The Bermuda Campaign

As part of Ulysses S. Grant’s overall strategic plan to win the Civil War, Gen. Butler’s Federal army advanced up the James River in the spring of 1864 in an effort to operate against Richmond from the south while the Army of the Potomac approached the Confederate capital from the north. Opposed by Confederate forces hastily gathered from three states by Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, Butler’s army seized a base at the Bermuda Hundred Landing and maneuvered for 10 days between Richmond and Petersburg before being defeated at the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff. Withdrawing into a fortified position at Bermuda Hundred, Butler made three abortive attempts to seize Petersburg before the arrival of the Army of the Potomac in June ended both Butler’s independence and the Bermuda Hundred Campaign.

Bellwood, Virginia · United States