In May 1864, after Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler landed the Army of the James in Bermuda Hundred and was turned back in movements toward Petersburg by Confederate resistance at Port Walthall Junction and Swift Creek, he prepared a demonstration toward Richmond and first sent 3,000 cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. August Kautz on a raid through Chesterfield County. On May 12th, 1864, Kautz's exhausted men rode out after a recent raid along the Nottoway River, burned Confederate supplies at Chesterfield Courthouse, released Union sympathizers from the county jail, and moved to Coalfield Station near Midlothian, where they tore up the Richmond & Danville Railroad and destroyed several buildings while in full view of Richmond. A planned move north to Bellona Arsenal was abandoned because Kautz feared it was too heavily guarded and that Confederate forces knew his movements, so he decided to ride west; before leaving, preparations to set the mines at Coalfield on fire were stopped after Col. Samuel P. Wetherill of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry argued against it, and the coal field was saved. After moving 4 miles west and resting briefly in cold rain without fires, the raid continued on May 13th with the destruction of supplies and buildings at Powhatan Station. On May 14th the cavalrymen skirmished with Confederate troops at Flat Creek near Chula, then continued south toward the Meherrin River, burning railroad buildings and tearing up track at several other locations. By May 18th Kautz had returned his men to Federal lines at City Point. The raid destroyed some supplies and railroad property, but the damage was quickly repaired and the operation caused only a temporary disruption to the Confederate supply system.