“Every Kind of Obstruction was Skillfully Used”

“Every Kind of Obstruction was Skillfully Used”. 1862 Peninsula Campaign. The Battle of Dam No. 1 proved a lost opportunity for the Union Army to break the Warwick-Yorktown line and force a Confederate withdrawal toward Richmond. Instead, Major General George McClellan spent another 17 days completing his heavy artillery emplacements. Furthermore, the Confederates retreated two days before the proposed Union grand barrage on May 5, 1862. Major General “Prince” John Magruder’s troop maneuvers and elaborate defenses on the Warwick-Yorktown line halted the Army of the Potomac for one month. . . The Union engineers detailed the abandoned Confederate artillery and surveyed their fortifications. Brigadier General John G. Barnard (the Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac) reported, “every kind of obstruction which the country offered, such as abatis, marsh, inundation was skillfully used. The line is certainly one of the most extensive known in modern times.” Thereby, the Confederacy gained valuable time for preparing Richmond’s defenses. Today, the Warwick-Yorktown line remains one of the best preserved Civil War earthen fortifications in the country.