Seven Days' Battles--Battle of Beaver Dam Creek

The Civil War battle of Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville) began on the afternoon of 26 June 1862. Confederate Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill's division crossed the Chickahominy upstream at Meadow Bridges and encountered Union skirmishers. The Federals fell back to a strong position east of Beaver Dam Creek at Ellerson's Mill. There the Confederates attacked along a two-mile front, but were repulsed by Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter's V Corps. That night Union forces abandoned their position and occupied a new defensive line behind Boatswain's Creek, where the Battle of Gaines's Mill took place the next day.