The Petersburg Project
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Blog and Updates
  • Petersburg Panorama 1865
  • Steeples of Petersburg
  • The Mine Explosion and its Crater
  • Petersburg in Pencil and Ink
    • Alfred R. Waud, Special Artist at Petersburg >
      • Waud Drawing of 5th Corps Fortifications
    • William Waud, Special Artist
    • Charles H. Chapin, Special Artist
    • Joseph Becker, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Edwin Forbes, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Winslow Homer, Special Artist
    • Edward Mullen, Special Artist at Petersburg
    • Andrew W. Warren, Special Artist
    • Enlisted Artists >
      • Charles Wellington Reed
      • Andrew McCallum
      • Francis Knowles
      • James William Pattison
      • Herbert Valentine
      • Howard A. Camp
  • Petersburg Photographs --So Many!
    • Working with Photographs
    • City Point
    • City Point Wharf Explosion, Aug. 9, 1864
    • Fort Rice?? We don't think so!
    • Federal Picket Line, Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Egbert Guy Fowx, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Timothy O'Sullivan, Photographer at Petersburg >
      • Fort Morton and Baxter Road Group
      • Fort Haskell Panorama
      • Fort Stedman Group
      • Gracie's Salient Group
      • Bombproofs behind Fort Haskell
      • Camp of the 50th N. Y. Engineers
    • David Knox, Photographer at Petersburg
    • William Redish Pywell, Photographer at Petersburg
    • John Reekie, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Thomas C. Roche, Photographer at Petersburg
    • Andrew J. Russell, Photographer at Petersburg >
      • "Fort Mahone" CS Batteries 25 & 27
  • U. S. Military Railroad
    • Terminus of Military R. R. at City Point
    • City Point to Clark's Station
    • Pitkin's Station to Shooting Hill
    • Hancock's Junction/Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Parke's Station
    • Warren's Station
    • Patrick's Station
  • Maps and Topogs
    • Grand Medicine Pow-wow
    • Michler's Reports from Topographical Department
    • John E. Weyss, Cartographer
    • William H. Paine, Cartographer
    • Gilbert Thompson
  • Confederate Maps
    • Confederate Defenses 1862
    • Gilmer-Campbell Maps, 1864
    • Stevens Map July 1864
    • Fields of Fire
    • Campbell Dinwiddie County 1864
    • Coit's map of the Crater Battlefield
  • Federal Maps
    • Army of the Potomac, Routes of the Corps to Petersburg
    • June 18, 1864-Federal Engineers Map
    • June 18, 1864, 18th Corps
    • June 21, 1864, Federal Engineers Map
    • June 22, 1864. Second Corps at Jerusalem Plank Road
    • June 29, 1864. Bermuda Hundred
    • June 30, 1864 -- XVIII Corps Map
    • June-July, Undated Federal Engineers Map-
    • July 1864 Map of XVIII Corps Lines
    • Crater, Native American Perspective of the Crater
    • August 28, 1864, Michler Map
    • September 13, 1864, Recon Map
    • September 30, 1864, Warren Map
    • October 1864, Two IX Corps Maps
    • Nov. 2, 1864, Army of the Potomac
    • 1864, Coast Survey Map of Petersburg
    • NEW 1865-1867, Manuscript Survey Maps
    • 1864-1867, Michler-Weyss, Siege of Petersburg
    • 1865-1867, Michler Map Series
    • 1871, Map of Recapture of Ft. Stedman
    • 1881, Boydton Plank Road
  • Confederate Forts and Batteries
    • Dimmock Line >
      • Priest Cap
      • French Rifle Pits
    • Fort Clifton
    • "Fort Mahone" CS Batteries 25 & 27
    • Confederate 8-inch Columbiad
    • Leadworks
  • Federal Forts and Batteries
    • Battery X
    • Fort Alexander Hayes
    • Fort Avery
    • Fort Conahey
    • Fort Davis & Battery XXII
    • Fort Fisher
    • Fort Meikel --Photographic Views
    • Fort Morton
    • Fort Patrick Kelly
    • Fort Sedgwick, better known as Fort Hell,
    • Fort Wadsworth -- the Evolution
    • Fort Willcox or Battery XVI
  • Battlefield Features
    • Aiken House
    • Armstrong's Mill
    • Avery House
    • Bailey/Johnston Farm
    • Blandford Church
    • Broadway Landing, Appomattox River
    • The Crater
    • Cummings House
    • Dams and Inundations
    • WW Davis Farm
    • Dunn House
    • Friend House >
      • View from Friend House toward Gibben complex and Petersburg
    • Gibbons Properties
    • Globe Tavern / Weldon Railroad
    • Gregory House
    • Griffith Farm
    • Gurley House
    • Hare House
    • Hare House Hill
    • The "Horseshoe"
    • Jerusalem Plank Road
    • Jones House
    • Jordan House
    • Newmarket Racecourse
    • Pegram's Farm
    • Peebles Farm, Pegrams Farm, Poplar Springs Church
    • Shands House
    • Taylor Farm >
      • The Ice House
      • Surviving Taylor Barn
    • Williams House
  • Signal Towers and Trees
    • Some Operations of the Signal Corps at Petersburg
  • Archeology
    • Geology of the Crater
    • Fieldwork -- Petersburg
    • Civil War Sinks
    • Deserted Confederate Camp
    • Gracie's Countermine
    • LIDAR Forts and Batteries
  • Articles, Papers, Presentations
    • Shiman: A Note on Maps
    • The Siege Landscape: Through Fire and Ice at Petersburg
    • "The Rebel in the Road"
    • "A Strange Sort of Warfare Underground"
    • Lost Trenches of Petersburg: June 17
    • Between the Lines
    • Combat Trenching: An Introduction
    • Lowe -- Post-War Topographical Survey
    • Civil War Maps and Landscapes -- Observations
  • Kittens, Puppies & Ponies
  • Executions!
  • Notes on Leveled Earthworks
  • Civil War Combat Trenching
  • Depot Hospital at City Point
  • Dimmock Battery 5 Photographs
  • Pontoon Bridges
  • The Great Pontoon Bridge Across James River
  • Appomattox Mill Photographs
  • Blank Page

An Illustrated Encyclopedia
of the
Siege of Petersburg


Note:  This encyclopedia focuses on the eastern front at Petersburg, at least for the time being.  In the future, it will be expanded to cover the western, rear, and City Point lines and battles.

For an alphabetized index to this encyclopedia go [here].  For definitions of military and engineering terms see the [glossary].


the battlefield

the landscape
   terrain
   creeks and rivers
   roads
   railroads
         norfolk & petersburg
         city point

         u.s. military railroad 
   special study:  the railroad cut

the city of petersburg


churches
   blandford church
   special study:  the spires of petersburg

houses

   avery
   dunn
   friend
   gregory
   hare
   jordan
   shand (webb)
   taylor (spring garden)
   griffith (clark, chiswell)
   gee
   gibben

miscellaneous structures
  
the ice house
   the race course

siege warfare

siegeworks
    
the general scheme of attack and defense
         special study:  siege warfare in theory and practice, 1864-1865
     forts, redoubts, and batteries
     mortar batteries
     infantry lines
     infantry obstacles
     picket lines
     sharpshooters' posts
     communications trenches and covered ways
     dams
     headquarters


siege operations


  
construction methods and materials
    
sapping
     mining and countermining
 
     special study: attack & defense at gracie's salient

soldier life
     camps
     bombproof shelters
     wells
     latrines
 


the union lines

engineering and the union siege strategy
    
special study:  "the grand medicine pow wow" and the evolution of the lines

the appomattox river to the race course

     the early lines (june-july 1864)
     the later lines (august 1864-april 1865)
         fort mcgilvery
         battery ix
     the picket lines

the hare farm
     the early lines (june-july 1864)
     the later lines (august 1864-april 1865)
         battery x
         fort stedman
         batteries XI & XII
         fort haskell
     the picket lines

the taylor farm
     the early lines (june-july 1864)
        "fort durell"
         the 14-gun battery
     the later lines (august 1864-april 1865)
         batteries XIII and XIV
         fort morton
         battery xv
     the picket lines
         special study:  the "horseshoe"

baxter road to the avery farm
     the early lines (june-july 1864)
         "fort willcox" (roemer's battery)
         the 18-gun battery
     the later lines (august 1864-april 1865)
         battery xvi
         battery xvii & fort meikel
         battery xix and fort rice
     the picket lines

the jerusalem plank road
     the early lines (june-july 1864)
         "fort tilton"
         the flank redoubts
     the later lines (august 1864-april 1865)
         batteries xx & xxi
         fort sedgwick ("fort hell")
     the picket lines

second-line works
     batteries iv & v
     "the dictator"
     fort friend
     fort avery
     "fort twitchel"
    
communications & logistics

the confederate lines

engineering & the confederate defensive strategy

the dimmock line

    battery 5
    the dunn house battery

the appomattox river to the norfolk & petersburg railroad

     from the river to the racecourse
     colquitt's salient
     gracie's salient

         special study:  the mine at gracie's salient
     the picket lines
     retrenchments & rear batteries


the norfolk & petersburg railroad to baxter road
     the line along poor creek

     elliott's salient (pegram's battery) and the crater
    
the picket lines
     retrenchments & rear batteries


rives salient
     baxter road to the old dimmock line
     battery 25
     battery 27
     fort mahone (battery 29)
     the picket lines
     retrenchments & rear batteries
     special study:  "fort damnation"


communications & logistics   

battles

the battles for petersburg, june 15-18, 1864
    
the battle for survival
     sharpshooting
     artillery and mortar attacks
     trench raids


the battle of the crater, july 30, 1864
    special study:  the evolution of the crater

the battle of fort stedman, march 25, 1865

the april 2nd assault at jerusalem plank road, april 2, 1865
     special study:  the confederate dead
     special study: 
the rebel in the road


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