Key Facts
- Date
- October 27–28, 1864
- Union casualties
- 1,603
- Confederate casualties
- Fewer than 100
- Confederate prisoners taken
- ~600 Union prisoners captured
- Medal of Honor awarded
- 1st Lt. William Rufus Shafter
Strategic Narrative Overview
Butler advanced along Darbytown Road with the X Corps while the XVIII Corps moved north toward Fair Oaks. Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field's Confederate division met the XVIII Corps at Fair Oaks and repulsed the attack decisively. Confederate forces then launched a counterattack, capturing approximately 600 Union prisoners. The X Corps assault along Darbytown Road also failed to breach Richmond's outer defenses, making this the most easily repelled of Grant's northern offensives.
01 / The Origins
By late October 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was conducting a series of offensives around the Richmond-Petersburg lines in Virginia to stretch Confederate defenses and sever supply routes. As part of this strategy, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was ordered to press against Richmond's eastern defenses north of the James River, coordinating with simultaneous Union movements against the Boydton Plank Road near Petersburg.
03 / The Outcome
The two-day engagement ended with Richmond's defensive lines fully intact. Union forces suffered 1,603 casualties against Confederate losses of fewer than 100, marking a lopsided Confederate tactical victory. The battle yielded no territorial gains for the Union. First Lieutenant William Rufus Shafter received the Medal of Honor for his conduct during the fighting, one of few individual distinctions to emerge from the failed operation.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Benjamin Butler, Ulysses S. Grant.
Side B
1 belligerent
Charles W. Field.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.