3rd Division, IV Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and on the 28th of that month, moved out with its brigade. Marching for Alexandria, Virginia, the regiment boarded the steamship USS Constitution, which ran aground twice after departing from that city's docks. Following their arrival at Hampton Roads, the regiment transferred to a smaller steamer, the USS Hero, which took them to Newport News. During their trip, the 52nd Pennsylvanians were fired upon by a Confederate artillery battery stationed on Craney Island, but escaped without damage to the ship or injury to the men. According to Bates, on April 17, the 52nd Pennsylvania and its brigade "advanced and took position in front of the enemy's lines at Lee's Mills, Smith's Division on the right, and Couch's on the left" with the "main operations of the siege ... directed against his fortifications at Yorktown." Now part of the Peninsula Campaign, the 52nd Pennsylvania saw its first serious combat action in the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. Assigned to point at the head of a Union Army column marching on Fort Magruder, part of the regiment was caught in an exposion of an improvised explosive device (IED). According to Bates, General Henry M. Naglee, his staff, and members of the 52nd's A Company had just crossed a parapet at the fort "when a torpedo, which had been skillfully planted in the way, exploded under Company F, instantly killing one man [Private John Pruyne of F Company], and horribly mutilating six [or nine] others." On May 20, General Naglee selected one hundred men from the 52nd Pennsylvania, designated them as sharpshooters, and placed them under the command of Captain Greanleaf Davis, commanding officer of the 52nd's E Company. Although this detachment came under heavy musket and artillery fire while assigned to reconnaissance of Bottom's Bridge and neighboring rail lines, it was able to maintain control of its assigned area, enabling Union forces to cross the Chickahominy River just 14 miles outside of Richmond. During the evening of May 23, General George B. McClellan ordered General Naglee to move his army toward Seven Pines with these words: Your instructions for the reconnaissance today, are as follows: You will, if possible, advance to the Seven Pines, on the forks of the direct road to Richmond, and the road turning to the right into the road leading from New Bridge to Richmond, and