Battle of Beaver Dam Creek

Fight at Beaver Creek
Alfred R. Waud, artist, June 26, 1862.

Date	June 26, 1862 (1862-06-26)
Location	Hanover County, Virginia 37°35′55″N 77°21′36″W / 37.5985°N 77.3599°W / 37.5985; -77.3599Coordinates: 37°35′55″N 77°21′36″W / 37.5985°N 77.3599°W / 37.5985; -77.3599
Result	Union Tactical victory; Confederate Strategic victory.

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Units involved

Strength

15,631

16,356

Casualties and losses

361 total
49 killed
207 wounded
105 missing

1,484

The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, also known as the Battle of Mechanicsville or Ellerson's Mill, took place on June 26, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as the first major engagement of the Seven Days Battles during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the start of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's counter-offensive against the Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, which threatened the Confederate capital of Richmond. Lee attempted to turn the Union right flank, north of the Chickahominy River, with troops under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, but Jackson failed to arrive on time. Instead, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill threw his division, reinforced by one of Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill's brigades, into a series of futile assaults against Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter's V Corps, which occupied defensive works behind Beaver Dam Creek. Confederate attacks were driven back with heavy casualties. Porter withdrew his corps safely to Gaines Mill.