The Jersey Boys

On the mid-morning of May 5, 1862, four regiments in the New Jersey brigade left the old Hampton Road in a driving rain and advanced toward the ravine to reinforce Union regiments that were out of ammunition and falling back. General Francis Patterson sent three regiments forward while keeping the 5th New Jersey back to support artillery. As shot and shell passed overhead, the 6th, 7th, and 8th New Jersey plunged into tangled undergrowth and met a hail of Confederate musketry in brutal hand-to-hand fighting where troops sometimes mistook friend for foe. Outnumbered and facing a heavy fire spreading around their left flank, the New Jersey men were exhausted, low on ammunition, and forced back by a dozen Confederate regiments. Union artillery behind them held fire until the Confederates came closer, and with the timely arrival of fresh Union soldiers under General Philip Kearny, the Confederates were pushed back. That night the Confederate army abandoned Williamsburg and retreated toward Richmond. The three New Jersey regiments suffered their bloodiest day of the Civil War here, losing more men in this battle than in any other, and General Joseph Hooker later praised their stubborn fighting, saying they were whipped three times but did not know it.

Virginia · United States