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 Powell, 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
    • 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
  • Campbell Dinwiddie County 1864

Fort Morton

Fort Morton evolved into an enclosed fort from a 14-gun battery built on the Taylor Farm opposite Confederate Elliott's Salient. From here, on July 30, 1864, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and his staff observed the explosion of the Mine beneath Pegram's Battery and the failure of the subsequent attack.
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Mash-up of "Field Battery" (Military Atlas Plate 107:3) and Engineers Plan of Fort Morton (RG77 Dr. 150-18) by Philip Shiman.
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Map of Siege Lines, August 28, 1864, Engineer Dept. HdQrs Army of the Potomac. LC http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/glva01.lva00194
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Detail from the above map showing the 14-Gun Battery at the Taylor House, which was afterwards redesigned as Fort Morton.
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An expansive view into Fort Morton from near Battery XVI (LC-B811- 1070), unattributed photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan. Baxter Road can be seen crossing the center of this image. An opening was made in the substantial parapet to allow Federals to pursue the evacuating Confederate army.
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This schematic by Phil Shiman points out various features in the photograph. Download the original and enjoy the close-up details of this especially clear image. (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003004577/PP/ )
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This detail demonstrates the substantial changes made to the Federal siegeworks in the fall of 1864. The open 14-gun battery on the left was conceived merely as a gun platform to concentrate and deliver artillery fire. Enclosed for all around defense, Fort Morton occupied and dominated the ground. As far as the Confederates were concerned, Morton was invincible. Federal engineering at its finest.
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View of Fort Morton from Confederate Battery 25 (LC-B811- 3219).
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This unattributed stereograph (LC-B815- 1054) is captioned "Petersburg, Virginia. Earthworks in front of Petersburg." It was taken by Timothy O'Sullivan from the northern wall of Fort Morton, looking south by west.
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O'Sullivan and his assistant made at least two exposures of the interior of Fort Morton -- LC-B815- 1054 (00517 above) and LC-B815- 1055 (00518 below) as shown on the detail here. Three images were taken at Battery XV looking south and one near Battery XVI looking north. These constitute the Baxter Road series. The photographers' wagon was largely limited to passable roads. The camera positions needed to be within a close distance of the wagon.

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Detail from LC-B815- 1055 (00518), showing a supply wagon, likely part of the photographers party, parked in Baxter Road.
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This unattributed stereograph (LC-B815- 1055) captioned "Petersburg, Virginia. Earthworks in front of Petersburg" was taken by O'Sullivan's assistant from the rear wall of Fort Morton at the sally port. O'Sullivan is drinking from a tin cup at the well.
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