July 27, 1864---The First Battle of Deep Bottom

JULY 27, 1864:                   

The First Battle of Deep Bottom. In an attempt to weaken the Dimmock Line around Petersburg, General Ulysses S. Grant U.S.A. detaches the Second Corps and the Nineteenth Corps to move in a broad arc toward Richmond, destroying railroads and telegraph lines between the two cities. Robert E. Lee is forced to move men from Petersburg in order to block the Union advance, and small battles lasting into the next day break out all along the line at Darbytown, Strawberry Plains, New Market Road, and Gravel Hill. Union casualties at the First Battle of Deep Bottom were 488 (62 killed, 340 wounded, and 86 missing or captured); Confederate casualties were 679 (80 killed, 391 wounded, 208 missing or captured).