The Battle of Honey Hill

 

The Battle of Honey Hill was an ill-conceived attempt from the beginning. It was planned with no idea of the terrain or defenses in the area and as a result culminated in a rout for the Federals and a significant victory for the Confederates. The problem was that Gen. Robert R. Lee had constructed two redoubts and a trench-line on a rise above an extensive swamp and which commanded the only road over the swamp and small creek system which lay to the front of these defenses.

The Confederate forces arrived in the redoubts and trench-line just minutes before the Federals had come on the scene. They (Federals) had been delayed in their arrival by marching the wrong way on the road from Boyd;s Landing and thus were late on the scene. The very railroad that they were to seize, transported the Confederate troops to the Honey Hill defenses.

Reference --Sharon S. MacDonald, W. Robert Beckman, "Heroism At Honey Hill," North South Magazine (Vol. 12 - No.1) Feb, 2010, Pages 20 -41