The forces engaged.
The Federal army assigned to the capture of
Petersburg and
Richmond, called the Army of the James, commanded by
General Butler, composed of the Tenth and Eighteenth army corps, numbered, according to its own report, thirty-eight thousand seven hundred men and eighty-eight guns, besides a fleet of gunboats and monitors.
The Confederate forces, commanded by
General Beauregard, consisted of
Gracie's,
Kemper's,
Hoke's and
Barton's brigades, forming
Ransom's division;
Corse's,
Clingman's,
Bushrod Johnson's and
Hagood's brigades, forming
Hoke's division, and
Colquitt's and
Ransom's brigades under
Colquitt.
Attached to this force were three battalions of artillery and three small regiments of cavalry, the whole or gross number being given as seventeen thousand and three hundred.
This was the force at
Drewry's Bluff engaged on the 16th of May.
North of
Petersburg, near
Swift creek,
General Whiting was in charge, having
Wise's and
Martin's brigades and
Dearing's cavalry with him. This force, however, took no part in the battle.
Their number is given as forty-six hundred.
Taking the figures representing the aggregate or gross numbers, we have: Federals, thirty-eight thousand and seven hundred; Confederates, twenty-one thousand and nine hundred.
