On 16 May 1864, Confederate forces under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard attacked southward across a three-mile front, struck the Union Army of the James under Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and pushed it across Proctor's Creek, away from Richmond and toward Bermuda Hundred. In this vicinity, Col. William B. Barton's brigade of the Union 10th Corps defended against North Carolinians in the brigades of Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Clingman and Brig. Gen. Matthew W. Ransom. The fighting on this ground contributed to the eventual Union retreat and caused heavy losses on both sides.