Battle of Cockpit Point

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Cockpit Point


caption=
partof=the American Civil War
date=January 1, 1862
place=Prince William County, Virginia
result=Inconclusive
combatant1= flagicon|USA|1861 United States (Union)
combatant2= flagicon|CSA|1861 CSA (Confederacy)
commander1=Robert H. Wyman
commander2=Samuel G. French
strength1=Two gunboats
strength2=Battery garrison
casualties1=None
casualties2=None

The Battle of Cockpit Point, also known as Batteries at Evansport, the Battle of Freestone Point, or the Battle of Shipping Point, took place on January 3, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the blockade of the Potomac River during the American Civil War.

After victory at First Bull Run, the Confederate States Army established a defensive line from Centreville along the Occoquan River to the Potomac River. The Confederates used the Potomac’s banks as gun positions to halt Union traffic on the river, protecting Manassas Junction to the west and Fredericksburg to the south and to close the Potomac River to shipping and isolate Washington. In October 1861, the Confederates constructed batteries at Evansport (now downtown Quantico, consisted of two batteries on the river bank, and another convert|400|yd inland), a CSA field battery located at the mouth of Chopawamsic Creek where it empties to the Potomac (now the Marine Corps Air Facility), Shipping Point (now Hospital Point on Quantico, number of guns unknown), Freestone Point (a CSA four-gun battery on the shore of the Potomac River, now within Leesylvania State Park), and Cockpit Point (near the current asphalt plant, consisted of six guns (one heavy gun) in four batteries, a powder magazine, and rear rifle pits, on top of a convert|75|ft|m|sing=on high cliff known as Possum Nose). By mid-December, the Confederates had 37 heavy guns in position along the river.

On September 25, 1861, the Freestone Point batteries were shelled by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Jacob_Bell_%281842%29&action=edit USS "Jacob Bell"] (Commanded by Lieutenant Edward P. McCrea) and USS "Seminole", Commanded by Lieutenant Charles S. Norton. On January 1, 1862, Cockpit Point was shelled by USS "Anacostia" (Lieutenant Oscar C. Badger commanding) and USS "Yankee" (Lieutenant Eastman commanding), with neither side gaining an advantage, though "Yankee" was slightly damaged.

Union ships approached the point again on March 9. A landing party from USS "Anacostia" and "Yankee" destroyed abandoned Confederate batteries at Cockpit Point and Evansport, Virginia, and found CSS "Page" blown up. The Confederates, in keeping with their general tactic of withdrawal from the sea coast and coastal islands, had abandoned their works and retired closer to Richmond, after effectively sealing off the Potomac River for nearly five months.

References

* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va100.htm National Park Service battle description]
* [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/november/merrimac-story.htm "Harper's Weekly" of November 2, 1861] hosted on the "Son of the South" website.
* [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/march/rebel-batteries-cockpit-point.htm "Harper's Weekly" of March 22, 1862] hosted on the "Son of the South" website.
* [http://www.geocities.com/naforts/va.html Virginia Forts] information from American Forts Network, compiled by Pete Payette.
* [http://www.historycentral.com/NAVY/cwnavalhistory/March1862.html Naval History of the Civil War March 1862]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=wV7QOSrhH6MC&dq=samuel+g+french&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=zgLqmcNxTI&sig=G5RCES5sxe-_FTA1z31CcGOBYWQ#PPA140,M1 "Two Wars, an Autobiography of General Samuel G. French"]