The Battle of Big Bethel - June 10, 1861

Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler arrived at his new command in Fort Monroe on the southern tip of the Virginia peninsula between the York and James rivers. The 2,500 Confederate soldiers on the peninsula were commanded by flamboyant Colonel John B. Magruder, who on June 7th had sent Colonel Daniel H. Hill and 1,400 North Carolina and Virginia troops to occupy an advanced position near Big Bethel, a small village eight miles from Fort Monroe that got its name from nearby Bethel Church. Hill's men worked for two days building a solid earthwork defensive position where the road from Fort Monroe crossed the Back River. General Butler decided to attack the Rebels at Big Bethel to run them clear away from Fort Monroe. He sent 4,400 New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont soldiers under the command of General Ebenezer W. Pierce on a night march. The two columns were to deliver a surprise attack on the Confederates at dawn on June 10th. As the two columns came together in the predawn darkness, one column mistook the other for the enemy and opened fire, inflicting 21 casualties and alerting the Confederates of the Union presence. Two regiments at the front of the column believed they were being attacked from the rear and retreated. The confused federal soldiers then regrouped and continued the advance. At 9:15 A.M., they came in sight of the Rebel position and received fire from an artillery battery commanded by Major George W. Randolph, a grandson of Thomas Jefferson. After two hours of fighting, Pierce wethdrew back toward Fort Monroe. The 2,500 Union men engaged in the action suffered 18 dead, 53 wounded, and 5 missing. The Confederates had 1 killed and 7 wounded. The fighting marked the first land battle of the Civil war, just eight weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter.