On April 5, 1862, Major General George B. McClellan’s army found
its progress toward Richmond blocked by the Confederate fortifications
at nearby Lee’s Mill. Confederate Major General John Bankhead Magruder
had constructed dams and built extensive fortifications to make the
sluggish Warwick River into a defensive barrier. Dam No. 1 was the
midpoint between two pre–war tide mills at Lee’s Mill and Wynne’s
Mill.
Southern soldiers expected an assault at any time. As Surgeon James
Holloway of the 18th Mississippi wrote, "why they do not attack is
strange for they have a heavy force and every day’s delay only gives
us the opportunity to strengthen our defenses." An attack finally
came on April 16, 1862, when McClellan ordered Brigadier General William
F. "Baldy" Smith to disrupt Confederate control of Dam No. 1.
On
the morning of April 16, Union artillery, including Mott’s 3rd New
York Battery, began shelling the Confederate earthworks. By noon it
appeared as if the Southerners had abandoned their defenses and at 3:00
pm Smith sent 200 men of the 3rd Vermont forward as skirmishers. The
Vermonters dashed across the Warwick River and captured the first line
of rifle pits held by the 15th North Carolina. The Federal troops, their
ammunition wet and having not received reinforcements, were forced to
withdraw under the stress of a vicious counterattack by Cobb’s Georgia
Legion. The water "boiled with bullets" as the Vermonters
recrossed "that fatal stream." A second attempt to capture Dam
No. 1 failed to reach the Confederate lines as the Confederates had
reinforced the position. The engagement resulted in 165 Federal and 145
Confederate casualties.
The Battle of Dam No. 1 (also called the Battle of Burnt Chimneys)
was a missed opportunity for the Union to break the Warwick River
defenses. Two Federal soldiers, Captain Samuel E. Pingree and Musician
Julian Scott, were awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the
short, vicious fight along "a creek with a wide dam, which drank
the blood of many of our men."
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