Skirmish at Big Bethel
The Battle of Big Bethel , also known as the Battle of Bethel Church or Great Bethel, took place in Tabb and Hampton , Virginia on June 10, 1861 , and was part of the blockade of Chesapeake Bay during the Civil War .
Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler , located at Fort Monroe , ordered his subordinate Union forces from Hampton and Newport News to advance in two columns of march against the more experienced Confederate forces at Little Bethel and Big Bethel under the command of John Bankhead Magruder . The Confederates gave up Little Bethel and holed up behind Brick Kiln Creek, a tributary of Back Creek near Big Bethel Church . The Union Army under the command of Brigadier General Ebenezer Pierce pursued and attacked them head-on and was thrown back. After crossing the river below the buried positions, the 5th New York Infantry Regiment tried to attack the Confederate flank, but also failed. The author Theodore Winthrop , a member of General Pierce's staff, was killed. The disorganized Union forces withdrew to Hampton and Newport News.
On the Confederate side, one soldier had died, seven were wounded, and Union troops lost 76 dead and wounded. Overall, the battle lasted about an hour.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reinhard Pohonka, The American Civil War , Marix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-925-0 , p. 41.
literature
- National Park Service Battle Description
- Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence C. Buel: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War , Century Co., 1884-1888.
- US War Department, The War of the Rebellion : a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies , United States Government Printing Office , 1880-1901.
