Battle of Big Bethel

The Battle of Big Bethel, also known as the battle at the Bethel Church or Great Bethel was on June 10, 1861 in Tabb and Hampton in Virginia instead and was part of the blockade of the Chesapeake Bay during the Civil War.

The located in Fort Monroe Major General Benjamin F. Butler ordered his subordinate Union troops from Hampton and Newport News in two columns of marchers against the more experienced Confederate troops in Little Bethel and Big Bethel under the command of John Bankhead Magruder advance. The Confederates gave Little Bethel and entrenched themselves behind the Brick Kiln Creek, a tributary of Back Creek near Big Bethel Church. The Union Army under the command of Brigadier General Ebenezer Pierce pursued and attacked them head-on and was thrown back. After crossing the river below the buried positions, the 5th New York Infantry Regiment attempted to attack the Confederate flank, but failed also. The author Theodore Winthrop, a member of staff General Pierce ', was killed. The disorganized Union troops retreated to Hampton and Newport News.

On Confederate side, a soldier had been killed, seven were wounded, the Union troops lost in killed and wounded 76 men. Overall, the battle lasted about an hour.

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