Overview
The Battle of Ware Bottom Church took place on May 20, 1864, during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. General Benjamin F. Butler led the Army of the James after General Ulysses S. Grant ordered him to operate south of the James River. Butler’s main goals were to cut the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and threaten Richmond from the east, forcing General Robert E. Lee to move troops away from Grant’s main offensive.
Butler landed troops at City Point and Bermuda Hundred in early May, but he delayed a direct advance and ordered his men to dig defenses. Confederate forces slowed Union movements at Port Walthall Junction, Swift Creek, and Chester Station. Butler then turned toward Richmond, where General P.G.T. Beauregard strengthened Confederate defenses near Proctor’s Creek. On May 16, Beauregard attacked and drove Butler’s forces back toward Bermuda Hundred.
On May 20, Confederate soldiers attacked both ends of Butler’s line near Ware Bottom Church. They forced General Quincy Gillmore’s 10th Corps and General William F. Smith’s 18th Corps back to a new position. After the battle, Beauregard built the Howlett Line, which trapped Butler’s army on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula, ending the Bermuda Hundred Campaign.
Essential Facts
- Date: May 20, 1864.
- Location: Chesterfield County, Virginia.
- Participants: The United States of America (USA) and the Confederate States of America (CSA).
- USA Commanders: Benjamin Butler, Quincy Gillmore, and William F. Smith.
- CSA Commanders: P.G.T. Beauregard.
- Who Won: The Confederate States won the Battle of Ware Bottom Church.
- Campaign: Bermuda Hundred Campaign.
- Era: Civil War, 1864, May–August.
Statistics
United States of America
- Casualties: About 750 killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
- Forces Engaged: Army of the James.
- Troop Strength: Roughly 30,000.
Confederate States of America
- Casualties: About 750 killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
- Forces Engaged: Petersburg garrison and local militia.
- Troop Strength: Roughly 30,000.
Significance
The Battle of Ware Bottom Church is important to American History because it ended the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and a major Union threat to Richmond and Petersburg. General Benjamin F. Butler had orders to cut the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and force General Robert E. Lee to divert troops from the main Union offensive. Instead, General P.G.T. Beauregard stopped Butler at Proctor’s Creek and then struck his line at Ware Bottom Church. The Confederate victory allowed Beauregard to build the Howlett Line across the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula. This defensive line trapped the Army of the James and allowed Beauregard to send reinforcements to Petersburg.
History
On July 15, 1863, the United States War Department issued General Orders No. 217, merging the Department of Virginia with the Department of North Carolina to form the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. The order appointed Major General John G. Foster to command the new department. A few months later, on October 28, 1863, the War Department issued General Orders No. 350, appointing Major General Benjamin F. Butler to command the department and the 18th Army Corps. Butler arrived at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and assumed command on November 10.
Grant in Charge of Union Armies
The next spring, on March 10, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order appointing Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to command the armies of the United States. Grant assumed his new command on March 17. Upon his arrival in Washington, Grant drafted a plan to get the various Union armies in the field to act in concert. He also devised his Overland Campaign to invade east-central Virginia and to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia, which was under the command of Robert E. Lee.
Grant Meets with Butler
Grant’s operations against Lee incorporated the troops under Butler’s command. On April 1, 1864, Grant met with Butler, and they devised a plan for Butler’s participation in the spring offensive near Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. On April 12, 1864, Grant ordered Butler to prepare for operations south of the James River in Virginia. Butler’s forces comprised roughly 20,000 soldiers from his 18th Corps, commanded by Major General William F. Smith, and about 10,000 men from the 10th Corps, commanded by Major General Quincy A. Gillmore. Butler subsequently referred to the merged forces under his overall command as the Army of the James.
Grant’s Instructions
In broad strokes, Butler’s orders were to move his army up the James River to its confluence with the Appomattox River. After securing the village of City Point, Virginia, the bulk of his army was to disembark farther upstream at the fishing village of Bermuda Hundred. From there, he would support Grant’s Overland Campaign, which pitted Major General George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Butler’s two main objectives were to sever the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and to threaten Richmond from the east, forcing Lee to divert troops away from Meade’s main thrust.
Butler on the Move
By May 5, 1864, (the same day that the Battle of the Wilderness began) a flotilla of naval vessels started moving the roughly 39,000 troops Butler commanded up the James River. The next day, the soldiers began disembarking at City Point and Bermuda Hundred. Instead of immediately striking toward Richmond after his army disembarked at Bermuda Hundred, Butler ordered his soldiers to entrench as he sent Brigadier General Charles Heckman’s brigade west on a reconnaissance mission.
Beauregard in Command of Confederate Forces at Petersburg
On the same day that Butler’s army disembarked, General P. G. T. Beauregard assumed command of the Confederate defenses around Petersburg. During the first few days of Butler’s offensive, however, Beauregard was ill. The leadership of the Confederate troops in the field devolved to Major General George E. Pickett, whose reputation had suffered considerably at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
Battle of Port Walthall Junction
Instead of immediately striking toward Richmond after disembarking at Bermuda Hundred, Butler ordered his soldiers to entrench as he began probing the Confederate defenses. On May 6, Confederate soldiers turned back Union reconnaissance forces at the Battle of Port Walthall Junction. The next day, a Union task force pushed the Confederate defenders to Swift Run Creek, where the Confederates spent the next two days digging rifle pits and awaiting reinforcements. After destroying about a quarter-mile of railroad track, some telegraph lines, a sawmill, and a stash of lumber, Union forces returned to their main defensive line.
Battle of Swift Creek
On May 9, 1864, Butler deployed a large task force to confront the Confederates at Swift Run Creek. The two sides engaged in a series of minor engagements collectively known as the Battle of Swift Creek that bought more time for Beauregard to solidify his forces.
Battle of Chester Station
The next day (May 10), the Confederates conducted a reconnaissance-in-force mission that resulted in an inconclusive minor engagement known as the Battle of Chester Station. Growing increasingly impatient with his lack of progress, Butler gave up his offensive against Petersburg and spent the next two days preparing for a thrust against Richmond to the north.
Battle of Proctor’s Creek
Beauregard used the two-day lull to reinforce his defenses near Drewry’s Bluff, between Richmond and Butler’s headquarters at Bermuda Hundred. Rounding up about 13,000 men, the Confederate general established a defensive line along Proctor’s Creek, a tributary of the James River roughly seven miles south of Richmond.
On May 12, 1864, six days after landing at Bermuda Hundred, Butler finally began his movement toward the Confederate capital. By May 14, Butler had established a defensive line facing Beauregard’s line along Proctor’s Creek.
Meanwhile, Beauregard bolstered his line with reinforcements from Richmond and North Carolina. With roughly 18,000 Confederate soldiers manning the works around Drewry’s Bluff, Beauregard’s defenders now outnumbered Butler’s Federals. Sensing his advantage, Beauregard boldly ordered a Confederate assault that began on May 16. By the end of the day, the Confederates sent Butler’s forces fleeing back toward their defenses at Bermuda Hundred.
On May 17, the pursuing Confederates closed in on the Army of the James and formed a line across the peninsula that paralleled the federal earthworks. Before Beauregard could complete the line, however, Confederate officials in Richmond began siphoning off his troops. Consequently, Beauregard planned to assault Butler’s line with the aim of anchoring the left end of the Confederate line on the James River and the right flank on the Appomattox River.
May 20 — Battle of Ware Bottom Church
On May 20, Confederate soldiers attacked both ends of Butler’s line. On the right flank, near Ware Bottom Church, the Confederates forced Quincy Gillmore’s 10th Corps to withdraw despite several spirited counterattacks. On the left flank, William F. Smith’s 18th Corps held on longer before Beauregard’s troops drove them back as well. By the end of the day, the Confederate assault had forced Butler’s entire line east to a new position closer to Bermuda Hundred.
Aftermath
Data regarding casualties and the number of troops who fought at the Battle of Ware Bottom Church are vague. Historians estimate that roughly 10,000 soldiers were engaged. Each side suffered about 750 casualties (killed, wounded, and captured/missing).
With the size of his force dwindling, Beauregard realized that he did not have the wherewithal to attack Butler’s army concentrated at Bermuda Hundred. Instead, he ordered his soldiers to construct fortifications and entrenchments stretching from the James River to the Appomattox River across the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula. Known as the Howlett Line, the Confederate bulwarks virtually trapped the Army of the James on the tip of the peninsula. As General Grant later noted in his memoirs, Butler’s army “was as completely shut off from further operations directly against Richmond as if it had been in a bottle strongly corked.”
The Battle of Ware Bottom Church was the final engagement of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. For the next few weeks, the two sides engaged each other in skirmishes and artillery duels that produced no substantive results. Eventually, the standoff prompted Grant to withdraw the 18th Corps to bolster his operations at Cold Harbor (May 31–June 12, 1864). Afterward, Beauregard felt so secure that he pulled soldiers away from the Howlett Line to reinforce his main defenses during the Second Battle of Petersburg (June 15, 1864). Despite the withdrawal of troops, the Confederates successfully held the Howlett Line until General Robert E. Lee evacuated Richmond on April 2, 1865.
Timeline
- 1863, July 15 — The United States War Department issued General Orders No. 217 and created the Department of Virginia and North Carolina.
- 1863, October 28 — The United States War Department issued General Orders No. 350 and appointed Major General Benjamin F. Butler to command the department and the 18th Army Corps.
- 1863, November 10 — Butler arrived at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and took command.
- 1864, March 10 — President Abraham Lincoln appointed Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to command the armies of the United States.
- 1864, March 17 — Grant took command of the Union armies.
- 1864, April 1 — Grant met with Butler to plan Butler’s role in the spring offensive near Richmond and Petersburg.
- 1864, April 12 — Grant ordered Butler to prepare for operations south of the James River in Virginia.
- 1864, May 5 — Union naval vessels started moving about 39,000 troops under Butler up the James River.
- 1864, May 6 — Union soldiers landed at City Point and Bermuda Hundred.
- 1864, May 6 — General P. G. T. Beauregard took command of Confederate defenses around Petersburg.
- 1864, May 6–7 — Confederate forces won the Battle of Port Walthall Junction.
- 1864, May 9
- Union forces won the Battle of Swift Creek
- P.G.T. Beauregard arrived in Petersburg with Robert Hoke and his division.
- 1864, May 10 — Confederate and Union forces clashed at the Battle of Chester Station.
- 1864, May 12–16 — Confederate forces won the Battle of Proctor’s Creek.
- 1864, May 17 — Confederate forces pursued the Army of the James and formed a line across the peninsula.
- 1864, May 20 — Confederate forces attacked both ends of Butler’s line near Ware Bottom Church.
- 1864, May 31–June 12 — Grant withdrew the 18th Corps to support operations at Cold Harbor.
- 1864, June 15 — Beauregard moved troops from the Howlett Line to support Confederate defenses during the Second Battle of Petersburg.
- 1865, April 2 — General Robert E. Lee evacuated Richmond, ending Confederate control of the Howlett Line.
AP US History
Definition
Battle of Ware Bottom Church (1864) — The Battle of Ware Bottom Church was fought on May 20, 1864, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. General Benjamin F. Butler first moved against Richmond and Petersburg, but General P.G.T. Beauregard stopped him at Proctor’s Creek. Confederate forces then attacked both ends of Butler’s line near Ware Bottom Church, forced Union troops back, and built the Howlett Line, which trapped the Army of the James on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula.
Alignment
The Battle of Ware Bottom Church is part of the following AP US History sections:
