Qualla: Battle of Mathias Point https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Mathias Point https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point Battle of Mathias Point: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point/ He was sighting the gun himself when the rifle ball struck him. Commander James H. Ward of the USS Thomas Freeborn had returned to the deck of his flagship a few minutes earlier, after the regular gunner had been wounded. His landing party was pinned down on the shore at Mathias Point in King George County, Virginia, trying to retreat to small boats while four to five hundred Confederate infantry closed on them through the trees. Ward needed the cannon to keep firing. He bent over the breech to aim it. A rifle shot from the wood line caught him through the abdomen, and forty-five minutes later he was dead - the first United States Navy officer killed in the American Civil War. The date was June 27, 1861. The war was ten weeks old.

Read more: Battle of Mathias Point on Qualla

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/4/battle-of-mathias-point-wp/dqc4-battle-of-mathias-point-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Mathias Point: The Lower Potomac in June https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point/ Mathias Point juts north into the Potomac River from the Virginia bank, a wooded promontory in King George County, about sixty miles below Washington. Whoever held the point could choke traffic on the river to and from the capital. They could also slip men and messages across the...

Read more: Battle of Mathias Point on Qualla

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/4/battle-of-mathias-point-wp/dqc4-battle-of-mathias-point-the-lower-potomac-in-june.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Mathias Point: The Landing https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point/ On the morning of June 27 the Thomas Freeborn - a converted New York harbor ferry now serving as Ward's flagship - anchored off Mathias Point with the USS Reliance in support. A landing party of about thirty sailors and marines under Lieutenant James C. Chaplin pulled for shore i...

Read more: Battle of Mathias Point on Qualla

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/4/battle-of-mathias-point-wp/dqc4-battle-of-mathias-point-the-landing.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Mathias Point: The Last Withdrawal https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point/ Just then the Confederate counterattack came in force. Major R.M. Mayo brought four fresh companies up to the line. The Federal position became untenable. Chaplin ordered his men back to the small boats. He himself stayed ashore to the last. One sailor in his party could not swim...

Read more: Battle of Mathias Point on Qualla

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/4/battle-of-mathias-point-wp/dqc4-battle-of-mathias-point-the-last-withdrawal.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Mathias Point: What the River Held https://qualla.com/battle-of-mathias-point/ Command of the Potomac Flotilla passed to Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan of the USS Pawnee, who would later become a vice admiral. Rowan held the position until that fall, when he was sent to take part in the joint operations against the Confederate forts at Hatteras Inlet on the ...

Read more: Battle of Mathias Point on Qualla

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/4/battle-of-mathias-point-wp/dqc4-battle-of-mathias-point-what-the-river-held.mp3 0:06 5 full