Battle of Ware Bottom Church

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Battle of Ware Bottom Church
Ware Bottom, Virginia, Civil War History

Battle of Ware Bottom Church

Other Names: None

Location: Chesterfield County, Virginia

Campaign: Bermuda Hundred Campaign (May-June 1864)

Date(s): May 20, 1864

Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler [US]; Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard [CS]

Forces Engaged: Divisions (10,000 total)

Estimated Casualties: 1,500 total

Bermuda Hundred Battlefield Picture
Bermuda Hundred Earthworks.jpg
Federal earthworks at Bermuda Hundred

Summary: On May 20, Confederate forces under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard attacked Butler’s Bermuda Hundred line near Ware Bottom Church. About 10,000 troops were involved in this action. After driving back Butler’s advanced pickets, the Confederates constructed the Howlett Line, effectively bottling up the Federals at Bermuda Hundred. Confederate victories at Proctor’s Creek and Ware Bottom Church enabled Beauregard to detach strong reinforcements for Lee’s army in time for the fighting at Cold Harbor. The series of battles in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign was the Union's attempt to destroy the Richmond-Petersburg Railroad and force Lee to rush reinforcements to the scene--which would weaken Lee against Grant and Meade--and to capture Richmond, the "Capitol of the Confederacy." (See Siege of Petersburg.)

Butler's expedition was an overall failure, and he was "bottled up" at Bermuda Hundred, unable to move. Although he was able to distract Confederate forces for a brief time, their victories at Proctor's Creek and Ware Bottom Church enabled Beauregard to detach strong reinforcements for Lee's army in time for the fighting at Cold Harbor.

 

General Grant described a conversation with his Chief Engineer regarding Butler's predicament:

 

He said that the general occupied a place between the James and Appomattox rivers which was of great strength, and where with an inferior force he could hold it for an indefinite length of time against a superior; but that he could do nothing offensively. I then asked him why Butler could not move out from his lines and push across the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to the rear and on the south side of Richmond. He replied that it was impracticable, because the enemy had substantially the same line across the neck of land that General Butler had. He then took out his pencil and drew a sketch of the locality, remarking that the position was like a bottle and that Butler’s line of intrenchments across the neck represented the cork; that the enemy had built an equally strong line immediately in front of him across the neck; and it was therefore as if Butler was in a bottle. He was perfectly safe against an attack; but, as Barnard expressed it, the enemy had corked the bottle and with a small force could hold the cork in its place. – Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs

Battle of Ware Bottom Church
Battle of Ware Bottom Church.gif
Civil War War Bottom Church Battlefield

Result(s): Confederate victory

Sources: National Park Service; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs; Library of Congress Photo.

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