An Engineer And Soldier

John Newton received his appointment to Union Major General March 30^th 1863.

John Newton was born August 25^th 1822 in Norfolk, Virginia the son of United States Congressman Thomas and Margaret (Jordan) Newton Jr.  He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating second in the class of 1842.  He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and taught the subject from 1843 to 1846 at the Academy.  After which Newton served in engineering work along the Atlantic coast, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf Coast.

When the Civil War began, Newton stayed loyal to the Union.  He helped with the construction of the defenses of Washington, DC.  He was leading a brigade during the Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns, and fought at the Battle of Antietam.  Newton had become a division commander in the VI Corps by the Battle of Fredericksburg.  He was among the officers who traveled to Washington, DC to complained to United States President Abraham Lincoln of their lack of confidence in their commander; Union Major General Ambrose E Burnside.  On March 30^th 1863 Newton was appointed Major General.  He was wounded during the Chancellorsville Campaign at Salem Church.  During the Battle of Gettysburg Newton took command of the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac after the death of Union Major General John F Reynolds, and would continue in that position until the army was reorganized in 1864.  He was then placed in commanded of a division in the IV Corps during the Atlanta Campaign.  After this he was moved to command of the District of Key West, with his last campaign of the war a defeat at the Battle of Natural Bridge in Florida in March 1865.

After the war Newton returned to the Corps of Engineers.  He would oversee the improvements of the waters around New York City, and the Hudson River south of Albany, New York.  He was appointed Chief of Engineers in 1884.  On October 10^th 1885 Newton used 140 tons of dynamite and blew up New York’s Hell Gate Rock.  He retired from the Army in 1886, serving as a Commissioner of Public Works in New York City, and as President of the Panama Railroad Company.  Newton died May 1^st 1895 in New York City, New York, and is buried in the cemetery at West Point.

They Defended The Tallahassee

On March 6^th 1865 the Battle of Natural Bridge was fought near Tallahassee in the town of Woodville, Florida.

Union Major General John Newton moved a force against Confederate troops in the Cedar Keys and Fort Myers area.  The Union Navy was supposed to also engage the Confederates, but they couldn’t get up the St Marks River.  Newton’s men however advanced and just before sunrise on March 6^th 1865 approached the river at the Natural Bridge.

The Union troops pushed the Confederates under Brigadier General William Miller, but couldn’t move them away from the bridge.  Miller’s soldiers; made up mostly of old men and teenagers from the nearby Florida Military and Collegiate Institute [now Florida State University], had built and were protecting the breastworks defending the approaches to the Natural Bridge.  The Battle at Natural Bridge went on for most of the day and the Confederates stood up to three charges.

Newton’s men retreated back to the safety of the Navy.  This battle kept the Union from capturing the Florida State capital of Tallahassee.  The Union saw heavy casualties of 148 men, while the Confederates only lost 26.

For more information check this web site, The Defense of Tallahassee

We'd Have Driven Them Into The River

Part of the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Eltham’s Landing took place on May 7th 1862.

Brigadier General William B Franklin had been ordered to protect the road to Barhamsville, New Kent County, Virginia. On May 7th 1862 Union Brigadier General John Newton had a brigade in the woods on either side of the landing road. Confederate Brigadier General John Bell Hood advanced pushing Newton’s skirmish line back. Do to the thick woods, Hood ordered his men to unload their rifles as they advanced. Union troops retreated from the woods onto the plain in front of the landing, where they could get cover fire from the Union gunboats. The Confederates fired artillery into the gunboats, but they didn't have enough range and so disengaged at about 2pm.  After the Confederates pulled back from the area, the Union troops moved back into the woods, but did not try to advance any further.

The action of the Battle at Eltham’s Landing was really little more than a skirmish. The Confederate saw 48 casualties, while the Union side lost 194 men. The action was a draw, although Confederate General Joseph E Johnston considered it a success, having only ordered Hood to feel out the enemy. He asked Hood, "What would your Texans have done, sir, if I had ordered them to charge and drive back the enemy?" To which Hood said, "I suppose, General, they would have driven them into the river, and tried to swim out and capture the gunboats."