156 entries match your criteria. The first 100 are listed. The final 56 ⊳
Historical Markers and War Memorials in Petersburg, Virginia
Adjacent to Petersburg, Virginia
▶ Chesterfield County (212) ▶ Colonial Heights (19) ▶ Dinwiddie County (128) ▶ Prince George County (32)
Touch name on list to highlight map location.
Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
GEOGRAPHIC SORT
| | Here at Petersburg on June 15, 1864, African-American troops recorded their first major success of the war in Virginia. “They made a splendid charge…and won great favor in the eyes of white soldiers by their courage and . . . — — Map (db m7075) HM |
| | “It is agreed that the thing was a perfect success, except that it did not succeed.” - Major Charles F. Adams, Jr., USA The explosion cleared the Union path to Petersburg. But instead of pushing through, the first waves of . . . — — Map (db m7061) HM |
| |
A Unique History
A local historian once wrote that "during its siege Petersburg endured an ordeal of shelling which was extraordinary in the history of the world." It was estimated that more than 800 buildings were struck during the . . . — — Map (db m149588) HM |
| | A division of African-American troops in Burnside’s Ninth Corps was to have led the attack that followed the explosion of the mine. But just hours before the assault, Union army commander George G. Meade changed the plan. The result: chaos and . . . — — Map (db m7052) HM |
| | Desperate to relieve the Union noose strangling Petersburg, on March 25, 1865, General Lee used pre-dawn darkness and stealth to pierce the Union Line here at Fort Steadman. “We were very much elated at first, as we thought we had won a . . . — — Map (db m7035) HM |
| | Spot where A. P. Hill was killed. — — Map (db m63392) HM |
| | The Petersburg area has an extraordinarily rich African-American heritage. In 1625, most of the Africans in Virginia were servants at Flowerdew Hundred, nearby in Prince George County. In the 18th century, tens of thousands of newly enslaved . . . — — Map (db m57366) HM |
| |
Trail Sites
1. Pocahontas: In 1784, four small towns at the convergence of three counties (Pocahontas in Chesterfield, Blandford in Prince George, and Petersburg and Ravenscroft in Dinwiddie) were combined and incorporated as . . . — — Map (db m66952) HM |
| | Petersburg’s architectural heritage has a long and rich history, reflecting centuries of occupation by Native Americans and over 300 years of European settlement. Beginning as a frontier trading post with the Virginia Indians, Fort Henry was . . . — — Map (db m57338) HM |
| | "The campaign became quite scientific, so that after the first few weeks, we learned to tell by the sound the nature of every missile that passed over us, and knew which ones to dodge. The mortar shells had the most terror for us. The ordinary . . . — — Map (db m14602) HM |
| | Petersburg is in the midst of a downtown renaissance, fueled by the arts and driven by the creative spirit of the community. Historically a center of culture and trade for the region, Petersburg’s abundant natural resources and rich history are . . . — — Map (db m57369) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17624) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17504) HM |
| | Salient of Confederate Line Siege of Petersburg ---------- Erected Apr. 2, 1914 By A.P. Hill Camp S.C.V. — — Map (db m7994) HM |
| | In 1862 – two years before the first Federals appeared at the city’s gates – Confederate Captain Charles Dimmock oversaw the construction of a ten-mile line of defensive works ringing Petersburg. In front of you is Battery 5 one of the . . . — — Map (db m155053) HM |
| | On the ground before you the first major attacks against Petersburg occurred. This bloodletting marked the beginning of nine months of siege. This 0.6-mile trail will take you through Battery 5 of the Confederate Dimmock Line, captured by the . . . — — Map (db m14601) HM |
| | On June 15, 1864, after seizing Battery 5, Union troops swept southward along the Dimmock Line. Men of the 1st and 22nd Colored Troops captured Battery 8, overcoming heavy resistance from part of Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise’s Virginia brigade. By the . . . — — Map (db m7029) HM |
| | Here was fought the Battle of Petersburg, April 25, 1781. The Southside Militia, 1000 strong and commanded by Baron Steuben and General Muhlenberg, made a brave resistance to 2500 British Regulars under Phillips and Arnold. — — Map (db m6540) HM |
| | From Blandford Heights to Pocahontas Bridge April 25, 1781 Here was fought the opening engagement of the decisive campaign of the revolution. 1000 American militia under Steuben, Muhlenberg, Dick and House opposed 2500 British under Phillips, . . . — — Map (db m6543) HM |
| | On 25 Apr. 1781, Maj. Gen. Friedrich von Steuben’s 1,000 Virginia militiamen, driven from the eastern edge of Blandford, established a strong defensive line along the western summit (now Madison Street) above Lieutenant Run valley. Maj. Gen. William . . . — — Map (db m14546) HM |
| | On 24 Apr. 1781, Maj. Gen. William Phillips’s force of 2,500 British regulars landed at City Point, 12 miles to the east on the James River, as part of a major campaign to disrupt the American force’s main line of communication through Virginia. The . . . — — Map (db m14552) HM |
| | About midday on 25 April 1781, Maj. Gen. William Phillips discovered that the right flank of the American militia, on the edge of Blandford was vulnerable to attack from the south and rear. He ordered Lt. Col. John Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers and a . . . — — Map (db m14558) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17633) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17634) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17635) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17579) HM |
| | The Bishop Payne Divinity School began here in 1878 at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Normal and Industrial School. For 71 years it prepared black men for the ministry in the church. Giles B. Cooke (1838-1937) headed the vocational school and . . . — — Map (db m74017) HM |
| | This church, built circa 1737, was in ruins at the time of the Civil War. Nonetheless, located behind Gracie’s, Colquitt’s and Elliott’s Salients in the Confederate defense lines, the structure served as a temporary field hospital during the . . . — — Map (db m6516) HM |
| | The brick church on Well’s Hill, now known as Old Blandford Church, was built between 1734 and 1737, the British General Phillips was buried in the churchyard in 1781. In the cemetery is a monument to Captain McRae and the Petersburg Volunteers, who . . . — — Map (db m6538) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17130) HM |
| | When General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began its retreat from Petersburg and Richmond on the evening of April 2, 1865, part of the army crossed the Appomattox River at Campbell's Bridge here. Other columns crossed the river on three . . . — — Map (db m14593) HM |
| | Charles Stewart, horseman, was born into slavery near Petersburg and spent part of his childhood on Pocahontas Island. At or about age 12 he was sold to William R. Johnson, one of the foremost figures in horse racing, the America’s most popular . . . — — Map (db m130190) HM |
| |
Petersburg.
Appamattuck Indian Fish Traps, Appomattox River near Old Town. Considered to be the largest and most intact fish dams in Virginia, these sturgeon dams are made of loose stones forming a series of v-shaped tunnels by . . . — — Map (db m57324) HM |
| |
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 . . . — — Map (db m17528) HM |
| | On June 18 1864 the Confederates on this hill repulsed the charge of the First Maine Regiment
On March 25 1865 from this salient General John B. Gordon led a body of picked men to surprise and capture Fort Steadman — — Map (db m37414) HM |
| | The Colquitt’s Salient loop trail will lead you over ground involved with two of the most dramatic events of the Siege of Petersburg.
On the walk to Colquitt’s Salient, you will shadow the advance of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery during its . . . — — Map (db m37410) HM |
| | This monument stone sits on a 10’ deep concrete bunker that was discovered during construction, together with portions of an abandoned railroad track. The bunker was used to store coal for the furnaces in the large buildings which once stood on the . . . — — Map (db m48485) HM |
| | This battery fell to the Union forces on June 15, 1864. — — Map (db m14618) HM |
| | “I counted 21 Union flags flying from the Crater and these works. The sight gave me no hope of ever getting away alive.” - Capt. James E. Phillips, 12th Virginia Infantry Union disorganization gave the Confederates the time they . . . — — Map (db m7062) HM |
| | Suspecting a Union mine, the Confederates dug two listening galleries here. They narrowly missed striking the Union tunnel, which was deeper. The depressions you see were caused by the cave-in of these galleries. — — Map (db m37417) HM |
| |
This marks the spot
in Poplar Lawn
where stood the
Confederate Hospital
1863 - 1865 — — Map (db m149582) HM WM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17640) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17555) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17656) HM |
| | Excavated by
The 48th Regt. Penn. Vet. Vol. Inf.
Burnside's 9th Corps,
July 30, 1864. — — Map (db m37416) HM |
| | On the morning of July 30th, 1864, the Union high command became anxious as to why the mine under the Confederate position, had not been sprung. While General Meade was sending dispatches to General Burnside asking when the mine would detonate, at . . . — — Map (db m80572) HM |
| | Daylight on March 25, 1865, brought furious fighting to Fort Haskell. “Our thin line mounted the banquette – the wounded and sick loading the muskets, while those with sound hands stood to the parapets and blazed away.” . . . — — Map (db m7032) HM |
| | Sept. 1864: “…the enemy frequently shoot very large shells into Petersburg & do some damage to buildings, but the people are getting used to it, so they don’t mind them….” - A.I.P. Varin 2nd Mississippi Famous but militarily . . . — — Map (db m6896) HM |
| | “We could blow that damn fort out of existence if we could run a mine shaft under it.” - A private of the 48th Pennsylvania June 23, 1864 Spurred by the offhand suggestion of a former coal miner, on June 25, 1864, Lieutenant . . . — — Map (db m7067) HM |
| | Twice during the Siege of Petersburg, Harrison’s Creek became a dividing point between contending armies. June 15, 1864 After being driven out of the Dimmock Line, the outnumbered Confederate defenders of Petersburg formed a new line on . . . — — Map (db m7030) HM |
| |
Drilling ground
of soldiers,
War 1812. — — Map (db m149583) HM WM |
| | Petersburg established a public school system in 1868, two years before the state’s mandate. Colored Elementary School #1 was conducted in the old church building of the African Baptist Church, which stood to your left. The building had been . . . — — Map (db m26011) HM |
| | In 1650 Fort Henry, now Petersburg, marked the western and southern extent of English settlement in, and knowledge of, Virginia. On 27 Aug. 1650, Edward Bland, merchant and land speculator, and Abraham Wood, frontier militia commander, left Fort . . . — — Map (db m1994) HM |
| | On the hilltop to the south is the site of East Hill, also known as Bollingbrook. There the British General Phillips, Benedict Arnold and Lord Cornwallis stayed in April and May, 1781. The house was bombarded by Lafayette, May 10, 1781. There . . . — — Map (db m14565) HM |
| | . . . — — Map (db m149604) HM |
| |
The octagonal building stands on land given to the Town of Petersburg in 1876 by Robert Bolling, an affluent early merchant, in trust always to be used as a market site. Erected in 1878-1879, the present market building is the fourth to have been . . . — — Map (db m149589) HM |
| | After failing to bludgeon his way into Petersburg in June and July, Grant decided to strangle the city instead. His plan: cut the railroads into Petersburg - cut the Confederate's lifelines. On August 18, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren's Union Fifth . . . — — Map (db m78952) HM |
| | First Baptist Church, one of the nation's oldest African American congregations, traces its origins to 1756, when worshipers known as New Lights began meeting outside Petersburg. The congregation moved to the city about 1820 and opened a sanctuary . . . — — Map (db m149855) HM |
| |
In May 1864, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched attacks on Confederate armies across the South. He accompanied Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac as it fought Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. . . . — — Map (db m14569) HM |
| | (front)
Maine.
First Heavy Artillery
in memory of
604 brave members who fell
charging here
June 18, 1864
Union
Maine - Virginia
Peace
(rear)
Members of the
First Maine Heavy Artillery
who were . . . — — Map (db m37412) HM |
| | 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. . . . — — Map (db m17613) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17626) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m5824) HM |
| | On this site in June, 1864 General U.S. Grant gained control of the Jerusalem Plank Road. — — Map (db m14658) HM |
| | The land on which Fort Hays is built was fought over on June 22, 1864, when the Union army first attempted to cut one of Lee’s vital rail supply lines, the Petersburg Railroad (usually called the Weldon Railroad) located about three miles west. . . . — — Map (db m3765) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17623) HM |
| | It is quite interesting to see a fort going up. The men work in the manner of bees. The mass throw the earth; the engineer soldiers do the ‘rivetting,’ that is, the interior facing the logs. The engineer sergeants run about with tapes and stakes, . . . — — Map (db m7031) HM |
| | In the last grand offensive movement of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Fort Stedman, with adjacent works, was captured at 4:30 A.M., March 25, 1865, by a well selected body of Confederates, under the command of General John B. Gordon. An advance . . . — — Map (db m7033) HM |
| | Built following the Battle of the Weldon Railroad in August 1864, Fort Wadsworth anchored the extreme left of the Union siege lines for more than a month. It secured the the Union grip on the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad - a major Confederate supply . . . — — Map (db m14673) HM |
| | 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. . . . — — Map (db m17544) HM |
| | 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. . . . — — Map (db m17618) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17632) HM |
| | This salient named for Brig.-Genl. Archibald Gracie of Alabama, faced the Federal Forts Stedman and Haskell and was successfully held by the Confederates during the entire siege of Petersburg. — — Map (db m37415) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17627) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17628) HM |
| | Here a brigade composed of the 7th battalion, the 11th, 21st, 25th and 27th regiments South Carolina Volunteers, commanded by Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood, charged Warren’s Federal Army Corps, on the 21st day of August 1864, taking into the fight 749 . . . — — Map (db m7954) HM |
| | About this house swirled the tide of battle on June 18, 1864, and during “Lee’s Last Grand Offensive,” March 25, 1865. — — Map (db m37411) HM |
| | “Attacking entrenchments has been tried so often and with such fearful losses that even the stupidest private now knows that it cannot succeed, and the natural consequence follows; the men will not try it. The very sight of a bank of earth . . . — — Map (db m7085) HM |
| | Buried with his parents are Josiah Jordan, his wife, Mary and four of their children - Watson, 10 months, Laura, 3 years, Charles, 4 months, and Lemuel, 24 years. This land was Josiah's farm at the time of the siege. — — Map (db m155218) HM |
| | Joseph Cotten, actor, was born in Petersburg. At school he excelled in football and on the stage. He appeared in several Broadway productions during the 1930s and joined Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater company. Cotten made his film debut in 1941 . . . — — Map (db m102266) HM |
| | [Southwest face:]
Resident of Petersburg 1815-1829
First President of the Republic of Liberia 1848-1855 + 1871-1876
[Northeast face:]
Joseph Jenkins Roberts worked on Union Street, about 100 yards northwest of here. . . . — — Map (db m16004) HM |
| | In this vicinity on 18 June 1864 Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain received a near-fatal wound while leading a Union brigade in a charge against Confederate works defending Petersburg. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant promoted him to Brig. Gen. of Vols. “on . . . — — Map (db m79063) HM |
| | Original building
of the
Ladies Confederate
Hospital
1862—1865 — — Map (db m48466) HM |
| | . . . — — Map (db m17642) HM |
| | After Union forces secured Petersburg on April 3, 1865, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant established his headquarters here at the Thomas Wallace House. He sent word to President Abraham Lincoln at City Point that Petersburg had fallen and invited Lincoln to . . . — — Map (db m48442) HM |
| | At noon on April 7, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and his party left City Point for Petersburg in a special train on the newly repaired City Point Railroad, arriving in the city half an hour later. His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their young son, . . . — — Map (db m48656) HM |
| | On the morning of April 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln awoke at City Point to the news that Petersburg had fallen just hours before. He immediately arranged to visit the city and meet with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant that morning. Lincoln and his . . . — — Map (db m48662) HM |
| | Howard Baugh (1920-2008) was born and raised in Petersburg. He graduated from what is now Virginia State University in 1941, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, and completed pilot training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in 1942. Deployed to Sicily with the . . . — — Map (db m130185) HM WM |
| | To the memory of William Mahone Major General C.S.A. A distinguished Confederate commander, whose valor and strategy at the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864 won for himself and his gallant brigade undying fame.
A citizen of Petersburg, Virginia, . . . — — Map (db m6752) HM |
| | This stone marks the approximately the extreme right of Mahone’s Brigade Virginia Volunteers when it captured the Confederate Breastworks on the 30th of July, 1864. Placed by the Petersburg Chapter U.D.C. November 1910. — — Map (db m7034) HM |
| | 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) HM |
| | (Front):In memory of the soldiers and sailors from Massachusetts who lost their lives in the armies of the Potomac and James in various battles in Virginia 1861 - 1865 This monument erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Back): . . . — — Map (db m14619) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m17652) HM |
| |
McKenney House
has been placed on the
National Register
of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior
Circa 1890
[Additional plaques below:]
Historic Building
Petersburg Virginia . . . — — Map (db m149584) HM |
| | 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 . . . — — Map (db m20609) HM |
| | “The romance of a soldier’s life disappears in a siege. The change of scenery and the lively marches are gone, and the same monotonous unvaried rounds of toil take their place. Sunday and weekday are all alike.” T.M. Blythe 50th . . . — — Map (db m7079) HM |
| | Newmarket Racecourse, a one-mile oval built just north of here by 1793, was among the foremost tracks in the nation when horse racing was America's most popular sport. Races were significant social events that attracted competitors and spectators . . . — — Map (db m149851) HM |
| | Site of the
Confederate Hospital
for soldiers from
North Carolina
1861-1865 — — Map (db m48468) HM |
| | Obstructions, like the reproductions displayed here, played an important role in Civil War field fortifications. These obstacles broke the forward momentum of assaulting troops and maximized and attacker’s exposure to the defenders’ fire. . . . — — Map (db m69935) HM |
| |
Appomattox Point & the Indian Trade
In the 1600s, just north of the present day market, the Appomattox River took a sharp turn around a horn of land known as Appomattox Point. The Quaker Indian traders Robert Hix and John Evans set up a . . . — — Map (db m57327) HM |
156 entries matched your criteria. The first 100 are listed above. The final 56 ⊳
RSS Feed