Action at High Bridge M32
During the night of 6-7 April 1865, part of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia crossed the South Side Railroad’s High Bridge three miles north of here as Union armies under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pursued closely. After the last Confederate units crossed, elements of Maj. Gen. William Mahone’s division set fire to the bridge, as well as the small wagon bridge downstream. About 7 A.M. on 7 April, Maine Infantry arrived at the wagon bridge and extinguished the flames with their canteens and tents despite Confederate gunfire. Part of High Bridge burned and collapsed.

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Powhatan County Z50
Formed in 1777 from Cumberland and Chesterfield, and named for Powhatan, the noted Indian ruler. Many Huguenots settled in this county, 1699-1700. Here Robert E. Lee spent the summer of 1865.

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Westmoreland County Z6
Area 252 Square Miles Formed in 1653 from Northumberland and King George, and named for an English County. In it were born George Washington, James Monroe and Robert E. Lee.

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Shirley V6
The house is a short distance south. Shirley was first occupied in 1613 and was known as West-and-Shirley Hundred. In 1664, Edward Hill patented the place, which was left by the third Edward Hill to his sister, Elizabeth Carter, in 1720. Here was born Anne Hill Carter, Mother of Robert E. Lee, who often visited Shirley. The present house was built about 1740.

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Malvern Hill V4
Nearby stood the Malvern Hill manor house built for Thomas Cocke in the 17th century. The Marquis de Lafayette camped here in July-August 1781, and elements of the Virginia militia encamped nearby during the War of 1812. During the Civil War, 1 July 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee attacked Maj. Gen George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac here as it retreated to the James River from the gates of Richmond. Although he dealt Lee a bloody defeat, McClellan continued his withdrawal to Harrison’s Landing. The Malvern Hill house survived the battle as Federal headquarters but burned in 1905.

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Engagement at Malvern Cliffs PA240
On 30 June 1862, as Gen. Robert E. Lee concentrated his troops to attack Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s retreating Union army at Glendale, Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes’s bridade of Confederate troops moved down New Market Road on Lee’s right. Union forces on Malvern Hill noticed dust rising above the trees and suspected the movement of the Confederates on New Market Road. As he advanced, Holmes observed the Union troops atop Malvern Hill to the east and deployed his artillery and infantry. When the Confederate artillery opened fire, the massed Union artillery on the hill concentrated its fire-power on Holmes’s small force. Union gunboats joined in, and Holmes withdrew his force to the junction of Long Bridge Road. The Battle of Malvern Hill took place the next day.

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Turkey Island V5
Soon after landing at Jamestown in May 1607, Captain Christopher Newport, while exploring the James River discovered Turkey Island (two miles south). He named it for the large number of wild turkeys there. In 1684, William Randolph purchased Turkey Island; it then became the seat of the Randolph family. His descendants included Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Robert E. Lee. Robert Pickett acquired Turkey Island in 1836. During the Civil War, the large family dwelling was burned by Union troops. Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett and his family lived there in a small cottage after the war.

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Seven Days Battles Gaines's Mill PA23
On 25 June 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in the Seven Days’ Campaign to drive Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac from the gates of Richmond. By 27 June the Union left flank rested atop Turkey Hill near Gaines’s Mill. At first Lee’s piecemeal assaults failed, as Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill led his division down this slope and across Boatswain Swamp, followed on the right by Maj. Gen. James Longstreet. Finally, Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson arrived late in the afternoon; a coordinated attack then swept the Federals from the hill.

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Battle of Cold Harbor: Flag of Truce E130
On 5 June 1864, two hot days after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s bloody repulse of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s frontal assault, Federal Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman met Confederate Maj. Thomas J. Wooten nearby on Cold Harbor Road to initiate written communication on the plight of the Union wounded between the lines. Confederate Gen. A. P. Hill’s trenches stood 800 yards west, and skirmishers’ rifle pits survive only 200 yards away. Because Lee and Grant disagreed on terms, two more days elapsed before they observed a two-hour flag of truce. Only a few wounded federals were found alive. The remainder had either died, crawled to safety, or been retrieved under cover of darkness.

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Charles City Road W3
This strategically important road ran from the Williamsburg Road southeast past White’s Tavern, across White Oak Swamp, and into the Riddell’s Shop intersection with the Long Bridge and Darbytown roads, eight miles distant. As Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces converged on Riddell’s Shop on 29-30 June 1862 to cut off Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s retreating Union army, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger’s Confederate division moved along the Charles City Road, which had been obstructed by felled trees. After marching to within three miles of Riddell’s Shop on 29 June, Huger failed to advance or to take part in the Battle of Glendale on 30 June. He was relieved of command on 12 July.

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