Fort Harrison

Fort Harrison stood in 1864 as the most powerful fort in the extensive outer defenses of Richmond. Built on high, open ground, the fort and its surrounding entrenchments were built to protect the approaches to Richmond from the south. The Union army’s strongest probe toward Richmond from this direction occurred on September 29, when General Butler’s Army of the James crossed the river in two columns and struck the defenses here and at New Market Heights to the east. The Union troops captured both targets, but were unable to make any further progress against the smaller fortifications at Fort Gilmer, Fort Gregg, Fort Johnson, and Fort Hoke. Confederate counterattacks the next day failed to recover the lost ground and produced a stalemate that was unbroken until Richmond was evacuated in April 1865., Although Federal operations here did not achieve the immediate capture of Richmond, the permanent presence of Northern soldiers so close to the capital city did contribute to the extension of the Confederate lines. The fall of Fort Harrison provoked more fighting. Three separate October battles along the Darbytown Road, north of here, increased the pressure on Richmond’s defenses, and kept the armies active in this area until the decisive events of the following spring., Left Marker: Fort Harrison / Chaffin’s Farm , “There were very many greater fights, and greater numbers killed, during the war, but never was more courage displayed on any field than those men showed in their effort to recapture Fort Harrison. It was a hopeless charge, but it made defeat glorious and Chaffin’s Farm immortal.” , -- 2nd Lt. Thomas Porterfield, 2nd Pennsylvania Provisional Heavy Artillery, speaking of the Confederates on September 30, 1864