Battle of Morton ' s Ford The Battle of Morton ' s Ford was a battle of the American Civil War , fought February 6 – 7 , 1864 . To distract attention from a planned cavalry - infantry raid up the Virginia Peninsula on Richmond , the Union Army of the Potomac forced several crossings of the Rapidan River on February 6 , 1864 . Units of the II Corps under Maj . Gen . John C . Caldwell crossed at Morton ' s Ford , the I Corps at Raccoon Ford , and Union cavalry at Robertson ' s Ford . Confederate Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell ' s Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia resisted the crossings , with sporadic fighting and the most severe fighting at Morton ' s Ford . By February 7 , 1864 , the attacks had stalled , and the Union army withdrew during the night , with the results of the battle inconclusive . Background . Union Major General Benjamin Butler , commanding the Army of the James in Fort Monroe , learned that General Robert E . Lee had detached a small portion of the Army of Northern Virginia to North Carolina . Convinced that Lee had sent a larger detachment than he actually did , Butler was convinced that an attack by the Army of the Potomac would force Lee to use troops from the defenses of Richmond to ward off the attack . Major General John Sedgwick , temporarily commanding the Army of the Potomac , protested that Lee had detached fewer men than Butler thought and that the local roads and weather were too poor for a winter attack . However , both Secretary of War Edwin M . Stanton and general - in - chief Henry W . Halleck overruled his objections and ordered him to make the attack on February 6 . The demonstration would take place near Morton ' s Ford , near a bend in the Rapidan River which formed a mile wide patch of land . Major General Edward Johnson ' s division of Richard Ewell ' s Second Corps had dug a series of entrenchments across the base of the bend . The Union II Corps , temporarily under the command of John C . Caldwell due to the illness of Gouverneur K . Warren , would move to Morton ' s Ford , with the I Corps marching to nearby Racoon Ford to the west and the cavalry crossing at Robertson ' s Ford . The Battle . The II Corps reached the ford about 9 : 30 a . m . ; finding a line of pickets along the bank , 3rd Division commander Brigadier General Alexander Hays ordered three hundred men of Brigadier General Joshua Owen ' s 1st Brigade across the river to drive off the pickets . This was done successfully , resulting in the capture of thirty members of the Stonewall Brigade without any Union losses . The rest of Owen ' s brigade crossed the river but then encountered heavy artillery fire . Johnson brought up one brigade and parts of two others , along with additional artillery . At 12 : 30 p . m . , Hays received permission from Caldwell to bring the rest of his division across the ford , which took two hours , while Caldwell positioned Union artillery on the heights north of the river ; during this time Johnson continued to receive reinforcements . Warren heard of the heavy fighting at Morton ' s Ford about midday and immediately started riding to the front . By 3 p . m . he arrived at the ford and , deciding that the Union position was too precarious to be held , ordered Hays ' division to withdraw after nightfall . However , Johnson launched an infantry attack just as dusk was starting . Hays ' right flank began to falter and a counterattack by three regiments succeeded in holding back the Confederates . At this time , Alexander S . Webb ' s division arrived to support Hays , until it was decided to withdraw both divisions starting about 8 p . m . Aftermath . Both divisions were back across the Rapidan by 2 a . m . , with the Confederates reoccupying their entrenchments immediately afterwards . Union casualties total 262 , while the Confederates lost sixty . Due to a Union deserter who revealed the Union plans to the Confederates , Butler never made an attack on Richmond , while Lee never requested reinforcements from the city . The I Corps also failed to cross the river , never getting closer than a mile and a half from Raccoon Ford . After the battle , Hays was accused of being drunk during the battle and of acting irrationally . However , many officers , including several in his division , attested that Hays was sober throughout the engagement . All of the accusations about Hays being drunk at Morton ' s Ford came from the 14th Connecticut , which suffered nearly half of the Union casualties in the battle and may have felt resentment against Hays because of it .