Battle of Brick House Point, West Point, King William County, Virginia

Significance: 1) When the Confederate army abandoned its defenses at Yorktown and withdrew up the Peninsula toward Richmond, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan mounted an amphibious operation to disrupt his enemy's movements. Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin's division of the Army of the Potomac with four batteries of artillery were loaded in transports that steamed up the York River from Yorktown protected by four naval gunboats—U.S.S. Wachusett, Chocura, Sebago and Maratanza. The troops reached the ferry landing at Brick House Point on the evening of May 6 and began disembarking by torch light. By dawn of May 7, most of the 11,000 soldiers and their equipment were ashore.

2) After the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, the Confederate army continued its retreat toward Richmond in two columns, the northernmost passing through Barhamsville six miles south of the Brick House. Informed of the Federal landing there and fearing an attempt to cut off the army's wagon trains, the ranking Confederate officer in the area, Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, ordered Brig. Gen. William H. C. Whiting to advance from Barhamsville on the morning of May 7, and drive the Federals back to the river.

3) Early in the morning, Maj. Gen. Franklin ordered a reconnaissance south toward Barhamsville. Brig. Gen. John Newton's brigade deployed west of the River Road below the Taylor Mill Dam, supported on his left flank by the brigade of Brig. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, in all about 5,000 soldiers. Skirmishers led the advance, climbing the bluff and entering a dense wood.

4) About 9:30 A.M., the Fourth Texas Infantry Regiment at the head of Brig. Gen. John B. Hood's Texas Brigade, some 2,000 soldiers strong, engaged Newton's vanguard along the woods road, and they slowly drove its skirmishers back toward the landing.

5) In the meantime, Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton's Legion supported by the Nineteenth Georgia Regiment, also numbering about 2,000 muskets advanced on the River Road driving back Union skirmishers encountered there.

6) Maj. Gen. Franklin reinforced Newton, who pushed into the woods to strike Hood's force in the flank, causing confusion. Hood responded by redeploying his regiments to face more south than east. The two lines closed to point-blank distance and exchanged heavy volleys of musketry.

7) Brig. Gen. Hampton's men pressed forward on the River Road until emerging from the woods north of the J. M. Timberlake farm into a large open field. Union batteries massed near the Brick House opened an accurate fire that drove the Confederates back under cover. Federal gunboats dropped large shells into the woods.

8) A brigade of Tennesseans led by Brig. Gen. Samuel H. Anderson came to the support of Hood's brigade and joined the firefight, forcing Newton's soldiers to give ground.

9) Brig. Gen. Whiting brought a battery of field artillery into the open ground of the J. M. Timberlake farm and opened fire at the Federal ships anchored in the York River. Union gunboats responded immediately with their heavy guns and soon silenced Whiting's battery. At this point, Maj. Gen. Whiting could make no further headway with Federal gunboats so close at hand; he ordered his troops to disengage and withdraw slowly toward Barhamsville. The Federals suffered about 200 casualties, while the Confederates lost about 50 soldiers.

10) On May 9, Maj. Gen. Franklin gave no intention of continuing his offensive; he shifted the Federal encampment from the Brick House to Eltham's Landing on the Pamunkey River because of its better landing facilities. Eltham's Landing afterwards lent its name to the battle.
Survey number: HALS VA-26
Building/structure dates: ca. 1862 Initial Construction