DREWRY'S BLUFF, Battle of. When General Grant began his campaign for Rich mond in May 1864, General Butler, commanding the Army of the James, was directed to be well up James River toward Richmond by daylight of the 5th and to push ahead with all energy. By the 6th Butler had reached and entrenched at Bermuda Hundred Neck. Kautz's cavalry division, moving from Suffolk, destroyed sev eral bridges on the Norfolk and Petersburg and Weldon railroads andjoined Butler on the 10th. On the 9th Butler advanced with the greater part of his force to strike the railroad connect ing Richmond and Petersburg, but his advance was barred by Swift Creek, which was found impassable and its bridges heavily guarded, upon which he ordered his troops to withdraw to their entrenchments; but the withdrawal was not effected without an attack by the Confederates on a detachment of the 10th Corps, in which the loss was severe on both sides. Butler's advance was barred by strong works on Drewry's Bluff on the right bank of the river, eight miles below Richmond. The works could not be reached by the navy, and on the land side the Bluff was defended by 22,000 infantry and over 2,000 cavalry, field artillery and heavy guns. On the 12th General Butler moved along the turnpike and after some fighting the Confeder ates fell back toward Drewry's Bluff. On the 15th there was heavy all-day skirmishing and some artillery firing, and General Beauregard issued orders for an attack next morning to cut Butler off from Bermuda Hundred and capture or destroy his army. The attack was made very early in the morning under cover of a dense fog; the right of Butler's line was turned and a large number of prisoners taken, compelling it to fall back a short distance. On the left
Butler's line held its ground and made some progress, but toward evening Butler ordered his troops to fall back and at night they were in the entrenchments at Bermuda Hundred. Beaure gard followed and entrenched in front of But ler's lines. As General Smith says, 'Toth corps re-entered the historic bottle, which was at once carefully corked by a Confederate earthwork.* On the 20th Beauregard assaulted and carried some of Butler's advanced lines and a sharp fight ensued to regain them, which was only par tially successful, a portion of them being re taken by Howell's brigade of the 10th Corps, which lost 702 men; the Confederate loss was nearly 800. On the 29th General Smith with three divisions of the 10th and 18th corps, 16,000 men, and 16 guns, left the Army of the James and joined the Army of the Potomac in time to take part in the battle of Cold Harbor. The Union forces engaged in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, 16 May, numbered about 16,000, the Con federates about 18,000. The Union loss, 14-16 May, was 390 killed, 2,380 wounded, 1,390 miss ing. The Confederate loss, 16 May,. was about 460 killed, 2,060 wounded, 212 missing. From 5-31 May, including all of Butler's engagements and Kautz's cavalry operations, the Union loss was 609 killed, 3,769 wounded, 1,580 missing; the Confederate loss for the same period cannot be definitely ascertained, but it was less than that of the Union forces. See (Official Records' (Vol. XXXVI) ; (Butler's Book' ; Grant, Per sonal Humphreys, The Virginia Campaign of 1864-65' ; Roman, 'Military Operations of General BeauregarrP (Vol. II) ; and 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War' (Vol. IV).