Redwater Creek Engagement

While Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James entrenched at Bermuda Hundred on 11 May 1864, Confederate Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke led parts of two divisions north from Petersburg to unite with Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom's division near Drewry's Bluff and Proctor's Creek. Once there, Hoke formed the Confederate left wing with Ransom on the right facing south. At dawn on 12 May, Union Maj. Gen. William F. Smith led his corps through the Federal line to present-day U.S. Rte. 1, then north toward Richmond. After a mile, here at Redwater Creek, a Confederate skirmish line stopped Smith and then fell back to Proctor's Creek.