Battle of Mathias Point

Other Names: None

Location: Mathias Point, Virginia

Campaign: Blockade of the Chesapeake Bay

Date: June 27, 1861

Principal Commanders: Commander James H. Ward [US] Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles [CS]

Forces Engaged: 36–50, gunboat crew [US]; 400–500 [CS]

Casualties and losses: 5

Result(s): Confederate victory

Brief Description:

Early naval action of the American Civil War in connection with the Union blockade and the corresponding effort by the Confederates to deny use of the Potomac to the enemy. In late June 1861, Commander James H. Ward, commander of the Union Potomac Flotilla, learned that the Confederates were installing a battery on a wooded promontory at Mathias Point in King George County, Virginia, that would effectively control traffic on the Potomac River at that point. The Confederates continued to hold their position and operate the battery on Mathias Point, which they completed placing on the point on the day after the battle. They were not attacked by land forces and did not abandon the location and nearby batteries until Confederate forces withdrew from Manassas and other northern Virginia locations on March 9, 1862 in order to protect Richmond from Union forces which were being deployed for the Peninsula Campaign.