The Petersburg Project
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Blog and Updates
  • Postwar Visit to the Battlefields 1866
  • Civil War Combat Trenching
  • Views of the City of Petersburg
    • Petersburg Panorama 1865
    • Steeples of Petersburg
    • Petersburg Mill Photographs
  • 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!
    • Dimmock Battery 5 Photographs >
      • 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 >
      • Harrison's Creek USCT Camps
      • Fort Morton and Baxter Road Group
      • Fort Haskell Panorama and Bomb Proofs
      • Fort Stedman Group
      • Gracie's Salient Group
      • 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
  • Topographical Engineers -- Our Heroes
    • Grand Medicine Pow-wow
    • Michler's Reports from Topographical Department
    • John E. Weyss, Cartographer
    • William H. Paine, Cartographer
    • Gilbert Thompson
    • Albert Hanry Campbell, C.S.A. Cartographer
  • 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 9 1864, Kautz Attack
    • June 18, 1864-Federal Engineers Maps
    • June 18, 1864, 18th Corps
    • June 19, 1864, Engineers Map
    • June 21, 1864, Federal Engineers Maps
    • June 22, 1864. Second Corps at Jerusalem Plank Road
    • June 29, 1864. Dept of VA and NC
    • June 30, 1864 -- XVIII Corps Map
    • June-July, Undated Federal Engineers Map-
    • July 29, 1864, Engineers Map, Annotated
    • July 1864 Map of XVIII Corps Lines
    • Crater, Native American Perspective of the Crater
    • August 1864, Michie Map - Bermuda 100
    • August 28, 1864, Michler Map
    • Aug.-Nov. 1864 Two Base Maps
    • September 13, 1864, Recon Map
    • Sept. 13-Oct.25 versions. Redoubts and Batteries
    • September 30, 1864, Warren Map
    • October 1864, Two IX Corps Maps
    • October 20, 1864. Benham's map of defenses of City Point
    • Nov. 2, 1864, Army of the Potomac
    • 1864, Coast Survey Map of Petersburg
    • Michler Map Series 1865-1867
    • 1864-1867, Michler-Weyss, Siege of Petersburg
    • 1865-1867, Manuscript Survey Maps
    • 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
    • Union Battery Ten (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 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
  • Depot Hospital at City Point
  • Pontoon Bridges
  • The Great Pontoon Bridge Across James River
  • Captain Robert Davis CSA
This was the first identified historic photograph of Fort Davis, initially called "Fort Warren," but as you can see here that it was the subject for numerous pen-and-ink artists who captured all of its angles. The fort was the brainchild of G.K. Warren, who personally shepherded it through every phase of construction. This square redoubt with a massive diagonal traverse was large enough to hold a brigade of 2,000 infantry, or something on the order of a Roman legion. Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, James Duane, envisioned a series of 4-6 forts of about this size holding the entire line from Jerusalem Plank Road back to the Appomattox River. After the "Grand Medicine Pow-wow," a new concept was adopted -- smaller, enclosed forts, redoubts, and batteries with garrisons of 100 or 200 men, connected by infantry trenches. Later on, it was decided that the infantry trenches could pretty much be manned by a picket line if backed by a strong reserve. The engineers decided that the ground could be held mostly by artillery, supported properly by a few hundred infantrymen. This was a giant step in the continuing development of trench warfare at Petersburg. The driving force on the Federal side -- hold more ground with fewer soldiers. Confederate engineers had the same problem but continued to build the same redan-redoubt lines that dated back to earlier in the war. 

Fort Davis is owned by the City of Petersburg. G.K. Warren's statue on Little Round Top might as easily be recreated in Fort Davis. It may be his largest visible structural contribution to the American Civil War.
July 14, 1864 Thursday.
General Warren is now in his element:  so far as I can learn, he is his own officer of the trenches, and commander of the working parties.  There is nothing that he likes so much as overseeing work, and is consequently in a most agreeable humor.  I spent some hours with him yesterday in the large redoubt, which one might easily believe he had undertaken to build by contract, and certainly has pushed forward with most wonderful rapidity.  It is an immense work, five hundred feet front I believe, and perfectly square (p 436).


--Col. Charles S. Wainwright, A Diary of Battle, edited by Allan Nevins,  DaCapo Press, New York,1998.
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LC 02607, detail. This photograph of Fort Sedgwick looks south and captures the front of Fort Davis in the background. A tif version downloaded from the Library of Congress website is clearer than the jpeg version we can post here. Nonetheless, interesting details emerge, such as the signal tree identified by the ladders leaning against its base. Phil Shiman made this identification. The Jerusalem Plank Road at left connects the two forts.
Picture
LC 03344. This unattributed image (LC-BH84- 60), captioned "Fortification - Petersburg?," is of Fort Davis, taken from the southeast angle of the fort looking north. Jerusalem Plank Road passes by the two structures at the right. The bridge spans the ditch at the sally port. Identity confirmed by Chris Calkins.
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Traverse Ft. Davis. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division.
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An Engineers' plan for Fort Davis is combined with modern LIDAR data, revealing current conditions. The square fort is about 450 feet on a side; ditch is 10-12 feet deep. In the overlay on left, the upper section of the internal traverse appears chewed up from heavy equipment crossing over it during logging. Located at the intersection of Flank Road and S. Crater Road (the old Jerusalem Plank Road).


Picture
Civil War Trails Marker at Fort Davis pull-off, photographed by Bill Coughlin 2007. The sign reads" Fort Davis - Union Stronghold image. Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 22, 2007 1. Fort Davis - Union Stronghold Inscription. Click to hear the inscription. 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 routes, the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. Moving westward against the rail line in this area June 21-23, Union forces were stopped short of reaching their goal. They were able, though, to extend their trench lines across the Jerusalem Plank Road, now known as Crater Road. To protect this position, construction began on a large earthen structure initially called Fort Warren, Named for Fifth Corps commander, Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren."
Picture "Fatigue party building Fort Davis." Jerusalem Plank Road is labeled in the foreground. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division. Note the observer in the signal tree.

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Throwing brush screen to cover the construction of Fort Davis. Jerusalem Road. Fatigue party, marching into posish to break ground. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division. Note the observer in the signal tree.
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"Fort Warren Va, on Jerusalem Road near Petersburg," drawing of Fort Warren (renamed Fort Davis) by George Dean, 39th Massachusetts Infantry, Petersburg National Battlefield. File contributed by Emmanuel Dabney.
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Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division. Ft. Davis on the left; "Ft. Hell" on the right.
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Interior, Ft. Davis. Uncompleted. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division. Note the observer in the signal tree.
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Rear. Fort Davis. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division.
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Fort Davis. Corporal of the Guards. Drawing by Charles Wellington Reed. Charles Wellington Reed Papers, Library of Congress Mss. Division.
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