The Beefsteak Raid was a Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 raid that took place in September 1864 as part of the Siege of Petersburg

Siege of Petersburg

The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Confederate Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton

Wade Hampton III

Wade Hampton III was a Confederate cavalry leader during the American Civil War and afterward a politician from South Carolina, serving as its 77th Governor and as a U.S...

 led a force of 3,000 troopers on what was to become a 100 miles (160.9 km) ride to acquire cattle that were intended for the consumption of the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 (which was laying siege

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 to Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 and Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg, Virginia

Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...

).

Background

Always lacking in war needs, the Confederate forces that were defending the capital of Richmond were beginning to run out of food. A report by General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

 on August 22, 1864, stated that corn to feed the Southern soldiers was exhausted. A scout, Sergeant George D. Shadburne, informed General Hampton on September 5, 1864, that there were 3,000 cattle behind Union lines, at Edmund Ruffin

Edmund Ruffin

Edmund Ruffin was a farmer and slaveholder, a Confederate soldier, and an 1850s political activist. He advocated states' rights, secession, and slavery and was described by opponents as one of the Fire-Eaters. He was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy and a longstanding enemy of the North...

's plantation on Coggin's Point, five miles (8 km) away from Lt. Gen.

Lieutenant General (United States)

In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...

 Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

's headquarters, which were lightly defended by only 120 Union soldiers and thirty civilians. Sensing an opportunity to increase the army's food stores, Hampton arranged for 3,000 troops to follow him. Some of these men included "several certified Texas cattle thieves".

Raid

Hampton led his men to the south of the cities, behind Union lines, on September 14. He chose to cross where the Cook's Bridge over the Blackwater River once stood, knowing that an attack from there would be unexpected. He had some engineers reconstruct the bridge. At 5 a.m. on September 16, Hampton's force attacked with a three-prong strike, with the center directed toward the cattle. Hampton's force captured more than 2,000 cattle, along with 11 wagons and 304 prisoners, leading them back to the Confederate lines at 9 a.m. on September 17.

Aftermath

The total losses for the Confederates, who saw some opposition, were 10 killed, 47 wounded, and 4 missing. The official count of cattle successfully reaching the Confederates for food was 2,468.

There was so much beef available that Confederate sentries would sometimes offer it in trade to Union sentries in exchange for certain luxury items of which the Federal soldiers had a plentiful supply, but the Confederates lacked.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 called the raid "the slickest piece of cattle-stealing

Cattle raiding

Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle.In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the person as a duffer...

" he ever heard of. General Lee's adjutant Walter H. Taylor

Walter H. Taylor

Walter Herron Taylor was an American banker, lawyer, soldier, politician, author, and railroad executive from Norfolk, Virginia. During the American Civil War, he was an officer in the Confederate States Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel as an aide to General Robert E. Lee...

 said it made up for the loss of the Weldon Railroad

Battle of Globe Tavern

The Battle of Globe Tavern, also known as the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad, fought August 18–21, 1864, south of Petersburg, Virginia, was the second attempt of the Union Army to sever the Weldon Railroad during the Siege of Petersburg of the American Civil War. A Union force under...

, a claim historians consider to be overstated.

A fictionalized depiction of the raid is featured in the 1966 film Alvarez Kelly

Alvarez Kelly

Alvarez Kelly is a 1966 war film set in the American Civil War. It starred William Holden and Richard Widmark. The film was based on the real-life Beefsteak Raid of September 1864.-Plot:...

.