An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
In the summer of 1861, Union forces launched a desperate attempt to secure Mathias Point, a strategic bend in the Potomac River that Confederate troops used to disrupt shipping. What began as a routine landing quickly unraveled into a deadly ambush, claiming the life of Commander James H. Ward and forcing the Union to abandon…
Continue reading ➞ The Union’s Failed Gamble to Control Mathias Point
In late May and early June of 1861, Union gunboats of the newly formed Potomac Flotilla clashed with Confederate shore batteries at Aquia Landing, a key rail terminus on Virginia’s Potomac River. Over three days of bombardment, the USS Thomas Freeborn and supporting vessels attempted to silence the Confederate defenses, but despite sustaining damage, the…
Continue reading ➞ Fire on the Potomac: The Battle for Aquia Landing, 1861
In the spring and summer of 1861, James H. Ward and the Union’s Potomac Flotilla faced the daunting task of enforcing a blockade, securing safe passage for friendly river traffic, and countering Confederate shore batteries along the Potomac River. He would not live to see it succeed. At the start of the American Civil War,…
Connecticut-born James Harmon Ward (1806-1861) was a dyed in the wool Yankee steeped in his region's maritime tradition. He graduated from the American Literary Scientific and Military Academy at Norwich, Vermont in 1823 and entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman. His varied naval career included interdicting illegal slave traders off the African coast and…
At the end of May, the Union Potomac Flotilla failed to silence a Confederate shore battery near Aquia Landing on the Potomac River. Nearly a month later, Flotilla Commander James H. Ward sought to clear Mathias Point of Confederate skirmishers, who were using the woods as cover to harass passing ships with small arms fire.…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Engagement at Mathias Point
Spirit of '61 