ploys
them;" but these orders were disregarded. When off Westover, he issued
further orders, saying:

"A third object of the present expedition is to gain Petersburg, for
the purpose of destroying the enemy's stores at that place, and it is
public stores alone that are intended to be seized." A body of two
thousand five hundred men under Phillips landed at City Point,[720:A]
and passed the night there; and on the next morning (Wednesday) marched
upon Petersburg, by way of Colonel Banister's Whitehall plantation,
where they halted in the heat of the day and refreshed themselves.
Steuben, with a thousand men, disputed the entry of the town. At about
two o'clock the British advanced in two columns by the old road leading
by the Blandford Church, and were opposed by a party of militia posted
on the heights, just beyond Blandford, under Captain House, of
Brunswick, and Colonel Dick. The enemy were twice broken, and ran like
sheep, and during two hours advanced only one mile. At length the
battalion of Americans posted at the Bollingbrook warehouses, near the
Blandford Bridge, being flanked by four pieces of artillery, were
compelled to retire over the Appomattox, taking up Pocahontas Bridge as
soon as they had crossed it, ten men being killed in ascending the hill.
On this hill Steuben had placed some troops and cannon to cover his
retreat. The American loss, killed, wounded, and taken, in this affair
was estimated at sixty; that of the British probably not less, there
having been, according to Colonel Banister, not less than fourteen
killed; their wounded were sent down the river in gun-boats.
Abercrombie, who commanded the British infantry on this occasion, was
the same who afterwards fell in Egypt. Phillips, taking possession of
Petersburg, made his headquarters at Bollingbrook, a private residence,
on an eminence overlooking the river. He destroyed, next day, a large
quantity of tobacco, the people removing it from the warehouses to save
it from the flames. One of them was set fire to by a soldier and burnt.
The enemy also destroyed several vessels. The bridge over the Appomattox
being readily repaired, Abercrombie, with a detachment, passed over on
the twenty-sixth, and took possession of the heights opposite the town,
known as Archer's Hill. Phillips, with his whole army, crossing on the
same day, burnt the bridge, and proceeded to commit devastations at
Chesterfield Court-house, Osbornes, and at Warwick, destroying th