Auto Tour- the Road to Totopotomoy Creek

Grant stymied by Lee once again would divide his army into two columns and move around Lee’s right flank for the third time. They would travel via a series of roads moving southeast on the eastern side of the Pamunkey River and then swing back west and cross the river at Nelson’s Ford and Dabney’s Ferry, shown in the map below. The V and IX Corps would take a route further to the east than the II and VI Corps. Sheridan’s Cavalry and the engineers would move in advance to construct and then secure the river crossings.

Bethel Church- 37.827397, -77.3449013. Bethel Church served as General Hancock’s (II Corps) headquarters for a short time on the evening of May 27th.

Mangohick Church- 37.8098259, -77.273352. Grant and Meade rode with the second column further to the east. The IX Corps was following the V Corps on a route that would take them past Mangohick Church. About 1:00 PM on May 27th Grant and Meade arrived here. Meade used a nearby home as his headquarters, the Thompson house, while Grant slept in a tent. The V and IX Corps went into camp about a mile to the north.

Hebron Church- 37.8002366, -77.2605955. The V and IX Corps were on the road early on the 28th. They passed Mangohick Church by 7:00 AM and headed south onto Dabney’s Mill Road at the Hebron Church.

The river crossing at Nelson’s Bridge- 37.7221104, -77.2864852. The II and V Corps would cross here on a pontoon bridge constructed by the 50th NY Engineers. The column would travel past Wyoming, the Widow Nelson’s house, where Confederate Colonel Bradley Johnson had been just hours before seeking information on the location of the Union Army.

The Pamunkey River at the modern-day bridge- 37.7153303, -77.2891979.

**Looking upriver at the location of the wartime pontoon bridge**

The river crossing near Hanoverton- The crossing here at Dabney’s Ferry was to the south of Nelson’s bridge and was where the V and IX Corps crossed the Pamunkey. Brigadier General George Custer ordered Colonel Peter Stagg and his 1st MI Cavalry to establish a bridgehead on the south shore of the river. On the north bank they came under fire from 60 men of the 5th NC Cavalry, which they temporarily drove back. Captain M. Van Brocklin’s 50th NY Engineers began work on the bridge losing one man to Confederate sharpshooters in the process. Their 8 pontoon bridge spanned 180 feet. Once completed Captain Folwell, commanding the second pontoon train, built another bridge a few yards upstream.

Text- A once thriving village which in 1761 by a small vote missed being capital of Virginia. Here on May 27, 1864 the Federal army under Lt. General Grant crossed the Pamunkey in its movement from the Wilderness to the James. Here also crossed Sheridan and Dahlgren in their raids.

Battle of Hanoverton or Pollard’s/Hundley’s Farm- 37.7126504, -77.3008833. After establishing a foothold at Hanoverton, Torbert divided Custer’s brigade in two and sent them forward to reconnoiter west. Colonel Peter Stagg’s (1st MI) and Major James Kidd’s (6th MI) regiments moved west along Hanover River Road, while Custer rode with Captain William Magoffin’s (5th MI) and Major Alexander Walker’s (7th MI) regiments south toward Haw’s Shop. About a mile outside Hanovertown, the 1st and 6th MI reached Mrs. Hundley’s farm where they encountered Confederate cavalry under Colonel John A. Baker. Baker had dismounted the 1st, 2nd and 5th NC Cavalry behind barricades in the woods east of Mrs. Hundley’s farm. He then sent the 3rd NC Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Waddell, east along the Hanover River Road. It was there that they encountered the 1st and 6th MI. The North Carolinians fell back to Baker’s concealed line where they surprised the Michiganders. The Federals dismounted on both sides of the road and sent a courier requesting reinforcements. Major General Fitzhugh Lee reinforced Baker with Colonel Bradley T. Johnson’s 250-man 1st MD Cavalry. Baker and Johnson formulated a plan to capture the Federals. While Baker held Custer’s two brigades in his front, Johnson would take the 1st MD and a squad from the 5th NC Cavalry, travel southeast past Pollard’s farm to Haw’s Shop, then head north and come in behind the Michiganders. The area of the battle is shown below. Shortly after Johnson left, Kirk’s requested reinforcements arrived, the 17th PA Cavalry and 9th NY Cavalry, under Brigadier General Devin. As Johnson’s Confederates were moving around the Federals rear, Union General Torbert had developed a mirror image plan using Custer’s men to get around the Confederates rear on the very same road Johnson was moving on. The two groups met head on. Custer defeated Johnson’s men and headed northwest to deal with Baker on the Hundley Farm. Baker, in no position to fend off Custer, escaped west toward Hanover Court House. The area of the battle is superimposed on a modern satellite map shown below.

**The Battle of Hanoverton-** **Modern day satellite image with the troop dispositions shown. The black H just to the left of Baker’s line, shown as a red thick line, represents the location of the Hundley Farm.** **The red dot is the location where the pictures were taken.**

The series of pictures below were taken at 37.7126504, -77.3008833 starting looking south down Williamsville Road moving southwest, west and northwest until looking north on the road. The area to the west was the area that the Confederates fled across after the battle.