reached the city that Fort Harrison had
fallen and the Yankees were moving
toward town. Businesses and government
offices closed. Scores of exempted work-
ers joined their militia companies and
marched toward the battle. Jones noted
that squads of guards were sent into the
streets everywhere with orders to arrest
every able-bodied man they met, regard-
less of papers, to throw against the
enemy. Citizens watched anxiously from
hills and tall buildings, peering at the
smoke rising from the battlefield.
The initial fear in Richmond was due to
Kautz, who had slipped very close to thecity. After the New Market Road line fell
to X Corps, he took his cavalry through
and reached the Darbytown Road. They
pushed along the lightly defended road
and by 10 AMwere poised only two miles
from the edge of Richmond. A hastily
gathered force, Major James Hensley’s
10th Virginia Heavy Artillery Battalion,
blocked the road with six guns and 100
men. Surprised by Hensley’s resistance and
uncertain about what else lay ahead, Kautz
withdrew. Three hours later he made
another rush at Richmond farther north
on the Charles City Road. Again, a scratch
force faced them from behind a thin line ofentrenchments and a few cannon. Again,
Kautz’s caution won out, and he pulled
away. After a bungled night attack on
another Confederate position, he rode
back to rejoin the main Union force the
next morning.
By late morning, Heckman’s advance
had stalled. He had suffered heavy losses
for very little gain. General Grant person-
ally rode to the battlefield to check on the
progress of the operations, although he
interfered little with the planning of the
day’s fighting. Confederate reinforcements
trickled in from Richmond and elsewhere.
The Southerners anchored their new
defense at Fort Gilmer. Named for Maj.
Gen. Jeremy Francis Gilmer, the chief engi-
neer of the Confederate Army, it was a
smaller work than Fort Harrison, but it
was fronted by a formidable, 27-foot-deep
ditch. This daunting obstacle to an
infantry attack was designed to prevent
Union engineers from digging under the
works. Set on high ground, the fort looked
down on an open expanse where for some
distance trees had been cut down and left
with their branches attached to create
more obstacles.
Elements of X Corps marched from
New Market Heights to join the attack on
the main Confederate lines. After march-
ing to the pontoon bridge the night before
and taking part in the day’s action, they
were already worn out. Two divisions of
the corps made for Fort Gilmer. Maj. Gen.
Robert Foster’s division moved south from
the New Market Road toward the north
face of the fort, hindered by having to
cross the low, brush-tangled tributaries of
Cornelius Creek. Pulling themselves out of
the nearest ravine to the entrenchments,
the Federals stepped into a cornfield. Now
within easy range of Confederate guns,
Foster’s ranks were cut down by intense
artillery fire aided by a growing number of
Rebel infantrymen filing into the works.
Those who survived got no closer to Fort
Gilmer and took cover in the ravine.
Birney’s older brother, Brig Gen. William
Birney, led his brigade of African American
troops toward the fort. Sent in one at a
time, each successive regiment was cut toTOP: Fort Gilmer’s 27-foot-deep trench was designed to prevent industrious Union engineers from
tunneling beneath the works. ABOVE: CSS Virginia IIwas one of several ships of the James River
Squadron to support Confederate efforts to retake Fort Harrison. OPPOSITE: Firing from behind
waist-high rifle pits, Union forces defend newly captured Fort Harrison from Confederate attempts
to retake the vital fort. Robert E. Lee personally directed the failed counterattacks.Both: Library of CongressCWQ-EW16 Chaffins Bluff *missing map_Layout 1 10/22/15 2:02 PM Page 26