Battle of Big Bethel

During the Federal attack at the Battle of Big Bethel, the first Confederate enlisted man killed in combat during the Civil War died here. Union Gen. Ebenezer W. Pierce began his assault at about 9 A.M. on June 10, 1861. Capt. H. Judson Kilpatrick led the 5th New York Infantry (Duryée's Zouaves) in the first attack, but Confederate artillery fire stopped it, and Kilpatrick, wounded, was carried to a nearby house as the Zouaves retreated. Col. Abram Duryée then led his regiment and the 7th New York in a second attack, while the 3rd New York under Col. Frederick Townsend moved through this area to assault the Confederate right flank. Seeing a glint of bayonets in the sun through the woods on his left, Townsend believed Confederates were about to flank his regiment, ordered a withdrawal, and discovered too late that the bayonets were those of some of his own men. Meanwhile, several of Duryée's Zouaves were deployed as sharpshooters in a house and blacksmith shop in front of the one-gun battery ahead. When Confederate Col. Daniel H. Hill ordered the buildings burned, Pvt. Henry L. Wyatt and four other soldiers leaped over the earthwork and dashed for them. Pvt. John H. Thorp recalled that a volley was fired at them as if by a company, not from the house but from the road to their left. Wyatt was shot and killed here, although Sgt. Felix Agnus of the 5th New York later claimed that Kilpatrick fired the fatal shot from the house where he lay wounded.

Hampton, Virginia · United States