Magruder's Defenses

Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, commander of Confederate troops on the Peninsula from May 1861 until April 1862, oversaw the construction of three defensive lines designed to protect Richmond from an overland attack. The westernmost of these lines, a series of 14 earthworks, crossed the Peninsula here, stretching nearly four miles from College Creek to Queens Creek. Confederate troops and enslaved and free Black laborers built the fortifications. Fort Magruder, at the main approach to Williamsburg from the east, was the largest of the redoubts. The Battle of Williamsburg took place along this line on 5 May 1862 as Union forces advanced toward Richmond, pursuing the westward-moving Confederate army.