Battle of Beaver Dam Creek

Battle of Beaver Dam Creek
Part of the American Civil War
Union troops repulsing a rebel charge
Date June 26, 1862 (1862-06-26) Location Hanover County, Virginia 37°35′55″N 77°21′36″W / 37.5985°N 77.3599°W / 37.5985; -77.3599 Result Union victory[1] (See aftermath).
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
George B. McClellan Fitz John Porter George A. McCall	Robert E. Lee A.P. Hill
Units involved
Army of the Potomac	Army of Northern Virginia
Strength
15,631[2]	16,356[2]
Casualties and losses
361 total 49 killed 207 wounded 105 missing[3]	1,484[4]

The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, also known as the Battle of Mechanicsville or Ellerson's Mill, took place on June 26, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia. It was the first major engagement^[5] of the Seven Days Battles during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War and the start of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's counter-offensive against the Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, which threatened the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Lee attempted to turn the Union right flank, north of the Chickahominy River, with troops under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, but Jackson failed to arrive on time. Instead, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill threw his division, reinforced by one of Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill's brigades, into a series of futile assaults against Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter's V Corps, which occupied defensive works behind Beaver Dam Creek. Confederate attacks were driven back with heavy casualties. Porter withdrew his corps safely to Gaines Mill, with the exception of Company F ("The Hopewell Rifles") of the 8th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment who did not receive the orders to retreat.