The Battle of Swift Creek or Arrowfield Church was fought on May 9, 1864, between
Union
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Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
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* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
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forces during 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 ...
.
[ Union forces were only partially successful: they inflicted damage on the local railroad, but further advance was halted.
]
Description
On May 9, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is ...
made a thrust toward Petersburg and was met by Bushrod Johnson
Bushrod Rust Johnson (October 7, 1817 – September 12, 1880) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War and an officer in the United States Army. As a university professor he had been active in the state militias of Kentucky and Tenness ...
's Division at Swift Creek. A premature Confederate attack at Arrowfield Church was driven back with heavy losses, but Union forces did not follow up. After skirmishing, Butler seemed content to tear up the railroad tracks and did not press the defenders. In conjunction with the advance to Swift Creek, five Federal gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
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s steamed up the Appomattox River to bombard Fort Clifton, while Edward W. Hincks's U.S. Colored Troops infantry division struggled through marshy ground from the land side. The gunboats were quickly driven off, and the infantry attack was abandoned.[
]
References
Sources
National Park Service Battle Summary
CWSAC Report Update
E-History
Bermuda Hundred campaign
Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
Inconclusive battles of the American Civil War
Swift Creek
Conflicts in 1864
1864 in Virginia
Chesterfield County in the American Civil War
May 1864 events
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