Williamsburg, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Redoubt 1
Engineers Debate the Williamsburg Line
— 1862 Peninsula Campaign —
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 10, 2008
1. Redoubt 1 Marker
Inscription.
Redoubt 1. Engineers Debate the Williamsburg Line. Because Lt. Col. Benjamin S. Ewell had made little progress on the Williamsburg defenses by late June 1861, Gen. John B. Magruder, commanding the Army of the Peninsula, replaced him with Gen. Lafayette McLaws. Capt. Alfred L. Rives, acting chief of the Engineer Bureau in Richmond and an 1848 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, disliked Ewell’s concept of a defense based on interlocking redoubts (detached fortifications linked by rifle pits) but gave in. He later wrote that when “one redoubt is carried … the troops cease to have confidence in the whole line and the defense … is most defective.” He also found Ewell’s proposed line, which ran north from College Creek through Williamsburg, would have required leveling part of the town to clear fields of fire. Rives suggested a line east of town to take advantage of terrain features. Ewell thought it too long, requiring too many men to defend it. Magruder, a West Point trained engineer like Ewell and McLaws, agreed with Rives’s choice of location and ordered McLaws to begin work on July 9, 1861., Soldiers and impressed slaves constructed the line, beginning here with Redoubt 1 and continuing four miles across the Peninsula to Redoubt 14 at Cub Run Creek. The redoubts stood 600 to 800 yards apart, with the largest, Fort Magruder (Redoubt 6), in the center guarding the Williamsburg Road. Cleared fields of fire, rifle pits and abatis (felled trees with sharpened branches pointing toward the enemy) fronted each redoubt. Redoubt 1, one of the largest fortifications, mounted three artillery pieces behind a mile-long ravine overlooking Tutter’s Mill Pond, a tributary of College Creek, and Quarterpath Road. The line was unfinished when the Federals began marching up the Peninsula on April 4, 1862.
Because Lt. Col. Benjamin S. Ewell had made little progress on the Williamsburg defenses by late June 1861, Gen. John B. Magruder, commanding the Army of the Peninsula, replaced him with Gen. Lafayette McLaws. Capt. Alfred L. Rives, acting chief of the Engineer Bureau in Richmond and an 1848 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, disliked Ewell’s concept of a defense based on interlocking redoubts (detached fortifications linked by rifle pits) but gave in. He later wrote that when “one redoubt is carried … the troops cease to have confidence in the whole line and the defense … is most defective.” He also found Ewell’s proposed line, which ran north from College Creek through Williamsburg, would have required leveling part of the town to clear fields of fire. Rives suggested a line east of town to take advantage of terrain features. Ewell thought it too long, requiring too many men to defend it. Magruder, a West Point trained engineer like Ewell and McLaws, agreed with Rives’s choice of location and ordered McLaws to begin work on July 9, 1861.
Soldiers and impressed slaves constructed the line, beginning here with Redoubt 1 and continuing four miles across the Peninsula to Redoubt 14 at Cub Run Creek. The redoubts stood 600 to 800 yards apart, with the largest, Fort Magruder (Redoubt 6), in the center guarding
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the Williamsburg Road. Cleared fields of fire, rifle pits and abatis (felled trees with sharpened branches pointing toward the enemy) fronted each redoubt. Redoubt 1, one of the largest fortifications, mounted three artillery pieces behind a mile-long ravine overlooking Tutter’s Mill Pond, a tributary of College Creek, and Quarterpath Road. The line was unfinished when the Federals began marching up the Peninsula on April 4, 1862.
Location. 37° 15.258′ N, 76° 41.15′ W. Marker is in Williamsburg, Virginia. Marker can be reached from Quarterpath Road, on the left when traveling south. Marker is located in Redoubt Park on Quarterpath Road in Williamsburg. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Williamsburg VA 23185, United States of America. Touch for directions.
More about this marker. The marker contains photographs of Gen. John B. Magruder and Gen. Lafayette McLaws, Courtesy of Library of Congress, and of Benjamin S. Ewell, Courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy. Also on the marker is a picture of Ft. Magruder and other Williamsburg redoubts from Battles and Leaders and a map of the Williamsburg Line fortifications.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Markers on the walking trail of Williamsburg’s Redoubt Park.
Also see . . . 1. Battle of Williamsburg, 5 May 1862. Williamsburg was the first large battlefield encounter between Union and Confederate forces during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. (Submitted on August 20, 2008, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.)
This is an example of the earthworks located in the vicinity of the marker.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 10, 2008
5. Redoubt 1
The walls of Redoubt 1 can be seen in this photo behind the marker.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin
6. Williamsburg Redoubt Park
This park on Quarterpath Road contains a walking path that traverses the Confederate fortifications of the "Williamsburg Line." Several Civil War Trails signs are found along the path.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 10, 2008
7. Williamsburg Line
The map on the marker shows the locations of each of the Confederate redoubts that made up the Williamsburg Line.
Credits. This page was last revised on April 27, 2021. It was originally submitted on August 20, 2008, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 4,002 times since then and 39 times this year. Last updated on April 24, 2021, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on August 20, 2008, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.