| Battle of Haw's Shop | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
 View east across the battlefield from Enon Church | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States (Union) |
 CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
David McM. Gregg |
Wade Hampton | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 4,000[2] | 4,500[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 365[3] | 378[3] | ||||||
The Battle of Haw's Shop[4] or Enon Church was fought on May 28, 1864, in Hanover County, Virginia, as part of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.
Grant abandoned the stalemate following the Battle of North Anna (May 23–26) by once again swinging widely around Lee's right flank, using the Pamunkey River to screen his movements to the southwest. Lee's army moved directly south and took up positions on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek. The Confederate general sent a cavalry force under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to collect intelligence about Grant's next moves. On May 28, Hampton's troopers encountered Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. Fighting predominately dismounted and utilizing earthworks for protection, neither side achieved an advantage. Gregg was reinforced by two brigades of Brig. Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert's division, and the brigade under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer launched a spirited attack just as Hampton was ordering his men to withdraw.
The seven-hour battle was inconclusive, but it was the second significant cavalry engagement of the Overland Campaign and one of the bloodiest of the war. Both sides claimed victory. Union Cavalry Corps commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and demonstrated the superiority of the Union cavalry. But Hampton had held up the Union cavalry for seven hours, prevented it from achieving its reconnaissance objectives, and had provided valuable intelligence to General Lee about disposition of Grant's army.
- ^ NPS
- ^ a b Salmon, p. 290, cites 4,000 Union, 2,500 Confederate. Rhea, p. 68, cites 4,500 Confederate. Longacre, p. 294, cites 3,000 on each side. Starr, p. 118, does not list strength explicitly, but states that "the numerical odds favored the men in gray."
- ^ a b Rhea, p. 87. Salmon, p. 290, and Kennedy, p. 290, cite 344 Union, 400 Confederate.
- ^ Some 19th-century regimental histories spell it "Hawe's", although the Official Records and all of the references for this article spell it "Haw's". Rhea, p. 68, refers to the owner as John Haw.