On the morning of May 27, Major-General George G. Meade’s Federal Army of the Potomac (with General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant in overall command) was on the move in northeastern Virginia. The men had disengaged from General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and were moving southeast toward Hanovertown, just over the Pamunkey River.
Two divisions of Major-General Philip Sheridan’s Federal Cavalry Corps and an infantry division led the way to Hanovertown. A cavalry brigade of Michiganders under Brigadier-General George A. Custer secured a crossing on the Pamunkey just north of the town after a sharp skirmish with Major-General Fitzhugh Lee’s Confederate horsemen. Engineers laid two pontoon bridges, and the infantry started across around noon.
When Lee learned that the Federals had left their defenses on the North Anna River, he directed his Confederates to fall back to Atlee’s Station, just nine miles north of Richmond on the Virginia Central Railroad. Lee reached his objective before Grant reached his, having to cover just 18 miles. The Confederates quickly sealed all approaches to Richmond on the railroad from the Pamunkey.
Lee sought to secure the high ground on the south bank of the Totopotomoy Creek, which ran west into the Pamunkey just south of Hanovertown. Lee dispatched cavalry troopers under Major-General Wade Hampton to conduct a reconnaissance in force to determine whether the Federals intended to stop at Hanovertown or continue south around Lee’s right flank.
Hampton’s Confederates moved out from Atlee’s Station on the 28th, probing eastward while a Federal brigade from Brigadier-General David M. Gregg’s division probed westward from Hanovertown. Gregg met Hampton about three miles west of Hanovertown and a mile west of a blacksmith shop called Haw’s Shop. Hampton’s men dismounted and positioned themselves behind breastworks, supported by artillery. Gregg’s men advanced with Spencer repeating rifles.
The vicious fight that ensued grew into the largest cavalry battle since Brandy Station last June. Both sides tried flanking the other, with Brigadier-General Alfred T.A. Torbert’s Federal division arriving to extend Gregg’s right and repelling a Confederate flanking maneuver. Finally, Custer’s Michiganders arrived to turn the tide for the Federals, and Hampton’s troopers withdrew.
The fight at Haw’s Shop lasted about seven hours, and although it was a battle between cavalries, the men fought dismounted behind defenses like infantry. This ushered in the type of cavalry warfare that would be waged for much of the rest of the 19th century. Sheridan claimed victory because Hampton withdrew, but Sheridan committed only one of his two divisions to the fight. He might have destroyed Hampton had he deployed more men.
Hampton claimed victory because he learned during the fight that the Federals had crossed the Pamunkey in force, and he prevented Sheridan from learning where Lee’s army was. Hampton had also delayed the Federal advance for seven hours before finally pulling back.
Lee set up headquarters in the Clarke house, where the owner allowed him to conduct all his business indoors due to his continuing acute diarrhea. Grant transferred the Federal supply base from Port Royal on the Rappahannock to White House on the Pamunkey. Grant also sent transports to Bermuda Hundred, where the Federal Army of the James was stationed. He would be transferring Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith’s Eighteenth Corps from that army to reinforce the Army of the Potomac.
While the fighting raged at Haw’s Shop, Lee entrenched the rest of his army behind Totopotomoy Creek, west of the fighting and east of Mechanicsville:
- Lieutenant-General A.P. Hill’s Third Corps held the left flank on a line along the creek running northwest to southeast.
- Major-General John C. Breckinridge, recently arrived from the Shenandoah Valley, lined his men to Hill’s right.
- Major-General Richard H. Anderson’s First Corps held the center, which curved southward, below the creek, to the Shady Grove Road.
- Lieutenant-General Richard Ewell’s Second Corps held the right (southern) flank, anchored at Bethesda Church on the Old Church Road. Due to recent injury in action, Ewell was replaced as corps commander by Major-General Jubal Early.
The Confederates guarded both the Virginia Central and the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac railroads, the roads leading west to Richmond, and the Mechanicsville turnpike.
Federal infantry crossed the Pamunkey River throughout the 28th, northeast of Haw’s Shop near Hanovertown. By midnight, all four corps were across and building defenses on the river’s west bank. Grant directed the Army of the Potomac to move southwest toward Lee’s Confederates across Totopotomoy Creek:
- Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock’s Second Corps moved along the Richmond-Hanovertown Road to the creek, where Hancock could see the Confederates entrenched on the other side.
- Major-General Gouverneur Warren’s Fifth Corps lined up on Hancock’s left (south).
- Major-General Horatio G. Wright’s Sixth Corps took positions to Hancock’s right (northwest), facing Hill’s Confederates.
- Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps was held in reserve near Haw’s Shop.
- Cavalry not engaged at Haw’s Shop protected the roads to the new Federal supply base at White House Landing.
President Jefferson Davis came out from Richmond on the 29th to confer with Lee, whose army was now just 10 miles from the capital. Lee explained that supplies were low because the Federals had temporarily disrupted the Virginia Central Railroad. Lee also requested reinforcements.
Davis told Lee that he had asked General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the Confederates holding the Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred, to send troops north. But Beauregard had replied, “My force is so small at present, that to divide it for the purpose of reinforcing Lee would jeopardize the safety of the part left to guard my lines, and would greatly endanger Richmond itself.”
Beauregard traveled north that night and met with Davis and Lee at Atlee’s Station. The men discussed strategy and Beauregard reiterated his inability to send reinforcements. However, he did agree to reevaluate his situation when he returned to Bermuda Hundred to see if any of his 12,000 men could be spared. Davis and Beauregard left Atlee’s that night.
Bibliography
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