Petersburg, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Fort Davis
Union Stronghold
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 22, 2007
1. Fort Davis - Union Stronghold
Inscription.
Fort Davis. Union Stronghold. After four days of unsuccessful trying to capture Petersburg by direct assault on June 15-18, 1864, Gen. U.S. Grant’s Union army began siege operations against the city. Grant’s immediate objective was to cut one of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s supply routes, the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. Moving westward against the rail line in this area June 21-23, Union forces were stopped short of reaching their goal. They were able, though, to extend their trench lines across the Jerusalem Plank Road, now known as Crater Road. To protect this position, construction began on a large earthen structure initially called Fort Warren, Named for Fifth Corps commander, Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren. , One of the Union soldiers assigned to this task recalled: “Covering about three acres of ground, it is capable of holding a brigade…. In building our fort, we dug a trench twenty feet wide and ten feet deep, and threw up the rampart on the inside. The fort was made square with a diagonal through it. We had a magazine in it, and two wells were dug for a water supply…it took eight men to get one shovelful of dirt from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the work, the men standing in little nitches cut in the side of the bank and passing the earth from one to another.” The completed fort held a garrison of 550 men with eight field guns. , One July 11, while sitting nearby with the surgeon of the 39th Massachusetts Infantry, Col. P. Stearns Davis of the same unit was mortally wounded by a piece of exploding artillery shell. The fort was then renamed in his honor.
After four days of unsuccessful trying to capture Petersburg by direct assault on June 15-18, 1864, Gen. U.S. Grant’s Union army began siege operations against the city. Grant’s immediate objective was to cut one of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s supply routes, the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. Moving westward against the rail line in this area June 21-23, Union forces were stopped short of reaching their goal. They were able, though, to extend their trench lines across the Jerusalem Plank Road, now known as Crater Road. To protect this position, construction began on a large earthen structure initially called Fort Warren, Named for Fifth Corps commander, Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren.
One of the Union soldiers assigned to this task recalled: “Covering about three acres of ground, it is capable of holding a brigade…. In building our fort, we dug a trench twenty feet wide and ten feet deep, and threw up the rampart on the inside. The fort was made square with a diagonal through it. We had a magazine in it, and two wells were dug for a water supply…it took eight men to get one shovelful of dirt from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the work, the men standing in little nitches cut in the side of the bank and passing the earth from one to another.” The completed fort held a garrison of 550 men with eight field guns.
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July 11, while sitting nearby with the surgeon of the 39th Massachusetts Infantry, Col. P. Stearns Davis of the same unit was mortally wounded by a piece of exploding artillery shell. The fort was then renamed in his honor.
Location. 37° 11.512′ N, 77° 22.504′ W. Marker is in Petersburg, Virginia. Marker is at the intersection of Flank Road and Crater Road (Highway 301), on the left when traveling east on Flank Road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Petersburg VA 23805, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Note that based on the diagram of Fort Davis, this was a square redoubt, with a "parados traverse" in the middle running diagonally. The internal traverse was designed to trap shot that landed into the fort interior to prevent additional damage.
More about this marker. A drawing on the lower left shows a "Fatigue party at Fort Davis." A map on the right side shows other nearby fortifications used in the siege of Petersburg along with an engineering diagram of Fort Davis.
From the sally port (entrance) on the old Jerusalem Plank Road side (eastern face) of the fort. This view looks across the parade ground, with the south wall on the left and the traverse on the right, meeting at the southwest corner of the fort.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on November 18, 2007, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 3,329 times since then and 51 times this year. Last updated on April 17, 2022, by Anonymous of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Photos:1. submitted on November 18, 2007, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 2. submitted on December 24, 2008, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. 3. submitted on November 18, 2007, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 4. submitted on December 24, 2008, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.