Military
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During April 1862, units of the 15th North Carolina, 7th Georgia, and 2nd Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., commanded by General J.B. Magruder, held the defensive line across the Virginia Peninsula along the Warwick River under Federal fire from the numerically superior Army of the Potomac under General G.B. McClellan. At the Battle of Lee’s Mill, also called the Battle of Dam No. 1, companies of the 3rd, 4th, and 6th Vermont Infantry twice crossed the river at this point in an effort to breach the line, but they were repulsed and suffered new casualties. The line held until May 4, 1862, when Confederate positions were evacuated in a general withdrawal toward Williamsburg. This stand at Lee’s Mill slowed the Union advance by a full month and contributed to the ultimate failure of the Federal Peninsula Campaign to take Richmond. Twenty Confederates, including Colonel William McKinney, commander of the 15th North Carolina, were killed.
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Newport News, Virginia · United States
