Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road

The Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road (also known as the Second Battle of Fair Oaks) was fought October 27 and October 28, 1864, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign of the American Civil War.

In combination with movements against the Boydton Plank Road at Petersburg, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler attacked the Richmond defenses along Darbytown Road with the X Corps. The XVIII Corps marched north to Fair Oaks where it was soundly repulsed by Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field's Confederate division. Confederate forces counterattacked, taking some 600 prisoners. The Richmond defenses remained intact. Of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's offensives north of the James River, this was repulsed most easily. Union casualties were 1,603, Confederates fewer than 100. [Salmon, p. 445.]

References

* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va080.htm National Park Service battle description]
* Salmon, John S., "The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide", Stackpole Books, 2001, ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.

Notes