| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Confederate Fortification |
| | This Fortification was part of a line of Confederate earthworks that guarded Swift Creek and the western approaches to Fort Clifton on the Appomattox River. It was probably constructed in response to Federal threats during Butler’s Bermuda Hundred campaign in May-June 1864. Archeological evidence indicates that this fortification was defended by field artillery, supported by infantry sharpshooters drawn from the garrison of nearby Fort Clifton. The defenders of Fort Clifton included Confederate . . . — Map (db m17077) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — S 32 — Ellerslie |
| | In 1839, David Dunlop and his wife, Anna Mercer Minge, a niece of President William Henry Harrison, acquired the Ellerslie tract. Robert Young designed the castellated Gothic Revival mansion for Dunlop in 1856, and construction began the next year. Surrounded by elaborately landscaped grounds, Ellerslie was damaged during the Civil War by Union artillery on 9 May 1864. Later, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard established his headquarters here, and a Confederate rest camp occupied the grounds. In 1910, . . . — Map (db m17078) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — S 33 — Fort Clifton |
| | A short distance east on the Appomattox River stands Confederate Fort Clifton, an important fortification that guarded Petersburg against Union naval attack during the Civil War. On 9 May 1864, Federal gunboats commanded by Maj. Gen. Charles K. Graham attacked the fort. During the engagement, Fort Clifton's artillery disabled the army gunboat Samuel L. Brewster, which its crew then scuttled. The fort's garrison, commanded by Capt. S. Taylor Martin, of the Virginia artillery, received a . . . — Map (db m17073) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Fort Clifton — Guardian of the Appomattox |
| | Confederate Fort Clifton guarded the Appomattox River and helped protect Petersburg in 1864-1865. The three earthworks that comprised the fort’s batteries still stand on the bluffs along the river. Artillerists and militiamen garrisoned the position in 1862, and the fortifications were completed early in 1864. A powder magazine, guardhouse and prison stockade, hospital, and even a “ladies quarters” stood inside the fort, while underground huts were “built into ravines and . . . — Map (db m17074) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Fort Clifton — A stronghold that was never taken |
| | Fort Clifton, constructed between 1862 and 1864, helped protect the city of Petersburg from Union gunboats. Its high elevation and well-placed gun embrasures made Fort Clifton a stronghold that was never taken by Union forces until it was abandoned after the fall of Petersburg in April 1865. In 1864, Federal gunboats frequently steamed up the Appomattox River to observe the fort.
The most important event in Fort Clifton’s history occurred on May 9, 1864, when five Union gunboats sailed up . . . — Map (db m17075) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Lee at Violet Bank — Siege Headquarters |
| | Lt. Col. Walter H. Taylor, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s aide, established Lee’s headquarters here at Violet Bank on June 17, 1864, at the beginning of the siege of Petersburg. The city, protected by Confederate defensive works to the east and south, remained connected to Richmond, the Confederate capital, via the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad as well as the Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike. Violet Bank was located near each transportation route, enabling Lee to travel quickly to . . . — Map (db m17069) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Magnolia Acuminata |
| | Commonly called “Cucumber Tree”
One legend says that Thomas Shore, the owner of Violet Bank, planted this tree from a slip given to him by Thomas Jefferson.
General Robert E. Lee was camped here on the morning of July 30, 1864 and heard the explosion of the Crater. — Map (db m17070) |
| Virginia, Colonial Heights — Violet Bank |
| | The present building was built around 1815 as it is the domestic architecture of the federal period. There are two theories concerning the origin of the name “Violet Bank”.
(1) Because of the thousands of violets that covered the hillside.
(2) An allusion to the quotation from “Midsummer’s Night Dream – ‘the bank where the violets grow’”.
Thomas Shore, the owner, was a reader of Shakespeare and had a mult-volume set of the poet’s works in his library. — Map (db m17065) |
| Virginia, Franklin — Battle of Franklin — “Jumping out of bed” |
| | The war seemed far from Franklin when Union forces captured Roanoke Island and the North Carolina Sounds in February 1862. In May, however, when they occupied Norfolk and Suffolk to control both coastal Virginia and North Carolina, suddenly the war was only twenty miles away. Soon recognizing Franklin as “one of the great thoroughfares [of] the army of General Lee, as regards provision,” the Federals were determined to disrupt the supply line.
Union gunboats ranged up the . . . — Map (db m18135) |
| Virginia, Franklin — Confederate Commissary Center — Swimming in Bacon |
| | Before the Civil War erupted, Franklin became a regional transportation and commercial center for the Blackwater-Chowan River basin because the seaboard and Roanoke Railroad connected with steamship lines here. When the war began, the town immediately became a Confederate commissary depot for millions of pounds of food and fodder en route to soldiers in the field. Produce from eastern North Carolina and Virginia farms arrived on boat and wagon to be transported via the Seaboard and Roanoke . . . — Map (db m18133) |
| Virginia, Franklin — U 126 — Franklin |
| | Incorporated as a town in 1876, Franklin began as a Southampton County village in the 1830s. In October, 1862, during the Civil War, Union gunboats on the Blackwater River shelled the town and the railroad station. Several skirmishes occurred nearby in 1862 and 1863. A major fire destroyed 43 buildings in the town on February 26, 1881. The Camp Brothers' lumber mill and later their paper mill, as well as the peanut industry, helped Franklin prosper in this century. Franklin became an incorporated City in 1960. — Map (db m18144) |
| Virginia, Franklin — The Blackwater Line — “That little stream has ... saved us” |
| | To protect Richmond from a Union attack from Suffolk, Confederate authorities fortified the Blackwater River in 1862. You are standing on the Blackwater Line. The intermittent earthworks stretched fifty miles from north of Zuni to the North Carolina border. Up to 9,000 troops were stationed along the Blackwater Line during the next two years. Despite occasional shelling and skirmishing, the Federals failed to cross the river.
In 1863, Union Gen. John J. Peck, in Suffolk, sent Col. Samuel . . . — Map (db m18134) |
| Virginia, Franklin — War Comes to the Blackwater |
| | During the first three years of the War Between the States, the Franklin railhead was the terminus of the Blackwater - Chowan corridor. The Confederate commissary used this route to deliver the millions of pounds of goods from eastern North Carolina and Virginia that kept General Robert E. Lee’s army in the field. The headquarters of the Blackwater Line, which protected Lee’s supply line and guarded Richmond’s southeastern flank, was here. In the spring of 1863 Major General James Longstreet . . . — Map (db m18146) |
| Virginia, Harrisonburg — Chestnut Ridge — Death of Ashby — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | On June 6, 1862, the vanguard of Union Gen. John C. Frémont’s force, pursuing Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s army south up the Shenandoah Valley, reached this point near Harrisonburg. Jackson’s rear guard, led by Gen. Turner Ashby, engaged Federal cavalry here and captured Col. Sir Percy Wyndham, the English commander of the 1st New Jersey Cavalry who had earlier boasted that he would “bag Ashby.” The 1st Maryland Inf. And 58th Virginia Inf. set an . . . — Map (db m15752) |
| Virginia, Harrisonburg — General Turner Ashby of Fauquier |
| | A mile and a half southeast of this spot General Turner Ashby of Fauquier, “Knight of the Valley”, was killed in battle June 6, 1862. To honor him and all of Rockingham’s enlisted men, 1861-1865 this tablet is erected, 1926. — Map (db m14281) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — A Busy Port |
| | “Beyond the masts and rigging and the smoke stacks and steam of the water craft, were groups of tents, long ranges of whitewashed barracks, log huts, and shanties of every shape.....these were moving uniformed soldiers and officers, negroes driving mule teams, and sentries on duty, and over all flags flying gaily.” Mrs. W. [Wilson]
Between June 1864 and April 1865, City Point was one of the busiest ports in the world. Sometimes as many as 200 ships were anchored in the . . . — Map (db m19620) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Appomattox Manor |
| | Patented 1635 by Captain Francis Eppes, who came by tradition in the Hopewell. Owned by the same family probably longer than any land in U.S. Shelled by British during American Revolution. — Map (db m19616) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point |
| | For nine months in 1864 and 1865, City Point was the nerve center of the Union war effort and one of the busiest ports in the world.
“The depot (at City Point) is the most perfect and commodious of any ever established anywhere for the supply of Armies.” - Brig. Gen. Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster
Here stood Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters, surrounded by a small city of huts and tents that sprawled across this plateau. A forest of ship masts . . . — Map (db m19614) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point |
| | First settled as Bermuda Cittie by Sir Thomas Dale 1613. Important colonial port. Peter Francisco put ashore 1765 was Washington's “one man army.” Incorporated 1826. Annexed Hopewell 1923. — Map (db m19615) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point — One of the World's Busiest Seaports |
| | City Point had been a port for more than 250 years before the Union army arrived. On June 15, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant established his headquarters at City Point just eight miles behind the front lines at Petersburg. Located at the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers, City Point had been connected by a railroad to Petersburg prior to the war. The town's strategic position adjacent to a railroad bed and the rivers offered Grant easy access to points along the front as well . . . — Map (db m19622) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — 16 — City Point — Captain John Smith’s Adventures on the James — www.johnsmithtrail.org |
| | Just east of the shallow bay where the Appomattox River empties into the James, City Point juts into the water. Upon first spying the easily defensible peninsula, Capt. Christopher Newport determined to deposit his boatload of colonists there. However, the shallow harbor and, according to Percy, “many stout and able Savages” forced the English back downriver, where they founded Jamestown.
In choosing the low-lying island of Jamestown, they defied the advice of the London . . . — Map (db m19679) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point, Virginia |
| | 8000 B.C. Indian occupancy.
1613 Sir Thomas Dale establishes area as “Bermuda Cittie.”
1619 Name changes to Charles City Point.
1621 Rev. Patrick Copeland plans to build free public school, financed by the East India Company.
1622 The Indian Massacre virtually destroys the town and several years pass before resettlement. Public school plans never materialize. The massacre survivors from Charles City Point flee to Shirley Hundred.
1623 Charles City Point, which was . . . — Map (db m19605) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point’s Rails And Waterways — Tools of War for General Grant |
| | City Point...tells more about how war is conducted than many battlefields. It demonstrates how Union forces used rivers and railroads to deliver the tools of war directly to the troops in the field. – Robert Black, The Harrisburg PA Patriot News
The significance of the City Point logistical operation in the Civil War cannot be overstated. Besides being headquarters for the United States Armies, City Point was the supply base for the Union forces fighting at Petersburg and . . . — Map (db m19612) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point’s Wiseman Family |
| | The Yankee Soldier met Miss Wiseman at the town well – and married her after the war.
The Wiseman family had settled in City Point many years before Mary Catherine Wiseman married Frederick Belch in 1865. He was a Yankee soldier bivouacked along the waterfront during the Civil War. A granddaughter said, “The town well was next door to grandmother's home which was on the bluff overlooking the James River, and one day he and my grandmother met there.” Belch was mustered out . . . — Map (db m19617) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Dr. Peter Eppes House |
| | "At first we lived in tents, but later, when my husband became commander of the post, I lived most comfortably in a house...." - Septima M. Collis
The house Septima Collis lived "most comfortably" in during the last months of the Civil War had been built by Thomas and Martha Williams in 1859 on land they had purchased from Dr. Richard Eppes for $400. Septima's husband, Brigadier General Charles H.T. Collis, obtained the house for his headquarters when he became commander of the post . . . — Map (db m19607) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Historic City Point |
| | “It must once have been a quite pretty place, and consisted of a large number of scattered private houses, several of them very good ones.” Col. Theodore Lyman, USA, June 16, 1864
The village of City Point dates to 1613. Prior to the Civil War, the hamlet boasted 25 houses, five wharves, three taverns, and, most importantly to the Union Army, the railroad. A few of the pre-war structures remain, preserved as part of the City Point Historic District.
Civil War first . . . — Map (db m19619) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Housing Several Thousand Federal Troops |
| | “To a civilian, a camp is always a sad-looking sight – men living on the ground like animals, in the mud, under the rain which penetrates the tents, surrounded by thick and acrid smoke of burning wood. Army camps are wild and primitive villages...Yet, the inhabitants of these camps are writing history today.” - Auguste Laugel, a Frenchman visiting Grant at City Point
Though tents and huts were the normal accommodations at City Point, Brevet Major W.P. Martin, a . . . — Map (db m19623) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Hurricane Isabel |
| | Hurricane Isabel caused a storm surge at City Point on September 18, 2003. Due to a combination of tropical storm winds and reversing high tides, river levels at City Point rose to 13 feet 10 inches above flood stage resulting in the total destruction of the boardwalk. For those standing on the boardwalk at 5 feet 10 inches or less, the water level would have been over your head. — Map (db m19757) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — One Soldier, One Family, One War — The Homespun Letters of James Nugent |
| | "Oh! father, it would make your blood run cold to see the fights...War is awful." - James Nugent, City Point, April 27, 1865
In the closing months of the Civil War, a young Wisconsin college student was drafted and soon saw combat in the hellish siege of Petersburg. Letters to his family were found in a Michigan bank vault. The City Point excerpts used here were published in The Washington Post May 30, 1989. They tell a timeless story... of soldiers and their families. . . . — Map (db m19609) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Porter House |
| | “I’ve noticed that that band always begins its noise just about the time I am sitting down to dinner and want to talk.” – General U.S. Grant, City Point, Virginia
Earthworks had been thrown across the neck of land upon which City Point is located. This intrenched line ran from a point on the James River to a point on the Appomattox River. A small garrison had been detailed for its defense, and the commanding officer wishing to do something that would afford the . . . — Map (db m19610) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Quartermaster Repair Shops |
| | The Quartermaster Department was responsible for the transportation of the Army, storage and transportation of supplies, clothing, camp and garrison equipage, horses, forage, fuel, maintenance of buildings and repair of equipment.
Captain Edward J. Strang was in charge of the repair shops, located nearby, which employed more than 1,600 blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, saddlers, teamsters, laborers and clerks. These men were responsible for the maintenance and repair of army . . . — Map (db m19611) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — St. John’s Episcopal Church |
| | During the Civil War this church served as a signal station for both the Confederacy and the Union. On May 5, 1864 Col. Samuel A. Duncan’s brigade of United States Colored Troops (4th, 5th, and 6th U.S.C.T.) occupied City Point and the signal station without resistance. The 5th U.S.C.T. was the first to arrive and they captured code books and a group of Confederate signalmen who were trying to send information to Petersburg about the arrival of the Union army. For a short time the church was . . . — Map (db m19604) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Taverns |
| | The structure before you was one of three taverns which existed in City Point at the time of the Civil War. It was probably constructed in the eighteenth century. On June 15, 1864 the United States Christian Commission established its offices in this building. In front of the tavern facing the street, the Christian Commission erected a chapel and storehouse. These three buildings comprised the agency's headquarters.
The Christian Commission was an interdenominational organization devoted . . . — Map (db m19624) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — The Army of the James Monument |
| | (north face)
Sacred
to the
Lamented Dead
of
The Army
of the James.
(south face)
Erected
by the direction of
Maj. Genl. B.F. Butler.
George Suckley.
Surg. U.S. Vol.
Colonel and Medical Director
H.B. Fowler.
Surg. 12. N.H. Vol.
Surgeon in charge of
Point of Rocks hospital.
Geo. Jones.
Hospital Chaplain
1865. — Map (db m17059) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — The Bull Ring At City Point — A Dreaded Provost Prison |
| | “It was a pen of filth and vermin.” – William Howell Reed, a Sanitary Commission agent
The Bull Ring was the Union provost Marshal’s prison at City Point used for the confinement of Union soldiers convicted or charged with desertion, murder, rape, disobedience, theft, drunkenness and other crimes. The pen was composed of three large one-story barracks which were surrounded by high wooden fences strictly guarded by sentries day and night. At the entrance was a . . . — Map (db m19602) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — The Waterfront |
| | “Everything is as perfectly arranged as in Boston.” - Pvt. R.G. Carter 22nd Massachusetts Infantry
Cannons, food, munitions, forage, even coffins-the list of goods that passed onto the waterfront before you seemed endless. Gangs of laborers-many of them former slaves-toiled constantly on the half mile of wharves here, unloading three million pounds of materiel each day. While the Confederates in Petersburg suffered severe shortages, the Union warehouses at City Point . . . — Map (db m19621) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — U.S. Government Bakery |
| | “After breakfast I mounted and rode...to look at the Bake House just completed. It will turn out 100,000 rations in 24 hours. Every thing is on a grand scale and of the most convenient & Economical character. They make most excellent bread.” - General Marsena Patrick, Provost Marshal, October 25, 1864
Feeding the Union army was not an easy task. Much labor was required to ensure that thousands of U.S. Soldiers received their daily rations. On August 30, 1864 the U.S. . . . — Map (db m19613) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — 16 — Virginia Indians near City Point — Captain John Smith’s Adventures on the James — www.johnsmithtrail.org |
| | This peninsula separated two chiefdoms subject to Powhatan, the Weyanock and the Appomattuck. John Smith's map shows the Appomattuck people, whom Christopher Newport described as initially unfriendly, living in this vicinity. He told of a different reception from the Weyanock people who lived across the river.
Newport described a kingdom full of pearl-mussels at the junction of the Appomattox and the James called “Waynauk,” where the Natives welcomed him with rejoicing and . . . — Map (db m19680) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Virginia’s First World War I Monument |
| | On Memorial Day 1921, Hopewell American Legion Post 80 dedicated the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice during World War I. The monument now honors Hopewell’s fallen heroes from succeeding wars and conflicts. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 637 currently maintains the structure ensuring its survival for generations to come.
This story board was made possible by the generosity of the Hopewell Rotary Club and the City of Hopewell. — Map (db m17643) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Women At City Point |
| | “It was a nervous place for a woman; but I endured it, rahter feeling a kind of enthusiasm in the nearness to danger and death.” - Sarah Palmer, Ninth Corps Hospital Nurse
Women decided to come to City Point for as many different reasons as men enlisted in the army. Some came for the excitement of a military encampment. Some came to accompany or assist family members in some way. And some came because they truly believed that their presence at City Point would advance . . . — Map (db m19618) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 9 — Battersea |
| | Battersea was the home of Colonel John Banister, a member of the House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions, and the Continental Congress, as well as a framer of the Articles of Confederation and the first mayor of Petersburg. The elegant but compact house begun in 1768, perhaps best displays the Anglo-Palladian influence on Virginia's colonial plantation homes. Noted travelers, including the Italian Count Castiglioni and the French Marquis de Chastellux visted Battersea: Chastellux . . . — Map (db m17624) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Battery 31 — Confederate Defense Line |
| | Part of the original Confederate defense line constructed in 1862 – 1863. On April 2, 1865, the battery located in this position took part in stopping a heavy Union attack at Fort Mahone, one third of a mile east. Severe fighting continued until nightfall when the battery was withdrawn. — Map (db m17504) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 22 — Battle of Petersburg — 25 April 1781 — East Hill |
| | To the west stood East Hill (Bollingbrook), home of the widow Mary Marshall Tabb Bolling. After the 25 Apr. 1781 Battle of Petersburg, British Maj. Gen. William Phillips and Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold located their headquarters at the house. The British reoccupied it on 9 May, after returning from Richmond. The following day, Maj. Gen. Lafayette shelled Petersburg, from the heights on the north bank of the Appomattox River. After becoming gravely ill, Phillips died there on 13 May. Lieut. Gen. . . . — Map (db m17633) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 23 — Battle of Petersburg — 25 April 1781 — First Line Of Defense |
| | On 25 Apr. 1781, American Brig. Gen. Peter Muhlenberg formed his first line of 500 Virginia militia here to meet the British. The line extended along East Street from the Appomattox River to present-day Washington Street and consisted of two infantry regiments. Maj. Gen. William Phillips' 2,500-man army, including one Light Infantry battalion and the 76th and 80th Regiments of Foot, struck the Americans here. After several assaults and the deployment of four British cannon, the militia withdrew . . . — Map (db m17634) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 25 — Battle of Petersburg — 25 April 1781 — Second Line Of Defense |
| | On 25 Apr. 1781, American Brig. Gen. Peter Muhlenberg’s Virginia militia fell back west from Blandford, under heavy British fire, to a prepared line of defense here along the crest of this hill. This second line of Virginia militia, consisting of four regiments of infantry, extended from the Appomattox River on the north and present-day Washington Street to the south of here. The Virginians repelled several British assaults, but soon their ammunition ran low and, after Maj. Gen. William . . . — Map (db m17635) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Battle of the Crater - Covered Way |
| | At this place located by participants in the Battle of the Crater, this road, known as the Jerusalem Plank Road, was crossed by a covered way leading eastwardly to the ravine in rear of the Confederate breastworks which run northwardly from the Crater. By this covered way about 8 o’clock on the morning of July 30th 1864, nearly 4 hours after the explosion, the Confederate troops under Gen. WM. Mahone approached the ravine from which they charged and recaptured the breastworks.
This . . . — Map (db m17579) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 8 — Bollingbrook Hotel |
| | After a fire destroyed John Niblo's tavern in 1827, Niblo assembled a group of investors who constructed on this site in 1828 the three-story Bollingbrook Hotel, attributed to Otis Manson. The hotel became known as "one of the best taverns in the Atlantic country." In 1857, a fourth story was added to the building and it was restyled to include a bracketed cornice and cast-iron segmental window caps. During the siege of Petersburg in 1864-1865 Confederate officers were housed here. About 1906 . . . — Map (db m17130) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — I 6 — Central State Hospital |
| | Established in 1869 in temporary quarters at Howard's Grove near Richmond. In 1870 it came under control of the State. In 1885 it was moved to the present location, the site of "Mayfield Plantation", which was purchased and donated to the State by the City of Petersburg. The first hospital in America exclusively for the treatment of mental disease in the Negro. — Map (db m19000) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Col. George W. Gowen Monument |
| |
Erected by the surviving
Comrades, school children and
Citizens of Schuylkill County,
Pennsylvania, and dedicated to
The memory of the dead of
The 48th Regiment Pennsylvania
Volunteers.
Col. George W. Gowen,
Killed in action in front of
Fort Mahone, April 2nd, 1865
Aged 25 years — Map (db m17528) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 26 — Corling's Corner |
| | By the 1820s, Petersburg was developing into a major industrial city. The backbone of the city's workforce was enslaved labor. At this highly visible downtown intersection known as Corling's Corner, local manufacturers, railroad companies, building contractors, and private individuals inspected and rented enslaved people to work for one-year terms in their businesses and homes. Petersburg's tobacco factories were probably the largest users of rented labor. At the end of every year, enslaved men . . . — Map (db m17640) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — S 43 — Cottage Farm |
| | A little north stood the McIlwaine home, Lee's field headquarters whence on the afternoon of April 2, 1865, the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg was ordered. Upon issuing the order Lee granted leave to his only staff officer to go to Richmond that evening for his marriage. — Map (db m17555) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Courthouse |
| | This Greek Revival building was constructed between 1838 and 1840 and designed by New York architect Calvin Pollard as the city’s Husting’s Courthouse. The term “hustings” derives from a British form of court system loosely in place in Virginia today and refers to a public space where political campaign speeches are made.
Until the 20th Century, the building housed the city’s administrative offices as well as a variety of courts. Many significant trials occurred here, including . . . — Map (db m17656) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 1 — Folly Castle |
| | This house was the town home of Peter Jones, who built it in 1763. It was called "Folly Castle" because it was a large house for a childless man, but Jones later had offspring. Major Erasmus Gill, Revolutionary soldier, also lived here.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission
For the City of Petersburg 1931 — Map (db m17613) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 15 — Formation of the Southern Methodist Church |
| | One block west stood the Union Street Methodist Church, completed in 1820. There was held the first general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, May 1-23, 1846. At this meeting the Southern Methodist Church, which had separated from the Northern Church, effected its organization.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission
For the City of Petersburg 1931 — Map (db m17626) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 6 — Fort Henry |
| | Four blocks north is the traditional site of Fort Henry, established under the Act of 1645. In 1646 the fort was leased by Abraham Wood. From it, in 1650, Wood and Edmund Bland set out on an exploring expedition; and, in 1671, Batts and Fallam on the first expedition known to have crossed the Appalachian Mountains. The fort was garrsioned again in 1675, with Peter Jones as commander.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission
For the City of Petersburg 1932 — Map (db m17623) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 7 — General Lee's Headquarters |
| | Three blocks north and a half a block west is the Beasley House where General Robert E. Lee had his second headquarters in 1864 during the siege of Petersburg. He moved thence to Edge Hill to be in closer touch with his right wing.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission. For the City of Petersburg 1931. — Map (db m17544) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 2 — Golden Ball Tavern |
| | Here stood a dwelling house, constructed about 1764 by prosperous tobacco merchant, Richard Hanson, who, as a fervent Loyalist, fled Virginia in 1776. During the latter part of the Revolution, the structure became known as the Golden Ball Tavern. According to tradition, British officers serving under Cornwallis were quartered here in 1781. When Petersburg was incorporated as a town in 1784, the town council and the courts used the tavern as their first meeting place. The structure was enlarged . . . — Map (db m17618) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 19 — Grace Episcopal Church |
| | The third home of Grace Church, a brick Gothic Revival-style building, stood on this site from 1859 to 1960. The congregation was founded in 1841 by Dr. Churchhill Jones Gibson, rector until 1892. In 1928 a majority of the members, led by the rector, Dr. Edwin Royall Carter, left to form Christ Episcopal Church at 1545 South Sycamore Street. The two congregations reunited in 1953 at the Sycamore Street site as Christ and Grace Episcopal Church. — Map (db m17632) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 16 — Graham Road |
| | On June 9, 1864, Kautz's Union cavalry, 1300 men, after overwhelming Archer's militia, one mile south, moved westward on this road to attack the city. Upon the hillside, one mile west, they were repulsed by the battery of Captain Edward Graham, and later driven to retreat by General James Dearing's cavalry. This attack, in conjunction with an infantry force that did not come up, was the first attempt to capture Petersburg. — Map (db m17627) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 17 — Graham Road |
| | Upon this site, on June 9, 1864, Captain Edward Graham, commanding two guns of the Petersburg Artillery, repulsed the attack of Kautz's cavalry, 1300 men. And by this gallant defense the city was saved. Later the Union forces were driven to retreat by the supporting cavalry of General James Dearing. — Map (db m17628) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Lest We Forget |
| | This monument is presented to
the City of Petersburg
by
Petersburg Post No. 2
The American Legion
and affectionately dedicated
to our comrades who marched
out with us during the World
War, and did not come back
November 11th 1928 — Map (db m17642) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Major Peter Jones |
| | Site of
Trading Station
of
Major Peter Jones.
About 1675.
Owner of Peters Point.
Afterwards Petersburg.
Frances Bland Randolph Chapter
D.A.R.
1909. — Map (db m17641) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — McKenney House |
| | The McKenney House was originally constructed as a residence for Mayor John Dodson in 1859. It was the residence of Confederate General William Mahone after the Civil War. The property was purchased by William R. McKenney in early 1911. The McKenney family gave the house to the City in 1923 to be used as a public library in honor of the prominent lawyer. Opened in 1924, the library was segregated for decades with white patrons allowed to use the main level and African-Americans only allowed in . . . — Map (db m17652) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — 13 — McKenney Library — Petersburg, Virginia |
| | Petersburg's main public library, the William R. McKenney Library, is housed in a fine dwelling constructed in 1859 by John Dodson, a prominent lawyer and mayor of Petersburg. After the Civil War, the Confederate General and railroad magnate Billy Mahone lived in the house, where he entertained such dignitaries as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The McKenney family gave the house to the City of Petersburg in 1923 to be used as a library in honor of their father, the well-known attorney . . . — Map (db m20609) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Old Men and Boys of Petersburg |
| | This stone marks the spot where the Old Men and Boys of Petersburg under Gen. R.E. Colston and Col. F.H. Archer 125 strong on June 9th, 1864 distinguished themselves in a fight with 1300 Federal cavalry under Gen. Kautz gaining time for the defense of the expedition.
Placed by the Petersburg Chapter U.D.C. May 1908 — Map (db m17521) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Old U.S. Customs House & Post Office |
| | Built of Petersburg granite and constructed between 1856 and 1860, the U.S. Customs House and Post Office was designed by Ammi B. Young, architect of the U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington D.C. The decision to add the third story was made during construction. During the Civil War, this upper story served as headquarters for the Confederate military department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina, commanded variously by James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, George E. Pickett, and P.G.T. . . . — Map (db m17653) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Pennsylvania Monument — 3rd Div. 9th Corps, Army of the Potomac |
| | Bermuda Hundred
Weldon Raid
Hatcher’s Run
Petersburg
Fort Stedman
Fort Mahone — Map (db m17537) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — Petersburg Defenses — Batteries 35-38 |
| | You are facing Battery 37 in the 10-mile-long Confederate defensive line constructed between 1862 and 1864 east and south of Petersburg. Named the Dimmock Line for supervising engineer Capt. Charles H. Dimmock, it consisted of trenches linking 55 earthen forts and batteries. Four batteries—35 to 38—still remain here in present-day Lee Park. From east to west, the first is Battery 35, built for 9 guns in Bailey’s Woods on high ground east of present-day Willcox Lake. After the Army . . . — Map (db m17508) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 5 — Poplar Lawn |
| | Poplar Lawn is now known as Central Park. Here the Petersburg Volunteers camped in October 1812, before leaving for the Canadian border. Here Lafayette was greeted with music and speeches in 1824. The place was bought by the city in 1844. Volunteer companies enlisted here, April 19, 1861. In the siege of 1864-65 a hospital stood here.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission
For the City of Petersburg 1931 — Map (db m17621) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 10 — St. Paul's Church |
| | St. Paul's Church was built in 1856. Here Robert E. Lee and his staff worshipped during the siege of Petersburg, 1864-65. Lee attended the wedding of his son, W.H.F. Lee, in this church in 1867.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission
For the City of Petersburg 1931 — Map (db m17625) |
| Virginia, Petersburg — QA 14 — Two Noted Homes |
| | Half a block south is the home of Major General William Mahone, famed for his gallant conduct at the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864. Two blocks south is the Wallace Home, where Abraham Lincoln conferred with General Grant, April 3, 1865, preceding Grant's march to Appomattox.
Virginia Conservation & Development Commission. For the City of Petersburg 1931 — Map (db m17553) |
| Virginia, Richmond — "Richmond" |
| | William Byrd II of Westover, owner of the land around
the falls of the James River, wrote in his diary on
September 19, 1733:
…we laid the foundations of two large Citys. One at Shacco’s, to be called Richmond and the other at the point of Appamattux River to be named Petersburgh. …Thus we did not build Castles only, but also Citys in the Air.
Byrd, who had lived and been educated in England, chose the name “Richmond” for his new city because the view of the James . . . — Map (db m16145) |
| Virginia, Richmond — "The Great Chief Justice" |
| | Born in Fauquier County, John Marshall was admitted to the bar there in 1780 following service in the Revolutionary army. In 1783 he married Mary Willis Ambler and lived the remainder of his life in Richmond where until 1797 he accepted President Adam’s request to help represent his nation in France. Marshall was deeply involved in state political and legal affairs. He served intermittently in the House of Delegates on the Council of State, the Richmond City Council, and after 1793 as brigadier . . . — Map (db m22610) |
| Virginia, Richmond — “I must save the women of Richmond!” |
| | Site of the house in which Maj. Gen'l. J.E.B. Stuart, C.S.A. died May 12, 1864
“I must save the women of Richmond!”
This tablet is placed by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, A.D. 1911 — Map (db m16216) |
| Virginia, Richmond — 13th Street Bridge |
| | The keystone inscription bears the initials of the two owners of the Haxall-Crenshaw Mill, which once stood here.
The old 13th Street Bridge and the arch on the bank of the canal opposite this spot were built by Richard B. Haxall and Lewis D. Crenshaw, proprietors of the Haxall-Crenshaw Mill. The arch was part of a lateral canal extending into an auxiliary building of the flour mill, which was one of America's largest. — Map (db m23820) |
| Virginia, Richmond — A Bateau Pole |
| | This pole is a reproduction of the poles used by Bateau polemen. The crew of a Bateau consisted of two polemen, who walked on boards running the length of the boat on either side and a steersman who used a sweep at the stern. To navigate upstream, one of the polemen, standing on the walkway in the bow, set his iron shod pole in the bottom of the canal or river, adjusted the pole to the pad at his shoulder and pushed the Bateau forward as he walked along the board. The other poleman, in turn, . . . — Map (db m23922) |
| Virginia, Richmond — SA 69 — Adams-Van Lew House |
| | Richmond mayor Dr. John Adams built a mansion here in 1802. It became the residence of Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) whose father obtained it in 1836. During the Civil War, Elizabeth Van Lew led a Union espionage operation. African Americans, such as Van Lew's associate Mary Jane Richards (whose story closely parallels that of legendary spy Mary Elizabeth Bowser), served in Richmond's Unionist underground. Van Lew served as postmaster of Richmond from 1869 to 1877. Maggie Lena Walker, . . . — Map (db m15926) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Adapting Power |
| | The Raceway and Earlier Uses of the Site
This raceway brought water from the James River and Kanawha Canal to power waterwheels, and later turbines, that drove machinery. During its earliest use, the raceway contained at least two overshot waterwheels that powered a corn mill, a cotton mill, and a flour mill. The stone base of the Pattern Building probably dates from the earliest structures.
The tubes or penstocks you see here, carry water into the round metal casings that . . . — Map (db m24411) |
| Virginia, Richmond — African Americans and the Waterfront — Richmond Riverfront |
| | African Americans and the waterfront
The Richmond waterfront is steeped in African American history. From the early days when Richmond was a colonial trading post, free, indentures, and enslaved African Americans lived and worked in the area. Later, the Richmond dock became a place of arrival for many slaves brought from other parts of the South to be sold at auction houses a few blocks north of here.
Both free and enslaved blacks worked in the ironworks and tobacco warehouses . . . — Map (db m23856) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Albemarle Paper |
| | In 1916, the Dixie Paper Company opened a paper mill in the building of the closed Brown’s Island electric plant. By 1919, the mill was taken over by Albemarle Paper Company, which had been operating a paper mill just upriver at Hollywood since 1887. The Brown’s Island mill made kraft paper and operated until 1967. The mill buildings filled the island, with the last pulled down in 1978.
In 1957, Albemarle Paper purchased the Tredegar Iron Works property. By then it had acquired most of . . . — Map (db m24107) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Alexander H. Stephens House Site |
| | Alexander H. Stephens
Vice President of the
Confederate States of America
Lived in the house that stood here in 1861
This tablet is placed by the
Confederate Memorial Literary Society, A.D., 1912, — Map (db m16272) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Arnold’s Picket Driven In |
| | Arnold’s
Picket driven in
Jany 4th 1781
By
Col. J. Nicholas
(south face)
This pylon, re-created in granite and containing a replica of the original 1834 inscription, was re-dedicated April 17, 1991, by the Sons of the Revolution in the State of Virginia
(west face)
The central pylon was erected about 1834 to mark the site in this vicinity where Benedict Arnold’s attack during the Revolution was repulsed. Re-erected 1948 by the Sons of the Revolution in the State . . . — Map (db m16099) |
| Virginia, Richmond — SA-71 — Battle of Bloody Run |
| | Nearby is the site where Chief Totopotomoy of the Pamunkey died in 1656. The English colonists had become concerned over the recent settlement nearby of the Rickohockans along the falls of the James River. They called upon Totopotomoy to assist in removing the Rickohockans. An English force led by Col. Edward Hill along with Totopotomoy and his men fought the Rickohockans in 1656. Totopotomoy and many of his men were killed, and the event became known as the Battle of Bloody Run. The Council of . . . — Map (db m16046) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Belle Isle — Captain John Smith’s Adventures on the James — www.johnsmithtrail.org |
| | James River Park System
The Virginia Company of London instructed the first English colonists to choose a river for their settlement and to “let Captain Newport discover how far that river may be found navigable.” Following this charge, Newport and a group that included John Smith sailed upriver as far as modern Richmond in late May, 1607.
Richmond straddles the fall line between Virginia’s Coastal Plain and the Piedmont region, the limit of navigation for sailing . . . — Map (db m23719) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Belle Isle |
| | During the winter of 1863-1864, the island visible from this spot held up to 8,000 Union army prisoners.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, prisoners poured into Richmond. Camps built only as transport stations soon became permanent. Over the course of the war, several thousand Belle Isle prisoners died, many during the harsh winter of 1863, when the entire city was overcrowded and undersupplied. — Map (db m24097) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Belle Isle and Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works |
| | Once called Washington’s or Broad Rock Island, Belle Isle was bought by Captain John Smith from Chief Powatan in 1608. Early travelers found the island natural and idyllic and current visitors only see hints of the island’s industrial past. In 1815, a wooden dam built on the southern side diverted water to power a nail factory, which eventually became Old Dominion Iron and Steel. Belle Isle later became the home of stone quarries and a Virginia Electric Power plant.
Old Dominion Iron and . . . — Map (db m24375) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Birthplace of Cardiac Transplantation |
| | This site commemorates the pioneering basic, clinical and translational research that laid the foundation for successful cardiac transplantation. On this campus, Dr. Richard Lower performed the first heart transplant in Virginia on May 25, 1968. Modern-day research in transplantation medicine continues to flourish at the VCU Medical Center, as does organ transplantation at the Hume-Lee Transplant Center and cardiac transplantation at the Pauley Heart Center.
VCU
Virginia Commonwealth University — Map (db m19180) |
| Virginia, Richmond — SA 75 — Black Hawk (1767-1838) |
| | Black Sparrow Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak) led the Sauk Nation in defense of land taken from them in the 1830s. Displaced from three Midwestern locations, the Sauk resisted another federal relocation. Led by Black Hawk, the Sauk fought throughout the summer of 1832 in what has become known as the Black Hawk War. Outnumbered, the Sauk and Black Hawk surrendered and he was held in federal custody. President Andrew Jackson ordered him paraded through major cities in European clothing as . . . — Map (db m24336) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Brown’s Island |
| | Brown’s Island was created when the Haxall Canal was extended west to the Tredegar Iron Works.
Encircled by the waterways that provided power and transportation to flour mills, foundries, and paper companies, Brown’s Island has been at the center of Richmond’s industrial activities for more than 200 years. Remains of Civil War-era bridges can be seen from its shores, and the CSX Railroad still runs along its southern edge. — Map (db m24095) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Brown’s Island |
| | Brown’s Island is named for Elijah Brown who acquired it in 1826. Brown came from Rhode Island in 1811 to be a gunsmith at the Virginia Manufactory of Arms. In 1818, he entered the Public Guard, which was stationed at the Manufactory, and served as Lieutenant and Paymaster. For a time the Island was called Neilson’s Island, after a subsequent owner, but the name Brown’s Island eventually stuck.
Since Elijah Brown’s day, the island has had a varied history, sketched in plaques around . . . — Map (db m24105) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Burnt District |
| | More than 1,000 buildings burned between 4th and 15th Streets, from Main Street to the river.
“The sky in the direction of Richmond is lurid with the glare of burning houses. …It was as if a great battle were going on around us.” Kate Mason Rowland, 1865
As the Confederates evacuated Richmond in 1865, they torched bridges, warehouses, and arsenals to keep them from the Union Army. All the buildings in the Shockoe warehouse district were destroyed. The devastation . . . — Map (db m24290) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Canal Walk / Historic Canals — Richmond Riverfront |
| | canal walk
First envisioned by George Washington in 1774, the canals were to be part of a continuous transportation route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. By 1789, initial construction of portions of the canal around the falls to the west of downtown had been completed by the James River Canal Company. Ultimately part of the James River and Kanawha Canal system, this canal entered the city from the west and ran behind the Tredegar Iron Works to a basin between 8th and . . . — Map (db m23793) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Canal Walk / Historic Canals — Richmond Riverfront |
| | canal walk
One hundred and fifty years ago, Richmond’s waterfront bustled with business and trade, workers and travelers, hotels, saloons, and tobacco warehouses. Along the canals, barges were towed by teams of horses and mules. Batteaux for carrying freight plied the river and the canal around the rapids, and passenger boats, called “packets,” left for Lynchburg every other day.
Richmond has now restored its historic canals. Once again, boats can bypass the beautiful . . . — Map (db m23854) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Canal Walk / Historic Canals — Richmond Riverfront |
| | canal walk
One hundred and fifty years ago, Richmond’s waterfront bustled with business and trade, workers and travelers, hotels, saloons, and tobacco warehouses. Along the canals, barges were towed by teams of horses and mules. Batteaux for carrying freight plied the river and the canal around the rapids, and passenger boats, called “packets,” left for Lynchburg every other day.
Richmond has now restored its historic canals. Once again, boats can bypass the beautiful . . . — Map (db m23866) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Canal Walk / Historic Canals — Richmond Riverfront |
| | canal walk
One hundred and fifty years ago, Richmond’s waterfront bustled with business and trade, workers and travelers, hotels, saloons, and tobacco warehouses. Along the canals, barges were towed by teams of horses and mules. Batteaux for carrying freight plied the river and the canal around the rapids, and passenger boats, called “packets,” left for Lynchburg every other day.
Richmond has now restored its historic canals. Once again, boats can bypass the beautiful but . . . — Map (db m23887) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Chimborazo Hospital |
| | On this hill stood Chimborazo Hospital 1862-1865
Established by Surgeon General S.P. Moore, C.S.A. Directed by Dr. James B. McCaw.
At that time, it was the largest military hospital in the world. It consisted of 150 buildings and 100 tents and cared for 76,000 patients with a mortality of less than 10 per cent. This tablet is placed by the
Confederate Memorial Literary Society
1934 — Map (db m15507) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Chimborazo Hospital — 1861-1865 |
| | In this park Dr. James B. McCaw developed for the Confederate States of America a military hospital which was then the largest in human history. It received 17,000 wounded, served more than 76,000 patients, and had a mortality of less than 10%. Dr. McCaw was its commandant and medical director, Mrs. John Minge its chief matron. Erected by Lee Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Richmond, Virginia, June 3, 1953 — Map (db m16047) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Christopher Newport Cross / Canal Walk — Richmond Riverfront |
| | Christopher Newport Cross
On May 24, 1607, Captain Christopher Newport and a party of explorers who had landed at Jamestown just days earlier arrived at the site of modern-day Richmond. Hoping to find a passage to the Pacific, they found instead a fortified Indian village with outlying agricultural fields. Newport, advised by the leader of the village not to proceed farther than the falls, where a rival group of Indians lived, traveled the next day a short distance upstream. There he . . . — Map (db m23819) |
| Virginia, Richmond — Christopher Newport Monument |
| | Capt. Christopher Newport
John Smith
Gabriela Archer
Hon. George Percy
With gentlemen, mariners, soldiers numbering twenty-one explored James River to the falls, and set up a cross
Whitsunday, May 24th 1607
This monument is presented to the City of Richmond by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
June 10th 1907
“Dei Gratia Virginia Condita” — Map (db m23818) |
| Virginia, Richmond — City of Richmond Bicentennial |
| | On July 2, 1782, the people of Richmond gathered near this site to elect twelve citizens and constitute their first city government, known as the Common Hall. The next day, the Richmond Common Council held its first meeting on the same site and elected from its membership Richmond’s first mayor, William Foushee.
Erected July 2, 1982, by the City of Richmond in celebration of the 200th birthday of Richmond’s incorporation as a city — Map (db m16306) |
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