The Battle of Darbytown Road (October 7th - 13th, 1864)

­­After the Army of the James captured Fort Harrison and Richmond’s outer defenses following the Battles of Chaffins Farm and New Market Heights, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered multiple failing counterattacks. In a failed attempt to recapture their former fortifications near Fort Harrison, The Battle of Darbytown Road would be the last offensive action by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia north of the James River. This battle, a series of skirmishes, occurred between October 7 – 13, a part of the Richmond-Petersburg campaign. This Battle ended with the Confederate force’s briefly recapturing but failing to hold their former position as they ultimately fell back to fortify closer to Richmond.

Prior to the skirmishes that occurred at Darbytown Road between Union and Confederate forces, the Army of the James captured portions of Richmond’s outer defenses as well as Fort Harrison during the Battles of New Market Heights and Chaffins Farm. Fitting into the larger plan by Union General Ulysses S. Grant to cut off the Confederate’s supply lines into Richmond/Petersburg to drain General Lee and his forces. Angered over the Union having gained a strategic foothold near Richmond, Lee ordered an initial counterattack the day after the battle at New Markets, which failed. Later, on October 7, Lee ordered another counterattack against the Union position, the first of a series of conflicts’ at Darbytown Road.

The first conflict occurred on October 7, when Lee ordered Confederate Generals Charles W. Field and Robert F. Hooke to recapture the position along Darbytown Road and Fort Harrison. This conflict was the final advance of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia north of the James River. The battle was initially a Confederate success, as the combined assault of Fields and Hoke broke through Union General August V. Kautz’s calvary forces, forcing a Union retreat and the capture of 8 cannons. However, as the Confederate forces pursued the fleeing Union troops, they were slowed by nearby thickets and difficult terrain, which allowed Union General Alfred Terry time to call for reinforcements and fortify his position. The retreating Union forces were now resupplied and armed with valuable Spencer repeating rifles. Holding advantageous artillery and fortified positions, Union forces destroyed the advancing Confederate brigades and succeeded in stopping Field’s forces. Field’s advance failed, in part, due to not receiving aid as Lee planned by fellow General Hoke. Thus, Terry’s forces recaptured the Union position at Darbytown Road. During the Confederate retreat, Confederate General John Gregg was killed. This first conflict along Darbytown Road resulted in the Confederates losing defensive ground, and now pushed back to Richmond.

The second conflict along Darbytown Road occurred on October 13. Lee, having failed to recapture the defensive position the Union now firmly held near Darbytown Road, ordered the construction of further fortifications outside of Richmond’s defensive line on October 11. Lee ordered Field and Hoke to build this new defensive line between Richmond’s inner line and the Union position, with the goal of connecting nearby Fort Gilmer to Charles City Road, leading to Darbytown. When Union pickets detected this construction, it was reported to General Kautz who moved it up the chain of command, leading to General Grant advising General Butler, head of the Army of the James, to send a reconnaissance force to test the Confederate defenses. Union forces would attack the new Confederate defensive position; however it proved unsuccessful as the Confederates repelled Union forces and finished the construction of their new fortifications.

The final conflict that occurred on Darbytown Road took place on October 27. Union forces, again led by General Butler, would test the Confederate defensive lines near Darbytown Road. This conflict, commonly known as the 2nd Battle of Fair Oaks, saw the joint offense of Union Generals Terry, Weitzel, and Kautz defeated. This final conflict on Darbytown road was the last attempt by the Union to capture Richmond in 1864 and helped set the stage of the siege of Richmond.

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