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The Battle of Wilson's Wharf (also called the Battle of Fort Pocahontas) was a battle in Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.〔It can be argued that this engagement is more appropriately classified as part of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. It appears as such in Salmon, pp. 325-28, and Robertson, p. 231. The (National Park Service campaign classification ) and Gordon Rhea (Rhea, pp. 362-67) place it within the Overland Campaign.〕 On May 24, Confederate Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division (about 2,500 men) attacked the Union supply depot at Wilson's Wharf, on the James River in eastern Charles City, Virginia. They were repulsed by two African American regiments (about 1,100 men) of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) under the command of Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild, who were in the process of constructing a fortification there, which was subsequently named Fort Pocahontas. The battle was the first combat encounter of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia with African-American troops. ==Background== Wild, a physician and ardent abolitionist, lost his left arm at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862. After recovering, he raised a unit of former slaves called Wild's African Brigade. During the winter of 1863–64, Wild led these soldiers in an expedition on the coast of North Carolina, terrifying a local white population accustomed to African slavery since the early 18th century.〔Rhea, p. 362.〕 Wild's brigade landed in Virginia in May 1864 and began building the fort at Wilson's Wharf, one of a series of protective outposts guarding supply lines for Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's Bermuda Hundred Campaign. The wharf was at a strategic bend in the James River, overlooked by high bluffs, from Sherwood Forest, the home of former U.S. President John Tyler. By this time, Wild's unit had a frightening reputation among Southerners. Wild's subsequent actions alarmed them all the more. His soldiers freed and recruited slaves and in one case whipped a plantation owner who had a reputation for harshness to his slaves. The Richmond newspapers denounced these activities and put intense pressure on the government of Jefferson Davis to put a stop to Wild's depredations.〔Rhea, p. 362; Salmon, pp. 325-26.〕 Succumbing to the political pressure, Davis's military adviser, Gen. Braxton Bragg, ordered Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division to "break up this nest and stop their uncivilized proceedings." While his uncle, Robert E. Lee, was battling Ulysses S. Grant at the North Anna River, Fitz Lee took elements of three cavalry brigades plus the 5th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment (2,500 men and one cannon) on a march from Atlee's Station to reach Wilson's Wharf. The Confederate general expected to fight a rabble, but instead found the defenders of Fort Pocahontas alert and ready for action.〔Rhea, pp. 363-64; Salmon, p. 326.〕 Wild commanded 1,100 men and two cannons. The Union force consisted of the 1st USCT and four companies of the 10th USCT. Battery M, 3rd New York Artillery was the only all-white unit in the defenses. The gunboat USS ''Dawn'' lay in the James River to deliver fire support to the fort's defenders. The fort was crescent-shaped facing north, about long, straddling the road to the wharf. It was anchored on both ends—to the west on a bluff and on the east by a branch of Kennon Creek—so it could not be flanked. It was fronted by a deep, broad ditch and abatis.〔Rhea, p. 364; Salmon, p. 326.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Wilson's Wharf」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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