Official Records of the Rebellion

No.2. Reports of Brig. Gen. John G. Barnard, U. S. Army, Chief Engineer of operations from May 23, 1861, to August 15, 1862.

[p.110: THE ADVANCE FROM YORKTOWN]

In the movements of the army in its advance from Yorktown the officers of engineers were employed in various reconnaissances of the routes of the York and Pamunkey Rivers, &c., while detachments from General Woodbury’s Engineer Brigade repaired roads and bridges. After reaching a point near Roper’s Church, on the Williamsburg and Richmond road, the right wing, consisting of the corps of Porter and Franklin, took the road via Cumberland and the White House, striking the Chickahominy at New Bridge, while the left (corps of Heintzelman and Keyes) kept the Richmond road to Bottom’s Bridge. The advance guards reached these points about the 16th or 17th of May.

On the 20th I proceeded, by orders of the commanding general, to make a forced reconnaissance of the position of Bottom’s Bridge, accompanied by Lieutenants Comstock and McAlester. On arriving, I found the ground already occupied by a portion of the division of General Casey, and I dismissed the force I had ordered. The result of the reconnaissance was the acquiring of a perfect knowledge of the character of the Chickahominy as an obstacle, and the presumption that at this point (Bottom’s Bridge) no serious resistance was contemplated; in fact, the next day our troops crossed and occupied the other bank.

General Woodbury, with his brigade, was ordered to this point to repair the old bridge and the railroad bridge and to establish others, while Lieutenants Comstock and McAlester made a reconnaissance in force on the right bank, with the view of establishing a tété-de-pont to cover both Bottom’s Bridge and the railroad bridge. This work was begun, but never entirely finished.

On the 22d the general headquarters reached Cold Harbor, and I proceeded immediately to the New Bridge to reconnoiter that position. A word is proper here concerning the Chickahominy, which at the season we struck it was one of the most formidable obstacles that could be opposed to the advance of the army—an obstacle to which an ordinary river, though it be of considerable magnitude, is comparatively slight.

<-BACK | UP | NEXT->