Battle of Williamsburg

Overview

The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, in which nearly 41,000 Federals and 32,000 Confederates were engaged, fighting an inconclusive battle that ended with the Confederates continuing their withdrawal.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Williamsburg was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, engaging nearly 41,000 Federal troops against roughly 32,000 Confederates in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia. The engagement proved inconclusive: Union forces under McClellan failed to decisively halt or destroy Johnston's army, while Confederate forces under Johnston and Longstreet inflicted over 2,200 Union casualties before continuing their planned withdrawal up the Peninsula. The result preserved the Confederate retreat intact and foreclosed an early Union opportunity to bring Johnston's army to a decisive engagement. Within the Peninsula Campaign as a whole, Williamsburg illustrated the pattern that would define the operation — Federal numerical superiority failing to translate into the destruction of Confederate forces — and set the conditions for the prolonged approach toward Richmond that followed.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)