Chester Station was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1864. The outcome was inconclusive.
On May 10, elements of Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom's division conducted a reconnaissance-in-force against a portion of Butler's army that was destroying the railroad at Chester Station. The Confederates attacked near the Winfree House, and the Federals retired to their Bermuda Hundred lines.
On May 10, 1864, Union and Confederate troops clashed at Chester Station in an engagement of the American Civil War. Confederate soldiers launched an assault against elements of the Union army under Benjamin Butler.
The clash at Chester Station formed a small piece of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, one that failed to produce a clear victor on either side. Union forces set the engagement in motion by launching an expedition aimed at the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, hoping to sever this vital communication link through outright destruction of the tracks. Confederate resistance came in the form of a reconnaissance-in-force made up of two brigades, commanded by Major General Robert Ransom, who pushed his men southward from Drewry's Bluff toward the area near the Winfree House. The fighting that followed was marked by fierce determination on both sides, with combatants clashing even in hand-to-hand struggle.
Union losses, according to Gen. Terry's figures, stood at 280 men killed, wounded, or missing, and he judged that Confederate casualties ran to at least double that figure, with roughly 50 men taken captive by Federal troops.
Barton's Brigade suffered its own toll, with returns listing 249 casualties across killed, wounded, and missing categories. Among the fallen was Lt. Col. Joseph R. Cabell, who had commanded the 38th Virginia Infantry.
An Ohio regiment found itself confronting two Confederate brigades and was forced backward even after reinforcements from Drake's brigade joined the fight. The Confederates, benefiting from greater numbers, managed to seize a single cannon, though Union troops later reclaimed it. Their momentum stalled once Hawley's brigade reached the field, and as Federal numbers continued to swell, the Confederates found themselves outnumbered and pulled back toward Drewry's Bluff. Federal forces, in turn, moved east toward Bermuda Hundred. Neither side could claim victory in the end; no surrender occurred, no defeat was suffered, and no territory changed hands permanently. Federal troops had managed to tear up a portion of railroad track, while Confederate forces prevented any further destruction beyond that point. In the aftermath, Maj. Gen. Ransom removed Brig. Gen. Barton from command, and Col. Alvin C. Voris earned a brevet promotion to Brigadier General in recognition of his conduct.
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