Peninsula Campaign

Peninsula Campaign is a Virginia historical marker in New Kent County, dedicated 2016.

Eltham Road, near intersection with Virginia Ave.

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After fighting to a draw in the Battle of Williamsburg on 5 May 1862, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army withdrew toward Richmond. Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, hoping to block Johnston’s line of retreat, ordered a division under Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin to steam up the York River and disembark across from West Point, about a mile northeast of here. Franklin’s men unloaded at a pontoon wharf and deployed in the nearby woods on 6-7 May. Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith attacked in this vicinity on 7 May and pushed the Union forces back toward the river, allowing Johnston’s main column to proceed westward without interference.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Virginia (Herman Boye, 1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Official map of the state of Virginia (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1862 · Map of the battle ground near Richmond, showing plainly, every point of interest of the… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1863 · Map of eastern Virginia (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1865 · Central Virginia showing Lieut Gen'l U.S. Grant's Campaign and Marches. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Central Virginia showing Lieut Gen'l U.S. Grant's Campaign and Marches, 1865, covering the location of Peninsula Campaign, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Central Virginia showing Lieut Gen'l U.S. Grant's Campaign and Marches, 1865, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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