page_title: Battle of Chaffin's Farm
section_title: Fort Harrison
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Chaffin's Farm / Battle / Fort Harrison
caption_attribution_description: English: Company I of the 36th Colored Regiment, which served at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm.
context_page_description: The Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, also known as Laurel Hill and combats at Forts Harrison, Johnson, and Gilmer, was fought in Virginia on September 29–30, 1864, as part of the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War.
context_section_description: At about the same time Birney's first attack moved forward, the Union XVIII Corps under Major General Edward Ord, assaulted Fort Harrison to the west of New Market Heights.  Ord's assault was led by Brig. Gen. George Stannard, a veteran of Gettysburg. Stannard's men rushed across an open field and took cover in a slight depression just in front of the fort and, after a moment's rest, took the fort. The Confederate defenders broke to the rear, seeking refuge behind a secondary line. Brig. Gen. Hiram Burnham was killed during the attack, and the Union troops renamed the captured fort in his honor.
  Once inside the fort, the Union attackers became disorganized.  All three of Stannard's brigade commanders were wounded or killed. A supporting column under Brig. Gen. Charles A. Heckman veered far off to the north and was repulsed. Ord personally attempted to rally the troops to exploit their success, but he too fell with a critical wound. The loss of commanders and the presence of Confederate ironclads on the James put an end to the XVIII Corps' drive on Chaffin's Bluff along the James River.
  Robert E. Lee realized the severity of the loss of Fort Harrison and personally brought 10,000 reinforcements under Maj. Gen. Charles Field north from Petersburg. On September 30, Lee ordered a counter-attack to retake Fort Harrison, now commanded by Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, replacing the wounded Ord. The Confederate attacks were uncoordinated and were easily repulsed.
caption: Company I of the 36th Colored Regiment, which served in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm.
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