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That Dam Failure
"That Dam Failure" - Also called the Battle of Burnt Chimneys, the engagement at Dam No. 1 was Union General George B. McClellan's only attempt to break through the Confederate defenses along the Warwick River. Built by Major General "Prince John" Magruder, these fortifications had stymied McClellan's grand advances against Richmond during the early stages of his Peninsula Campaign. On April 16, 1862 components of General William F. "Baldy" Smith's division, most notably the 3rd Vermont Regiment supported by Mott's Battery, crossed the Warwick River at Dam No. 1 and captured the first line of Confederate entrenchments from the 15th North Carolina. A spirited Southern counterattack forced the Green Mountain Boys to withdraw across "that fatal stream." A second attack failed to reach the Confederate earthworks because of heavy rifle and artillery fire. The short, bloody Battle of Dam No. 1 was McClellan's only assault upon Magruder's fortifications and was thereafter referred to as "just a dam failure." Although the Confederates soon abandoned the Warwick River line, they had gained a month's precious time which would aid them in the coming confrontation at Richmond. Yet, the Battle of Dam. No. 1 was a baptism by fire for many soldiers who would remember it as "a creek with a wide dam, which drank the blood of many of our men." © 2001-2005 The Virginia War Museum. All rights reserved.
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Lee
Hall Mansion
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