On May 5, 1864, Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James landed at Bermuda Hundred to sever Confederate communication lines between Richmond and Petersburg. Five days later, to keep the connection open, 2,000 Confederates under Gen. Robert Ransom advanced south from Drewry's Bluff along the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, present-day U.S. Rte 1. Three Federal infantry regiments and part of the 1st Connecticut Light Battery formed a defensive line here from the Winfree House east to the turnpike. In 100° heat, the Confederates twice tried to break the line. The 9th and 38th Virginia Infantry charged down the turnpike, and part of the 169th New York Infantry gave way, abandoning a cannon. The 14th, 53rd, and 57th Virginia Infantry then converged from three directions to assault the Federals near the Winfree House. As the defenders' ammunition dwindled, Union infantry and artillery reinforcements arrived, deploying directly into the Winfree House lane along the turnpike and checking the Virginians' advance. Outnumbered, the Confederates gave ground. When Federal artillery shells ignited the woods, wounded soldiers on both sides were in danger of incineration, and as the fighting dwindled, a flag of truce was agreed on to rescue them. When night fell, the Confederates retired to Drewry's Bluff and the Federals withdrew east to Bermuda Hundred, leaving the smoldering battlefield behind. They had failed to cut the Confederate communication lines and remained for months on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula.