The Battle of Staunton River Bridge was an engagement on June 25, 1864, between Union and Confederate forces during Wilson-Kautz Raid of the American Civil War. The battle took place around the Staunton River Bridge, over the Staunton River, in Halifax and Charlotte counties, Virginia.
During the month of June 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was commanding the Army of Northern Virginia in the defense of Petersburg, Virginia, against the Union siege under the command of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The Confederate forces were dependent on the flow of supplies from the south and west along the South Side and Richmond and Danville Railroad lines, and Grant realized that without these supplies the Confederates would be forced to abandon Petersburg.
Thus, Grant decided to dispatch Union cavalry to raid the rail lines and destroy them, thus cutting Lee off from his supplies. On June 22, 5,000 Union cavalry and 16 artillery pieces were pulled from the siege of Petersburg and sent, under the command of Brig. Gens. James H. Wilson and August V. Kautz, to destroy the lines of supply. During the next three days, despite pursuit and harassment from Confederate cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee, the Union cavalry succeeded in destroying 60 miles (97 km) of railway.
The Staunton River Bridge runs south-southwest to north-northeast over the River Staunton (which itself runs northwest to southeast) and along it runs the Richmond and Danville Railroad, a vital part of the supply system for the besieged Army of Northern Virginia. The bridge was defended by 296 Confederate reservists under the command of Captain Benjamin L. Farinholt, who had been warned on June 23 that Union cavalry forces were approaching his position. Heeding this warning, Farinholt dispatched couriers to the nearby areas of Halifax, Charlotte, and Mecklenburg in order to recruit additional forces, and on the morning of the battle, 642 reinforcements arrived, of whom 150 were regular soldiers and the rest volunteer fighters.
Realizing that he would be under the surveillance of Union scouts, Farinholt ordered a train to run continually along the line from his position to a station further south in order to create the impression that he was receiving continual reinforcements. The illusion was further strengthened by Mrs. Nancy Mcphail, Mulberry Hill plantation owner's wife, who in addition to hosting Union wounded during the battle, informed the Union forces that up to 10,000 Confederate forces awaited them at the bridge. In reality, there were only 938 men.
As well as these 938 men, Farinholt commanded two earthwork sites on the southern bank of the river, and he positioned his 6 artillery pieces accordingly, with four in the fortress on the Eastern side of the rail line, and two on the western side. He also had constructed a network of concealed rifle trenches between the earthwork defenses and the bridge itself.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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