Gen. E.O.C. Ord, commander of XVIII
Corps, issued no written orders, and his
verbal orders went out only after nightfall.
Such tight security was deemed necessary
to prevent the spies from deserting and
warning the Confederates.
In the camp of one of Ord’s regiments,
the 118th New York, Major John L. Cun-
ningham heard tattoo sounded to end a
routine day. The regiment’s brief rest ended
when staff officers appeared with unex-
pected new orders to move out. As the
camp was within sight of Rebel sentinels
across the James, the tents were left stand-
ing while the soldiers were herded to the
corps headquarters. There, they handed
over their Enfield muskets in exchange for
seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles.
With the rest of their corps, the 118th
New York marched to the James River. At
Aiken’s Landing, they found engineers lay-
ing a pontoon bridge of some 60 boats so
quietly that the men could scarcely hear
them at work. About 3 AM, the bridge was
ready and the troops filed across. Muffled
with dirt, the bridge planks made little
noise as the soldiers plodded across, and
for the time being the Confederates seemed
unaware of the movement.
Half a mile downstream, Birney’s X
Corps crossed the James by pontoon
bridge at Deep Bottom. Born in Alabama
in 1825, Birney was a son of James Gille-
spie Birney, an abolitionist politician and
journalist from Kentucky. Birney’s corps
included the all-African American division
of Brig. Gen. Charles Jackson Paine. A
lawyer by profession, Paine came from an
aristocratic Boston family. His great-
grandfather Robert Treat Paine signed the
Declaration of Independence. Charles
Paine became the colonel of the 2nd
Louisiana Native Guard (later the 74th
United States Colored Troops, or USCT),
one of the first African American units of
the Union Army, on October 23, 1862.
Early in 1864 he transferred to the eastern
theater and joined Butler’s staff.
Although the Confederates spotted them
once they were across, Ord and Birney
were ready to stab at Richmond at dawn
on September 29. Birney’s 8,000 troopswould move north of the crossing and hit
a line of Confederate works at New Mar-
ket Heights. Brig. Gen. August Kautz’s
cavalry would ride around his right and
push up the Darbytown Road toward the
Confederate capital. To their left, Ord
would take the Varina Road to attack Fort
Harrison, a key strongpoint in the main
ring of works around Richmond.
Deep Bottom, the landing point of X
Corps, was at the top of an oxbow bend
of the James River. About three-quarters
of a mile to the north was a line of Con-
federate earthworks at New Market
Heights. Perpendicular to the main Rich-
mond defenses, they had been constructed
to fend off potential Union attacks from
the James. The community of New Mar-
ket was11½ miles from central Richmond
by road. Protected on the left by the low-
lands of Bailey’s Creek, the Confederateworks ran east to west, parallel with the
New Market Road for half a mile. The line
continued at the same angle while the road
veered diagonally away to the north. Tak-
ing advantage of high ground known as
New Market Heights, the works looked
down on the valley of Four Mile Creek.
Several Union attacks had been repulsed
around New Market Heights in previous
months, and the area was all too familiar
to the bluecoats.
Along New Market Road, 1,800 Con-
federates manned one mile of works.
Below the entrenchments was an abatis, a
tight barrier of interlocking trees,
branches, and brush. On the left, the 1st
Rockbridge Artillery provided cover with
their guns. Brig. Gen. Martin Gary’s
brigade came next, followed by the Texas
brigade of Brig. Gen. John Gregg to Gary’s
right, and then a detachment of the Rich-After fording the horseshoe-shaped James River, Birney’s X Corps moved against Confederate
entrenchments along New Market Road, less than a dozen miles from Richmond. Breastworks,
abatis, and felled trees made the attackers’ task even more difficult.Map © 2015 Philip Schwartzberg, Meridian Mapping, Minneapolis, MNCWQ-EW16 Chaffins Bluff *missing map_Layout 1 10/23/15 10:27 AM Page 21