i ...

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 The Army of the James was a Union Army that was composed of units from the Department of Virginia and North Carolina and served along the James River during the final operations of the American Civil War in Virginia. History The Union Department ...

under Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler to attack toward Richmond. Butler devised a plan that historian John Horn called his "best performance of the war." 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 10th Corps, Tenth Corps, or X Corps may refer to: France * 10th Army Corps (France) * X Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * X Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army * ...

under Maj. Gen.

David B. Birney David Bell Birney (May 29, 1825 – October 18, 1864) was a businessman, lawyer, and a Union general in the American Civil War. Early life Birney was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of an abolitionist from Kentucky, James G. Birney. The Bi ...

would cross, followed by his cavalry under Brig. Gen.

August V. Kautz August Valentine Kautz (January 5, 1828 – September 4, 1895) was a German-American officer. He served as a general in the Union cavalry during the American Civil War. He was the author of several army manuals on duties and customs eventually ad ...

. 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.

Orders of Battle

Union

Confederate

Battle

New Market Heights

Maj. Gen.

moved the X Corps north from the Deep Bottom bridgehead toward the Confederate works atop New Market Heights manned by

Brig. Gen. Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

John Gregg. A brigade of U.S. Colored Troops attacked the heights but was repulsed. In this attack,

Christian Fleetwood Christian Abraham Fleetwood (July 21, 1840 – September 28, 1914), was an African American non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, a commissioned officer in the District of Columbia Army National Guard, D.C. National Guard, an editor ...

's actions would later earn him the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

. Birney reinforced the assault force and stormed the heights again.

Alfred H. Terry Alfred Howe Terry (November 10, 1827 – December 16, 1890) was a Union army, Union Major general (United States), general in the American Civil War and the military commander of the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869, and again from 1872 to 18 ...

'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 William Birney (May 28, 1819 – August 14, 1907) was an American professor, Union Army general during the American Civil War, attorney and author. An ardent abolitionist, he was noted for encouraging thousands of free black men to join the Union ...

, led a brigade of U.S. Colored Troops against

Fort Gregg Fort Gregg was a Confederate States of America, Confederate fort located near Petersburg, Virginia. The battle for Fort Gregg occurred on April 2, 1865, as part of the Third Battle of Petersburg in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, Dinwiddie County nea ...

south of Fort Gilmer. These attacks were marked by heroism among the Colored Troops but were ultimately repulsed.

Fort Harrison

At about the same time Birney's first attack moved forward, the Union XVIII Corps under Major General

Edward Ord Edward Otho Cresap Ord (October 18, 1818 – July 22, 1883) was an American engineer and United States Army officer who saw action in the Seminole War, the Indian Wars, and the American Civil War. He commanded an army during the final days of th ...

, 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 Hiram Burnham (1814 – September 29, 1864) was an officer in the Union Army who commanded a regiment and then a brigade in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. He was killed in battle while assaulting Confederate positions near Ric ...

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 An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

on the

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

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 Godfrey (Gottfried) Weitzel (November 1, 1835 – March 19, 1884) was a German-American major general in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was the acting Mayor of New Orleans during the Union occupation of the city and also captured ...

, replacing the wounded Ord. The Confederate attacks were uncoordinated and were easily repulsed.

Aftermath

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

. After October, the two armies settled into

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became ar ...

that continued until the end of the war. The fighting around Chaffin's Farm cost the nation nearly 5,000

casualties A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion. In civilian usag ...

Medal of Honor recipients

The following men received the

for action in the battle: James H Harris

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 Don Troiani (born 1949) is an American painter whose work focuses on his native country's military heritage, mostly from the American Revolution, War of 1812 and American Civil War. His highly realistic and historically accurate oil and watercolo ...

. The painting was unveiled June 24, 2013 at the

Union League of Philadelphia The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 and ...

. Portrayed in the painting are Nathan H. Edgerton,

Thomas R. Hawkins Thomas R. Hawkins (c. 1840 – February 28, 1870) was an African American, African-American Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions at th ...

, and Alexander Kelly.

Battlefield preservation

As of late 2021, the

American Battlefield Trust The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization ( 501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 through acquisition of battlefield land. Th ...

and its partners have acquired and preserved of the battlefield.

References

* Claxton, Melvin, "Uncommon Valor: The Story of Race, Patriotism and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War", 2005, * Bonekemper, Edward H., III, ''A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius'', Regnery, 2004, . * Davis, William C., and the Editors of Time-Life Books, ''Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg'', Time-Life Books, 1986, . * Eicher, David J., ''The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War'', Simon & Schuster, 2001, . * Horn, John, ''The Petersburg Campaign: June 1864 – April 1865'', Combined Publishing, 1999, . * Kennedy, Frances H., ed., ''The Civil War Battlefield Guide'', 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, . * Salmon, John S., ''The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide'', Stackpole Books, 2001, . * Sommers, Richard J., ''Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg'', Doubleday, 1981, . * Trudeau, Noah Andre, ''The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864 – April 1865'', Louisiana State University Press, 1991, .
National Park Service battle description

CWSAC Report Update

Notes

External links

* [http://www.beyondthecrater.com/resources/ors/vol-xlii/unpublished-reports-vol-xlii/upr-18640929-r-s-ewell-dor-september-29-1864/ Richard S. Ewell's Unpublished Description of the September 29, 1864 Fighting] {{authority control Petersburg Campaign, Chaffin's Farm Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, Chaffin's Farm Union victories of the American Civil War, Chaffin's Farm Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia, Chaffin's Farm Chaffin's Farm Chaffin's Farm 1864 in Virginia September 1864 events