immediately ordered the gunboats Nanse-
mondand Drewryto Chaffin’s Bluff and
sent an officer ashore for further details.
The officer returned with the news that
Fort Harrison had fallen and a request for
help from General Ewell. Rootes took the
ironclads Fredericksburgand Richmond
downriver to a landing somewhat omi-
nously called the Graveyard, two miles
south of the captured fort.
It was 10:10 AMbefore the vessels were
in position to open fire on the fort and the
masses of Union troops around it. Rootes
sent Lieutenant E.T. Eggleston of the Con-
federate Marine Corps ashore with a sig-
nal officer and an elevated observation
stand to spot the fall of their shots against
the enemy. Eggleston sent word that the
shells were falling short, so Rootes had his
guns aboard Fredericksburgand Rich-
mondloaded with high charges. With the
heavier charges, Eggleston saw the projec-
tiles landing among the enemy troops
around Fort Hoke. Ewell sent word to fire
fast, and the ironclads kept up their fire allday, hurling more than 300 rounds from
their big guns. Grateful army officers later
thanked their naval comrades for their
long-range assistance, which they believed
helped slow the Union forces until Con-
federate reinforcements could arrive.
After taking over from Ord, Heckman
launched a series of disjointed attacks on
the Confederate positions north of Fort
Harrison. The 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy
Artillery was ordered to take a small work
called Fort Johnston. Private Joseph M.
Alexander remembered that the Pennsyl-
vania regiment passed the ambulance car-
rying General Ord, who cheered on the
men, telling them, “Hurry up, boys! We’ll
be in Richmond tonight.”
Alexander’s regiment hurried forward,
followed by the 89th New York. Out in
the open, they attracted cannon fire from
the Confederate works while big shells
soaring down from the James River gun-
boats crashed among them. In the lead, a
battalion of the Pennsylvanians under
Major James L. Anderson drew aheadwhile heavy Confederate fire drove the rest
of his regiment and the New Yorkers back
to take cover.
Anderson’s head was shot off when he
was 100 yards away from the fort. In his
pocket was a newly signed commission as
colonel of the regiment. So heavy was the
fall of incoming shells that Alexander saw
comrades injured by splinters flying off
their shattered musket stocks. From a
wounded Pennsylvanian who made it back
to their lines, a surgeon removed a musket
mainspring that had been driven into the
soldier’s chest. Anderson’s battalion was
trapped and cut off under the enemy lines
while the supporting troops were driven
back. Most of his battalion was killed or
taken prisoner.
The sounds of battle carried clearly to
Richmond. John Beauchamp Jones, a
clerk at the War Department, heard a
“heavy and brisk cannonading” as he
walked to his office. As he worked at his
desk that morning, “the vibrations were
very perceptible.” After lunch, newsBrigadier General August Kautz’ cavalry returns to Union lines after a raid behind Confederate defenses at Richmond. Kautz’ horsemen pushed to within
two miles of the Rebel capital before turning back.CWQ-EW16 Chaffins Bluff *missing map_Layout 1 10/22/15 2:02 PM Page 25