Old Church was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1864. It was a Union victory.
With the armies stalemated along the Totopotomoy Creek line, the Federal cavalry began probing east and south. On May 30, Torbert's Division attacked and defeated Butler's Brigade near Old Church. Butler's troopers were driven steadily back on the road to Old Cold Harbor, opening the door for Sheridan's capture of the important crossroads the next day.
While infantry clashed at Bethesda Church on May 30, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren grew anxious about his exposed position on the Union left and sent repeated pleas for help to Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, who led the Union Cavalry Corps. Sheridan's troopers sat near the Haw's Shop battlefield, massed there to guard the routes connecting to the supply depot at White House on the Pamunkey River and to New Castle Ferry, a corridor Maj. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith's XVIII Corps was expected to use on its way to reinforce the army. At first Sheridan brushed off Warren's appeals, still smarting from disputes the two had had back at Spotsylvania Court House. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who commanded the Army of the Potomac and had clashed with each of them on separate occasions, chose not to intervene. Eventually Warren's messages grew insistent enough that Sheridan relented and ordered his roads screened toward Warren's flank, handing the job to Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert's division. Torbert in turn passed the task down to Col. Thomas C. Devin's brigade, camped at the Old Church crossroads. Somewhere along this relay the orders lost their clarity. Warren had wanted the Old Church Road watched to the west, but Devin came away believing his job was to guard the Bottoms Bridge Road heading south to Old Cold Harbor instead. He posted his men in a strong defensive spot along the northern bank of Matadequin Creek and pushed a squadron of the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry forward across the creek to the Barker farm.
At the same time, without Sheridan's knowledge, Lee was fixated on the vital crossroads at Old Cold Harbor, a mere six miles from Richmond. To find out if the position faced danger, he sent Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butler's brigade of some 2,000 horsemen out from Mechanicsville. Butler brought along the 4th and 5th South Carolina Cavalry from his own command, choosing to leave the 6th South Carolina behind as too green for the task, and he was joined by Brig. Gen. Martin
Butler's brigade sent forward skirmishers who had little trouble driving the lone squadron of Pennsylvanians back toward Matadequin Creek. In response, Devin committed two additional squadrons of the 17th Pennsylvania, and under Maj. Coe Durland these troops charged forward and regained the ground the pickets had originally held. Believing he was up against nothing more than a small detachment, Devin held back further reinforcements. That changed around three in the afternoon, when Butler launched his full brigade forward and swept aside the Union picket line, though the outnumbered troopers put up a stubborn fight to keep the South Carolinians from getting across the water. Devin answered by feeding in two fresh regiments, placing the 6th New York on the right flank and the 9th New York on the left, bracketing the Pennsylvanians. On the Confederate side, Butler positioned the 4th South Carolina west of the roadway opposite the 6th New York, put the 5th South Carolina east of it facing the 9th New York, and kept the 7th South Carolina back in reserve.
Watching the action unfold, Torbert concluded that a mere three regiments could not hold off an entire Confederate brigade, so he called forward the remainder of his division. Wesley Merritt's reserve brigade got there first, and its 2nd U.S. Cav
Butler did manage to gain the intelligence Lee required, yet this marked the second occasion within three days-following Haw's Shop as well as Matadequin Creek-that Union horsemen had pushed Confederate cavalry into retreat. Custer's brigade again proved decisive in tipping the balance toward victory. The Union suffered roughly 90 casualties, while the Confederates lost about 188. This outcome cleared the way for Sheridan to seize the vital Old Cold Harbor crossroads on the following day, setting in motion the opening moves of the bloody Battle of Cold Harbor.
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