Colonial National Historical Park

Though established to commemorate the Colonial era, this park also possesses extensive vestiges of the Civil War. In spring of 1862, Union Gen. George B. McClellan began his Peninsula campaign to capture Richmond. Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder fortified Yorktown and southward, blocking McClellan's advance. Thus, McClellan began siege operations. On the night of May 3-4, 1862, two days before McClellan's grand bombardment was to begin, the Confederates withdrew. Yorktown became a Union garrison and served as headquarters for the Federally held district of Eastern Virginia until mid-1864.