The Petersburg Project's Twenty-five Favorite Images of Petersburg
Number 25 - - Contributed by D. Lowe
LC 00514. "Petersburg, Virginia. Earthworks in Front of Petersburg." This is the right half of stereo image by Timothy O'Sullivan and his assistant William Redish Pywell, taken in April 1865, shortly after the works were evacuated. This view looks down at the cut of the Petersburg & Norfolk Railroad into the rear of the maze of the Confederate earthworks that made up Gracie's Salient. Railroad rails and ties were scavenged to build the roof the bombproof and then covered over with dirt. O'Sullivan is peering out of the entrance of the bunker.
LC 00514. "Petersburg, Virginia. Earthworks in Front of Petersburg." This is the right half of stereo image by Timothy O'Sullivan and his assistant William Redish Pywell, taken in April 1865, shortly after the works were evacuated. This view looks down at the cut of the Petersburg & Norfolk Railroad into the rear of the maze of the Confederate earthworks that made up Gracie's Salient. Railroad rails and ties were scavenged to build the roof the bombproof and then covered over with dirt. O'Sullivan is peering out of the entrance of the bunker.
https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.00514
Number 24 - - Contributed by D. Lowe
LC 3c36820. "In front of Petersburg." Sketch by Alfred R. Waud. "This sketch was made at the request of Genl. Meade, for his use, from a tree used by the signal officers. It took over an hour and a half and rebel sharpshooters kept up a fire at me the whole time." Noted-- "1. enemies first line of earthworks our lines below and in front. Inscribed above image: Smoke of locomotive on Petersburg and Richmond RR." Cityscape, entrenched battery, structures along Jerusalem Plank Road, Cemetery Hill and Blandford Church, Confederate lines in the distance.
LC 3c36820. "In front of Petersburg." Sketch by Alfred R. Waud. "This sketch was made at the request of Genl. Meade, for his use, from a tree used by the signal officers. It took over an hour and a half and rebel sharpshooters kept up a fire at me the whole time." Noted-- "1. enemies first line of earthworks our lines below and in front. Inscribed above image: Smoke of locomotive on Petersburg and Richmond RR." Cityscape, entrenched battery, structures along Jerusalem Plank Road, Cemetery Hill and Blandford Church, Confederate lines in the distance.
Detail of City of Petersburg drawn as seen from the signal tree.
Detail showing structures on the horizon along the Jerusalem Plank Road.
Detail of Cemetery Hill, Blandford Church on left, community on right, as viewed from the signal tree.
Number 23 - - Contributed by D. Lowe
LC 02580. [Petersburg, Va. Heavy gun mounted on inner line of Confederate fortifications], left half of stereo view by Thomas C. Roche, taken April 3, 1865. Twelve-inch Columbiad position behind main Confederate line, which is visible in the mid-ground. The Avery House and plantation are visible in the distance. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren made his headquarters at the Avery House early in the siege.
Detail showing the Avery house and outbuildings in the distance. The house, about a mile distant, was easily in range of this gun but it was rarely fired upon.
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This companion photograph "Rebel Gun in Front of Fort Hell" [LC 11724] was taken from the same camera position as above and shows the photographer Thomas Roche posed with an aiming spike like the one on the ground in the right foreground. This image was captured on the afternoon of the same day as Roche's famous dead Confederates in the trenches photos. The background is much less distinct.
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