Two Civil War earthworks survive in New Quarter Park as reminders of a conflict that raged across the United States, especially the South, for four years. In Williamsburg, a majority of white people supported Virginia's secession, and College of William and Mary students and professors formed Company A of the 32nd Virginia Infantry. Early in the war, Major General George B. McClellan persuaded President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to launch the Peninsula Campaign, sending Union forces from Hampton up the James and York Rivers and along the Virginia Peninsula in an effort to capture Confederate government leaders in Richmond, force a quick end to the conflict, and preserve the Union. In April 1862, McClellan's Army of the Potomac, with over 120,000 troops, landed at the tip of the Peninsula to begin the campaign. About thirty miles and one month later, on May 4, 1862, the army reached the Williamsburg Line, a blockade of fourteen earthworks stretching across the Peninsula from College Creek on the James River to Queen's Creek on the York. Nearly 41,000 Federals fought 32,000 Confederates through the following day. Redoubt 12 and Redoubt 13, located about .25 mi SSE, were not occupied during the battle, which took place not far from the park's front gate. The fighting ended with 2,300 Union and 1,600 Confederate casualties, with more wounded. McClellan's forces won a tactical victory at the Battle of Williamsburg, but the Confederates escaped with their artillery toward Richmond, and his attempt to trap the retreating army failed. The Peninsula Campaign ended just east of Richmond with a Confederate victory during the Seven Days Battles, and that success prolonged the Civil War for another three bloody years.