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
  • landmarks

siege warfare at petersburg

  • siegeworks 
  • siege operations
  • soldier life

the union lines

  • union engineering
  • the appomattox river to the race course
  • hare house hill
  • the taylor farm
  • baxter road to the avery farm
  • the jerusalem plank road
  • second-line works  
  • miscellaneous works

the confederate lines

  • confederate engineering
  • the dimmock line
  • the appomattox river to the norfolk & petersburg railroad
  • norfolk & petersburg railroad to the crater
  • rives salient
  • communications & logistics   

combat

  • the opening battles, june 15-18, 1864
  • the battle for survival
  • the battle of the crater, july 30, 1864
  • the battle of fort stedman, march 25, 1865
  • the final assault at the jerusalem plank road, april 2, 1865

CHRONOLOGY OF FEDERAL FORTIFICATIONS
From narrative collated from reports of
Col. N. Michler, Official Records Serial 126:173-182

Jul 30, 1864 Battle of the Crater
Jul 31 Sites selected for forts Rice, Meikel, Morton, Haskell, Stedman, McGilvery
Decision to enlarge “lunette” on site occupied by Fort Sedgwick
Aug 18-26 Offensive against the Weldon Railroad
Sites selected on Weldon railroad for works at Burnt Chimney and the Strong house (Fort Dushane), Forts Wadsworth, Howard, and Alexander Hays, line selected for military railroad to join Weldon near Globe Tavern. Confederates improve Squirrel Level Road line, extend ing from near Battery 40 to Fort MacRae
Sep 7 Corduroy roads, entanglements, slashings, under construction. Line traced from Fort Dushane to the rear of the camps, left resting near Fort Bross—Forts Davison McMahon, Stevenson, Blaisdell, and Kelly
Sep 17 Length of main line over 16 miles, consisting of 19 forts and redoubts, 41 batteries, old Confederate entrenchments leveled. Line of works traced from Blackwater Swamp north toward Old Court House on Bailey’s Creek to James River, to complete circuit of 25 miles, “entirely encircling the Army of the Potomac.” Three works on rear line under construction.
Sep 26 Military railroad completed to Globe Tavern, approved for service
Sep 29-Oct 3 Poplar Springs Church Offensive (Peebles and Pegram farms)
Line selected from near Pegram house to connect with Fort Wadsworth
Oct 4 Line selected to connect from near Pegram house in rear of Fort Dushane
Oct 8 Forts Keene, Urmston, Conahey, Fisher, Welch, Gregg, Cummings, Sampson,
Emery, Siebert, Clarke, and several batteries nearly completed. Three-mile line at City Point under construction. Earthworks now extend 23 miles in a continuous stretch from the Appomattox to Blackwater Swamp. Line to James River would add about 9 miles—36 forts and fifty batteries.
Oct 24 Two new redoubts thrown up near Avery and Friend houses
Oct 26-28 First Hatcher’s Run Offensive (Boydton Plank Road)
Nov 12 Rear line from Blackwater Swamp to Bailey’s Creek completed
Dec 6-7 Aborted Federal movement on Weldon Railroad
Feb 5-7, 1865 Second Hatcher’s Run Offensive
Line selected to connect Fort Sampson and Vaughan Road crossing of Hatcher’s Run. Front line from Appomattox River to Hatcher’s Run now about 15 miles in length.
Jan-Mar Earthworks enclosed and strengthened all along the lines to free as many troops as possible to participate in spring operations. Fort Fisher redesigned and rebuilt, beginning in January. 
Proudly powered by Weebly
Picture