Battle of Beaver Dam Creek

Battle of Beaver Dam Creek
Part of the American Civil War

Union troops repulsing a rebel charge
DateJune 26, 1862 (1862-06-26)
Location37°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
United States George B. McClellan
United States Fitz John Porter
United States 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.

  1. ^ US National Park Service. "The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, June 26, 1862". Richmond National Battlefield Park Virginia. US National Park Service. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b Eicher, p. 284.
  3. ^ Eicher, pp. 284-85.
  4. ^ Kennedy, p. 96; Eicher, p. 285.
  5. ^ The Battle of Oak Grove is considered the start of the Seven Days, but it was a very minor battle in comparison to those that followed.