Big Bethel, battle at.
When
General Butler arrived at his headquarters at
Fort Monroe (May, 1861), he first established Camp Hamilton, near the fort.
as a rendezvous for troops gathering there.
There were gathered
Phelps's Vermont regiment, and another from
Troy, N. Y.; and soon afterwards they were joined by a well-disciplined regiment of Zouaves, under
Col. Abraham Duryee, of New York City.
Duryee was assigned to the command of the camp as acting brigadier-general.
Butler conceived a plan of taking possession of the country between
Suffolk and
Petersburg and
Norfolk, and so threatening the Weldon Railroad, the great highway between Vrgiinia and the Carolinas.
But, lacking troops, he contented himself with taking possession of and fortifying the important strategic point of Newport News. He sent (May 27. 1861 )
Colonel Phelps thither in a steamer with a detachment to fortify that place.
He was accompanied by
Lieut. John Trout Greble,
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Map of the battle at Big Bethel |
an accomplished young graduate of
West Point, whom he appointed master of ordnance, to superintend the construction of fortifications there which commanded the ship-channel of the
James River and the mouth of the
Nansemond.
The forced inaction of the
National troops at
Fort Monroe, and the threatening aspect of affairs at Newport News, made the armed Confederates under
Col. J. B. Magruder bold, active, and vigilant.
Their principal rendezvous was at
Yorktown, on the
York River, which they were fortifying.
They pushed down the peninsula to impress slaves into their service, and to force Union men into their ranks.
At Big and Little Bethel (two churches on the road between
Yorktown and
Hampton) they made fortified outposts.
It was evident that
Magruder was preparing to seize Newport News and
Hampton, and confine
Butler to
Fort Monroe.
The latter determined on a countervailing movement by an attack on these outposts.
Gen. E. W. Pearce, of
Massachusetts, was placed in command of an expedition for that purpose, composed of
Duryee's Zouaves and the Troy troops at Camp Hamilton,
Vermont and
Massachusetts troops, some German New York troops, under
Colonel Bendix,
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341]
and two 6-pounders (field-pieces), under
Lieutenant Greble, from Newport News.
The latter had under him eleven regular artillerymen.
The troops from the two points of departure were to be joined, in the night, near Little Bethel.
The soldiers wore on their left arms a white rag or handkerchief, so that they might recognize each other in the dark.
Their watchword was “
Boston.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Washburne led the column from Newport News, followed by
Bendix with his Germans.
Duryee pushed forward.
followed by
Colonel Townsend with the Troy troops.
The latter and
Bendix approached each other in the gloom, near Little Bethel, the appointed place of junction.
Bendix and his men. ignorant of the older to wear a white badge, were without it, and the two columns mistook each other for enemies.
The
Germans opened fire on
Townsend's column.
After a short skirmish, in which two men were killed and several wounded, the mistake was discovered.
Duryee and
Washburne, hearing the firing, hastened their march, and soon joined the confused regiments.
The Confederates had been warned of the approaching troops by the firing, and
Brigadier-General Pearce, in chief command, sent back for reinforcements, as a surprise was then out of the question.
The Confederates at Little Bethel fell back to Big Bethel, 4 or 5 miles distant, and all of them at the latter place were on the alert.
There were about 1,800 Confederates behind works, with several pieces of cannon in battery.
The
Nationals, about 2,500 strongly, attacked them between nine and ten o'clock on the morning of June 10, 1861.
Troops under
Captains Kilpatrick,
Bartlett, and
Winslow (all of which were under
Lieut.-Col. G. K. Warren, of the Zouaves) were thrown out on each side of the road, while
Lieutenant Greble, with his, two little field-pieces, kept the road.
The troops on each side of the road were finally driven to the shelter of the woods by a storm of shot and shell; but
Greble continued advancing, and poured a rapid and effective storm of grape and canister shot from his battery.
He held his position while the rest of the army was preparing for a general assault.
At about noon a charge was sounded, with instructions to dash across a morass, flank the works of the
Confederates, and drive out the occupants at the point of the bayonet.
The
Nationals were nearly successful, when a portion of them were driven back by a murderous fire from the
Confederates.
This and other adverse circumstances caused
Pearce to order a retreat.
All of
Greble's men had been disabled but five, and he could only work one gun. He was just limbering them up, when a shot from the
Confederates struck a glancing blow on his head, and he fell dead.
Maj. Theodore Winthrop, one of
General Butler's aides, was also instantly killed by a bullet from a
North Carolina drummer-boy.
Greble's body was taken to
Philadelphia, where it lay in state in Independence Hall; was the first officer of the regular army of the United States who fell in the
Civil War. The result of the expedition to Big Bethel was national exasperation and mor tification.
The
Unionists lost sixteen killed, thirty-four wounded, and five missing. The Confederate loss was trifling.
