Williamsburg_BL3

=**Battle of Wiliamsburg :** = Logan White

1. The name of the battle is the Battle of Williamsburg, and is also known as Fort Magruder 2. The battle occurred on May 5,1862 3. The battle took place at York County and Williamsburg 4. The officers in charge were Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan [US]; Maj. Gen. James Longstreet [CS] 5. There were 72,591 total troops engaged in the battle (US 40,768;CS 31,823). 6. While he was defending Virginia from George McClellan, John Magruder was also preparing a position in case his forces had to fall back. Longstreet was in charge of defence and faced two divisions led by three commanders, Sumner, Keyes, and Heinztelman. Union officer Hooker neared the walls of Fort Magruder as Longstreet responded with artillery fire. Hooker waited for one of Keyes' officers, Smith, to arrive with reinforcements, but Sumner had ordered Smith to take no action. With little support on his right, Hooker's flank was weak and open for attack. Using his field telegraph Hooker asked for more support, but Sumner told Hooker that he would have to wait for the other division led by Kearny to arrive. Eventually, Longstreet discovered Hooker's weakness and exploited it. Around the same time Kearn had finally arrived, and with his support Hooker managed to stave off the Confederates. The last major event of the battle was a Confederate counterattack led by Jubal Early that tried to outflank Union officer Hancock, but failed. Longstreet continued retreating 7. Union Officer Kearny reinforced the Union’s left flank from Longstreet. This followed Longstreet's discovery of the weak flank. Another key battle event was the repulsion of a Confederate counterattack 8. The battle could be considered a Union victory. It followed the Confederate retreat from Yorktown, while the Confederates were still withdrawing. The Union “won” by disturbing a Confederate counterattack, and forced them to continue retreating 9. There were an estimated total of 3,843 casualties (US 2,283; CS 1,560) 10. The Battle of Williamsburg's impact was small. It was during a Confederate retreat, so if it was a Confederate victory it would've changed the war more then it really did, which was to simply force the Confederates to continue retreating



Sources: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/va010.htm http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Battle_of_Williamsburg http://www.posix.com/CWmaps/