Cock Fight at Divisional Headquarters, Ninth Corps 1864

Maj. Gen. Orlando Wilcox's headquarters were located somewhere near the Shand House along modern day Hickory Hill road near the Park Service headquarters.
PictureLC 04340. "Petersburg, Virginia. Cock fighting at Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's headquarters," photographed by David Knox on July 6, 1864. Sides have been drawn, "John's" on the left, "Robert's"on the right, poses more relaxed. General Willcox appears to be recording bets.
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LC 03895. "Petersburg, Virginia. Cock fighting at Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's headquarters," photograph by David Knox. There are two variants of the "cock fight" photo this one likely the second as the tension is heightened, viewers leaning forward, cocks ready to put into play.
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Variant 03895. All bets are in. Battle ready to commence.
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This photograph, taken on July 6, 1864, at General Orlando B. Willcox's headquarters to the east of the Taylor house (Francis Knowles diary and scrapbook, page 134, UNC Chapel Hill Library) shows two young artists on the staff of General Willcox, Andrew McCallum and Francis Knowles, enjoying combat of a different sort (identification in Scott, 1999, p 573). Detail from Library of Congress 03895.
Andrew McCallum was a private in the 109th NY Infantry [later transferred to 51st NY volunteers], was educated as an engineer in Scotland, and later became a patent lawyer and general counsel of the Eastern Railroad Association according to his obituary in the Boston Journal, January 16, 1891.
​Francis W. Knowles kept a scrapbook/diary, now at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and made drawings as a private in Company B of the 36th Massachusetts Volunteers, in the IX Corps.  At least one of Knowles’s sketches was published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper and his map of troop deployment during the battle of Fort Stedman, March 25, 1865, was published in an account of the battle.[3]  Knowles was on the staff of General Orlando B. Willcox, commander of the 3rd Division, IX Corps, at Petersburg.
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Detail of Shand [Shind] House area from Map no. 6 G204-38 Petersburg https://catalog.archives.gov/id/221160674. Farm road leads to Baxter Road at lower left.
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LC03681. "Petersburg, Virginia. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox and staff," image taken July 6. 1864, David Knox. In the far right of this image can be seen a large barn, evidently one of the Shand farm outbuildings.
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LC04353. "Petersburg, Virginia. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox and staff," image unattributed but likely David Knox. Farm buildings silhouetted in right distance.