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| Add Photo — Add Link — Add Commentary — Correct this page — Print | | Near Colonial Heights in Chesterfield County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic) |
Point of Rocks
U.S. Military Hospital Site
— Bermuda Hundred —
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By Bernard Fisher, April 9, 2012 | |
| | | 1. Point of Rocks CWT Marker | | |
Inscription. Point of Rocks, named for a sandstone cliff on the Appomattox River, marked the southern end of the Union defensive line that stretched across the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. In May 1864, the Union army seized property east of the present-day park from its owner, the Rev. John Alexander Strachan, and built a field hospital there. The Strachan house became the surgeons’ quarters, and a cemetery was also established on the property. After the war, the remains were removed to City Point National Cemetery and a freedman’s village was established there for newly freed African Americans. Strachan appealed to federal authorities for the return of his property and wrote, “This land is my homestead, the place of my birth. I have nothing left me now but my land, all my other property has been destroyed, even including my wearing apparel, and I am the husband of a delicate wife and the father of several children.” The government retained possession until Strachan proved his title in U.S. District Court. Strachan and his family returned to Point of Rocks in 1866 and he spent the rest of his life here.
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Early in 1864, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Federal armies, ordered advances throughout the Confederacy in the spring. On May 5, Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler landed his Army of the James | | | | 
By Bernard Fisher, April 9, 2012 | |
| | | 2. Point of Rocks Markers | | |
on Bermuda Hundred to operate against Richmond, Petersburg, and Confederate lines of supply. Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard countered Union advances against the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, Drewry’s Bluff, and Petersburg. In June 1864, he effectively “bottled up” Butler’s army behind Confederate and Federal fortifications across the Bermuda Hundred peninsula for the rest of the war.
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In June 1864, the first attacks on Petersburg were launched from Point of Rocks over a pontoon bridge across the Appomattox River. On March 27, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, accompanied by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Grant, visited the Point of Rocks hospital fewer than three weeks before Lincoln was assassinated.
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During the siege of Petersburg, Clara Barton served at the Point of Rocks hospital as the superintendent of nurses. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross and then served as the director until 1904. She wrote of conditions here, “The mercury above a hundred, the atmosphere and everything about one black with flies, the dust rolling away in clouds as far as the eye can penetrate, the ashy ground covered with scores of hospital tents shielding nearly all conceivable maladies that soldier flesh is heir to, and stretching on beyond the miles of bristling | | | | 
By Andrew J. Russell, circa 1865 | |
| | | 3. Point of Rocks, Appomattox River | | Photograph showing the high rock cliff known as Point of Rocks projecting out into the channel of the Appomattox River. Federal hospital on bluff. Library of Congress [LC-DIG-ppmsca-11697] | | |
fortifications, entrenchments, and batteries encircling Petersburg—all ready to blaze.”
Erected by Virginia Civil War Trails.
Location. 37° 19.308′ N, 77° 21.32′ W. Marker is near Colonial Heights, Virginia, in Chesterfield County. Marker can be reached from the intersection of Enon Church Road (Virginia Route 746) and Ramblewood Drive, on the left when traveling west. Click for map. Located in R. Garland Dodd Park. Marker is at or near this postal address: 201 Enon Church Road, Colonial Heights VA 23834, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. Welcome to R. Garland Dodd Park at Point of Rocks (here, next to this marker); Fort Wead (approx. one mile away); Howlett Line Park (approx. 1.7 miles away); Port Walthall (approx. 1.8 miles away); a different marker also named Point of Rocks (approx. 1.8 miles away); Enon Baptist Church (approx. 2.3 miles away); Colonel Thomas Lygon (approx. 2.6 miles away); Opposunoquonuske (approx. 2.7 miles away).
Also see . . .
1. Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Chesterfield Heritage Alliance (Submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.)
2. Point of Rocks Park. The Civil War in Chesterfield County, VA, The Bermuda Hundred Campaign of 1864, Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia (Submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.)
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circa 1865 | |
| | | 4. Broadway Landing, Virginia | | Where Butler's troops crossed the Appomattox River. Library of Congress [LC-B811- 2617] | | |
3. Chesterfield County - Bermuda Hundred Campaign Sites. Virginia Civil War Trails (Submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.)
4. Point of Rocks (pdf file). National Register of Historic Places (Submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.)
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circa 1865 | |
| | | 5. Clara Barton | | From portrait taken in Civil War and authorized by her as the one she wished to be remembered by. Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-108564] | | |
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Credits. This page originally submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. This page has been viewed 329 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on April 9, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.
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