Perhaps the oldest frame residence on James River west of Richmond, Tuckahoe was begun about 1715 by Thomas Randolph. The little schoolhouse still stands here where Thomas Jefferson began his childhood studies. Famous guests here have included . . . — — Map (db m25625) HM
Around 5:00 p.m. the Confederate attack began when Colonel John B. Gordon’s Alabama brigade emerged from the woods behind you. Over the next three hours 15 Confederate brigades marched into a maelstrom of iron and lead. Union artillery blasted the . . . — — Map (db m46919) HM
This 1865 photograph shows the terrain over which the successful Union assault was made. Note the stumps where trees were removed to open a field of fire for the Confederate gunners. Your present location is in the right center of the photograph. . . . — — Map (db m34711) HM
Beginning just after 4:00 pm and continuing into darkness, charging Confederate infantry made repeated assaults up these gentle slopes. In several places those attacks came within point-blank range of the Union lines. This ground is such a place. . . . — — Map (db m49261) HM
This monument is dedicated
“To the 48th Alabama Regiment
Darbytown Road-August 16, 1864
Where it lost five-sixths of its men and
four-fifths of its officers, and captured
more prisoners than its total, and
did not lose a . . . — — Map (db m66150) HM
The Thomas J. West house stood as a prominent part of the battlefield scene—a goal for attacking Confederates and a landmark along the Union line. Most of the fresh Federal troops marching to the front on July 1 moved past this house, coming . . . — — Map (db m46916) HM
On November 28, 1864, photographer T.C. Roche stood atop the Great Traverse, behind you, and took this remarkable photograph. He produced a rare unposed view of Union and Confederate fighting men in the field, seen together while at war.
A . . . — — Map (db m85467) HM
An African American woman, known only as Aggy, was enslaved at Ryland Randolph's Turkey Island plantation at the time of his death in 1784. Randolph's will provided for freedom and support for Aggy and her children, but the administrators of his . . . — — Map (db m166524) HM
Malvern Hill is barely 900 yards wide here at its narrow crest, leaving room for only a small number of the nearly 200 cannon available to the Union army on July 1. The defenders placed between two and three dozen pieces of artillery across the hill . . . — — Map (db m46917) HM
A march of less than three miles from the Glendale battlefield brought the Confederates to this spot at the foot of Malvern Hill. In earlier times it was a peaceful landscape, but on July 1 a line of Union artillery with infantry supports held the . . . — — Map (db m15200) HM
(sidebar)
In April 1862, Union forces under Gen. George B. McClellan began a major campaign to capture Richmond, marching west from Fort Monroe up the Peninsula between the York and James rivers toward the Confederate capital. A Confederate . . . — — Map (db m32291) HM
The battle of Malvern Hill is best remembered for the series of bold and bloody charges launched here by the Confederate army on July 1, 1862. This one and one-half mile trail offers hikers an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of the . . . — — Map (db m14918) HM
In a daring attempt to attack the Federal supply base at City Point, 11 warships of the James River Squadron ventured downriver on the night of January 23, 1865. Confederate land batteries fired against Fort Brady as the darkened warships steamed . . . — — Map (db m164238) HM
The depressions to the right of the trail probably represent former graves of Confederate soldiers. The dead of both armies received hasty battlefield burials. Most were disinterred after the war, with the Union dead going to Glendale National . . . — — Map (db m29393) HM
In 1828, nine people organized a Sunday school in a log schoolhouse, five miles from the Richmond City limits. Students from the Virginia Baptist Seminary, now the University of Richmond, helped it become the Bethlehem Baptist Church. The church . . . — — Map (db m25610) HM
This photograph was made in late fall 1864 within feet of where you now stand. Note the casual posture of these Union soldiers, despite the fact that Confederates were less than 700 yards away. As active operations gave way to winter routine, . . . — — Map (db m32931) HM
The Union attacking force paused briefly to reorganize in the low ground behind you. Then, defying heavy infantry and artillery fire, they lunged toward the steep earth walls of Fort Harrison. From a sketch by noted artist, William Waud. Some of . . . — — Map (db m84993) HM
After capturing Fort Harrison on September 29, men of the 18th Corps concentrated on enlarging the break they had created in the Confederate defenses. Corps commander General E.O.C. Ord fell wounded as some units pushed south toward Fort Hoke. . . . — — Map (db m32932) HM
Captain Thomas Harris came to the Jamestown Colony from England in May 1611 on the ship Prosperous with Sir Thomas Dale. In 1635, a patent was issued to Harris for 750 acres. In 1636 this property was called Longfield and later was known as Curles. . . . — — Map (db m91557) HM
Chatsworth School was built circa 1915 as a one-room schoolhouse for the black children of the Antioch Community. Chatsworth was one of approximately twenty black schools in Henrico County supervised by the visionary educator, Virginia E. Randolph. . . . — — Map (db m25489) HM
He was called Wahunsonacock. The paramount chief of 30 tribes that inhabited over 6000 square miles of Virgini's coastal lands. The father of Pocahontas and the authority who dealt with the first Jamestown colonists. He will always be remembered as . . . — — Map (db m111935) HM
General Robert E. Lee deplored the loss of Fort Harrison and made immediate efforts to recapture it. Lee himself accompanied a large body of reinforcements from Petersburg on September 29. The next afternoon he threw five veteran brigades, numbering . . . — — Map (db m85482) HM
Confederate attacks reached their final fury just before sunset. "The men would rush forward as they were urged," recalled a North Carolinian, "and then it seemed as though the whole line would sway back as a field of corn would before a wind." When . . . — — Map (db m29428) HM
The Confederate plan called for dozens of cannon to gather here and on the Poindexter Farm, nearly a mile to the east (your left). Their combined fire, directed at the Union batteries atop Malvern Hill, would clear the way for an infantry assault up . . . — — Map (db m49259) HM
Confederate troops, aided by slave labor, built these earthworks between 1862 and 1864. By September 1864, over 100 miles of defensive fortifications protected Richmond against attack. After several unsuccessful attempts, Union troops captured Fort . . . — — Map (db m34716) HM
Curles Neck may take its name from the curls of the river or a family of that name. Richard Cocke, the Immigrant, patented land along the James River on the eastern side of the neck in 1636. There he built Bremo, the seat of the Cocke family for six . . . — — Map (db m9243) HM
The Curles Neck peninsula was named for the curls of the James River or for a family of that name. Richard Cocke patented land on the eastern side of the neck in 1636 and built Bremo, where his descendants lived for many generations. Nathaniel Bacon . . . — — Map (db m175922) HM
Founded here in 1742, Deep Run Baptist Church was established as an Episcopal chapel. Modeled after St. John's Church in Richmond, it was constructed in 1749 with wooden pegs and beams that remain part of the present structure. During the . . . — — Map (db m25361) HM
After capturing Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864, Union troops continued their attack against the Confederate lines that connected Fort Harrison to the James River. Here at Fort Hoke a small collection of Virginia artillerists tried valiantly to . . . — — Map (db m15088) HM
On the night of 26-27 July 1864, a Union battle group led by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock crossed the James River on pontoon bridges a mile south. Hancock intended to attack Confederate defenses below Richmond while the primary Federal force in . . . — — Map (db m24993) HM
This 1930s photograph shows the headquarters for the Richmond Battlefields Park Corporation. That private organization, composed of Richmond citizens, made the first effort to preserve Civil War battlefields around the city. In 1927 they purchased . . . — — Map (db m164292) HM
This log structure was built in 1930 to serve as headquarters for the Battlefield Parks Corporation. This private organization comprised of Richmond citizens, worked to preserve and protect Civil War battlefields around the city. In 1927 the . . . — — Map (db m164294) HM
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Fort Brady
Visiting Richmond National Battlefield Park
The concentration of Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled. The National Park Service manages 13 sites, giving visitors an . . . — — Map (db m180911) HM
Before you looms Fort Brady, one of the best-preserved Civil War forts in the National Park Service. Like most of the fortifications built during the Civil War, Fort Brady was made of earth instead of fragile bricks. Dirt could better withstand the . . . — — Map (db m32881) HM
(left panel)
Fort Gilmer
Visiting Richmond National Battlefield Park
The concentration of Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled. The National Park Service manages 13 sites, giving visitors an . . . — — Map (db m37244) HM
(left panel)
Fort Harrison
Visiting Richmond National Battlefield Park
The concentration of Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled. The National Park Service manages 13 sites, giving visitors an . . . — — Map (db m35191) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m164291) HM
Confederate soldiers built Fort Harrison on this high point of land as part of their scheme to protect the approaches to Richmond. The Union army seized the fort after heavy fighting in September 1864, altered its appearance, and renamed it. The . . . — — Map (db m32921) HM
In the hours following the September 29, 1864, Federal triumph at Fort Harrison, 1,000 yards south of here, Confederate defenses stiffened. Two hundred Georgia infantrymen and Virginia artillerists filled Fort Johnson. Later in the morning they . . . — — Map (db m32933) HM
By November 1864, several thousand African American soldiers, designated as United States Colored Troops or USCT, held Fort Harrison and the nearby earthworks. Many of these men had survived the bloody combat at New Market Heights, Fort Gilmer, and . . . — — Map (db m164295) HM
General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant hoped that his men could convert their early morning triumph at Fort Harrison into a sweeping and perhaps decisive victory. He arrived here three hours after the fort's capture to assess progress. Confederate . . . — — Map (db m84994) HM
After tremendous labor in a short period of time, the fort was ready for defense. By mid-October 1864, Company C, 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery brought several large cannon into the fort and mounted them along the walls facing the James River. The . . . — — Map (db m32883) HM
After capturing Fort Harrison in September 1864, Federal troops built Fort Brady as a defensive post on the James River. In January 1865, Confederate ships attempted to threaten the Federal supply base downriver at City Point. Passing Fort Brady in . . . — — Map (db m15480) HM
Union photographers Andrew J. Russell and T.C. Roche arrived south of Richmond in 1865 and recorded some of the most important images of Fort Brady. This view was taken from the parapet behind you and depicts the fort's fighting battery. In the six . . . — — Map (db m32885) HM
In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale established the second English settlement in the Virginia Colony. Dale named the town Henrico in honor of Henry, Prince of Wales. In 1612, Virginia’s economy was transformed when John Rolfe introduced a new form of tobacco . . . — — Map (db m95893) HM
The armies fought the Battle of Malvern Hill across several very large and productive farms. That agricultural landscape helped shape the course of the battle. Stacks of recently harvested wheat offered feeble shelter to men of both sides. Farm . . . — — Map (db m120551) HM
"It was a most mad enterprise, but it was ordered...It was the hottest musketry fire I was ever in. Our regiment melted under it. And we fell back sullenly-we were too exhausted and too proud to run!" Elliott Grabill, 5th United States . . . — — Map (db m32934) HM
Federal artillery enjoyed outstanding fields of fire at Malvern Hill. But the terrain here in front of the West House had wrinkles and hollows that could offer protection to attackers. Union General Darius N. Couch of the Fourth Corps, commanding on . . . — — Map (db m49257) HM
From October 1864 to April 1865 the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery was stationed here. The air shimmered with the chance of a direct hit. Almost daily, Fort Brady engaged in artillery duels with Confederate ironclads and Richmond’s outer defenses. — — Map (db m15482) HM
English merchant James Crewes (1623-1677), emigrated to Virginia by 1655 and acquired a 541 acre plantation at Turkey Island. As a planter, burgess from Henrico County and militia officer, Crewes disagreed with the governor's policies related to . . . — — Map (db m137715) HM
John Rolfe emigrated from England to Virginia in 1610 and settled in what was to become Henrico County. In 1612 he imported tobacco seeds from Trinidad and cultivated a new strain of mild tobacco. He shipped part of his harvest to England in 1614, . . . — — Map (db m25010) HM
General John B. Magruder sent wave after wave of Confederate infantry against the tempting target of Union artillery. In 1862, many of those attackers had to negotiate a largely treeless landscape filled with small ridges and ravines that bisected . . . — — Map (db m84914) HM
Before you stood the Union rearguard, on Malvern Hill. Here, McClellan's line atop the plateau was only 875 yards wide. Confederate batteries were to soften the position prior to the infantry assault, but the Federal artillery proved superior. As . . . — — Map (db m29394) HM
(left panel)
Visiting Richmond National Battlefield Park
The concentration of Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled. The National Park Service manages 13 sites, giving visitors an opportunity to examine the . . . — — Map (db m46911) HM
Nearby stood the Malvern Hill manor house built for Thomas Cocke in the 17th century. The Marquis de Lafayette camped here in July-August 1781, and elements of the Virginia militia encamped nearby during the War of 1812. During the Civil War, 1 July . . . — — Map (db m9603) HM
Malvern Hill, estate of the prominent Cocke family, featured a brick house built ca. 1720 on the site of an earlier frame dwelling. The Marquis de Lafayette camped on the property in the summer of 1781, during the Revolutionary War, as did Virginia . . . — — Map (db m175931) HM
This one-and-a-half mile trail reveals one of the best preserved battlefields in the nation. More than a dozen signs describe the landscape, the progress of the battle, and its various landmarks. Parking lots at the crest of Malvern Hill and at the . . . — — Map (db m46910) HM
The residence of the Methodist minister, situated near this spot, was a landmark of the Battle of Malvern Hill and was directly in the line of advance of D.H. Hill's division southward against the Federal positions around the Crew house. July 1, . . . — — Map (db m14225) HM
Bacon was born in 1647 in Suffolk, England, and was educated at Cambridge University. He came to Virginia in 1673 and settled near here on the north bank of the James River at Curles Neck. In 1676 Bacon led a force of citizen-soldiers against . . . — — Map (db m9242) HM
This railroad bed carried coal from the Deep Run and Springfield Coal Pits, two miles to the northeast of here, during the nineteenth century. The line ran south for about six miles to the now abandoned Kanawha Canal on the James River. From there, . . . — — Map (db m29574) HM
General Robert E. Lee hoped that a crossfire of Confederate artillery directed against the crest of Malvern Hill might silence the powerful array of Union guns and clear the way for an infantry charge. Generals Longstreet and Jackson established . . . — — Map (db m29399) HM
A photographer captured Fort Brady's powder magazine in its prime, with men of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery (note the crossed cannon on one soldier's cap) proudly standing at its entrance. Most Civil War forts stored ammunition and . . . — — Map (db m84912) HM
Directly in front of you is the site of a powder magazine, where ammunition and gunpowder were stored. An explosion there could obliterate the fort. To bomb-proof the magazine, structural timbers were covered with a thick layer of earth. — — Map (db m84913) HM
This sacred resting place is comprised of the graves of persons who developed the Quioccasin and Westwood communities and Pryor's Court. Quioccasin Baptist Church and Westwood Baptist Church were founded by former slaves. In 1914, the Quioccasin . . . — — Map (db m138021) HM
McClellan's Federals attacked in 1862, then Grant in '64, while Joseph E. Johnston and then Robert E. Lee defended. The two major assaults on the Confederate capital fanned out into a series of battles, skirmishes and marches. Tour the . . . — — Map (db m34692) HM
Running Southeastward and then Southwestward. A Confederate earthwork, three miles long, here crossed the Darbytown Road. This fortification was designed to cover the Main Outer Line, with which it connected, one mile North of this point. — — Map (db m14255) HM
April 3, 1953
Erected in memory of the Confederate veterans of this locality by the Chesterfield Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The original Ridge Baptist Church building was used as a hospital during the War Between the . . . — — Map (db m32341) HM
Lt. Gen. Ulysses Grant ordered an assault here on 27 Oct. 1864 to divert Confederate attention from a Union attack near Petersburg. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, Union commander outside Richmond, aspired to outflank the Confederates and capture their . . . — — Map (db m116722) HM
Across the hill here from east to west the Union artillery was in position in the afternoon of July 1, 1862. The Union batteries overpowered the few cannon the Confederates were able to bring up. When the Southern infantry charged from the woods, . . . — — Map (db m14909) HM
“The battle, with all its melancholy results, proved, however, that the Confederate infantry and Federal artillery, side by side on the same field need fear no foe on earth.” Confederate General D. H. Hill
As dusk . . . — — Map (db m46913) HM
... The men nobly responded to their officers' call and pour over the edge of the ditch into the dry moat, and then, scrambling up the bank, some on hands and knees, some stepping on their bayonets thrust into the clay, some on each other's . . . — — Map (db m34717) HM
You are standing where hand-to-hand fighting erupted as Union troops stormed into Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864. On top of the fort's parapet, Gen. Hiram Burnham clutched his chest after receiving a mortal wound. General George J. Stannard's . . . — — Map (db m32929) HM
“There was no cessation or diminution yet of the enemy’s fire – musketry here – which swept the field to such an extent that it was difficult to believe anything could escape unhurt.” - Lt. McHenry Howard, Confederate staff officer The . . . — — Map (db m14923) HM
“We reached the field; here were wounded men and the dead, but we heeded them not. We relieved the 7th New York Regiment and poured in a hot fire; still they kept the field, men falling all round, but our only thought was to fire as fast as . . . — — Map (db m14927) HM
Although the best known fighting on July 1, 1862, occurred across the road to the west, half of the battlefield is situated here, in front of the West House. Union infantrymen of General Darius Couch’s division occupied the far forward slope of . . . — — Map (db m15209) HM
You have reached the farthest point to which any organized Confederate infantry advanced on July 1. Two simple wooden structures stood within this cleared area. They are thought to have housed the slaves working the Crew farm. During the twilight . . . — — Map (db m29436) HM
Dairy farming became the new agricultural industry in Henrico County during the period following the Civil War. As early as 1880, there were 2,181 milk cows in the county. By the early 20th century, agriculturists boasted Henrico as the “Dairy . . . — — Map (db m115645) HM
Two small structures used as slave quarters stood in this clearing. Some of the fiercest fighting raged around them in the twilight, as men of Paul J. Semmes’ Confederate brigade used the buildings for shelter and exchanged short-range fire with . . . — — Map (db m49258) HM
William Ferguson and wife Myrtle Deane purchased Malvern Hill farm in 1942. The family was a steward of the land and its history for nearly 75 years. William moved to Henrico County in 1920 where he became manager of Curles Neck farm, helping it to . . . — — Map (db m115181) HM
Atop this knoll Confederate General D. H. Hill had an unobstructed view to the crest of Malvern Hill. In the distance stood the West farm house and fields where Union batteries waited to dispute any Southern advance. By early afternoon Hill’s five . . . — — Map (db m46918) HM
Approaching from the James River, Union soldiers of Stannard's division suffered their greatest loss in crossing the open ground behind you. Confederate cannon along this wall delivered mighty blasts that knocked horrible holes in the attacking . . . — — Map (db m84992) HM
Sitting atop Malvern Hill only feet from the roaring line of Union cannon, the West House became an instant battlefield landmark. The original house dated from approximately 1831, but was rebuilt decades after the Civil War. The current structure is . . . — — Map (db m15197) HM
Born Thomas Jefferson Edwards here in Henrico County on 15 Oct. 1922, African American singer-songwriter Tommy Edwards composed songs recorded by well-known performers Tony Bennett, Red Foley, Tony Fontane, and
Louis Jordan. He recorded for Top and . . . — — Map (db m29573) HM
Stonewall Jackson’s wing of the Confederate army joined in the action just before darkness. Some of his infantry advanced on this side of the road, toward Malvern Hill’s crest. Broken and disoriented formations of Confederate infantry blocked their . . . — — Map (db m15199) HM
After capturing Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864, Federal troops built a 2½-mile line of fortifications connecting the Union position from Fort Harrison (later renamed Fort Burnham) to Fort Brady here on the James River. Once the . . . — — Map (db m15479) HM
Union soldiers constructed these entrenchments after the September 1864 battle. This line ran continuously south for 2.5 miles connecting Fort Harrison (Burnham) to Fort Brady on the James River. — — Map (db m34715) HM
Around 15,000 men and the artillery of General Samuel Heintzelman’s Union Third Corps occupied this long stretch of open fields before you. They did not come under direct assault, but did supply reinforcements to the front line. The farm silo you . . . — — Map (db m15206) HM
During the Civil War, Union and Confederate armies engaged in battles along major transportation corridors. Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's defensive earthworks blocked Williamsburg Road east of here, for example, during the 1862 Peninsula . . . — — Map (db m15922) HM
Frustrated by his failure at Glendale, Robert E. Lee gathered his army on July 1, 1862, for a final effort to destroy the Union army. But on this day, unlike his previous efforts during the Seven Days, Lee did not have a Union flank or a strung-out . . . — — Map (db m14916) HM
The Ziontown Community is located on Ridge Road at Fountain Lane, extending south and ending at River Road. It was founded by Henry Pryor who was born in 1825 in Albemarle, Virginia. Pryor, an enslaved man, was brought to Henrico County when he was . . . — — Map (db m233792) HM
