Aquia Landing's position on the Potomac River and its connection to the R.F.&P. Railroad made it an important Union supply base, where food, clothing, and equipment were shipped down the river, unloaded, and sent by train to the front. Confederate troops destroyed Aquia Landing in April 1862 and tore up the railroad tracks between it and Fredericksburg, but the Union Army immediately rebuilt the facilities before destroying them again when it evacuated the area in September. In November 1862, Gen. Ambrose Burnside rebuilt Aquia Landing to supply his army during the Fredericksburg Campaign and added another wharf at Youbedam Point farther out on the Potomac River because the water at Aquia Landing was too shallow for deep-draft vessels. After Federal forces abandoned Aquia Landing and marched north to Gettysburg, Confederates destroyed these structures in June 1863. In May 1864, Gen. U.S. Grant used Belle Plains, six miles southeast, as his main supply base while Aquia Landing was rebuilt, but as he advanced toward Richmond he abandoned Aquia in favor of depots farther south, and Confederates destroyed it once more after the Federals left; it was never rebuilt. Aquia Landing also served in moving troops, including the Ninth Corps embarking at Aquia Creek in February 1863 en route to Newport News, Virginia.