Situated on high ground two miles behind the Warwick-Yorktown line, this Confederate redoubt was built by the Confederate Army of the Peninsula and commanded a field of fire down the Great Warwick Road toward Lee’s Mill. It was also the site of a skirmish on May 4, 1862, after the Confederates evacuated the Warwick-Yorktown line on May 3 following a three-week siege. The next morning the Union Army occupied the Confederate earthworks and pursued the retreating Confederates. Federal IV Corps advanced up the Great Warwick Road from Lee’s Mill toward Lee Hall, with Brig. Gen. William “Baldy” Smith’s division leading the infantry march and Capt. William Chambliss’ squadron of the 5th U.S. Cavalry screening it. Elements of the Jeff Davis Legion of Mississippi, covering the Confederate retreat, waited in this redoubt for the Union advance. Capt. Chambliss reported that at the recent headquarters of General Magruder, on a commanding eminence with an earthwork in front, he again found enemy pickets strongly posted in the work and behind the building. Here the 5th U.S. Cavalry fought a brief skirmish with the Jeff Davis Legion. The Union troopers carried only revolvers and sabers, while the Confederates were armed with shotguns and carbines. Under heavy fire, Chambliss regrouped his squadron and sent out a flanking party, prompting the Mississippians to abandon the position and rejoin their comrades behind Skiffes Creek. Afterwards, Smith’s division marched past Lee Hall toward the cavalry and artillery battle near Williamsburg.
