Siege of Yorktown (1862)

Trigger had chosen to approach the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, with an amphibious operation that landed troops on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula at Fort Monroe. His Army of the Potomac numbered 121,500 men, transported starting on March 17 by 389 vessels.[1] McClellan planned to use U.S. Navy forces to envelop Yorktown, but the emergence of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads (March 8–9, 1862) disrupted this plan. The threat of the Virginia on the James River and the heavy Confederate batteries at the mouth of the York River prevented the Navy from assuring McClellan that they could control either the York or the James, so he settled on a purely land approach toward Yorktown.[4]

The Confederate defenders of Yorktown, led by Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, initially numbered only 11–13,000 men;[5] the rest of the Confederate forces, under the overall command of General Joseph E. Johnston, remained spread out across eastern Virginia at Culpeper, Fredericksburg, and Norfolk. Magruder constructed a defensive line from Yorktown on the York River, behind the Warwick River, to Mulberry Point on the James River (even taking advantage of some trenches originally dug by Cornwallis in 1781[6]) to effectively block the full width of the Peninsula, although he could adequately man none of the defensive works at that time. This became known as the Warwick Line.

McClellan's plan called for Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman's III Corps to fix the Confederate troops in their trenches near the York River, while the IV Corps under Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes enveloped the Confederate right and cut off their lines of communication. McClellan and his staff, ignorant of the extent of Magruder's line, assumed the Confederates had concentrated only in the immediate vicinity of Yorktown.[7]

On the morning of April 17 it became obvious that no assault could be attempted at any point. At this point McClellan acquiesced to conducting "regular approaches" and ordered parallels to be dug for heavy artillery.[23] The siege preparations at Yorktown consisted of 15 batteries with more than 70 heavy guns, including two 200-pounder Parrotts and twelve 100-pounder Parrots, with the rest of the rifled pieces divided between 20-pounder and 30-pounder Parrotts and 4.5-inch (110 mm) Rodman siege rifles. These were augmented by 41 mortars, ranging in size from 8 inches (200 mm) to 13-inch (330 mm) seacoast mortars, which weighed over 10 tons and fired shells weighing 220 pounds. When fired in unison, these batteries would deliver over 7,000 pounds of ordnance onto the enemy positions with each volley.[24]

Union battery with 13-inch (330 mm) seacoast mortars, Model 1861, during siege of Yorktown, Virginia 1862.

McClellan had not given up hope of turning Yorktown. The commander of the York River flotilla, Missroon, had consistently refused to even approach the Yorktown batteries, citing the weakness of his ship. However, on 16 April the USS Sebago joined the flotilla, and her captain promptly reported Missroon's "cowardice". Missroon attempted to delay further by stating he'd only attack Yorktown if the opposite fortress at Gloucester Point was destroyed first. McClellan gave him the newly arrived division of Franklin as a landing force, but Missroon kept finding reasons not to land them. Finally on 30 April Missroon was relieved and replaced by Commander William Smith. Smith promptly closed with the Yorktown batteries and bombarded them. This would precipitate Johnston's retreat.[25]

For the remainder of April, the Confederates, now at ca. 72,000 effectives and under the direct command of Johnston, improved their defenses while McClellan undertook the laborious process of transporting and placing massive siege artillery batteries, which he planned to deploy on May 5. This would be followed by an assault by six divisions against "The Divide," a fortified line containing two forts (named the Red Redoubt and the White Redoubt) linked by continual trenchline between the head of the Warwick and the main fortress of Yorktown.

To Johnston, the naval bombardment of 30 April, and the initial Federal bombardment by the siege guns on 1 May were a signal that time was up. Johnston sent his supply train (which was small, because Yorktown was being supplied by water) in the direction of Richmond on May 3. That evening the rebels expended as much ordnance as possible to discourage pursuit, and when the last rebel infantry was clear, leaving booby traps and land mines in their works, the gunners set long fuses on the remaining powder and joined the retreat.

McClellan's guns and gunners near the lower wharf at Yorktown after the Confederate evacuation

Sometime after midnight on 4 May, two escaped slaves approached Hancock's brigade. They said the rebels were withdrawing. Hancock sent the message to Smith, who was awoken at 2 a.m. with this information, which was followed immediately by Lt. George Custer reporting he'd seen the same from a balloon. Still groggy, Smith sent the messenger up to Keyes, and ordered the pickets to investigate at dawn. Custer was not satisfied with this and rode forward to Brookes's Vermont Brigade and told him. He immediately woke his brigade and set them in place to make a dawn attack, and at 5.30 a.m. the Vermonters seized the fortifications they'd been repelled by on 16 April. Keyes's message apparently did not arrive until well into the morning.

Meanwhile, sometime between 3.15 and 4.00 a.m., General Jameson, the General of the Trenches for the day, was informed that there were explosions in Yorktown and picket firing. He woke General Porter, the Director of the Siege, with the information. Porter looked through at Yorktown and dismissed the rumour that the rebels were retreating. However at 4.30 a.m. three rebel soldiers surrendered to the Federals and were brought to Jameson. He went back to Porter who this time accepted the information, ordering that reconissances be immediately sent out and for several regiments to occupy Yorktown at dawn.

At 5.30 a.m. the news reached McClellan's HQ. Awoken by the news he then telegraphed Sumner, Smith and Porter to push forward and ascertain the truth of the matter. Other news soon came in, and McClellan ordered a general pursuit.[26] He sent cavalry under Brig. Gen. George Stoneman in pursuit and ordered Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin's division to reboard Navy transports, sail up the York River, and cut off Johnson's retreat. The stage was set for the subsequent Battle of Williamsburg and Battle of Eltham's Landing.[27]

• 
  Yorktown vicinity. Topographical engineers, Camp Winfield Scott May 2, 1862, by James F. Gibson;
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  [Top] Yorktown [Bottom] Richmond
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  Southwest View of Battery No. 1 at Farnhold's House, York River Mounting One 200 Pound and Five 100 Pound Rifled Guns by James F. Gibson
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  [Top] Union Battery No. 1; [Bottom] Farenhold mansion
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  Union Battery No. 1
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  [Top] Union Battery No. 1; [bottom]Union Battery No. 4 Yorktown
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  Union Battery No. 4 South & southeast of Yorktown
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  Union Battery No. 4 Yorktown
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  Union Battery No. 4 Yorktown
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  Union Battery No. 4 Yorktown
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  Cornwallis Cave
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  [Top] Scene of Cornwallis surrender
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  [Top] CS Naval Battery [Bottom] Cornwallis Hq used as a hospital
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  [Top]Confederate Fortifications [Bottom] MaGruder Headquarters
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  MaGruder Battery CSA
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
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  A confederate cannon that burst trying to reach Federal artillery Battery No. 1
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
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  Confederate Forticiations at Yorktown
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
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  Confederate Fortifications at Yorktown
• 
  Water Battery at Yorktown by James F. Gibson
• 
  File:View of Gloucester and Yorktown, by James F. Gibson

The Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 6 acres (0.024 km²) of the Lee's Mill section of the battlefield.[28]

• Burton, Brian K. The Peninsula & Seven Days: A Battlefield Guide. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-6246-1.
• Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
• Quarstein, John V., and J. Michael Moore. Yorktown's Civil War Siege: Drums Along the Warwick. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2012. ISBN 978-1-60949-656-2.
• Rickard, J. "Battle of Lee's Mill". Accessed August 2, 2010.
• Salmon, John S. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.
• Sears, Stephen W. To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign. Ticknor and Fields, 1992. ISBN 0-89919-790-6.

• National Park Service battle description
• CWSAC Report Update
• Virginia Civil War Traveler map

37.184°N 76.534°W / 37.184; -76.534