On 20 May 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Union army crossed the Chickahominy River over Bottom's Bridge into Henrico County. Here Maj. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes's Federal corps advanced over the bridge unopposed. As McClellan's army advanced on Richmond, the bridge served as a link between units deployed on both sides of the Chickahominy. When McClellan abandoned his supply base at White House on the Pamunkey River on 27-28 June 1862, a herd of cattle as well as some 4,000 wagons loaded with supplies and ammunition moved across Bottom's Bridge in his "change of base" to the James River.
