Battle of Williamsburg
| date | May 5, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Williamsburg , Virginia , USA |
| output | Union victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
40,768
|
31,823
|
| losses | |
|
2,283
|
1,682
|
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The Battle of Williamsburg (also: Battle of Fort Magruder ) was a battle of the American Civil War that was fought on May 5, 1862 near Williamsburg, Virginia .
40,000 Union and 31,000 Confederate soldiers participated in the battle . After the Confederates withdrew from Yorktown , Joseph Hooker's Union Division met their rearguard near Williamsburg . Hooker ordered the attack on Fort Magruder, an earth fortification along the road to Williamsburg, but it was repulsed. There were counter-attacks by the Confederates, under the command of James Longstreet , which threatened the left flank of the Union forces, but the position of the Northerners was stabilized with the arrival of Philip Kearny's division . The Union Brigade of Winfield S. Hancock then attacked the left flank of the Confederates, which they could not do much to counter, but this local success of the Union remained untapped. As the night progressed, the Confederates turned in a general westerly direction.
aftermath
The Northern press presented the battle as a Union victory . McClellan misjudged it as a "brilliant victory" over a superior force. However, the defense of Williamsburg was seen by the Confederation as a means of stopping the Potomac Army so the Northern Virginia Army could continue to move towards Richmond.
Neither side was able to draw any significant advantage from the battle, but it was the Union's first victory in the Peninsular Campaign.
literature
- Udo Sautter : The American Civil War 1861-1865 , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-21970-4 .
- Michael Hochgeschwendner: The American Civil War . CH Beck, Munich, 2010, ISBN 978-3406562518 .
- Sears, Stephen W. To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign . Ticknor and Fields, 1992. ISBN 0-89919-790-6 .
