Battle of Blandford The Battle of Blandford ( or Blanford ) , also called the Battle of Petersburg , took place near Petersburg , Virginia on 25 April 1781 , late in the American War of Independence . Roughly 2 , 300 British regulars under the command of Brigadier General William Phillips defeated about 1 , 000 militia under Major General Baron von Steuben . The introduction of a British troop presence led by turncoat general Benedict Arnold into Virginia in early 1781 prompted an increase in militia activity to counter the British force . The militia were , however , poorly trained and equipped , and were unable to prevent Arnold from moving freely . Arnold was reinforced in March 1781 by additional troops led by General Phillips , who targeted Petersburg in a raiding expedition . Militia forces led by von Steuben and Peter Muhlenberg decided to make a stand at Blandford , then a separate community . When the battle was joined , the outnumbered militia provided remarkably stiff resistance to the British advance , and executed a disciplined retreat across the Appomattox River , avoiding a flanking attempt led by John Graves Simcoe . They eventually retreated to Richmond , where they joined forces with Continental Army troops led by the Marquis de Lafayette . The British continued raiding , and eventually joined forces with Charles Cornwallis ' s army from North Carolina . Background . By December 1780 , the American Revolutionary War ' s North American main theaters had reached a critical point . The Continental Army had suffered major defeats earlier in the year , with its southern armies either captured or dispersed in the loss of Charleston and the Battle of Camden in the south , while the armies of George Washington and the British commander - in - chief for North America , Sir Henry Clinton watched each other around New York City in the north . The national currency was virtually worthless , public support for the war , about to enter its sixth year , was waning , and army troops were becoming mutinous over pay and conditions . In the Americans ' favor , Loyalist recruiting had been checked with a severe blow at Kings Mountain in October . To counter the British threat in the south , Washington sent Major General Nathanael Greene , one of his best strategists , to rebuild the American army in North Carolina after the defeat at Camden . Charles Cornwallis , leading the British troops in the south , wanted to deal with him and gain control over the state . Arnold sent to Virginia . At Cornwallis ' s request for a diversion in Virginia to draw attention and resources from Greene , General Clinton in December 1780 despatched Brigadier General Benedict Arnold ( who had changed sides the previous September ) with 1 , 600 men to Virginia . Arnold ' s instructions were to destroy Continental Army supplies and storage depots in that state , which had largely avoided military conflict before 1780 , and then to establish a base for future operations at Portsmouth . On the afternoon of 4 January , Arnold sailed up the James River and landed his force at Westover , Virginia . Moving rapidly with an overnight forced march , he raided Richmond , the state capital , the next day . After another day of raiding , he returned to his boats and sailed to Portsmouth , which he then proceeded to fortify . The land approaches to this base were guarded by Virginia militia under the command of Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg , but these were inexperienced as well as relatively small in number , and could not prevent the movement of British troops by ship on the readily navigable rivers in the area . Arnold ' s arrival prompted General Washington to mobilize land and naval forces to challenge him . Washington sent the Marquis de Lafayette with a Continental Army detachment to Virginia in February , and asked the French admiral at Newport , Rhode Island , Charles René Dominique Sochet , Chevalier Destouches , to send a naval force with addition troops to support Lafayette . When a storm in late January caused damage to the Royal Navy fleet watching Newport , Destouches slipped a ship of the line and two frigates out of Newport while Lafayette marched south . When these arrived near Portsmouth , Arnold withdrew his ships , which were lighter vessels with shallow drafts , up the Elizabeth River , and the French fleet , with its deeper drafts , was unable to follow . The French returned to Newport , but the effort , and further urging by Washington , prompted Destouches to sally out of Newport on 8 March with his entire fleet , seven ships of the line and a recently captured frigate , with 1 , 200 French troops aboard . When Clinton and Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot learned of this two days later , they immediately mobilized supporting resources . Arbuthnot sailed with eight ships of the line that very day , and , in naval action on 16 March , successfully prevented Destouches from entering Chesapeake Bay . Arbuthnot ' s fleet was followed by transports carrying 2 , 000 British Army troops under the command of General William Phillips . When Phillips and his troops were landed at Portsmouth on 26 March , Phillips , with seniority over Arnold , took command of the forces there . Raiding by Phillips . Phillips then advanced again against the largely undefended countryside . A militia force under Major General Baron von Steuben tried to check their progress and protect Richmond and Petersburg . Von Steuben could discern that , though the British might attack Richmond as before , they definitely considered Petersburg a prime objective , since it served as a military depot for both state and Continental forces . By 23 April , the British force had sailed up the James River to Westover ; it landed there to drive off about 500 militia , and reports to von Steuben claimed the force to number between 2 , 500 and 3 , 000 . On 24 April , as the afternoon progressed , about 1 , 000 of General Muhlenberg ' s Virginia militia marched into Petersburg . Other militia units were also gathering . Lafayette ' s force was still several days away , and another Continental Army force under General Anthony Wayne was even further off . Von Steuben and Muhlenberg , who had been avoiding conflict with the British due to their weak numbers and inexperienced troops , decided that it was time to make some sort of stand . The militia had not had any sort of victory since the British arrived in Virginia , and morale was quite low . After a council of war , they decided to establish a line in Blandford , then a separate town east of Petersburg and now a neighborhood within the city . When the time came , the colonists could retreat across the Appomattox River over the Pocahontas Bridge . That evening General von Steuben ordered Muhlenberg ' s corps to the north side of the Appomattox onto the peninsula known as Pocahontas Island and onto the elevated ground overlooking the river . Then , during the moonless night , von Steuben and Muhlenberg moved their forces south of the river into Blandford . Battle . Shortly before sunset on 24 April , Phillips landed a force of 2 , 500 British and Hessian soldiers at City Point ( now Hopewell ) , east of Petersburg . As morning dawned the next day , four regiments of Muhlenberg ' s Virginia militia infantry formed two lines of defense and awaited the British force . The first line was composed of the regiments of Thomas Merriweather and John Dick , with Merriweather ' s anchoring the left of the line at the river , and Dick ' s the right , extending into the hills south of Blandford . The second line , which was to form the main line of defense after the first one fell back , consisted of Ralph Faulkner ' s regiment on the left , and John Slaughter ' s on the right . The line extended along what is today Madison Street in Petersburg , from a causeway and bridge across the Lieutenant Run , a creek separating Petersburg and Blandford . The line was positioned to maximize the exposure of British troops to gunfire as they approached . Von Steuben also placed one regiment on the north shore of the Appomattox River to guarding against the possibility that the British landed on that side of the river . He also positioned a small reserve force at the southern end of the Pocahontas Bridge , and Muhlenberg sent a company of Slaughter ' s men down the north bank to provide advance warning as the British approached . The British set out around 10 that morning , marching along the River Road toward Petersburg . Phillips ' command consisted of the 78th and 80th Regiments of Foot , John Graves Simcoe ' s corps of Loyalist Queen ' s Rangers , Arnold ' s American Legion , a force of Hessian jägers , and two battalions of light infantry . Phillips had originally planned a circuitous route in order to go after military stores at the Prince George County courthouse , but reconnaissance reported these had already been removed by the Americans , so Phillips marched directly for Petersburg . Eleven lightly armed gunboats accompanied the force up the Appomattox , carrying men and supplies . The battle was preceded by an exchange of fire between the British gunboats and the American advance reconnaissance . Around 2 : 00 pm Phillips halted his column , then about one mile ( 1 . 6 km ) from the American lines , and organized his forces for battle . On his right , Colonel Robert Abercrombie was to lead a battalion of light infantry and the company of 50 jägers along the river to drive the American left back to the Pocahontas Bridge . Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dundas was to lead the 78th and 80th Foot to attempt a flanking maneuver against the American right , and Phillips held the second light infantry battalion and the Loyalist units of Simcoe and Arnold in reserve . He also held in reserve the four small guns the expedition had brought . As the British forces advanced on the American line , Phillips and Abercrombie noticed that one enterprising company of Virginia militia had established a position on a hill that provided them with an excellent opportunity to enfilade the British line . Abercrombie sent the jägers to flush them out . The lines then closed , and the action became general . The first line of militia put up stiffer resistance than the British anticipated . The British artillery , and the strength of numbers that threatened to flank their position convinced the first militia line to retreat to the second after half an hour of resistance . Phillips also detached Simcoe and his rangers on a lengthy and roundabout flanking maneuver intended to prevent the Americans from retreating across the Pocahontas Bridge . While Simcoe moved , Phillips made two assaults on the second militia line , both of which were repulsed . It was not until the British artillery was in position to rake the American line more than an hour later that von Steuben finally ordered the retreat . The Americans were eventually able to make an orderly retreat across the bridge , covered by the men placed on the high ground above the far side of the bridge . The last companies across took up the bridge planking as they went , in order to delay pursuit ( an act which later earned them the praise of contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferson , General Nathanael Greene , and others ) . Pausing on the heights near Violet Bank ( in present - day Colonial Heights ) , the Americans engaged in an artillery duel with the British forces on the opposite bank , with further losses on both sides . After being replenished with a supply of rum , the weary militia then continued its northward retreat , reaching Chesterfield Courthouse the following day — just as the British force was crossing the Appomattox , destroying three more bridges behind them . Aftermath . Phillips ' and Arnold ' s pursuit of the retreating American militia continued to Manchester , just across the river from Richmond , which they reached on 29 April . However , they were unable to enter Richmond , as Lafayette had marched rapidly and occupied the city first . After destroying tobacco warehouses throughout Chesterfield County , the British sailed back down the James to Westover , while Lafayette advanced as far as Pocahontas . At Westover on 7 May , Phillips received orders to return to Petersburg and await Lord Cornwallis , who was moving north from Wilmington , North Carolina . Upon reaching Petersburg on 9 May , Phillips was greeted by a bombardment from Lafayette ' s artillery positioned north of the river in what is now Colonial Heights . General Phillips contracted typhoid fever and died on 13 May , leaving Arnold temporarily in command of the British force . Cornwallis reached Petersburg on 20 May , bringing the British force up to 5 , 300 men . Shortly after , additional British reinforcements arrived from New York , raising his force to over 7 , 000 men . Cornwallis ordered Arnold back to New York , and then fruitlessly chased Lafayette for a time through central Virginia before making his way back to Williamsburg . Cornwallis was eventually ordered to fortify Yorktown , where Lafayette , joined early in September by a French force from the West Indies , blockaded the land routes while the French fleet prevented the arrival of British relief fleets . With the arrival of George Washington and the Franco - American army from the north , Cornwallis was besieged , and surrendered his army on 17 October 1781 . Petersburg was once again a center of military activity during the American Civil War , when it was besieged for nine months in 1864 and 1865 . The role of Petersburg in this later conflict dominates commemorations of its military history . However , since 1992 , the city of Petersburg has sponsored an annual reenactment of this battle .