With the confusion over the river crossings solved Hancock set out down the Telegraph Road for the Chesterfield Bridge and Warren headed west for Jericho’s Mill and ford. As Hancock moved forward he became confused once again. He had arrived at a stream with steep banks but there was no bridge and no Confederates. He reported back that he had reached the river but shortly thereafter corrected himself, he was actually at Long Creek and the river was 500 yards further down the road.

The South Carolinians in and around Henagan’s Redoubt, as they saw the massive Union force assembling for attack, were starting to get concerned as no reinforcements were moving across the bridge and they hadn’t been given the order to withdraw. Around 6:00 PM Federal artillery opened fire, the battle on the eastern part of the battlefield had begun.

Several shells the artillerists fired nearly changed the entire complexion of the war. The shells were fired at the Ellington House, the home of Dr. Fox that was behind Confederate lines. Robert E. Lee had set up his headquarters there and was drinking a glass of buttermilk on the porch when a shell struck right next to him, hitting the front door frame, but not exploding. Another shell struck the chimney knocking down the top 10 feet. Bricks rained down near Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander injuring him. Another staff member was killed. The area of the door frame where the shell struck can still be seen today.

Hancock’s division began their advance at 6:30 PM. Gibbons’ division advanced down and to the east of the railroad tracks, while Barlow’s division was to the right of the tracks, shown on the map below.

Three of Birney’s brigades attacked the South Carolinians at Henagan’s Redoubt in the front and both flanks, shown in the map below.

In the image below taken from the Telegraph Road trace Birney’s men would be charging toward the camera.

The South Carolinians were vastly outnumbered with their four regiments facing three brigades. The regiments on the flanks, outside the fort, were the first to break. The 7th SC broke first followed by the 3rd SC. The men fleeing toward the river. Captain Jonathan Kirk of Company F of the 20th IN captured 13 of them for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. As Birney’s men charged Henagan’s Redoubt they reached a moat that was five feet deep. From the bottom of the ditch to the top of the fort’s wall was about 10 feet. The walls were too steep to climb so some of the men stuck their bayoneted rifles into the walls and used them as steps to climb the walls. Others were hoisted up by, or climbed onto, the shoulders of fellow soldiers. Images of the exterior wall of the redoubt are shown below. The fort is on private property and images were taken from a public road.

Zoom lens views of the redoubt from left to right.

As the men in the fort fled down the Telegraph Road and crossed the Chesterfield bridge they attempted to set it on fire but failed. Many fell off the bridge in the chaos and drowned. On the eastern side of the field as the Confederates withdrew they burned the railroad bridge.

The bridge abutment in the image above is shown in the two images below at 37.8879919,-77.4657221.

The image below, taken from the road, shows the Telegraph Road trace as it heads across private property and descends toward the North Anna River and the location of the wartime Chesterfield bridge. Just to the right behind the corn field in the tree line is Fort Henagan.

On the western side of the battlefield Warren found the Jericho’s Mill ford undefended and crossed the river by 1:30 PM. The southern bank was steep and he had his engineers cut a new road to move his supply wagons and artillery across. He aligned his men as shown in the map below.

Federal skirmishers were within sight of Noel Station on the Virginia Central Railroad. They were spotted by Colonel Joseph Brown who was about to withdraw east toward Anderson’s Tavern when Wilcox arrived with the remainder of the Light Division around 5:00 PM, see map below. Rooney Lee rode up telling Wilcox that the Federals that had crossed the river were only 2 brigades of cavalry that should present no problems for an infantry division. He was mistaken it was the entire V Corps. The images below were taken on the tracks where Noel Station was located.

As seen in the map above Warren’s men were deployed in a bend in the river. The right side of Warren’s line was slow to move into line. Cutler’s division had been allowed to rest and cook their dinner. As Robinson’s brigade (the “Iron Brigade”) was linking up with Sweitzer’s brigade of Griffin’s division Wilcox attacked at 6:00 PM. Cutler’s remaining brigades under Colonel Edward Bragg and William Hoffman were still moving west, and Colonel Peter Lyle’s brigade was still back at the ford. The Iron Brigade’s flank was in the air and that was where the Rebels attacked, aligned as shown in the map above.

Lane’s North Carolinians struck Crawford’s division. Inexplicably, Crawford and his staff, so surprised by the attack, jumped on their horses and fled the field leaving his brigade commanders on their own. Brown’s men had difficulty getting through the dense woods leaving Lane’s left flank unprotected and the 37th NC under fire from Ayers’s brigade broke. Lane managed to reform them but they broke again. Because of the way the Confederates advanced Thomas and Lowrance overlapped the Federal right. They flanked the two Federal brigades of Robinson and Bragg and the Yankees broke toward the rear. Bragg galloped away in a panic. Sweitzer refused his line to try and guard his right flank, see map below. Wilcox was on the brink of driving Warren from the field.

Cutler ordered up Captain Charles Mink’s four guns of his battery (Battery H 1st NY Light Artillery). Wainwright brought up 2 more batteries (Matthewson and Walcott) and all three batteries, a total of 12 guns, unloaded canister into the advancing Confederates. As Thomas’ brigade of Georgians were advancing on the Federal guns, Brigadier General Joseph Bartlett’s brigade of Griffin’s division who were in reserve were moving forward. Bartlett divided his brigade sending the 20th ME, 18th MA, 44th NY and 118th PA straight forward to support Sweitzer, and the 1st and 18th MI and 83rd PA to the right which Cutler had vacated. Now reinforced Sweitzer drove McGowan’s South Carolinians from the field. Colonel Brown was captured. Thomas’ right flank was enfiladed by the other half of Barlett’s brigade and caught in a crossfire broke. This exposed Lowrance’s flank and they withdrew as well. Warren advanced Hoffman’s brigade on the right, and the Confederates were driven from the field. Hill finally sent Heth to reinforce Wilcox but by this time it was too late, darkness was settling in and Warren called off the chase. The fighting on the western part of the battlefield had nearly resulted in a complete disaster for Warren’s V Corps. Only Union artillery had saved them from complete destruction. Grant now had two of his corps across the North Anna River at the end of the day. Warren’s V Corps on Lee’s left across the Jericho’s Mill ford and Hancock’s II Corps on Lee’s right across the Chesterfield bridge. Things looked bad for the Army of Northern Virginia.

The American Battlefield Trust purchased 665 acres at North Anna, representing the entirety of the May 23, 1864 combat area at Jericho Mill.  The pristine landscape, includes more than two miles of North Anna River frontage and original Civil War structures. The property was conveyed to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Richmond National Battlefield Park. The preservation includes land on both sides of the North Anna River, including the ruins of Jericho Mill itself, and the site of the Union pontoon bridges. This area was known historically as the Fontaine Farm, “one of the most picturesque spots on all the battlegrounds of Virginia.” Also on the property include traces of the access road fashioned by Federal engineers, and artillery pits dug by Yankee gunners. Pictures of the mill can be seen at this Emerging Civil War post. War time images of the mill and the pontoon bridges from the south side of the river are shown below, source LOC.

The pictures of this field were taken from the above sign looking sequentially from north to south at the end of the public road. They correspond to the red enclosed image on the satellite map shown below.

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