First Battle of Petersburg - Battle

Battle

The troops moved out on the night of June 8, but made poor progress. The column of Gillmore's infantry got lost in the dark. Although Hinks arrived on time, he was ordered to wait for Gillmore so that all of the infantry could cross before the cavalry. Eventually the infantry crossed by 3:40 a.m. on June 9 and were ordered to move forward against the enemy's picket line at daylight. By 7 a.m., both Gillmore and Hinks had encountered the enemy, but stopped at their fronts. Gillmore, an engineering officer with no experience leading troops in combat, hesitated at the sight of the formidable earthworks. Hinks also felt that the Confederate defenses were too strong and that he could not move forward unless Gillmore attacked with him. Gillmore told Hinks that he would attack but that both of the infantry columns should await the cavalry assault from the south.

Kautz's men did not arrive until noon, however, having been delayed en route by numerous enemy pickets. They assaulted the Dimmock Line where it crossed the Jerusalem Plank Road (present-day U.S. Route 301), at Battery 27, also known as Rives's Salient, with 150 militiamen, commanded by Maj. Fletcher H. Archer, manning two artillery lunettes. Kautz launched a probing attack by the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry against the militiamen, then paused and ordered his men to dismount. Confederate Brig. Gen. Raleigh E. Colston, who happened to be in the city without assignment at the time, brought forward a 12-pound howitzer to fire at the Union cavalrymen, but found that he had no antipersonnel rounds. Colston retreated under pressure as the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry, the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry, and the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry began to flank him.

Kautz then launched his main attack by the 11th Pennsylvania against the Home Guard, a group consisting primarily of teenagers, elderly men, and some wounded soldiers from city hospitals. The Home Guards retreated to the city with heavy losses, but by this time Beauregard had been able to bring reinforcements from Richmond to bear: the 4th North Carolina Cavalry, part of the 7th Confederate States Cavalry from the Bermuda Hundred line, and an artillery battery. They were able to repulse the Union assault. Kautz, hearing no activity on Gillmore's front, presumed that he was left on his own and withdrew.