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The Battle of Big Bethel was one of the earliest land battles of the American Civil War. It took place on the Virginia Peninsula, near Newport News, on June 10, 1861.
Virginia's decision to secede from the Union had been ratified by popular vote on May 23, and Confederate Col. (later Maj. Gen.) John B. Magruder was sent down the peninsula to deter any advance on the state capital Richmond by Union troops based at the well-defended post of Fort Monroe. This garrison was commanded by Maj Gen. Benjamin Butler, a former Massachusetts lawyer and politician, who established a new camp at nearby Hampton and another at Newport News. Magruder had also established two camps, within range of the Union lines, at Big Bethel and Little Bethel, as a lure to draw his opponent into a premature action.
Butler took the bait, when he and an aide, Maj. Theodore Winthrop, devised a plan for a night march, followed by a dawn attack to drive the Confederates back from their bases. Butler chose not to lead the force in person, for which he was later criticized. The plan proved too complex for his poorly-trained subordinates to carry out, especially at night, and his staff had also omitted to communicate the passwords. They were trying to advance without knowledge of the layout or strength of the Confederate positions, when a friendly fire incident gave away their own. The commander in the field, Massachusetts militia Gen. Ebenezer Peirce, received most of the blame for the failed operation.
The Union forces suffered 76 casualties, with 18 killed, including Maj. Winthrop and Lt. John T. Greble, the first regular army officer killed in the war. The Confederates suffered only eight casualties, with one killed. Although Magruder subsequently withdrew to Yorktown and his defensive line along the Warwick River, he had won a propaganda victory and local Union forces attempted no further significant advance until the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. While small in comparison to many later battles, Big Bethel attracted exaggerated importance because of the general feeling that the war would soon be over.
The engagement was also known as the Battle of Bethel Church or Great Bethel.