Battle of Gloucester Point (1861) Battle of Gloucester Point (1861) The Battle of Gloucester Point, Virginia was an inconclusive exchange of cannon fire between a shore battery on the York River which was manned by Virginia (soon to be Confederate) forces and the Union gunboat USS "Yankee". The action occurred on May 7, 1861, three weeks after the start of the American Civil War (Civil War) at Fort Sumter in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina on April 14, 1861. The Gloucester Point engagement is notable as the earliest exchange of gunfire between the Union Navy and organized Rebel (Confederate) forces after the U.S. Army
1st U.S. Light Artillery, Battery E Corps, to May 1863. 2nd Regular Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. 2nd Brigade, Horse Artillery, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to June 1864. 3rd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to July 1864. 1st Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to October 1865. Defense of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, April 12-13, 1861. Evacuation of Fort Sumter April 13. Reached Fort Hamilton, N.Y. Harbor, April 19. Moved to Chambersburg, Pa., June 3. Ordered to Washington, D.C., August 26, 1861. Duty at the federal arsenal and at Camp Duncan, defenses of Washington, until March 1862. Moved to the