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Battle of Yorktown

 
US Military History Companion: Battle of Yorktown
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(1781)

The entry of France into the Revolutionary War in May 1778 gave Americans hope that they might achieve victory rather than just stave off defeat, for French naval power could impede the flow of British resources across the Atlantic and help to trap British forces in the seaports from which they operated. Yet it was not until the autumn of 1781 that four factors combined to produce a decisive victory.

First, Gen. George Washington kept the Continental army in the field despite shortages of money, clothing, food, and ammunition. Second, the leaders of the French army (Rochambeau) and fleet (de Grasse) were competent commanders, willing to cooperate with one another and with Washington. Third, the British had concentrated their resources in home waters to forestall invasion. Ships sent across the Atlantic were responsible for protecting both the West Indies and British coastal enclaves in North America. Fourth, Britain's efforts to use loyalists to reestablish royal control in the South failed to eliminate rebel activity in South Carolina. Charles Lord Cornwallis, commander of the last British mobile force in America, invaded North Carolina and then Virginia, to eliminate support for the rebels further south.

Cornwallis's operations in Virginia during the summer of 1781 put his 10,000‐man army within range of Franco‐American forces based in southern New England and New York. Washington saw the opportunity Cornwallis had presented, and Rochambeau and de Grasse agreed to attempt a joint operation. Leaving half the American army to pin Sir Henry Clinton's forces at New York City, Washington with 2,300 Continentals and Rochambeau with 4,000 Frenchmen began moving south on 20 August. They reached Williamsburg on the 26th, having traveled down Chesapeake Bay by ship. There they joined 3,400 Continentals and 3,200 Virginia state and militia troops already operating against Cornwallis, who had withdrawn to Yorktown, on the York River, to await resupply.

The plan's key element was de Grasse's fleet, which arrived on 26 August from the West Indies, established control of the coastal waters inside the Capes of Virginia, and contributed 4,800 more men to the besieging force. Ten days later, de Grasse fought a strategically decisive engagement with a British squadron sent by Clinton to evacuate Cornwallis's force. The British failure to penetrate past de Grasse, plus Cornwallis's inertia, allowed Washington and Rochambeau to spring their trap.

The allies closed in on Yorktown on 28 September, and on 6 October began formal siege operations, which would have been impossible without French heavy artillery. By 14 October, the cannonade had weakened British positions sufficiently to allow the allies to capture key outposts: 400 American light infantry, led by Alexander Hamilton, took the smaller Redoubt No. 10 sooner and with fewer casualties than the French at Redoubt No. 9. Cornwallis and 8,000 men surrendered on 17 October.

Yorktown's most decisive effect was on political opinion in Britain. The British still had substantial forces in North America, but all were tied down defending coastal enclaves; Cornwallis's army was the last force surplus to garrison requirements they had been able to scrape together. Britain could have continued the war, but its political leaders had lost the will to fight.

[See also Revolutionary War: Military and Diplomatic Course.]

Bibliography

  • Henry P. Johnston, The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781, 1881; repr. 1979.
  • Douglas S. Freeman, George Washington: Victory with the Help of France, 1955.
  • William B. Willcox, Portrait of a General: Sir Henry Clinton in the War of Independence, 1964
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US Military Dictionary: Battle of Yorktown
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Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > US Military Dictionary

A Revolutionary War battle at Yorktown, Virginia starting in August, 1781, when British troops under Gen. Charles Cornwallis were attacked by American land forces. The Americans were later joined by forces approaching by sea and in early October began a formal siege. On October 17th Cornwallis surrendered along with his 8, 000 men. It was a turning point in the war since Cornwallis's army was the only British force that was surplus to garrison requirements in North America and British popular opinion began to suspect that there were not adequate resources available to win the war.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Wikipedia: Battle of Yorktown (1862)
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Battle of Yorktown (1862)
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Yorktown, Pursuit sketch.png
Pursuit of the flying rebels from Yorktown Sunday morning.
Alfred R. Waud, artist.
Date April 5 – May 4, 1862
Location York County and Newport News
Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
United States United States (Union) Confederate States of America CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders
George B. McClellan John B. Magruder
Joseph E. Johnston
Strength
121,500[1] 35,000[2]
Casualties and losses
182[3] 300[3]
v • d • e

The Battle of Yorktown or Siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate army at Yorktown behind the Warwick Line. McClellan suspended the march up the Peninsula toward Richmond and settled in for siege operations.

On April 5, the IV Corps of Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes made initial contact with Confederate defensive works at Lee's Mill, an area McClellan expected to move through without resistance. Magruder's ostentatious movement of troops back and forth convinced the Federals that his works were strongly held. As the two armies fought an artillery duel, reconnaissance indicated to Keyes the strength and breadth of the Confederate fortifications, and he advised McClellan against assaulting them. McClellan ordered the construction of siege fortifications and brought his heavy siege guns to the front. In the meantime, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston brought reinforcements for Magruder.

On April 16, Union forces probed a point in the Confederate line at Dam No. 1. The Federals failed to exploit the initial success of this attack, however. This lost opportunity held up McClellan for two additional weeks while he tried to convince the U.S. Navy to bypass the Confederates' big guns at Yorktown and Gloucester Point and ascend the York River to West Point and outflank the Warwick Line. McClellan planned a massive bombardment for dawn on May 5, but the Confederate army slipped away during the night of May 3 toward Williamsburg.

The battle took place near the site of the 1781 siege of Yorktown, the final battle of the American Revolutionary War in the east.

Contents

Background

Federal battery with 13-inch seacoast mortars, Model 1861, during siege of Yorktown, Virginia 1862.

McClellan had chosen to approach the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, with an amphibious operation that landed troops on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula at Fort Monroe. His Army of the Potomac numbered 121,500 men, transported starting on March 17 by 389 vessels.[1] McClellan planned to use U.S. Navy forces to envelop Yorktown, but the emergence of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads (March 8–9, 1862) disrupted this plan. The threat of the Virginia on the James River and the heavy Confederate batteries at the mouth of the York River prevented the Navy from assuring McClellan that they could control either the York or the James, so he settled on a purely land approach toward Yorktown.[4]

The Confederate defenders of Yorktown, led by Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, initially numbered only 11–13,000 men;[5] the rest of the Confederate forces, under the overall command of General Joseph E. Johnston, remained spread out across eastern Virginia at Culpeper, Fredericksburg, and Norfolk. Magruder constructed a defensive line from Yorktown on the York River, behind the Warwick River, to Mulberry Point on the James River (even taking advantage of some trenches originally dug by Cornwallis in 1781[6]) to effectively block the full width of the Peninsula, although he could adequately man none of the defensive works at that time. This became known as the Warwick Line.

McClellan's plan called for Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman's III Corps to fix the Confederate troops in their trenches near the York River, while the IV Corps under Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes enveloped the Confederate right and cut off their lines of communication. McClellan and his staff, ignorant of the extent of Magruder's line, assumed the Confederates had concentrated only in the immediate vicinity of Yorktown.[7]

Battle

Battle of Yorktown      Confederate      Union

Union advance and Lee's Mill

On April 4, 1862, the Union Army pushed through Magruder's initial line of defense but the following day encountered his more effective Warwick Line. The nature of the terrain made it difficult to determine the exact disposition of the Confederate forces. A victim of faulty intelligence, McClellan estimated that the Confederates had 40,000 troops in the defensive line and that Johnston was expected to arrive quickly with an additional 60,000. Magruder, an amateur actor before the war, exacerbated McClellan's confusion by moving infantry and artillery in a noisy, ostentatious manner to make the defenders seem a much larger forces than their actual numbers.[8]

The Union IV Corps first encountered the right flank of Magruder's line on April 5 at Lee's Mill, its earthwork defenses manned by the division of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws. The 7th Maine Infantry Regiment deployed as skirmishers and stopped about 1,000 yards before the fortifications, where they were soon joined by the brigade of Brig. Gen. John Davidson and artillery. An artillery duel raged for several hours while Keyes ordered reconnaissance and additional units arrived, but there was no infantry fighting. On April 6, men from the 6th Maine and 5th Wisconsin, under the command of Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, performed reconnaissance around Dam Number One, where Magruder had widened the Warwick to create a water obstacle nearby. They drove off the Confederate pickets and took some prisoners. Hancock considered this area a weak spot in the line, but orders from McClellan prevented any exploitation.[9] Keyes, deceived by Magruder's theatrical troop movements, believed that the Warwick Line fortifications could not be carried by assault and so informed McClellan.[10]

To the amazement of the Confederates, and the dismay of President Abraham Lincoln, McClellan chose not to attack without more reconnaissance and ordered his army to entrench in works parallel to Magruder's and besiege Yorktown. McClellan reacted to Keyes's report, as well as to reports of enemy strength near the town of Yorktown, but he also received word that the I Corps, under Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell, would be withheld for the defense of Washington, instead of joining him on the Peninsula as McClellan had planned. For the next 10 days, McClellan's men dug while Magruder steadily received reinforcements. By mid April, Magruder commanded 35,000 men, barely enough to defend his line.[11]

Although McClellan doubted his numeric superiority over the enemy, he had no doubts about the superiority of his artillery. The siege preparations at Yorktown consisted of 15 batteries with more than 70 heavy guns, including two 200-pounder Parrotts and 12 100-pound Parrots, with the rest of the rifled pieces divided between 20-pounder and 30-pounder Parrotts and 4.5-inch Rodman siege rifles. These were augmented by 41 mortars, ranging in size from 8 inches to 13-inch seacoast mortars, which weighed over 10 tons and fired shells weighing 220 pounds. When fired in unison, these batteries would deliver over 7,000 pounds of ordnance onto the enemy positions with each volley.[12]

As the armies dug in, Union Army Balloon Corps aeronaut Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe used two balloons, the Constitution and the Intrepid, to perform aerial observation. On April 11, Intrepid carried Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter, a division commander of the III Corps, aloft, but unexpected winds sent the balloon over enemy lines, causing great consternation in the Union command before other winds returned him to safety. Confederate Captain John Bryan suffered a similar wind mishap in a hot air balloon over the Yorktown lines.[13]

Dam Number One

On April 16, the Union probed the defensive line at Dam No. 1, the point on the Warwick River near Lee's Mill where Hancock had reported a potential weakness on April 6.[14] After the brief skirmish with Hancock's men, Magruder realized the weakness of his position and ordered it strengthened. Three regiments under Brig. Gen. Howell Cobb, with six other regiments nearby, were improving their position on the west bank of the river overlooking the dam. McClellan became concerned that this strengthening might impede his installation of siege batteries.[15] His order to Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, a division commander in the IV Corps, was to avoid a general engagement, but to "hamper the enemy" in completing their defensive works.[16]

Following an artillery bombardment at 8 a.m., Brig. Gen. William T. H. Brooks and his Vermont Brigade sent skirmishers forward to fire on the Confederates. In a visit to the front, McClellan told Smith to cross the river if it appeared the Confederates were withdrawing, a movement that was already underway by early afternoon. At 3 p.m., four companies of the 3rd Vermont Infantry crossed the dam and routed the remaining defenders. Behind the lines, Cobb organized a defense with his brother, Colonel Thomas Cobb of the Georgia Legion, and attacked the Vermonters, who had occupied the Confederate rifle pits. In battle, drummer Julian Scott made several trips across the fire-swept creek in order to assist in bringing off wounded soldiers. Later he was awarded the Medal of Honor, along with First Sergeant Edward Holton and Captain Samuel E. Pingree.[17]

Unable to obtain reinforcements, the Vermont companies withdrew across the dam, suffering casualties as they retreated. At about 5 p.m., Baldy Smith ordered the 6th Vermont to attack Confederate positions downstream from the dam while the 4th Vermont demonstrated at the dam itself. This maneuver failed as the 6th Vermont came under heavy Confederate fire and were forced to withdraw. Some of the wounded men were drowned as they fell into the shallow pond behind the dam.[16]

Aftermath

Peninsula Campaign, map of events up to the Battle of Seven Pines.

From a Union perspective, the action at Dam No. 1 was pointless, but it cost them casualties of 35 dead and 121 wounded; the Confederate casualties were between 60 and 75.[18] Baldy Smith, who was thrown from his unruly horse twice during action, was accused of drunkenness on duty, but a congressional investigation found the allegation to be groundless.[19]

For the remainder of April, the Confederates, now at 57,000 and under the direct command of Johnston, improved their defenses while McClellan undertook the laborious process of transporting and placing massive siege artillery batteries, which he planned to deploy on May 5. Johnston knew that the impending bombardment would be difficult to withstand, so began sending his supply wagons in the direction of Richmond on May 3. Escaped slaves reported that fact to McClellan, who refused to believe them. He was convinced that an army whose strength he estimated as high as 120,000 would stay and fight. On the evening of May 3, the Confederates launched a brief bombardment of their own and then fell silent. Early the next morning, Heintzelman ascended in an observation balloon and found that the Confederate earthworks were empty.[20]

McClellan was stunned by the news. He sent cavalry under Brig. Gen. George Stoneman in pursuit and ordered Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin's division to reboard Navy transports, sail up the York River, and cut off Johnson's retreat. The stage was set for the subsequent Battle of Williamsburg.[21]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Sears, p. 24.
  2. ^ Salmon, p. 76.
  3. ^ a b Kennedy, p. 90.
  4. ^ Eicher, p. 215.
  5. ^ Kennedy, p. 88, states 11,000; Eicher, p. 215, and Salmon, p. 76, state 13,000.
  6. ^ Sears, p. 48.
  7. ^ Eicher, p. 215,
  8. ^ Salmon, p. 76; Kennedy, p. 88.
  9. ^ Burton, p. 20. This portion of the Warwick River is now the Lee Hall Reservoir, part of Newport News Park.
  10. ^ Sears, p. 42; Burton, p. 15.
  11. ^ Burton, p. 15; Salmon, p. 76; Kennedy, p. 88.
  12. ^ Sears, p. 58.
  13. ^ Sears, pp. 54-55.
  14. ^ Union reports in the Official Records refer to this engagement as Lee's Mill or Burnt Chimneys. Sears, p. 55, bases his work on these reports. However, more recent histories differentiate the skirmish on April 5 at Lee's Mill from the more significant action nearby on April 16, which they refer to as Dam Number One. See for example, Burton, pp. 14-19, and the Virginia Civil War Traveler map.
  15. ^ Burton, p. 20.
  16. ^ a b Salmon, pp. 76-77.
  17. ^ Salmon, pp. 76-77; Rickard, np.
  18. ^ Salmon, p. 77.
  19. ^ Sears, p. 56.
  20. ^ Salmon, p. 79.
  21. ^ Salmon, p. 80.

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US Military History Companion. The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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