The scrappy 'Jersey Boys' are getting their due with a sign at Battle of Williamsburg site in Virginia. Here are events tied to Sunday's 162nd anniversary

Steve Barnes and Don Klein of Williamsburg Battlefield Association place sign along road;
Five members of the 7th New Jersey from Fairfield; nearby Redoubt Park in Williamsburg)

Four regiments of “Jersey Boys” had barely been battle tested when on May 5, 1862, they were rushed in to reinforce Union troops tangling with Confederates at Williamsburg, Va.

With the 5^th New Jersey supporting artillery, Brig. Gen. Francis E. Patterson (photo, below) of Hooker’s division ordered the men of the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th New Jersey regiments into a ravine near the Rebels’ Fort Magruder.

The fighting was fierce. Terrain was won and lost as men fought in tangled undergrowth and on swampy ground. Finally, Alabama and Mississippi regiments commanded by Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox pushed back the men in blue, who were exhausted and out of ammunition.

The outnumbered New Jersey troops had their largest casualties of any battles in which they participated, but they won acclaim for their valor. Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker was said to have called them bulldogs.

That sacrifice will be remembered Sunday morning as a new Civil War Trails marker is dedicated not far from the ravine. About 40 members of the Old Baldy Civil War Roundtable of Philadelphia, most living in New Jersey but some traveling from Colorado and North Carolina, are expected to participate.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our organization and members for sponsoring this sign,” said Frank Barletta, a board member with the roundtable. “I cannot think of a more fitting memorial to this overlooked major battle of the war.”

Fort Magruder and other Rebel works near Williamsburg (Wikipedia)

The inconclusive Battle of Williamsburg, according to the National Park Service, was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign following the Confederate retreat from Yorktown.

Hooker’s division attacked the Southerners at Fort Magruder, but was repulsed. Confederate counterattacks ultimately wore out and they made a nighttime withdrawal toward Richmond. Casualties numbered more than 3,800.

The American Battlefield Trust and other groups in 2020 protected the "Bloody Ravine" and 29 acres for posterity.

Another 162^nd anniversary commemoration will take place from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday about a half mile away at the Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center. The Williamsburg Battlefield Association will lead the program, which includes historical displays and costumed interpreters, music by the William & Mary brass band.

“Learn about the battle, its impact on the emancipation movement, medical practices during the war and female soldiers,” the association says in a program overview. “See the battle and 19th-century town of Williamsburg through maps and images, and understand current battlefield preservation efforts.”

Nov. 2021 dig at powder magazine wall (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

A highlight will be a 2 p.m. presentation by archaeologists with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. They will talk about the remains of four Confederate soldiers found early last year near the powder magazine at the venue. Some wounded troops were treated at a nearby hospital, officials said. Bullets, buttons and suspender buckles were found with the skeletal remains.

The ceremony for the new Civil War Trails marker will include a color guard from Joint Base Langley-Eustis. A wreath will be laid and there will be a reading of a New Jersey Senate resolution that praises the Old Baldy Civil War Round Table for its commitment to the sign and “ensuring that the brave soldiers from New Jersey are memorialized for posterity.”

The roundtable is taking a bus from Cherry Hill, N.J., on Saturday morning and will tour the battlefield, site of Fort Magruder and Redoubt Park in the afternoon. After the 9 a.m. Sunday sign dedication, the group will tour the Lee Hall Mansion in Newport News before heading home.

Based in Williamsburg, Civil War Trails is considered the world’s largest “open air museum,” with signs and markers at about 1,500 sites across six states: Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The bravery of the New Jersey soldiers also is honored by the Lawrence Township Historical Society in the state. Dan Casella with the group said it has books that have newspaper articles and correspondence from Cedarville and Cumberland County soldiers in southern New Jersey who served in the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th volunteer regiments.

Casella in 2022 wrote a fascinating article about his research on a photograph  (right, Library of Congress) showing five 7^th New Jersey boys from Fairfield. He wanted to know their fate. One, Capt. Benjamin F. Ogden, wrote about the battle two weeks later.

“I must speak of our contest,” Ogden wrote, “although it makes me feel sad every time, I mention it; for it renews the recollection that one of our number still lies beneath the battle ground…when the battle commenced, six of us Cedarville men were in the front rank. At night, one lay dead on the field, and two in hospital wounded. Three came out without a scratch, although I had three bullet holes in my overcoat cape….”

He went on to discuss other casualties. (You can read Casella’s article here to learn the fate of Ogden and the four other soldiers in the photograph.

“General Hooker says we were whipped three times yesterday but did not know it; he says we are not Soldiers, but Bulldogs! We do not stay in one place long but keep closing on Richmond.”

Richmond did not fall for another three years, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of casualties.

The new Civil War Trails sign is located at the Teamsters Hall, 7294 Merrimac Trail, Williamsburg. Guests attending the ceremony are encouraged to park along nearby Orange Drive.