General Butler had intrenched a greater portion of the Army of the James at
Bermuda Hundred, at the junction of the
James and
Appomattox rivers, early in May, 1864, to co-operate with the Army of the Potomac, approaching from the north.
His chief care was at first to prevent reinforcements being sent to
Lee from
Petersburg and the
South.
For this purpose
Butler proceeded to destroy the railway between
Petersburg and
Richmond, and so to cut off direct communication between the
Confederate capital and the
South.
When it was known that
General Gillmore had withdrawn his troops from before
Charleston to join
Butler,
Beauregard was ordered to hasten northward to confront the Army of the James.
He had arrived at
Petersburg, and was hourly reinforced.
Some of these troops he massed in front of
Butler, under
Gen. D. H. Hill; and finally, on the morning of May 16, under cover of a dense fog, they attempted to turn
Butler's right flank.
A sharp conflict ensued between about 4,000 Nationals and 3,000 Confederates, which resulted in the retirement of
Butler's forces within their intrenchments.
For several days afterwards there was much skirmishing in front of
Butler's lines, when he received orders to send nearly two-thirds of his effective force to the north side of the
James to assist the Army of the Potomac, then contending with
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
Butler complied with the requisition, which deprived him of all power to make any further offensive movements.
“The necessities of the army of the Potomac,” he said, “have bottled me up at
Bermuda Hundred.”
This expression was afterwards used to his disadvantage.
See
Butler, Benjamin Franklin. 
