Military Operations at Chaffin's Farm
The nature of warfare evolved dramatically during the final ten
months of the war. Static war in the trenches replaced the
freewheeling mass movements of earlier campaigns. This began at
Cold Harbor in June 1864 and progressed southward to the series
of battles around Petersburg. These affairs occasionally erupted
in full-scale battles. The Battle of Chaffin's Farm is a
particularly illustrative example of a late war engagement.
From the very beginning of the war, Confederate engineers worked
feverishly to build permanent defenses around Richmond. By 1864,
they had created a system anchored south of the capital on the
James River at Chaffin's Farm, a large open bluff named for a
local resident. This outer line was supported by an intermediate
and inner system of fortifications much closer to the capital.
The strength of these lines remained untested until September
1864 when Union General Ulysses S. Grant tried to capture
Richmond or Petersburg by attacking simultaneously north and
south of the James. The attack north of the river occurred on
September 29. Federal general Benjamin Butler commanded the
attackers who captured the strategically important New Market
Heights in the early morning. Other elements of Butler's forces
then overwhelmed the Confederate defenders inside Fort Harrison.
However, uncoordinated attacks against Forts Gilmer, Gregg and
Johnson all encountered dismal failure, leaving Butler and Grant
chagrined at only partial success. A Confederate counterattack
on September 30 proved equally futile, and the two armies
settled into trench warfare that continued until the end of the
war. This fighting around Chaffin's Farm cost the nation nearly
5,000 casualties.
