Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Richmond National Battlefield Park
Hanna J, Little K, Hayden S. 2022. Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Richmond National Battlefield Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300097. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield unit of Richmond National Battlefield Park is in Mechanicsville, about six miles northeast of Richmond, in southern Hanover County, Virginia. Richmond National Battlefield Park commemorates thirteen American Civil War sites around Richmond, Virginia, which served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for most of the war. The park connects certain features within the city with defensive fortifications and battle sites around it. In addition to the Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield, the park’s sites include Totopotomoy Creek Battlefield, Cold Harbor Battlefield, Chickahominy Bluff, Gaines’ Mill Battlefield, Chimborazo, Fort Harrison, Glendale Battlefield, Malvern Hill Battlefield, Drewry’s Bluff, and Parker’s Battery. Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield preserves the core site of the June 26, 1862 conflict between A.P. Hill’s Confederate troops and the Union Fifth Corps under the command of Fitz John Porter. Known in the South as the Battle of Mechanicsville, or the Battle of Ellerson’s Mill, the battle is recognized today for its connection with the rise of Robert E. Lee and the Confederate army in Virginia. The Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield park unit today consists of 274 acres across five contiguous land tracts associated with the battle. Contributing characteristics and features include the topography of the steep wooded slopes of the creek ravine, the Ellerson millrace’s long narrow trench, the earthen foundation depression of the former mill, and the swampy drainage bottoms of waterways. There are also three humanmade, but unidentified earthen features on the slope to the east of the mill site. Further research may reveal their origin. Contributing circulation is extant in the Old Cold Harbor Road Trace. Contributing views include those from the Old Cold Harbor Road Trace to the site of Ellerson’s Mill. Contributing small scale features include a Freeman Marker. Noncontributing features include a modern pedestrian bridge indicating the location of the creek crossing during the battle, the utility transmission line across the southern section of the park, and successional forest vegetation which has grown in areas historically open. Numerous non-contributing, but compatible, small-scale features are also located in the park, including NPS metal and Plexiglas waysides; small, painted metal interpretive markers; wooden split rail fencing; and metal gates and culverts.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hanna, Jennifer; Little, Kelsey; Hayden, Stuart
- Date of Issue
- 2022-09-27
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , RICH
- Keywords
- 1884-1949, Archeology, Barn, Battle Site, Battles in The North and South, Commemoration., Conservation, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Ellerson’s Mill Battlefield, Historic (Non-Aboriginal), Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Movement, Historic Site, Historic Vernacular Landscape, Interpretive Landscape, Leisure-Passive (Park), Manufacturing Facility (Mill), Mechanicsville Battlefield, Military, Shaping the Political Landscape, Social and Humanitarian Movements, The Civil War, The Federal Government Enters the Movement, Transforming the Environment